Quick answer
The two look similar and are sold side by side, which is why so many businesses end up with the wrong one. The difference is what they print on and how the image is made.
Direct thermal: receipts
Direct thermal printers burn an image into heat-sensitive paper. No ink, no ribbon, very low running cost, very fast. The catch is that the print fades: heat, sunlight and time all erase it. A receipt roll is perfect for this. A price label meant to sit in a window for six months is not.
Thermal transfer: labels that have to last
Thermal transfer printers melt a ribbon onto the label stock. It costs more per label because you are buying ribbon as well as media, but the result survives handling, sunlight and cold storage. Asset tags, shipping labels, shelf labels and anything with a barcode that must scan a year later belong here.
Choosing quickly
- Customer receipts, kitchen orders, token slips: direct thermal, 80mm
- Barcode and price labels on stock: thermal transfer
- Shipping labels handled by couriers: thermal transfer, or direct thermal only if the label is scanned within days
- Anything laminated, frozen or outdoors: thermal transfer, no exceptions
Where the money actually goes
Paper, not hardware. A busy counter can spend the purchase price of the printer on rolls within a year, so roll quality and roll price matter more than the badge on the machine. Cheap rolls with a rough coating also wear the print head faster, which is a hardware cost arriving late.
Print head life
Print heads are consumable. Keep them clean with a proper cleaning pen, keep grit out of the paper path, and do not run the printer with a nearly-empty roll rattling around. Most heads that die early were killed by dust and cheap media.
Tell us what you have already tried. That helps our technician arrive prepared.