The Best Label Makers of 2024

Brother makes some of the most popular label printers on the market, so much so that we tested four for this guide, and the Brother P-touch PTD210 is our favorite of the bunch because of all the label-making features it includes. There is a selection of 14 fonts, 600 symbols, 98 frames, and even some templates to choose from.

The Brother PTD210 even saves 30 labels for you to reprint whenever you need them again. The menus are intuitive and user friendly.

However, the size of the keyboard is too small to touch-type, so it’s really best to hold it in two hands and use your thumbs to type.

Generally, the Brother tape tested very well in both the water and freeze tests. The tape is available in a wide range of sizes and colors. If barcodes are part of your label-printing needs, this model is not able to accommodate that.

It also didn't include any source of battery power in the box, so make sure to pick up some batteries or purchase the optional AC adapter.

The Brother PTD450 has plenty of features to recommend it: a QWERTY keyboard, an included A/C adapter as well as the option to use batteries, computer connectivity through a USB cable. It includes 4 fonts, with 10 font styles, and more than 600 symbols. It will also print barcodes.

If you spend a considerable portion of your time creating several labels per minute or day, this label maker would be great for you. With the large keyboard, you can touch-type all those labels much more quickly than a hunt-and-peck style of typing used on the smaller models.

However, if you don't see yourself using it very often, and don't need the additional features, this label maker may not be worth the extra cost.

We really wanted to like the Brady BMP21-Plus. It’s so seemingly rugged, you might even be able to label a polar bear in its Arctic home. With the sharp black rubberized and bright yellow accents, you’d be able to find it in that snowbank.

During the labels section of testing, the Brady BMP21-PLUS struggled to match the quality offered by the other label makers we tested. The white nylon cloth label had poor water resistance, peeling up at one corner and it left a residue on the wooden cutting board. While Brady does offer other label types, this roll of included label tape was disappointing.

The Brady BMP21-PLUS does not come with a power source in the box, so you'll need to purchase six AA batteries.

With an alphabetic order and 100 built-in symbols on the one-handed keyboard, the Brady was a bit of a struggle to use.

However, the menus were intuitive and easy to navigate. With two buttons to control the cutter, this label maker can be used by either right or left-handed folks, a thoughtful design approach.

For the price of this label maker, the full roll of labels was a nice bonus, but it’s reasonable that a tool in this price range should have a power adapter included.

If our best overall choice has an evil twin brother, it just might be this label maker. The DYMO 420P looks very similar to other DYMO label products with a sleek, one-handed design.

A larger, backlit display offers an expansive five-line space to create your labels in. Even if you forget to purchase batteries, the DYMO 420P has got you by including a dedicated rechargeable lithium ion battery and charger. However, the charger will not work without the battery pack installed—you get a very cheerful "BATTERY FAILED!” message if you try to run off the charger.

As for its evil side, the DYMO 420P is also demanding. When the charge was dropping down, it insisted on being plugged in for 10 minutes and then counted down the time.

Aside from being a bit power hungry, the DYMO 420P was clear about its ability to fit text onto the size of label tape. When I pushed to get a third line of text, it stopped me and showed “TOO MANY LINES!” The clarity of that message is appreciated.

This model features eight fonts, seven font sizes, 10 text styles and more than 200 symbols and clip-art images.