An inkjet that prints for a heat press, not for a frame
A sublimation printer lays special inks on transfer paper that turn to gas under a heat press and bond with polyester fabric or a coated blank. The first question on this shelf is where the printer came from. A factory sublimation printer is sold for the job, with its own inks and a warranty that covers them; a converted inkjet is an office model filled with sublimation ink by the seller or the buyer, and the original maker's warranty rarely survives the conversion — the listing should say which it is. Paper width caps the size of a transfer, and a wide-format model makes shirt-front prints possible in one sheet. The ink system is refillable tanks or cartridges, and the difference is the running cost over a year. Color profiles matter because sublimation colors look dull on paper and only appear after pressing; a maker who publishes profiles for its inks and papers saves a box of test prints. Then connectivity, whether a driver exists for the computer in use, and what happens if the printer sits unused, since inks dry in the head. The result depends on the substrate too: cotton does not take sublimation, and a coated blank does. We compare factory or converted, paper width, ink system, published color profiles, connectivity and ink cost.
Factory sublimation printer · Wi-Fi · Artspira app · cartridge-based · display screen · 7.9 lb
Brother’s compact sublimation printer, driven by the Artspira phone app, with up to 20 saved images, and no desktop version when we read the listing.
Best for: A beginner making personal items from a phone.
≈ $399
Factory dye-sublimation printer · 8.5 × 11 in · PrecisionCore head · bottled ink with auto-stop · 150-sheet tray · Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet
Epson’s desktop dye-sublimation printer, with a PrecisionCore head, bottled ink with auto-stop filling, and a 150-sheet tray, sold here by a third party.
Best for: A hobbyist or seller who wants factory sublimation with low ink costs.
≈ $399
Office supertank printer, not a sublimation machine · refillable tanks · Wi-Fi · print, scan, copy
An office supertank often converted to sublimation by owners. Epson sells it for regular ink and recommends genuine ink, so a conversion is at your own risk.
Best for: A tinkerer who accepts a warranty risk to start cheaply.
≈ $190
Brother SP1 · extra CMY cartridges · 100 sheets · up to 45 s per sheet · third-party bundle
The Brother SP1 sold with an extra color cartridge set and 100 sheets of sublimation paper, in a bundle from a third-party seller.
Best for: A buyer who wants consumables in one order, and accepts the premium.
≈ $560
Wide-format office supertank, not a sublimation machine · 4800 × 2400 dpi · 17 ppm black, 9 ppm color · USB, LAN, Wi-Fi · fax
A wide-format office supertank that hobbyists convert for 13 × 19 inch sublimation. It is not sold for that use, and the listing comes from a third party.
Best for: A hobbyist who wants wide sublimation on a budget and accepts the risk.
≈ $548
Factory sublimation printer · up to 8.5 × 14 in · SubliJet UHD inks · 31 mL CMYK · Wi-Fi · MySawgrass · auto maintenance
A factory sublimation printer for media up to 8.5 × 14 inches, with SubliJet UHD inks, Wi-Fi, automatic print head maintenance and MySawgrass software.
Best for: A small business that values support and consistent color over ink cost.
≈ $660
Factory sublimation printer · up to 11 × 17 in · SubliJet UHD CMYK 31 mL · 2-year printer and ink warranty · 1:1 onboarding
The tabloid-size Sawgrass: prints up to 11 × 17 inches, with a 2-year printer and ink warranty and a 1:1 onboarding session.
Best for: A business printing shirts and larger panels.
≈ $1700
A machine originally sold for something else, filled with sublimation ink by a third party. The factory-or-converted note is published on every listing.
The published paper width sets the maximum transfer. It is read with the size of the press used.
How ink is held and delivered: cartridges, tanks or a continuous system depending on the model.
Published color profiles say so. Their absence means calibration work to be done yourself.
It is a manufacturer figure. This site reports it and never estimates a cost per page by itself.
Sublimation requires compatible substrates. This site publishes printer specifications and no transfer protocol.
Published connectivity specifies it. It decides integration with the existing workstation.
It prints on transfer paper. This site publishes specifications and describes no office use.
Check whether the printer was built for sublimation. A conversion usually ends the warranty, and it is your problem from then on.
Four machines in five must publish the value before a column is raised. Below that, it would be comparing absences.
| Model | Price | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Epson EcoTank ET-2800 | $190 | Inkjet supertank, sold for office use |
| Brother SP1 | $399 | Dye sublimation |
| Epson SureColor F170 | $399 | Factory dye sublimation |
| Epson EcoTank ET-15000 | $548 | Inkjet supertank, sold for office use |
| Brother SP1 bundle | $560 | — |
| Sawgrass SG500 | $660 | Factory dye sublimation |
| Sawgrass SG1000 | $1700 | Factory dye sublimation |
Specifications: manufacturer sheets for maker machines and tools and the matching Amazon product pages. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure in this table names its source.
Most recent revision in this category: November 1, 2026.
A price quoted in the text of a MakerVerdict page dates from the day that page was written; the live figure beside each product is fetched while you read and replaces it.
