The real differences between three in one four in one and five in one printers
Three in one. Four in one. Five in one. The labels appear on retail boxes, on dealer brochures, on price comparison sites, and on every Spanish electronics retailer landing page. The numbers count functions inside one chassis. The difference between the three labels comes down to two specific functions and a marketing layer that varies by brand. Once the labels are unpacked, the buying decision sits on top of two yes or no questions.
Most offices that ask the question end up with a four in one. Knowing why before paying matters more than knowing what number is on the box.
The three labels stripped of marketing
Three in one means print, copy, and scan. Three functions. No fax. The chassis covers everything an office that has moved off paper based fax workflows actually uses on a daily basis. Models like the Brother HL-L3280CDW, the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw stripped of fax licensing, and the Canon i-SENSYS MF754Cdw without the fax option ship as three in one configurations.
Four in one means print, copy, scan, and fax. The fax module is a separate hardware board with a phone line socket on the back of the chassis. The board is what the fax license unlocks. On most current generation MFPs the same physical hardware ships in either three in one or four in one configuration, with the difference being a firmware flag and a 100 to 400 euro price gap. Models like the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw, the Brother MFC-L8900CDW, and the Canon i-SENSYS MF754Cdw with fax option ship as four in one units.
Five in one is the marketing label that varies the most by brand. The fifth function added to the four function base can be wireless and mobile printing as a separately marketed feature, an automatic document feeder treated as a function rather than a component, an integrated cloud connector marketed as its own line item, or in some cases a USB port for direct file printing from a thumb drive. There is no single industry definition of what makes a unit a five in one. Two five in one units from different brands often have different fifth functions. The two paragraph definition of what an MFP is and what its functions cover sits at The simplest possible explanation of what a multifunction printer does.
What three in one actually leaves out
An office picking three in one over four in one is paying 100 to 400 euros less and giving up the ability to send and receive faxes from the chassis. In 2026 that trade off works for most offices. Email, secure file sharing, and electronic signature platforms have replaced fax in nine cases out of ten across European SMB workflows.
The cases where fax still matters are specific. Healthcare offices in regulated jurisdictions where prescription transmission and insurance paperwork still rely on fax. Legal offices handling court filings in jurisdictions that accept fax submissions as a backup channel. Public sector offices in regions where municipal forms still flow over fax for legacy reasons. Insurance back office workflows that exchange claim documents with carriers running on legacy fax servers. None of those workflows are the average Spanish SMB.
Where fax does still flow, the modern answer often skips the chassis fax module entirely. Internet fax services like eFax, RingCentral Fax, or HumbleFax route faxes through a SIP server using the T.38 protocol. The MFP scans the document, sends it as an attachment to an email address provided by the fax service, and the service handles the actual fax transmission to the recipient phone line. The hardware is a three in one with no internal fax module, the workflow is a fax flow, and the cost is a few euros a month for the service. The case for keeping a single function unit instead of any MFP at all in low volume scenarios sits at When a single function printer makes more sense than a multifunction one.
What five in one tries to add
Five in one is where the marketing varies the most. Brother typically uses five in one to mean print, copy, scan, fax, and PC fax, the last being the ability to send a fax from the computer through the MFP without printing first. HP sometimes uses five in one to count wireless printing as the fifth function alongside the four base functions. Canon uses five in one in some markets to bundle in mobile printing through the Canon PRINT app. Epson uses five in one in inkjet lines to count duplex automatic document feeding as a function.
None of the brand specific fifth functions are particularly unusual on modern MFPs in 2026. Wireless printing is standard on every office class machine. Mobile printing through AirPrint and Mopria is standard. PC fax driver shipping is standard on any unit with a fax module. Duplex ADF is standard on Segment 3 and above units. The five in one label often describes capabilities that a buyer would expect on any current MFP regardless of how the box markets it.
What the labels do not tell a buyer
Function count is a small part of what differentiates one MFP from another. The numbers that decide whether a machine fits an office workflow rarely appear on the three in one or four in one label. Pages per minute on the print engine. Recommended monthly volume. Paper input capacity. First copy out time. Cost per page on the dealer service contract. None of those numbers track with three or four or five.
A 25 page per minute three in one inkjet at 280 euros and a 35 page per minute four in one laser at 1,800 euros are different machines for different scenarios despite being labeled with similar numbers. The function count alone tells nothing about the speed band, the duty cycle, the paper handling, or the operating cost. Where the dealer segment classification fits into all of this, since it captures most of what the function count labels miss, sits at What the industry copier segments from one through six actually mean for you.
The segment system is a separate vocabulary, numbered one through six, that maps directly to speed band, paper handling, finishing options, and durability. A Segment 1 unit and a Segment 4 unit can both be marketed as four in one despite being different machines for different uses. Segment matters more than function count for any purchase above 800 euros.
The two questions that decide which label fits
Question one. Does the office send or receive faxes more than once a month. If yes, the answer is at least four in one. If no, three in one is fine and saves 100 to 400 euros.
Question two. Does the office need any of the brand specific fifth functions on the five in one labels. Mobile printing from phones during travel. PC fax driver for sending faxes from desktops without printing. Duplex ADF for two sided originals. If any of these are required and not standard on the four in one option being considered, the five in one label is worth checking against the spec sheet rather than the marketing copy.
In practice, the answer for most Spanish SMB offices in 2026 lands on a four in one unit at Segment 2 or Segment 3, with mobile printing and duplex ADF already standard on those segments. The four in one label is what the dealer invoice will say. The marketing labels above and below that level apply to a small set of buyer scenarios, not the central market. Whether the office volume has crossed into production class machines, where the function count labels stop applying entirely, gets unpacked at How to tell whether you need an office class copier or a production class one.
Specific models at each label
Three in one examples in 2026. The Brother HL-L3280CDW at around 380 euros, 24 pages per minute color, single sided ADF, no fax. The Canon i-SENSYS MF754Cdw at around 580 euros depending on configuration, 33 pages per minute color, duplex ADF, fax option not licensed. The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw at around 460 euros, 22 pages per minute color, fax board absent.
Four in one examples. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw at around 750 euros, 35 pages per minute color, duplex ADF, fax module included. The Canon i-SENSYS MF754Cdw with fax option at around 720 euros. The Brother MFC-L8900CDW at around 850 euros, 31 pages per minute color, duplex ADF, fax module standard. The Lexmark CX730de at around 1,200 euros, 40 pages per minute color, single pass duplex ADF, fax module standard.
Five in one examples vary so much by brand that comparing them as a category produces no useful information. The HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e is sometimes labeled five in one in retail listings to count its mobile printing app. The Brother MFC-J6957DW is sometimes labeled five in one to count its A3 paper handling. The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is sometimes labeled five in one to count its photo printing capability. None of these are comparable to each other on the basis of the five in one label alone.
Three in one means print, copy, scan. Four in one adds fax. Five in one means whatever the brand decides it means that quarter. Look at the function the office actually needs, the speed segment, and the cost per page on the service contract. The number on the front of the box is the smallest detail in the decision.