If you’ll be printing hundreds or even thousands of cards in a single day, you need an ID card printer with fast print times to maximize your printing efficiency. So we’ve rounded up the fastest ID card printers!

Fast – Evolis Primacy

With a fast print speed of just 18 seconds for a full-color, single-sided ID card, the Evolis Primacy is a strong contender for fastest ID card printer. This printer is capable of producing 210 cards per hour (140 if dual-sided). Monochrome cards are even faster, taking only 10 seconds for a single-sided card.

This printer features the smallest hopper of the three, holding 100 cards in both the input and output hoppers. But Evolis printers are designed to work with both Mac and PC computers, and the Primacy comes standard with Ethernet connectivity, giving you flexibility in your office environment.

Faster – Fargo DTC4500e

Several seconds faster, the Fargo DTC4500e prints full-color, single-sided ID cards in just 16 seconds. Monochrome printing is also faster, at just 6 seconds per single-sided monochrome card.

The Fargo DTC4500e also has a larger hopper, holding 200 cards in the dual-hopper design. The faster print speed and larger hoppers allow you to print more cards, quicker, between stops to load new blank cards.

Fastest – Zebra ZXP Series 7

Our fastest ID card printer is the Zebra ZXP Series 7 – it boasts a print time of just 12 seconds for full-color, single-sided cards! The ZXP Series 7 also has a 200 card input hopper, like the Fargo, but its monochrome printing is twice as fast at just 3 seconds for single-sided cards.

Zebra’s unique design for the ZXP Series 7 is behind these extremely fast print speeds, which you can tell just by looking at the printer. Where most ID card printers are square-like in shape, the ZXP Series 7 printers are longer which allows the printer to pass a card through a single time to print instead of the traditional card flipping to laminate, encode, or print on the back side.

In fact, this design also makes the ZXP Series 7 Dual-sided printer still has that same 16 second print time, and the ZXP Series 7 with Lamination takes only an additional two seconds to print a full-color dual-sided ID card with lamination.

Try the AlphaCard Printer Comparison Tool to find your perfect ID card printer.