Printers
Which printer to buy.
Backfeed is built for network-capable Zebra ZD desktop label printers. The three we recommend are all on our own bench.
Before you order
Three decisions are made at the till, and two of them cannot be undone afterwards.
It needs Ethernet or Wi-Fi
There is no print driver on either platform, and USB only gets a new printer onto Wi-Fi. You cannot read the network off the base part number — it is in the configuration string after the dash, so two ZD421s share a model name and only one has a port. A USB-only unit is recoverable: Ethernet is a card you fit yourself behind a tool-less door (P1112640-015, ZD411 and ZD421). Buying secondhand, ask for a photo of the back panel.
Buy the “d”
Every model ships in two builds. A ZD421d is direct thermal and takes no ribbon; a ZD421t adds a ribbon carriage, and a ZD421c takes a cartridge. Direct thermal is what our bench runs and the cheaper build.
A “t” or “c” still works, since both print direct thermal with no ribbon loaded — you would just be paying for a mode we have never run. Going the other way is impossible: no conversion kit exists. And if your labels must survive sunlight, heat or a freezer, direct thermal fades and thermal transfer is the right answer, whatever we happen to test.
On a part number the method sits straight after the resolution digits: ZD4A042-D01W01EZ is direct thermal only, ZD4A042-301M00EZ is the DT/TT build.
Peelers and cutters mean a trip to the printer
A peeler or cutter can be fitted later, like the network cards. But the printer has to be told which mode it is in, and Backfeed only reads that setting — it will say a label is waiting at the peel bar rather than call the job failed, but you set the mode on the printer, once.
Suggested models
What we would buy
In the order most people should consider them. All three are on our bench, and the figures are the ones Backfeed itself uses to lay a label out.
Start here
Zebra ZD421
The 4-inch model, and the one to buy if you’re not sure. A 4 × 6 shipping label fits it and doesn’t fit the others.
- Max print width
- 4.00″ / 102 mm
- Resolutions
- 300 & 203 dpi
- Build to order
- ZD421d
- On our bench
- 300 dpi, tested
- Status
- Current model
Buy it if you print shipping labels, or don’t yet know what you’ll print. Most of Backfeed was developed against it.
Narrow labels
Zebra ZD411
The 2-inch model. Same generation and same behaviour as the ZD421, in a smaller body with a narrower head.
- Max print width
- 2.10″ / 53 mm
- Resolutions
- 300 & 203 dpi
- Build to order
- ZD411d
- On our bench
- 300 dpi, tested
- Status
- Current model
Buy it if you print product, price or shelf labels and will never need 4-inch stock. Less desk, too.
Cheapest way in
Zebra ZD410
The previous generation of the 2-inch model. Zebra no longer sells it new — the ZD411 replaced it — so it turns up used and it turns up cheap.
- Max print width
- 2.10″ / 53 mm
- Resolutions
- 300 & 203 dpi
- Build to order
- ZD410d
- On our bench
- Both, tested
- Status
- Discontinued
Buy it if you want the lowest price and don’t mind secondhand. Backfeed treats ours exactly like a ZD411 — but check the network card, and expect no warranty.
What will not work
- Zebra ZSB series. Same brand, different machine: it prints through your Zebra account over their cloud, with no ZPL and no socket to connect to. A closed architecture, not an untested one. Buy a ZD.
- Non-Zebra printers. TSPL, ESC/POS and Brother are not supported.
- A ZD with no network interface, until you fit the card above.
- Printing from another app’s Print dialog. There is no print driver and no CUPS integration, on either platform.
Compatibility
Every model Backfeed recognises
Every row below has run labels on our own bench, except where the status column says otherwise. Backfeed needs macOS 14 or later, or iOS 17 or later on iPhone and iPad; one purchase covers every platform.
| Model | Resolution | Max print width | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zebra ZD421 | 300 dpi | 4.00″ / 102 mm | Tested on our own hardware |
| Zebra ZD411 | 300 dpi | 2.10″ / 53 mm | Tested on our own hardware |
| Zebra ZD410 | 300 dpi | 2.10″ / 53 mm | Tested on our own hardware |
| Zebra ZD410 | 203 dpi | 2.20″ / 56 mm | Tested on our own hardware |
| Zebra ZD421 | 203 dpi | 4.09″ / 104 mm | Recognised, not yet tested here |
Print width is the usable width of the print head, which is what Backfeed lays a label out against — not the width of the media the printer will accept.
Another Zebra that is not listed
We will not promise one we cannot test, but a networked Zebra that speaks ZPL takes the same path. With no entry in the table above, Backfeed assumes the coarser 203 dpi where it cannot read the head, so a layout comes out under-sized rather than off the edge of the label — the recoverable direction to be wrong in. Tell us the model; the ZD611 and ZD621 are the likeliest next entries.
Finding, managing and test-printing your printers is free.
macOS 14 or later · iPhone & iPad, iOS 17 or later
Still not sure? Ask us — tell us the model and what you want to print, and a real person will answer.