The 3 Best Instant Photo Printers of 2025

Best for…

This printer produces larger, 4-by-6-inch images with surprisingly good color and sharpness for a portable printer.

Canon’s refill bundle has enough ink and paper for 108 prints.

Contrary to the small film-like images you get from our Fujifilm Instax picks, the Canon Selphy CP1500 produces sharper prints with more accurate-looking colors on larger, 4-by-6-inch borderless glossy paper, similar to prints you would get from Walgreens.

It offers high-quality, sharp prints. The CP1500 uses dye-sublimation printing technology, which layers colors onto the paper in four passes before applying a protective coating. Unlike other dye-sub printers we tested, which often showed banding, the CP1500 delivered stunning images with rich, natural colors that weren’t oversaturated. Both light and dark areas of the photos looked true to life, and details were sharp and clear.

Printing images with the CP1500 doesn’t seem as instant as it does with our top pick, the Mini Link 3, since this printer makes several passes over the photo before it’s done. But once the CP1500’s printing is complete, the photo is ready; in contrast, the Mini Link 3 spits out the film right away but the image then takes over five minutes to develop.

It’s more expensive up front, but it costs less per print. Although the CP1500 is pricier to start with than our Instax picks, it offers sharper images with more accurate-looking colors and a lower cost per print. Canon offers ink and paper packs that provide enough supplies for 108 prints for $35 at this writing (about 32 cents per print), making this printer more economical in the long run.

It provides multiple ways to print. Similar to our Instax picks, the CP1500 can print from a cell phone via an app, but it also has an SD card slot for printing directly from a memory card, as well as a USB-C port for connecting to a computer. This makes it a better choice if you keep most of your images on a computer rather than a phone.

The design is sleek and functional. The CP1500 comes in two colors: black and white. The black version, which we tested, has a premium look with a matte finish.

The printer’s buttons are mostly flush with the surface, except for a slightly raised OK button for easy access. The paper tray attaches to the front, and an SD card slot and a USB-C port are located behind a front panel, so you can easily manage all functions from the same area.

Wireless printing is smooth and reliable. For wireless printing, the Canon Print app allows you to connect either via an ad-hoc Wi-Fi signal sent by the printer or through your home router. During testing, we experienced consistent connections with no drops, unlike with some other printers we tested, which lost connection during printing.

It has a user-friendly screen and controls. In contrast to Fujifilm printers that rely solely on their apps, the Canon Selphy CP1500 has a built-in 3.2-inch screen for previewing images and navigating menus. Although the screen isn’t touch-sensitive, the buttons are well designed and easy to use.

The app offers advanced editing options. The Canon printing app provides more control over your images than Fujifilm’s apps. You can crop, rotate, and adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation.

The app also lets you customize borders and apply time stamps. It offers several unusual layouts, such as Bookmark Layout, which prints images in a strip for cutting into bookmarks, and ID Photo, which includes preloaded passport-size dimensions and guides to ensure proper alignment.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It’s portable but heavier than Instax printers. The Canon Selphy CP1500 can print from anywhere, but at 2.4 pounds (3.1 pounds with the charging cable), it’s heavier than the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 3. It isn’t as effortless to carry with you on outings, but it’s certainly still portable.

It comes with an AC power cable, and Canon sells an optional rechargeable battery, too. We didn’t test the printer with a battery, but Phil Ryan, Wirecutter’s writer covering cameras, printers, and scanners, said that he has used previous models in the field with a rechargeable battery, and they worked just fine. Canon claims that the rechargeable battery can last for about 54 prints per charge.

We wish the screen had a higher resolution. In our testing, we found the menu system can seem a bit slow at times, and magnifying images to check for focus takes a few seconds.

While it’s nice to be able to access most of the app’s edit tools and effects within the printer, the screen on the top is merely adequate. It’s not high-resolution enough for you to tell which images are in critical focus when you’re browsing photos on an SD card.