The best instant photo printer you can buy right now

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I think instant photo printers are more practical than instant cameras because they are less cool. They don't quite tap into the nostalgia-fueled fun of pulling out an instax camera at a party, but they are a more versatile means of getting to the final product: a real, live photo print. A physical print is kind of magic in an age where most of our photos live in digital storage on our devices or on social media feeds.

There are many ways to turn photos on your phone into prints, but most of them involve waiting for shipping or finding a kiosk in a store, both of which are bad prospects. Mobile photo printers are small enough to be carried in a purse or bag, so they can be used wherever you go.

The Polaroid Hi-Print isn't the most portable, but it does produce the best color and print quality. It is small enough to fit into a larger purse or bag, but it is not going to fit into an evening clutch. The Canon Ivy is fun and portable.

2 x 3-inch photos are about the size of a credit card. For the purposes of this guide, only 2 x 3 options were considered for compact printers that work with larger 4 x 6-inch photo paper that is better suited for hanging on your wall. All of our picks are free to download on both platforms, and they all worked without problems.

Excellent quality prints can be produced with the Hi-Print.

• $79 at Amazon
• $100 at Best Buy

Polaroid Hi-Print

The best instant photo printer

The Polaroid Hi-Print is a mini dye-sub printer, which is the technology most larger color photo printers use. Three separate passes were used to apply the layers. You can watch the print move in and out of the printer as different color layers are applied by using the companion app. It is not retro to watch an instant photo print develop, but it is neat. It results in high-quality prints with good contrast. If you look closely, you can see some banding in the solid colors, but it is only visible from a short distance.

It is very easy to use the Hi-Print app. If you want to get direct access to your social accounts, you need to look at the Zink printer options. The text type is the best-looking among the printers I tested. I wanted to put funny text on my pictures. Standard color and exposure adjustments are available, along with some colorful frames that don't stink.

Adding more photo paper to the Hi-Print is not the way to go. The refill is an entire printer cartridge. Each one includes 10 sheets of photo paper ready to go and they are sold in boxes of two. There is a tab on the bottom of the photo sheets that you can use to grab the picture from the printer. A peel off backing can be used to make a sticker.

The Hi-Print system creates a lot of plastic waste. Polaroid can't recycle them for you since they use more than one type of plastic, and my local curbside recycling guidelines don't allow it since it uses more than one type of plastic. It's a shame that you can't reuse it It isn't the most practical option if you want to carry a lot of paper refill with you.

Unlike Zink, which is used by many different mobile printer brands, this is a proprietary format. You will be stuck with a printer that doesn't work if Polaroid stops making the Hi-Print.

The cost of the Hi-Print is higher than other printers. A single refill pack costs $17 and a printer costs $100. You can get a three-pack of refill for $50 on Amazon. The price is around 85 cents. The Zink alternatives are less than 50 cents per print.

If you are looking for ultra-portability, an abundance of fun stickers, or the very best cost per print, then the Hi-Print isn't the right choice. The prints are better than the others. The app is very easy to use and the text options are fun. The Hi-Print is the best option if you want good print.

The retro appeal of true instant film is what makes the Instax Mini Link 2 so good.

• $100 at Amazon
• $100 at Best Buy

Instax Mini Link 2

The best Instax photo printer

It has an appeal. You will watch it develop in front of your eyes after your photo is taken. There is a nostalgic look to images with slight overexposure. The white frame that holds the film in place is found in prints. If you want an instant film experience in a convenient package, you need to know about the Instax brand.

The Mini Link 2 is a unique offering, with a lot of quirks that annoyed me as I tested it, but at the end of the day, it's a good thing. It has a particular draw in itself. The prints are very nice, and the film is easy to get at brick-and- mortar retailers and online. You can expect to pay 70 cents for a print. The price of a 20-sheet refill pack is about $20, but it is currently selling for about 14 dollars. It's not as expensive as the Hi-Print, but it's more expensive.

Some of the printer's quirkier features can be found in the Mini Link 2's sensor that senses the printer's orientation. The mode of the printer can be changed by standing it up vertically or by turning it on its side. There is no point in using this feature because you can use any print feature you want. I had to wait for the app to finish an animation signifying the switch to the other mode after moving the printer without thinking.

If you use the camera function in the Mini Link app, you can use this function as well. The printer can be tipped forward and backwards to zoom in and out. It works well, but it is sort of a pointless gimmick because you can just pinch and zoom on the image preview, like any other camera app.

The Mini Link app isn't easy to use. A lot of menu options are hidden by the settings icon. There are different frame options in different locations. You can't easily switch between the different print modes of the Collage option. You need to discard the edits you are working on if you decide to use a frame instead of a piece of art.

The printed area of a photo is smaller than the alternatives. The frame reinforces the image so it lays flat, and it is a good size for snapshots. The images are very small very quickly. Text and stickers are the same thing.

A lot of the features in the Mini Link 2 and its companion app are similar to a match-making game that rates your compatibility with another person and prints it on your photos as a percentage. You can use the app to take a picture of a drawing and convert it to a sticker, or you can use the printer to make a design on a photo. There are some that are not for me. It's possible that your mileage is different.

The Zink paper used in the Canon Ivy is more portable and cost-effective than other types of refill.

• $100 at Amazon
• $100 at Best Buy

Canon Ivy

The best Zink photo printer

The Canon Ivy is the best portable printer. The Zink paper we tested has the best photo quality of the Zink printers we tested, with good color reproduction. The companion app seems to get newstickers to apply to photos. When I used the app in July, it had been updated with Pride and Juneteenth artwork.

The printer is more portable and cost-effective than other printers. 50 sheets of paper cost $24 on Amazon and work out to about 50 cents per print, which is how much the printer costs.

I had a problem with the app crashing when I tried to connect my photos to my account. This worked well on the other platforms. I wouldn't recommend the Ivy if you're an owner of an Apple device. Most iPhone owners would want to use the printer anyway, so I didn't have any issues with accessing photos on the phone or connecting to my account.

The Ivy is a great option for someone who doesn't want the best print quality.

The HP Sprocket is portable and cost-effective, even though it isn't the best in the Zink class.

• $77 at Amazon
• $80 at Best Buy

HP Sprocket

The best cheap instant printer

The Sprocket and the Kodak Step are Zink printers licensed by C&A Marketing. The HP Sprocket came out ahead, but not by much. The print quality is okay, but the printer adds some unattractive sharpening and brightening that looks bad. The Canon Ivy is a better choice if photo quality is important. Overall color reproduction is acceptable on the Sprocket, but I can't say the same about the Kodak Step, which adds too much red to images. You can adjust the red and cyan sliders in the app, but you need to do this before printing.

There are some nice features of the Sprocket. The setup that the app takes you through is easy to understand. You can change the name of the printer as it appears in the app, and you can also choose which color the indicator light will illuminate. It is small enough for a large clutch-style purse, but not as thin as the Canon Ivy. The cost per print for a pack of 100 photo sheets is less than 50 cents. The Sprocket is a great deal if you don't care about photo quality.