The best laminator can help you preserve delicate documents and photos, create worksheets for classes, help you make signage and more. To create this list, I have examined factors such as ease of use, price, features, speed and size.
Some of these laminators I've tested personally, putting them through their paces with a variety of business, home and arty projects. Where I haven't, I've explored endless customer reviews to identify common pros and pain points.
The top 3 laminators
Laminate width: 12.5in
Size: 14.6 x 53.2 x 10.5cm
The Fellowes Saturn 3i Laminator is fast to warm up and laminates quickly. As a bonus, it can handle A3, making it ideal for creatives looking to keep art prints safe and clean.
Read more below
Laminate width: 9in
Size: 35 x 15 x 7cm
This affordable option comes with a paper cutter, round corner trimmer and hole punch, plus 15 laminating pouches of different sizes. It takes around five minutes to heat up, though.
Read more below
Laminate width: 12in
Size: 23.5 x 12.1 x 57.8cm
If you want to do some serious laminating, then the GBC Thermal Laminator is certainly up to the task. It can laminate 45 documents in 10 minutes and warms up in just one minute.
Read more below
The best laminators in full
Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
The best laminator overall
30-second review: The Fellowes Saturn 3i Laminator tops my list of the best laminators because it's one of the fastest to warm up (from 30 seconds) but laminates quickly (under a minute for A4). As a bonus, it can handle A3 documents, making it ideal for creatives looking to keep art prints safe and clean. Some customers find it a little bulky, though, so make sure you check the dimensions before you buy.
Pricing: The Fellowes Saturn 3i typically retails in the range of $80-$120, making it a mid-range option that offers excellent value for its speed and features.
Features: The Saturn 3i has a quite unique 'jam free' system and an auto reverse mechanism to reverse and realign any docs that have been misfed into it. The downside is it works best with Fellowes' own lamination pouches, but you get a pack of 10 to get started. The machine has an auto shut-off to save energy and comes with a two-year guarantee.
The best budget laminator
30-second review: This nice all-round affordable laminator comes with all of the tools to get you up and running, including a paper cutter, round corner trimmer and hole punch, as well as 15 laminating pouches (A4, A5 and A6). I found that it takes a little longer to heat up (five minutes) and it's slower than the Buyounger too, running at a 250mm/min laminating speed.
Pricing: The Crenova A4 Laminator is typically found in the budget-friendly range of $30-$50 / £25-£40, often including the accessory pack.
Features: The Crenova has both a hot and cold setting and works with pouches between 120-200 micrometres in weight, which is ideal for laminating bookmarks, photos and recipes. Like the Buyounger, this laminator has a useful ABS unjammer for removing stuck documents.
The best premium laminator
30-second review: If you need a laminator that's suitable for business use, then you're going to have to step up in price. In which case, I recommend the 7000L. It isn’t cheap, but it does deliver up to 45 documents in 10 minutes, the equivalent of 55 inches per minute, so is a great choice for heavy-duty use. This laminator warms up in just one minute, and has six rollers for smooth, high-quality results.
Pricing: As a premium option designed for heavy use, the GBC Thermal Laminator Machine Fusion 7000L generally sells for around $300-$400 / £320-£470.
Features: The laminator comes with 50 letter size EZUse Premium Speed Pouches, which seal on the longer side to reduce processing time by 22%. There’s a clever feature called advanced auto pouch thickness detection, which identifies the thickness of your pouch and document and adjusts to the optimal settings for the perfect seal. Overall, this is the Rolls Royce of laminators, both in terms of price and what it delivers.
The best basic laminator
30-second review: This no thrills machine can handle both three and five mil lamination, covering most items from photos to standard documents, but it can't handle thicker 10 mil lamination. I found it takes three-to-five minutes to warm up, a little longer than some others on my list. If you don't let it warm up, documents can come out with stripe marks. However, it offers excellent value, and if you're patient, the results are excellent. It features a paper jam lever for removing any stuck paper.
Pricing: As is typical of the Amazon Basics range, this 9-Inch Thermal Laminator is very budget-friendly, typically priced between $25-$40 / £15-£30.
Features: This laminator offers two heat settings for 3 mil and 5 mil pouches, accommodating common document types. It has a ready indicator light to signal when it's heated up and a manual jam release lever for clearing misfeeds. Its compact size makes it easy to store in a home office or classroom.
The most versatile laminator
30-second review: This is my pick as the best laminator for versatility and speed. It can laminate A4 and both 3 mil and 5 mil (though it lacks a manual switch to swap). It heats up under two minutes and can handle both hot and cold lamination for heat sensitive documents, although you'll need separate cold pouches for cold lamination. I found it to be quiet, and with a speed of 340mm/min, it's a fast device for those who need to get through lots of documents.
Pricing: The Buyounger 4 in 1 Thermal Laminator is usually found in the $40-$70 / £30-£55 price range, often bundled with its accessories.
Features: There's an ABS jam release button for quickly unsticking documents, which should extend life. It comes with a round-corner trimmer, which is nice for avoiding sharp edges, and a paper cutter for tidying the finish.
The best portable laminator
30-second review: The Scotch Brand PRO Thermal Laminator is a neat little laminator that weighs less than most on this list. A real workhouse, it takes about three to five minutes to warm up and uses two heated rollers to laminate material up to 9in wide. The results are bubble and wrinkle free, and jams are pretty rare. I found it very easy to use, and it automatically shuts off after one hour of inactivity. This is the best compact laminator for arts and crafts projects, photos, recipe cards, and educational activities in the classroom or on the move, although some reviewers found that the build quality was on the flimsy side.
Pricing: The Scotch Thermal Laminator Combo Pack typically sells for around $30-$55 / £25-£45, often including a starter set of laminating pouches.
Features: This laminator features a two-roller system with two temperature settings (3 mil and 5 mil) for different pouch thicknesses. It includes a convenient carry handle, cord storage wrap, and a fold-in tray for portability and easy storage. An automatic shut-off feature enhances safety and energy efficiency.
The best laminator for home use
30-second review: Want a laminator for your home, but don't want to spend too much money? The LMA4-V from Texet does a great job despite its low cost. It takes just three to five minutes to warm up, and it offers lamination speeds of 300mm per minute, which works out about 60 sheets an hour.
Pricing: The Texet A4 Laminator is a very affordable option, usually priced between $25-$45 / £20-£35.
Features: This laminator comes with five free A4 pouches, and while it doesn’t have any particularly clever features, it does what it needs to, for a good value price. This makes it the best laminator for homeschooling, and for home use in general.
The best laminator for commercial use
30-second review: If you're running a business, and looking for the best laminator for commercial use, I think this SINCHI Auto Sense laminator is a decent option. It takes just 50 seconds to warm up, and cools down quickly too, and once it's ready to go you can get 40-inches or 1,000mm per minute out of it. At five kilos this laminator is one of the heavier options on this list, although it's still lighter than the GBC Thermal Laminator Machine Fusion 7000L (above).
Pricing: Retailing for around $210 / £199.95, this is isn't the cheapest laminator around, but if you use it a lot, it will pay for itself in the long run.
Features: The SINCHI Auto Sense laminator boasts a rapid warm-up time and high laminating speed, making it efficient for commercial volumes. Its "Auto Sense" feature automatically detects document thickness and adjusts settings accordingly. It also includes an anti-jam system to prevent misfeeds and ensure smooth operation, crucial for busy environments.
How to choose the best laminator
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a laminator. First, think about the size of items you'll be laminating. Will they be standard A4 size, or will you need to laminate either larger items, or smaller ones such as business cards? Check the laminating width, as we've highlighted in our choices above, to make sure the laminator will accommodate your needs.
You also need to consider cost: not just the price of the laminator, but the ongoing cost of the sheets you need to feed it. That said, when it comes to valuable documents and precious memories, you should also think about the cost of not laminating them!
Finally, think about how often you'll need to use your laminator. If it's just going to be the occasional job, pretty much any basic laminator will do. But if you're going to be laminating lots of things in one session, or sharing the laminator in a busy workplace or classroom, you'll need something a bit more powerful and expensive, as some of the cheaper options may be slower and less reliable. Also make sure you check the dimensions of the laminator as some of them are quite bulky, and it's a good idea to check the weight too.
How we tested the best laminators
I've been testing and reviewing laminators and a wide range of other craft machines for several years. I test each device in real-world situations with the type of materials that they were designed to handle. To choose the best laminators, I compared their capabilities in terms of the size and thickness of lamination they can be used for, their speed, build and design, value for money and smoothness of operation – which included testing for jams. Where we weren't able to test each laminator, we have consulted user reviews from a variety of sources plus our own product knowledge to get the main pros and cons of each machine.
FAQs
Are there alternatives to using laminators?
Yes, these days you can use digital craft machines for some laminating tasks. For example the best Silhouette machines can laminate using the appropriate material, as can newer digital craft machines, such as the Cricut Maker 3.
Are laminators worth it?
That really depends on what you want to use a laminator for. If you're only doing one project, it might not be worth buying a whole machine, but if you know you're going to get regular use out of it, a laminator will soon pay for itself. There are plenty of affordable options. Just bear in mind that you'll have to pay for the cost of the sheets as well as the machine.
What shouldn't I laminate?
Some documents aren't suitable for laminating. You should avoid laminating government documents like passports or other forms of ID, for example, and certificates should also not be laminated, although you can laminate a copy if you like. Documents that shouldn't be laminated can be protected with clear plastic pouches.
