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For some organizations, the overall image of how their ID cards look matters a lot. They want their cards to look unique and aesthetic, due to which they add them with color variations and advanced printing. But this is possible only if you are picking the correct printer model for ID card printing.
Versatile models of printers are available in the market and you can look for the one which goes in accordance with the card printing requirements. The best thing about ID card printers is that they are available in both laser and inkjet versions for your convenience.
Why Printers are best for ID Card Professional Printing?
Most organizations need ID cards in massive quantities for their working employees. This might make it tedious for you to get in touch with the vendor and place bulk orders. This is where a reliable photo ID card printer comes to your rescue to provide you with some handy services.
The best printer for ID card printing helps save time and gives the whole card a professional look. You can tailor the card to get printed according to your basic needs.
[acf field=”table”] [acf field=”ItemList”]List of Best ID Card Printers 2024
| Product Image | Details | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Best for Small Business  | Badgy100 Color Plastic ID Card Printer
| /5 | Check Price |
Best Dual-Sided  | Magicard Enduro 3e Dual Sided ID Card Printer
| /5 | Check Price |
Editor's Choice  | Magicard Pronto ID Card Printer
| /5 | Check Price |
Best for PVS Card  | Fargo DTC1250e Single Sided ID Card Printer
| /5 | Check Price |
Budget Pick  | Magicard 300 Dual Sided ID Card Printer
| /5 | Check Price |
When so many ID printer models are available in the market, it might become uneasy for you to pick the desirable one. To hence make your task a bit easier, here we have put together a list of the excellent and best ID card printers 2024 reviews widely available in the market. Pick your favorite one right now.
Comparisons of 5 Top ID Card Printers Reviews
1. Best for Small Business: Badgy100 Color Plastic ID Card Printer
“Great printer for the small business use to print ID cards in a completely professional way.”
Our Rating:
What we liked:
- Affordable
- Great performance
- Convenient to use
- Easy in set-up
- Fastest printing results
What we didn’t like:
- Ink cartridges after 50 badge printing get empty
Get ready to print your professional ID cards with the help of the Badgy100 Color Plastic ID card Printer. It is compatible with PC & Mac, where it is offered an easy setup system for advanced or beginner users. This is among the ID card machines for small businesses.
With such a printer, you can print full-color badges in just 45 seconds which is so amazing. Moreover, the printer model has a plug-play set-up with a quick instruction guide. Users will also find the connectivity of the USB port, all windows version drivers, and the MAC-certified plug & play drivers. It is pretty simple to use.
Highlighted Features:
- The printer output is color to add the printing with great and fascinating results.
- Print media is based on glossy photo paper of all types
- Produced full-color photo ID in less than 45 seconds
- Included with plug-play set-up for easy installation for beginners
- Available with a notified version for the communication purposes
Also, read best printers for cardstock
2. Best Dual-Sided: Magicard Enduro 3e Identity Card Printer
“A dual-sided printer with full-color photo ID card printing at an affordable cost.”
Our Rating:
What we liked:
- Features LCD
- Full tech support system
- Versatile for different applications
- Various connectivity options
- East to add text, photos, logos, barcodes
- Affordable and easy to use
What we didn’t like:
- Software issue
Such an affordable and best photo ID printer system is right here for you. It produces full-color ID cards for various applications such as employee and student ID programs or loyalty card printing.
Such a printer has Card Imaging XXS card design software to get all those features you need for perfect ID card printing. This includes an Enduro 3E printer, Card Imaging XXS design software, one full-color ribbon, and almost 100 blank cards.
Well, this best dual-sided ID card printer even has a built-in HoloKote technology capable of printing the watermark-like image on your cards for extra card security.
Highlighted Features:
- A dual-sided great printer allows you to print both sides of the paper with ease
- Full-color cards in just 25 seconds with professional results
- Monochrome cards in just 7 seconds in multi-color results
- 100 card input tray with the 30 card output tray
- USB and Ethernet connectivity for easy networking with various devices
3. Editor’s Choice: Magicard Pronto ID Card Printer
“A rich feature printer with the fastest and most powerful engine to produce excellent quality prints.”
Our Rating:
What we liked:
- Easy to use
- Print full-color ID in just 35 seconds
- Available with guide instructions manual
- Excellent performance
What we didn’t like:
- The final photo print results are not crisp
Magicard Pronto ID Card Printer is a rich feature printer that produces good quality printing results. It has the most powerful and fastest engine for producing high-quality prints on demand.
The best thing about this printer is that it can produce full-color print badges in just 35 seconds.
It has a plug-and-play system which makes the installation process easy for beginners.
Moreover, this best ID badge printer even includes a watermark security feature providing four various Holo-Kote watermark patterns of your choice.
Highlighted Features:
- Gives your ID card a professional look by adding text or logos to it
- It has a user-friendly feature that makes functioning easy for beginners
- It comes with a supply of 300 high-quality, durable white Bodno PVC cards
- Use some pre-made templates and drag & drop images with text boxes for a professional look
4. Best for PVS Card: Fargo DTC1250e Single-Sided Card Printer
“Amazing printer to work best for high and medium volume printing with fastest results.”
Our Rating:
What we liked:
- Easy to use
- Great performance
- High-resolution images
- Affordable
What we didn’t like:
- It might give you some trouble in printing for the first time
A superb and feature-rich printer is here for medium or high-volume printing. You will find its engine to be robust and fast in printing high-quality ID cards on demand.
With a printing speed of 16 seconds, you will find it to be the fastest one in its category. Another best thing related to this printer is that it can easily print all types of cards, such as healthcare or thin loyalty cards.
With the user-friendly features, you can do the printing in an entirely professional way in just a few minutes. This best PVC card printer supplies almost 300 high-quality, durable white Bodno PVC cards.
Highlighted Features:
- Capable of producing full-color photo ID in just 16 seconds
- Best choice for universities, offices, healthcare, or any mid-sized organization
- Custom Design Software helps to create the images right out of the box.
- Easy to print all kinds of cards with it
5. Budget Pick: Magicard 300 ID Cards Printer
“Easy to use and affordable printer for ID card printing with an excellent tech support system.”
Our Rating:
What we liked:
- Can print in both vertical and horizontal formats
- Easy to setup and use for beginners
- Durable printer quality
What we didn’t like:
- A manual guide is not good enough to follow
Magicard printer is available with the printer model and the color ribbon, 100 PVC cards, and the Card Imaging design software. You can easily use it to customize ID cards, Badge, or gift cards with photos, images, text, or barcodes using Card Imaging software.
You can get free tech support from the experts for the printer set-up, design questions, or printing process.
This best cheap ID card printer even features an LCD that offers easy-to-understand messages and instructions.
Highlighted Features:
- Use Card Imaging Design software for the customization of ID cards.
- Free tech support from the experts for the printer set-up
- LCD for understanding the set-up process quickly.
- Included with the printer model and the color ribbon, 100 PVC cards, and the Card Imaging design software
Best ID Card Printer – Buying Guide Tips 2024
Before you get the best affordable ID card printer, there are a few essential factors that you need to be careful about with the final choice. Let’s help you a bit with some best ID card printer buying guide tips discussed below:
Volume: Before choosing any color ID card printer machine, you should ask yourself how many printers you want to get printed per year. If still, it is hard for you to decide, you should count the total number of employees working in your organization. And if you are planning to hire more employees, you should trust them as well.
It would be the best option to go for some additional card or badge printing. Based on the above-asked questions, determine the approximate number and then purchase the best ID card printers that can somehow handle that type of volume.
Design: Most of the cards are printed in 2 ways which are single-sided and double-sided. To give your card a simple decoration look, for them choosing a device with the single-sided option is the best idea. Cards having minimal information are best suited for such purposes.
The simple one-sided card has the person’s name, the verification id, a photo, and a signature.
In the dual-sided printing device, you are free to add some details in maximum quantity. This can even include your date of birth, address, and blood group. The best thing about the dual-sided option is the opportunity to print both sides at the same time.
Color Vs Monochrome: Well, this is one such option that entirely depends on you. A monochrome printer is capable of printing in one color. Hence, the single-color option doesn’t necessarily need to be the black one! You can even look for red, yellow, blue, and even green.
Monochrome best ID card printing machines are much faster in their functioning, and they are often available at affordable prices. For adding your card with multiple color options, you should get a color printer.
The color printer might work slowly to add the card with the desired color effects.
Speed: The last element is about the speed, which depends on whether you choose the best quality ID card printer, which is single-sided or dual-sided. Based on the printer selection, the speed will also vary.
If you have a larger brand or company and you need any device to work fast for you, look for the best printer with high-speed capability.
Some of the best ID card printers will take as little as 10 seconds to complete the whole process hence. But the slower machines may take almost 35-40 seconds to do a similar job. As depending on the speed of that printer device, the prices even vary a lot.
[acf field=”faq”]Frequently Asked Questions {FAQs}
Q. Which inkjet printers are helpful to print PVC cards?
A. Fargo DTC1250e is the best inkjet printer that has the highest printing resolution. It often brings a high-quality inkjet cd printer that features high speed, outstanding borderless printing, and pigment-based ink.
Q. How you can find the Best ID Card Printer for yourself?
A. Before you pick any printer, you should know your basic needs and card requirements as well. Based on the device capacity and the technology you prefer, you can find a machine that can fulfill all the requirements. It would hence help if you also were looking at the respective ID card printer reviews having different needs.
Q. Should you be buying a Single-Sided Or A Dual-Sided?
A. It all depends on what your card needs are. You can have a single-sided printer version for simple badge card printing with the basic information displayed on the front. Dual-sided will be suitable if you want to add more data fields, magnetic encoding, and signatures on the badge.
Q. What Types Of ID Cards a Printer can print?
A. Most ID card printers can easily print on PVC and other cards with magnetic chips embedded on top of them. But the printers which are using the DTC printing method may somehow leave gaps near the surface of the chips. For the laminated cards, some of the devices come fitted with lamination technology.
Our Verdict
So this was about the top 5 printers which you can buy for the ID card great printing. But let’s give you a short review of the products as the best picks.
As the editor’s choice, we have the Magicard Pronto ID card Printer which is a powerful and fastest engine for producing some amazing and high-quality prints on demand. Plug and Play system hence makes the installation extra easy for the newbie.
For a small business set-up, we have Bodno Store Badgy100 Color Plastic Printer which is capable of printing ID cards in a completely professional way. It has an easy setup system for advanced or beginner users.
Over the price specs, the Magicard 300 Dual-Sided ID Card Printer is the affordable option for you to pick now. You can easily use it to customize ID cards, Badges, or even some gift cards with photos, images, or barcodes using Card Imaging software.