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There’s something oddly satisfying about a perfectly labeled spice rack or a pantry with bins that specify exactly what they contain—even if it’s plain as day that the “pasta” bin contains boxes of dried penne. Taking a label maker to the most clutter-laden corners of my home helps me feel organized. And frankly, feeling organized externally often helps me feel organized internally, too.
With that in mind, I researched, selected, and tested some of the top home label makers to see how intuitive different devices were to use and how well their labels stuck to my kids’ dresser drawers, toy bins, water bottles, and lunchboxes. Read on for my thoughts about the best machines for various needs. Just beware that household organizing with a label printer can get addicting and lead to joy-inducing clean spaces.
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Best Overall
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
There’s not a whole bunch more the average person could want in a handheld label maker other than what the PT-n25bt offers, particularly at such an approachable price. With this device, even a label-making newbie should have no issue making a custom tag in less than a minute. After clicking the tape cartridge into place, simply close the back of the machine, power it on, and type directly onto the standard QWERTY keyboard. Press print, and then use the on-device cutting mechanism to get a clean, straight edge every time. If you’re not in a huge rush, you can putter around with three font options, seven font styles (think: bold, underline, italic), 15 text frames, and hundreds of symbols. The LCD screen lets you preview any edits you make to your label, minimizing unintended surprises you get when it, say, spits out a thick border design you really hate.
For even more design flexibility, you can opt for the Brother Design&Print 2 companion app that’s available on iOS and Android devices. It connects via Bluetooth and provides dozens of templates geared toward specific purposes, like gift tags, file folders, or food containers. You can also design your own custom label on the app without using a template. If you go this route, you’ll have way more font, frame, and design options at your disposal than if you design directly on the app.
The labels themselves offer a level of customization. Because the tape cartridges are available in 17 colors, you can choose to make your labels look all your own, particularly if you opt for a less-common color, like black print on green tape. The labels also hold up to the conditions. Brother markets its durability-minded laminated BTag label tapes—specifically for its P-touch line of label makers—as being water-, temperature-, and fade-resistant, along with microwave-, dishwasher-, and freezer-resistant. In my few weeks of testing, these claims held up.
For all of its wins, there are a few drawbacks of the PT-n25bt: It runs on a whopping six AAA batteries that aren’t included in the box. You can also power it with an AC adapter, but you have to buy that separately for $26. You’re also limited to labels that are 12 millimeters wide (roughly half an inch), so you’ll need to stack labels if you’re looking for a bigger visual.
Specs Type of ink Thermal transfer Power source: 6 AAA batteries or AC adapter, neither included Dimensions: 5.9" x 5.9" x 2.8" App compatibility: Brother Design&Print 2 Tape-width range and cost: 12 mm width, available in 17 colors; 13.1-foot tape cartridges for $7 Warranty: 1 year limited Best Upgrade
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Brother
P-touch Cube Plus (PT-P710bt)
If what you value in a label maker is a result that looks polished, professional, and decidedly not homemade, the P-touch Cube Plus is calling your name. It allows for great versatility in its labels, printing on tape as narrow as 6 mm and as wide as 24 mm, meaning you can use it to organize the small jars on your spice rack and large boxes in your storage unit.
The Cube Plus also supports a huge selection of designs, with hundreds of fonts, borders, and graphics, available via your choice of three design apps and platforms accessible via Bluetooth connection: Brother Design&Print 2 (also compatible with the Brother PT-n25bt), iPrint&Label, and P-touch Editor software that you can use with a desktop, the latter of which I did not test. Like the Brother Design&Print 2 app, discussed above, the iPrint&Label is seamless to use. Its templates are less ornate, but on this upscale device, I found this simple quality to be nice, eliminating the time-suck of customization flourishes but still producing a professional-quality label. You do have to use one of these apps, though, as there’s no on-device keyboard. Once you select “print,” the connection is quick—just a couple of seconds—and the Cube Plus self-cuts your new label for you.
At nearly three times the price of the Brother PT-n25bt, the Cube Plus’ upscale features do come at a cost, though—and the bills don’t stop once you buy the machine. The Cube Plus works with Brother’s TZe laminated label tape; replacement cartridges start at $15 for black print on clear tape and are pricier for specialty colors, like $24 for black print on glitter yellow tape. But the labels feel as premium as they claim to be, with text printed between seven layers of lamination. In my testing, the tape held up to heat, sunlight, microwaving, dishwashing, and general wear and tear.
Price aside, there is something joy-inducing about making a jazzed-up label—my 4-year-old, for one, was thrilled about his shimmery gold new lunchbox label. Also, I was intrigued to learn that Brother sells a TZe fabric label tape that’s compatible with the Cube Plus. Though I didn’t test it, fabric tape is something I haven’t seen as an option on other home label makers, and parents in particular will find the ability to label clothes super-useful, even though this version still requires the extra step of ironing it on.
Specs Type of ink Thermal transfer Power source: USB Dimensions: 5" x 2.6" x 5" App compatibility: Brother Design&Print 2, iPrint&Label, or P-touch Editor software from a PC Tape-width range and cost: 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm, 18 mm, and 24 mm widths, available in dozens of color options, starting at $15 for 26.2-ft tape cartridges Warranty: 1 year limited
Best Portable
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Often available on sale for less than $30, this Bluetooth-enabled machine from Niimbot is the most compact label maker I tried. It has great preset template options for home labels that you can access through its two companion apps—Niim and the Niimbot app—both of which are available for iOS and Android devices. I played around with Niim, the app that focuses more squarely on household-organization needs, as opposed to the Niimbot app’s industry-intended templates for things like jewelry tags and food product labels you might find on baked goods at a farmers’market.
The breadth of preset templates available is incredible for helping you to zhuzh up a could-be boring label into something more refined—without spending any extra time designing it yourself. The app’s “community” tab is an especially nice function. It lets you claim templates other users have uploaded, and then edit them to fit your needs. For example, I used a community template to create a Spider-Man-themed label for my son in seconds. The only hiccup I encountered was with calibrating the tape in the machine, which led to crooked borders. After two failed attempts at printing a “Pasta” label for a food bin in my pantry, I removed the border from my design because I couldn’t get all four edges to print within the frame. The text might still be uneven, but it’s less noticeable without the border.
Unlike the Brother label makers’ continuous tape, Niimbot labels print on precut stickers. This removes the need for an on-device cutting mechanism, but the stickers’ fixed dimensions also reduce some flexibility in how much text you print onto a given label. The Niimbot stickers are available in several sizes for round and rectangular labels, starting at $15 for two rolls of 230 labels. Niimbot also sells narrower cable labels ($15 for 200 labels) to help you organize your cord spaghetti.
The seven-layer label itself is more durable than I thought it would be. To the touch, it feels less premium than both Brother varieties I tried (TZe and BTag laminated tapes), but it still held up to the elements when I left one on my roof deck for a week under Southern California’s blazing August sun. It didn’t fade or lose its adhesive quality. Niimbot doesn’t claim its labels can handle the dishwasher or microwave, but clearly, the stickers can deal with some serious heat.
Specs Type of ink Direct thermal Power source: USB Dimensions: 5’’ x 3.7’’ x 2.4‘’ App compatibility: Niim, Niimbot app Tape-width range and cost: Several size options for white and transparent round and rectangular labels; cable-label sizes in white and yellow; refills start at $15 for two rolls of 230 labels Warranty: None Best Budget
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Photograph: Alexis Berger
Small, sturdy, and simple, the handheld Dymo Letralag 100H device itself is all you need to make practical custom labels. (Well, that and four AA batteries.) There’s no companion app to learn, no USB charging cord to worry about forgetting, and just one size of label tape to consider. It’s certainly a no-frills option, but for the people who (validly!) contend there’s no reason to futz around with a label maker’s infinite-feeling settings and keep track of its expansive suite of accessories, the affordable Letralag 100H is a breath of fresh air.
To create and print your label, simply type on the device using the QWERTY keyboard. You can make some simple style choices, with font options and various sizes. There are also simple borders and symbols you can insert. But I recommend keeping your designs simple. In testing, the larger font sizes looked stretched, smaller looked scrunched, and the two-line text capability yielded a label that was hard to read. There’s an LCD screen where you can preview your label, but it won’t show the stretched or scrunched quality of the difference in font sizes. There’s an on-device cutting mechanism, but it snips labels far from the internal printer, so you may still want to trim down your label with scissors to avoid blank space.
The paper doesn’t feel as nice as the more premium options the other label makers offer. The labels don’t claim to be waterproof or heat-resistant, but after a week of sitting on my roof patio in direct sun in the middle of a Los Angeles heat wave, the print didn’t fade. The white label itself, though, did slightly discolor, and the sticker peeled a bit at the edges. But for labeling storage boxes, dresser drawers, pantry bins, or other home-organization needs that mostly live in room-temperature conditions, this trusty label maker should do the trick.
Specs Type of ink Direct thermal Power source: 4 AA batteries (not included) Dimensions: 3.25" x 4.75" x 10.5" App compatibility: N/A Tape width range and cost: 12 mm width; $9 for a two-pack of 13-ft label tape Warranty: 1 year limited
Also Tested
Nelko P21 for $22: This adorably pocket-sized, affordable, direct thermal label maker is easy to keep at the ready (or even in a tote bag for on-demand label-making emergencies), but actually using it is kind of a lot of work. Its companion app offers plenty of fun templates, but a lot of them are behind a paywall. I only discovered this when I printed a “Pasta” label for a pantry bin, and it came out with a watermark-like overlay. Once I made my own simple label, I struggled to calibrate the label tape to get the pre-cut stickers appropriately centered for my design. Even after I did figure it out, I realized I had to recalibrate the tape for each subsequent print. That’s because there’s no perforation or internal cutting mechanism, so you have to pull out the label tape a bit after it’s printed, which then moves the rest of the pre-cut roll of labels off-center. If you don’t remember to recalibrate, your next label will print off-center as well. I’m sure with enough trial and error, this process would become second nature, but the learning curve for the Nelko was nonetheless the steepest of all the label makers I tried.
FAQs
What Are the Different Kinds of Label Makers?
The top label makers I’ve included in the list use either thermal transfer printing or direct thermal printing. Direct thermal printing works by heating special paper, which is a process that yields labels that are less durable under various conditions and also more likely to fade over time. Thermal transfer printing works by melting ink from a ribbon cartridge onto a label. These labels tend to be more durable and longer-lasting. Thermal-transfer label makers also typically require slightly larger, more expensive machines.
Are Bluetooth or Traditional Label Makers Better?
Neither is inherently better, but each offers its own benefits. Traditional label makers have on-device keyboards where you type your label and customize font sizes, styles, symbols, and borders. Bluetooth-enabled label makers work by pairing the device with a mobile app on which you design your label, and then print it remotely. Often, these apps feature a wider variety of templates and font options than traditional label makers. Apps also typically show a more accurate preview than LCD screens on label makers themselves. Some label makers, like the best overall Brother PT-n25bt, offer both on-device and app-enabled designing.
Can You Use Label Maker Labels on Clothing?
It’s not recommended unless the label tape in question specifically mentions being able to work with fabric, like the TZe fabric label tape for the P-touch Cube Plus. Some label tape does claim to be heat-resistant and water-resistant, but even in this case, the label’s adhesive quality is likely to degrade after a bunch of cycles in the washer and dryer.
How I Tested These Label Makers
I considered popular options, and I received some testing units as samples from the company and bought others. I tested the functionality of each device by creating labels with an on-device keyboard, designing labels in a companion app and printing via Bluetooth compatibility, or both, depending on the label maker in question’s capabilities. I tested the durability of the top machines’ labels by sticking them on various surfaces, seeing if they could get wet and handle heat without fading or losing their adhesive strength over the course of at least one week, often longer.
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