Top 10 Sublimation Printers — Best Overall + Best Value in 2027

1. Sawgrass SG500

The Sawgrass SG500 ranks first because it is the only $569 machine that works correctly on day one with no color guesswork. Max paper is 8.5x14" legal, enough for 20oz tumbler wraps, 11oz and 15oz mugs, mousepads, and youth-XL shirt fronts. SubliJet UHD ink ships with ICC profiles preloaded and CreativeStudio cloud software included. A 2-year warranty and Sawgrass phone support back it.

This is for Etsy mug and tumbler sellers who want to print, not troubleshoot. The trade is ink economics: replacement cartridges run about $90 each, so cost per print stays well above any bulk-tank rival. Against the Epson SureColor F170 below it at $499, the SG500 gives up roughly 40% on consumables cost but wins measurably on red and orange gamut, plus doubles the warranty term.

2. Sawgrass SG1000

The Sawgrass SG1000 ranks second because it keeps the SG500's turnkey workflow while scaling paper to 11x17" tabloid, with a bypass tray accepting 13x19". That size unlocks full adult shirt fronts, wide tumbler wraps, and two-up mug layouts that halve ink cost per piece. It runs the same SubliJet UHD ink, same preloaded ICC profiles, same CreativeStudio bundle. Price is $1,499, weight 66 lbs, footprint 24x21x12".

Buy it if you print adult apparel daily and legal paper has become the bottleneck. What it trades away is money: $930 more than the SG500 for size, not color, since the ink set and gamut are identical. The 300-sheet main tray suits production runs. Against the SG500 above it, nothing improves except capacity, so shirt volume alone justifies the jump.

3. Sawgrass Virtuoso VJ628

The Sawgrass Virtuoso VJ628 ranks third because its 8-color ink set — CMYK plus light cyan, light magenta, orange, and violet — delivers the widest gamut of any sublimation printer under $5,000. Max width is 24" with roll feed, resolution 1440x1440 dpi, and it ships with Sawgrass PowerDriver V RIP plus profiles tuned specifically to this machine. Price is $3,499, floor-standing at 115 lbs, with a 1-year on-site warranty.

This is the machine for commercial shops printing banners, flags, table runners, and full-front polyester garments. It costs floor space, install effort, and a weekly head-cleaning maintenance cycle that desktop units never demand. Compared with the Epson SureColor F570 below it, the VJ628 costs $504 more but its extra four inks visibly outperform four-color output on skin tones and long gradients.

4. Epson SureColor F570

The Epson SureColor F570 ranks fourth because it delivers a purpose-built 24" dedicated sublimation printer at $2,995 with UltraChrome DS ink and bulk tanks rather than cartridges. Maximum print width is 24", resolution reaches 2400x1200 dpi, and bundled ICC profiles cover polyester apparel, hard substrates, and transfer work. Adobe PostScript 3 is included, so Illustrator and Photoshop print natively with no separate RIP purchase.

It suits shops already standardized on Epson drivers and ink supply chains at wide-format scale. The concession is gamut: four-color only, narrower than the eight-color VJ628 directly above it, which shows on skin tones and subtle gradients. In exchange, bulk tanks cut cost per print sharply versus Sawgrass cartridges, and the $504 savings plus PostScript inclusion offsets the color deficit for volume work.

5. Epson SureColor F170

The Epson SureColor F170 ranks fifth because it is genuine dedicated sublimation hardware at $499 — under the SG500 — with UltraChrome DS ink in bulk tanks instead of cartridges, cutting cost per print roughly 40%. Maximum paper is 8.5x14", matching the SG500's project range for mugs and tumblers. Resolution is 1200x600 dpi, ICC profiles ship in the box, Epson Edge Print RIP is bundled, and the footprint is smaller.

Choose it if you print 50-plus transfers weekly and consumable cost outweighs peak color. The trade is measurable: side-by-side tests show narrower gamut than the SG500 on reds and oranges, and warranty is 1 year against Sawgrass's 2. Versus the converted EcoTank below it, the F170 costs more upfront but keeps a valid warranty and factory-calibrated profiles.

6. Epson EcoTank ET-2400

The Epson EcoTank ET-2400 converted to sublimation ranks sixth because roughly $330 all-in is the cheapest legitimate entry into the craft. The printer costs $249; flushing the factory ink and filling the tanks with Hiipoo, A-SUB, or Printers Jack sublimation ink adds about $80, with free ICC profiles downloaded from the ink seller. Maximum paper is 8.5x14", and bulk tank refills give the lowest cost per print on this list.

This is for first-time hobbyists testing whether sublimation is worth pursuing at all. The trade is real: flushing voids the Epson warranty immediately, support will refuse service, and color profiling becomes entirely your problem. Against the F170 above it, you save roughly $170 upfront and more per print, but absorb the flush risk and a genuine DIY color learning curve.

7. Sawgrass SG400

The Sawgrass SG400 ranks seventh because it delivers Sawgrass color and workflow at roughly $499 refurbished, but new stock has largely dried up by 2027. Maximum paper is 8.5x14", matching the SG500, and it runs the older SubliJet HD ink formula alongside the identical CreativeStudio bundle and ICC profile workflow. Refurbished units circulate through Coastal Business Supplies and Conde Systems, typically carrying a 90-day warranty rather than two years.

It fits buyers who stumble onto a genuinely cheap unit and accept refurb risk. What it trades away is warranty coverage and stock certainty, the two things that make the SG500 above it worth its $70 premium. A decade of community troubleshooting knowledge partially compensates, but the newer machine remains the safer purchase for anyone building a business.

8. Epson SureColor F1070

The Epson SureColor F1070 ranks eighth because at $4,499 it handles both direct-to-garment printing on cotton and dye-sublimation transfers on polyester through an ink swap, but that dual capability is wasted spend for sublimation-only buyers. Maximum paper size is 13x19", covering full adult shirt fronts. It uses UltraChrome DG ink for garment work and DS ink for sublimation, with built-in ICC profiles for both modes and Garment Creator 2 software bundled.

It makes sense only for decorators genuinely selling on dark cotton and poly blanks alike. What it trades away is capital efficiency: the Roland below it costs more but adds contour cutting, while the SG1000 above it covers 13x19 sublimation for $3,000 less. The 1-year warranty spans both ink configurations.

9. Roland VersaSTUDIO BN-20A

The Roland VersaSTUDIO BN-20A ranks ninth because $7,995 buys capability most sublimation buyers will never use: it prints and contour-cuts transfers in one pass on a 20"-wide bed. It runs TR2 dye-sublimation ink with optional white, hits 1440x720 dpi, and bundles VersaWorks 6, the industry-standard RIP, with profiles for polyester, hard substrates, and apparel transfers. Warranty is 1 year with on-site service.

Sign shops adding sublimation alongside vinyl cutting are the real audience, since the built-in cutter eliminates a separate machine. The trade is price against width: it costs more than double the 24" VJ628 above it while printing four inches narrower. Roland units routinely run a decade in production, so shops with existing transfer volume recover the cost quickly.

10. Mutoh ValueJet 1638WX

The Mutoh ValueJet 1638WX ranks tenth because $14,999 plus install and a heat calender press puts it outside every hobbyist and most small shops, despite being the most capable machine here. It is a 64" dual-head industrial dye-sublimation printer using Mutoh DS2 ink in an 8-color configuration at 1440x1440 dpi, fed by bulk 2L ink bags, shipping with Wasatch SoftRIP or Onyx Thrive.

Industrial decorators running roll-to-roll fabric, soft signage, and cut-and-sew sportswear panels are the only sensible buyers. The dual-head architecture doubles throughput against single-head 64" rigs, and the 2-year on-site warranty with Mutoh-trained techs supports 24/7 production. Against the Roland above it, this is not a step up in features but a change in business model entirely — capital equipment, not a shop add-on.

How we ranked these

Ranking weighted color accuracy with bundled ICC profiles at 30%, maximum paper size against realistic project types at 20%, cost per print including ink and paper at 20%, software ecosystem and beginner-friendliness at 15%, and warranty plus long-term support at 15%. Spec data came from Sawgrass, Epson Pro Imaging, Roland DGA, and Mutoh America, cross-checked against Heat Press Nation reviews, Coastal Business Supplies test prints, Conde Systems comparisons, and running r/sublimation buyer threads from 2026 and 2027.

Deliberately ignored: headline DPI numbers, because a 5760x1440 EcoTank spec collapses to roughly 1200 dpi effective once ink hits transfer paper and gasses into polyester. Also ignored print-speed claims, since heat-press cycle time gates throughput far more than the printer does at desktop scale. Marketing bundles, seasonal discounts, and Amazon rebadge listings were excluded because they change monthly and obscure the actual machine underneath.

What to look for

The real fork is turnkey versus conversion, not brand. A Sawgrass SG500 at $569 arrives with ink, paper, ICC profiles, CreativeStudio, and two years of warranty — the sticker is the whole cost. An EcoTank ET-2400 conversion lands near $329 all in but you absorb the warranty void, the ink flush risk, and every color-profile decision yourself. Sellers should buy support; hobbyists testing the craft should buy the gateway.

The mistake most buyers make is overspending on the printer and underspending on the heat press. A $200 Cricut Autopress will not match a $500 swing-away on tumbler wraps, and paper choice — A-SUB, Hiipoo, TexPrint, Beaver — shifts color more than beginners expect. Second mistake: buying 8.5x14 when the plan is adult shirt fronts. That needs 13x19, which means the SG1000 or F1070.

Related questions

Can you sublimate on cotton shirts?

No. Sublimation dye bonds only to polyester fibers or poly-coated substrates — mugs, tumblers, mousepads, ChromaLuxe panels, and polyester apparel. On cotton the dye has nothing to bond with and washes out after a cycle or two. Cotton decoration requires DTG, heat transfer vinyl, or screen printing. The Epson SureColor F1070 hybrid at $4,499 covers both by swapping ink sets.

Does converting an EcoTank void the warranty?

Yes, immediately and permanently. The moment you flush the original Epson ink and refill the tanks with third-party sublimation ink, Epson support will refuse service on that unit. The conversion itself is legal — no intellectual property issue exists with third-party ink — but you own every failure afterward. That trade is why the ET-2400 lands at roughly half the cost of a dedicated machine.

What is the cheapest complete sublimation setup?

Around $600 working. An Epson EcoTank ET-2400 at $249, a Hiipoo or A-SUB sublimation ink set near $80, 100 sheets of A-SUB paper around $20, and a heat press in the $200 range — a Cricut EasyPress 2 or a 9x12 clamshell. That covers shirts, mousepads, and flat blanks. Mugs and tumblers need their own dedicated wrap presses.

Why do bulk ink tanks matter more than cartridges?

Cost per print. Sawgrass SG500 and SG1000 replacement cartridges run roughly $90 each, while bulk-tank machines — the EcoTank, Epson's F170 and F570, and the Mutoh — refill from bottles or bags. The gap runs 40 to 60 percent per print. At Etsy volume that difference is noise; past roughly 50 prints a week it becomes the dominant line item in your unit economics.

What paper size do adult shirt fronts actually need?

13x19 inches. The common 8.5x14 legal size handles 11oz and 15oz mugs, 20oz tumbler wraps, mousepads, and youth through small adult designs, but a full adult front runs past it. The Sawgrass SG1000 reaches 13x19 through its bypass tray at $1,499, and the Epson F1070 hybrid handles it natively. Below that size you are cropping your artwork.

Do ICC color profiles really change the output?

Substantially. Without a correct profile, reds print orange and blues drift purple, because sublimation ink shifts color as it gasses under heat. Sawgrass units and dedicated Epson F-series machines ship with profiles preloaded. EcoTank conversions require you to download the profile matching your specific ink brand — Hiipoo, A-SUB, or Printers Jack — and install it in your design software yourself.

When does wide-format sublimation become worth it?

When banners, flags, table runners, or roll fabric enter the order mix. The Sawgrass VJ628 at $3,499 and Epson F570 at $2,995 both hit 24 inches. The VJ628 runs eight colors for wider gamut on skin tones and gradients; the F570 runs four with bulk tanks and bundled Adobe PostScript 3. Both demand floor space and a weekly head-cleaning routine.

Are Amazon sublimation printers worth buying?

Usually not. Most generic listings are rebadged converted Epsons — the same DIY flush you could perform yourself, resold at a premium for the labor. You still get no manufacturer warranty and often no documented ICC profile. Either convert an ET-2400 yourself for roughly $330 total, or buy a genuine dedicated machine like the Epson F170 at $499.

FAQ

What is the best overall sublimation printer in 2027?

The Sawgrass SG500 at $569. It prints to 8.5x14 legal, runs SubliJet UHD ink, and ships with ICC profiles, CreativeStudio cloud software, starter ink, and 100 sheets of paper. A two-year warranty with phone and chat support removes most of the trial-and-error that sinks beginners. Color gamut beats any converted EcoTank. The cost penalty is $90 replacement cartridges.

What is the best value sublimation printer?

The Epson EcoTank ET-2400 converted to sublimation — $249 for the printer plus roughly $80 for a third-party ink set, so about $330 all in. That is under half a Sawgrass SG500. Bulk tank refills give it the lowest cost per print on this list, and r/sublimation plus YouTube supply deep community troubleshooting. You void the Epson warranty and profile the color yourself.

Should I buy the Sawgrass SG500 or the Epson F170?

The SG500 at $569 wins on plug-and-play color accuracy, especially reds and oranges, and carries a two-year warranty against Epson's one. The F170 at $499 wins on ink economics — bulk tanks cut cost per print roughly 40 percent versus Sawgrass cartridges. Print under 50 sheets a week and take the SG500. Print more than that and the F170 pays back.

Do I need a separate heat press?

Yes. The printer produces a transfer sheet; the heat press bonds the dye into the substrate at roughly 385 to 400°F for 45 to 60 seconds. Flat goods need a clamshell or swing-away, mugs need a mug press, and tumblers need a wrap press or convection oven. Press quality affects final results as much as printer quality does on curved surfaces.

What is the difference between the SG500 and SG1000?

Paper size and price. The SG500 at $569 tops out at 8.5x14 legal. The SG1000 at $1,499 reaches 11x17 tabloid with a bypass tray accepting 13x19, which unlocks full adult shirt fronts, wide tumbler wraps, and two-up mug layouts that halve ink per print. Ink, software, ICC profiles, and the two-year warranty are identical between them.

Can one printer do both DTG and sublimation?

The Epson SureColor F1070 at $4,499 does, switching between UltraChrome DG for direct-to-garment on cotton and DS ink for sublimation on polyester via an ink swap. It prints to 13x19 with built-in profiles for both modes and bundles Garment Creator 2. The one-year warranty covers both configurations. It is overkill unless you genuinely need cotton and poly.

Why does the VJ628 use eight colors instead of four?

The Sawgrass Virtuoso VJ628 at $3,499 runs CMYK plus light cyan, light magenta, orange, and violet. Those four extra channels widen the gamut noticeably on skin tones and smooth gradients, where four-color machines band or shift. It is the widest gamut available under $5,000. The cost is a floor-standing 115-pound machine with a weekly head-cleaning maintenance cycle.

Is the Roland BN-20A worth $7,995?

Only if you already run sign-shop volume. The BN-20A prints and contour-cuts in a single pass across 20 inches, eliminating a separate vinyl cutter, and bundles VersaWorks 6, the industry-standard RIP. Roland machines routinely run a decade in production. For a shop already turning T-shirt transfers weekly it pays back inside a year. For anyone else it is far too much machine.

When would anyone need the Mutoh ValueJet 1638WX?

At $14,999 it is the endpoint: a 64-inch dual-head industrial machine behind much of the cut-and-sew sportswear, banner, and soft-signage industry. It runs DS2 ink in eight colors from 2L bags, feeds roll-to-roll fabric, and carries a two-year on-site warranty. Budget for installation and a heat calender press on top. If you are evaluating it, you already know.

Is the legacy Sawgrass SG400 still worth buying?

Only at a genuine discount. Refurbished units circulate near $499 through Coastal Business Supplies and Conde, running the older SubliJet HD ink — still excellent — with the same 8.5x14 size and identical CreativeStudio workflow. The catch is a 90-day refurbished warranty against the SG500's two years, and new stock has largely dried up by 2027. The SG500 is the safer buy.

Sources

• https://www.sawgrassink.com/products/sg500
• https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Professional-Imaging/SureColor-F170-Dye-Sublimation-Printer/p/C11CJ80201
• https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Professional-Imaging/Epson-SureColor-F570-24%22-Dye-Sublimation-Printer/p/SCF570SE
• https://www.rolanddga.com/products/printers/versastudio-bn-20a-desktop-printer-cutter
• https://www.mutoh.com/products/valuejet-1638wx
• https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Professional-Imaging/Epson-SureColor-F1070-Hybrid-Printer/p/SCF1070SE
• https://www.heatpressnation.com/collections/sublimation-printers
• https://www.reddit.com/r/sublimation/
• https://www.conde.com/collections/sublimation-printers
• https://www.coastalbusiness.com/sublimation-printers

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