Top 5

Best Barcode Printers of 2024

With the ability to print barcode labels, shipping labels, or receipts; barcode printers provide a long list of uses. Find the best barcode label printers of 2024 below.

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entrust sigma sl3 best all around id card printer

Best for Small Business

AirTrack DP-1

fargo ink1000 id card printer most innovative

Best Light Industrial

Zebra ZT231

ID Zone 31S id card printer

Best Mobile Barcode Printer

TSC Alpha 40

Best Barcode Printers

If a normal part of your business relies on printing barcode labels, investing in a quality label printer is likely a necessity. Label printers are versatile pieces of equipment that can perform a variety of tasks. Some printing uses of barcode printers include:

The best barcode label printers are designed to be easy-to-use, reliable, and perform the tasks you need them to perform. If you’re looking to add to or update your label printing set up, Barcodes, Inc has compiled a list of the best printing machines. Find the best barcode printers for 2024.

AirTrack DP-1: Best for Small Business

Print Volume: High

Print Side: Front and Back

Full Color: Yes

Price: Starting at $324

The AirTrack DP-1 is a desktop thermal barcode printer that takes up little space and works well. Print 1D and 2D barcode labels between 1.57″ and 4.33″, which is useful in retail, warehouse, distribution, and other industries. If you add the AirSupport service to your DP-1 barcode printer, you can get an extended warranty, technical support, AirSpare, and more.

The AirTrack DP-1 barcode printer weighs just over 5 pounds and is small enough to fit on any desk or work surface. This lets you print powerful thermal barcodes anywhere. Up to 4 inches (102 mm) can be printed per second, so you can keep up with your work. You can easily print 1D and 2D barcodes on high-quality AirTrack continuous, die-cut, tag, and fan-fold labels.

In addition to continuous, die-cut, tag, and fan-fold labels, the DP-1 can print on media between 20 and 112 mm (0.79″ to 4.4″) wide and between 0.06 and 0.19 mm thick. The DP-1 printer can use label rolls that are between 10 mm (0.39″) and 2,286 mm (90″) long. It’s a perfect thermal printer for small businesses to work more efficiently and scale up operations to meet the demands of 2024 customers.

DP-1 Strengths

  • Fast printing speed of 4″ per second
  • Easily print 1D and 2D barcodes
  • Extended warranty coverage and support

Weaknesses:

  • Not as rugged as more expensive industrial barcode printers
  • Only prints labels up to 4.33″ wide

Honeywell PX940: Most Versatile ID Card Printer

Print Volume: High

Print Side: Front and Back

Full Color: Yes

Price: Starting at $2,121

The Honeywell PX940 High-Performance Industrial Printer is made to print accurately, to work with Bluetooth, and to support multiple print languages. The PX940 is perfect for transportation and logistics, pharmaceuticals and health care, shipping, distribution centers, industrial manufacturing, and auto parts manufacturers. You can get the PX940 with or without the built-in verifier. With pass/fail and ANSI grades from 1 to 4, bad labels that don’t meet a certain standard are thrown out and a new label is printed. With the PX940, customers who have to meet regulatory standards will no longer have to pay fines and other costs for barcodes that can’t be scanned.

The PX940 printer has a Honeywell firmware platform that can print in multiple languages, making this an excellent choice for future proofing and another point for versatility. A durable, all-metal print mechanism, an easy-to-replace printhead and platen roller, and a predictive maintenance system help to cut down on downtime and maintenance.

The PX940 printer can use a wide range of media, including ink-in and ink-out ribbons with a one-inch core size. This means that you can go as long as possible without having to restock the media. The PX940 printer can keep up with the changing needs of dynamic operations because it can label quickly and print at speeds of up to 350 mm/s (14 ips).

Honeywell PX940 Strengths

  • All-In-One Barcode Label Printing Solution
  • Future Proof in Durability, Software, and Hardware
  • Honeywell Quality for Great Labels in Any Industry

PX940 Cons:

  • High cost could be barrier to entry for many businesses
  • Heavy and mostly stationary – not as mobile as other offerings

Zebra ZT231: Best Light Industrial Barcode Printer

Print Volume: Medium to High

Print Side: Front and Back

Full Color: Yes

Price: Starting at $1044

Demands are going up, but time frames are getting shorter. Do you have the printing equipment to keep up without stopping? The ZT231 is a great choice because it has the right features at the right price and is made by Zebra, so you know it will last. All of these things—fast print speeds, high-resolution print quality, a large color touchscreen, a design that looks to the future, and more—are packed into a small footprint. Plus, if you need them, you can add extra features like RFID*, wireless connectivity, and media handling. But there’s more. Get intelligence built in to make your work easier and security that can’t be beat so that nothing can stand in your way. This is what Zebra means by “value.”

The ZT231 has a brand-new architecture that lets it handle more jobs at once and change as new technologies arrive. You can plan maintenance ahead of time with the help of onboard analytics and printhead element out detection. And the print head is easy to take off without tools, which makes maintenance easy.

To help you make the most of your space, we designed the ZT231 to be small and save space. It also has a bi-fold door that reduces the height you need to open the printer. With an easy-to-understand layout and color-coded cues, you can load media without any trouble. The media can be used in more ways because the sensors are adjustable, and the large ribbon roll capacity lets you change media less often.

You can easily manage, secure, and troubleshoot your networked printers from anywhere with Zebra’s Printer Profile Manager Enterprise, which is part of Print DNA. Update, fix problems, and keep an eye on things all from one place. And an easy-to-use browser-based interface lets you see the status at a glance, sort out problems quickly to keep downtime to a minimum, and do updates and maintenance.

Endpoints, like networked thermal printers, are becoming more popular as places for bad actors to attack your organization’s security weak points. Use Zebra’s PrintSecure, which is part of Print DNA, to protect yourself from cyberattacks. You can easily set up secure connections to your printers, find and fix vulnerabilities, stop unauthorized access, and find events before they happen.

Strengths

  • Great Value for Medium to High Print Speed and Output
  • Small Footprint and Lightweight
  • Secure and Easy to Manage

Cons:

  • Occasional calibration and connectivity issues
  • Lock ups and reboots in high demand scenarios

TSC Alpha 40L: Best Mobile Barcode Printer

Print Volume: Low

Print Side: Single Side

Full Color: Yes

Price: Starting at $787

The Alpha-40L mobile barcode label printers from TSC, are easy to use, tough, and won’t break if they fall. With the new mobile printers, you move into the next generation of smarter, better technology solutions for printing labels for industrial use.

With Apple-certified MFi Bluetooth® 5.0 and 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi fast roaming, the Alpha-40L not only make it easy and reliable for users to connect their devices, but they also print labels securely wherever they are needed.

The smart battery in the AAlpha-40L, along with SOTI Connect remote printer management and TSC Console, makes it possible for enterprises to grow their business in a way that is seamless and efficient.

The Alpha-40L comes with a built-in peeler and a liner-less kit that can be ordered from the factory as a smarter, greener way to handle media. The brand-new mobile printers come with a full line of accessories that make it easier to label things on the go, especially in demanding logistics applications.

Alpha 40 Strengths

  • Innovative Print Technology
  • Ease of Use
  • Attractive Footprint

Weaknesses:

  • Base models don’t offer as much as the more expensive Alpha 40s
  • Not as rugged as standalone, heavyweight industrial printers

AirTrack IP-2A: Best Workhorse Barcode Printer

Print Volume: High

Print Side: Front and Back

Full Color: Yes

Price: Starting at $1,235

The AirTrack IP-2A consistently tops our lists of barcode label printers.  It has the right balance of performance, support, and cost to keep your labels printing and get products out the door in any environment.

Printing demands tend to ebb and flow depending on seasonality, business cycles and changes in overall company trajectory. For companies with varying cycles of needs for labels, you want a printer that can meet the needs of your business, yet still be flexible for your budget. The AirTrack IP-2A is a light industrial barcode printer and is designed for medium-to-high-volume printing. It is not overly massive but is sturdy, because it is built with an aluminum base.  Depending on the business, some logistics operations can be in a rugged environment and this printer can stand up to most elements.

The printer is rather easy to operate and configure. It has a nice operator interface with an LCD color touchscreen and can be programed to fit the needs of your label design. This shipping label printer can print labels up to 4” wide and handle most media types (although paper labels will tend to be the most common for shipping labels). The IP-2A comes standard with USB, Serial and Ethernet connections. AirTrack offers a unique support model for the industry. The AirTrack IP-2A printer comes with a standard 2-year warranty, but also offers AirSupport services for an additional cost. The AirSupport includes extended warranty coverage against defects, comprehensive coverage if the printer gets accidentally damaged, and expanded technical support. One other cool feature is the ability to get your device replaced right away with AirSpare. If the device stops working due to a manufacturing defect, AirTrack will send a new one out while they evaluate it, so operations are rarely down.

In conclusion, the IP-2A is a nice balance of rugged design aesthetics, ease of use, and attractive price. For a workhorse barcode label printer, this is as good as it gets.

AirTrack IP-2A Pros

  • Modular
  • Image Quality
  • Warm Up Speed

IP-2A Printer Weaknesses:

  • More costly than other solutions
  • Requires a bit of sophistication
  • Larger footprint