The best 4 x 6 photo printers

#	Product	Best for	Cost per shot	Price
1	Canon SELPHY CP1500The cheapest real photograph you can make at home, at about 39 cents a print.	Best 4 x 6 printer overall	$0.39	Check price
2	Kodak Dock Plus RetroPlug the phone in and press print — no app pairing, no Wi-Fi setup.	Best as a gift, especially for a grandparent	$0.40	Check price
3	Canon SELPHY QX20Battery-powered square and card prints — smaller than 4 x 6, but it travels.	Closest thing to a portable, if 4 x 6 is negotiable	$0.80	Check price

Why 4 x 6 is the cheapest photograph on this site

It is a volume effect. A SELPHY KP-108IN set carries ink and paper for 108 prints in one box for $41.99, and a Kodak 4 x 6 cartridge covers 80 prints for $31.99. Spread across that many sheets, the cost lands at about 39 and 40 cents per photograph — roughly half the cost of a 2 x 3 inch ZINK print and less than a sixth of a full-size Polaroid.

That is the whole argument for this category. You get the biggest print for the lowest price per print, and the only thing you give up is pocketability. For a household that prints photographs rather than a person who carries a printer, that is an easy trade.

What to look for

1. 1.Cost per print including ink. Media sold as an all-in-one set makes this easy to calculate and impossible to get wrong at the shelf.
2. 2.Dye sublimation, not inkjet. Dye-sub prints leave the machine dry and water resistant; inkjet photo prints need to dry and smudge if handled.
3. 3.How the phone connects. Wi-Fi is more flexible, a dock is simpler. For an older recipient the dock wins outright.
4. 4.Prints per cartridge. 108 against 80 changes how often somebody has to reorder, which is the main reason a printer stops being used.
5. 5.Whether a battery is available. The SELPHY CP1500 takes an optional battery pack; the Dock Plus is a mains device.

The picks in detail

1. Best 4 x 6 printer overall

Canon SELPHY CP1500

The cheapest real photograph you can make at home, at about 39 cents a print.

Buy it for

Anyone printing family photos in quantity — albums, frames, cards, school projects.

Skip it if

A buyer who wanted something pocket-sized. This is a compact desktop unit.

• •A KP-108IN ink and paper set makes 108 prints for $41.99, which is about 39 cents each.
• •Dye sublimation, so prints are instantly dry and water resistant straight out of the machine.
• •Wi-Fi and smartphone printing, so phones print to it without a cable.
• •A 4 x 6 inch postcard print, the standard size every album and frame is built around.
• •An optional battery pack is sold separately if it needs to leave the desk.

Running cost: Canon SELPHY 4 x 6 (KP-108IN) works out at $0.39 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $221.98 including the camera. See every format’s cost.

How it scores8.6/10 overall

• Cost per print10
• Print quality9
• Ease for a beginner8
• Portability3

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

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2. Best as a gift, especially for a grandparent

Kodak Dock Plus Retro

Plug the phone in and press print — no app pairing, no Wi-Fi setup.

Buy it for

A recipient who wants photos off a phone with the fewest possible steps.

Skip it if

Someone printing hundreds of photos — 80 prints per cartridge needs restocking sooner.

• •A dock connection: the phone physically sits in the printer, which removes the pairing step entirely.
• •4PASS dye sublimation with a laminate pass, at about 40 cents a print from a $31.99 pack of 80.
• •Bluetooth as well as the dock, so it still works for a visitor's phone.
• •A true 4 x 6 inch print, laminated and dry on exit.

Running cost: Kodak 4PASS 4 x 6 works out at $0.40 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $173.97 including the camera. See every format’s cost.

How it scores8.4/10 overall

• Cost per print9
• Print quality8
• Ease for a beginner10
• Portability4

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

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3. Closest thing to a portable, if 4 x 6 is negotiable

Canon SELPHY QX20

Battery-powered square and card prints — smaller than 4 x 6, but it travels.

Buy it for

Someone who asked for 4 x 6 but really wants prints away from a desk.

Skip it if

Anyone who needs the actual 4 x 6 size. Its largest print is 2.7 x 2.7 inches.

• •Battery-powered with USB-C charging, so it works at a party or on a table outdoors.
• •Dye sublimation with a protective overcoat at 287 dpi and 256 shades per color.
• •Two sizes from one machine: 2.7 x 2.7 inch square and 2.1 x 3.4 inch card.
• •About 40 seconds a print, and the media is sold as an all-in-one ink and label set.

Running cost: Canon SELPHY Square (XS-20L) works out at $0.80 a shot, so a hundred photographs in the first year puts the real total at about $269.00 including the camera. See every format’s cost.

How it scores7.6/10 overall

• Cost per print5
• Print quality9
• Ease for a beginner8
• Portability9

Our editorial scoring, built from published specifications and reviews by outlets that test hardware — see how we pick. We have not handled these products, so these are not test results.

Check price on Amazon→

#ad · we earn a commission at no extra cost to you

Read the full review

Why this is the right gift for a grandparent

It is the one recommendation on this site that we make almost without qualification. An older relative usually does not want to learn a new camera — they want the photographs of their grandchildren that are already on a phone, on paper, at a size they can see. A 4 x 6 dock printer does exactly that, at 40 cents a print, with no app to pair if you choose the Kodak.

Buy it with a 4 x 6 sleeved album and one spare cartridge, and the gift is complete rather than a device that needs a second purchase. Our gifts for grandparents page makes the same case with the alternatives alongside.

What about an inkjet photo printer?

A general-purpose inkjet can print 4 x 6 photographs, and for a household that also needs to print documents it may be the sensible buy. It is not a better photo printer. Ink is sold separately from paper, so the true cost per print is hard to pin down and usually higher; prints need drying time; and the cheapest cartridges are the ones that clog if the machine sits unused for a month, which a photo printer always does.

We do not rank inkjets on this site because the category we cover is photo printing specifically — see how pocket photo printers work for the technologies we do cover and why.