What Is Serverless Printing?
Removing the print server is the easy part. Replacing what it did - central management, user identity, and printing across locations - is what separates one serverless approach from another. Here’s how it works for IT.
Serverless Printing Definition
Serverless printing is any model where print jobs reach the printer without an on-premises print server handling queues, drivers, or job spooling. That definition covers a lot of ground: from AirPrint and direct IP printing on a local network to cloud platforms that manage printing across an entire organization. What these approaches share is the absence of a dedicated print server. What separates them is how much of that server’s job actually gets replaced.
For organizations, the version that matters is cloud-managed serverless printing. Here, a cloud platform takes over what a dedicated Windows print server used to handle, authentication, policy enforcement, job routing, and reporting, and printers connect to that platform through a lightweight hub or connector. Nothing else runs on-site.
The term causes confusion in two directions. Some people hear “serverless” and assume printing happens with no infrastructure at all. Others assume any serverless method is enough to run a business on. Neither holds up. With a cloud-managed platform, the server's work still happens; it just runs on the vendor's cloud instead of hardware your IT team maintains. With local methods like AirPrint or direct IP, there’s genuinely no server, but there’s also no central management, identity, or reporting. The useful question isn’t whether a server exists. It’s whether the things a print server did still happen once it’s gone.
This matters in practice because print servers are one of the last pieces of on-premises infrastructure that haven’t moved to the cloud in most organizations. They require patching, failover planning, OS licensing, and ongoing driver management. They generate a steady stream of support tickets. And they introduce a class of security vulnerabilities tied to the Windows Print Spooler. Cloud-managed serverless printing removes all of that from the equation without giving up the central control the server provided.
What Are the Different Types of Serverless Printing?
Local Serverless Printing
AirPrint, Mopria, and direct IP printing. The device sends the job straight to the printer, with no server and no cloud involved. It works, but only on the same local network, and only for that one device-to-printer connection. There’s no central management, no user identity, no policies or quotas, no reporting, and no way to reach a printer at another location.
Cloud-Managed Serverless Printing
How Does Serverless Printing Work?
In a serverless setup, printers connect to a cloud platform through a small hardware hub or a lightweight software connector installed on a single machine. Once connected, the printer is visible in the cloud management console and can be assigned to users and groups immediately.
When a user prints, their device authenticates with the cloud platform, which checks their access permissions, applies any applicable print policies, and routes the job to the correct printer. For cloud-rendered setups, the document is processed in the cloud before delivery, eliminating the need for local drivers on endpoints. The job reaches the printer as if a server had handled it. No on-premises server was involved.
Policy changes, user assignments, quota rules, and reporting all happen from a central cloud console. Adding a new printer at a new location is a matter of plugging in a hub and assigning it in the dashboard. There’s no new server to provision, no VPN to configure, and no local IT presence required.
Because the cloud platform is maintained by the vendor, OS updates, security patches, and driver library additions happen automatically. IT doesn’t test patches before they roll out; the vendor handles that. IT doesn’t plan failover for the print server; the cloud platform handles redundancy at scale.
Why Do Print Servers Cause Problems?
They Require Constant Maintenance
Print servers need OS patching, driver updates, and failover configurations. Every Windows Patch Tuesday is a potential print outage. IT teams spend hours each month on maintenance that delivers no new capability, but just keeps things running the way they already were.
They’re a Security Liability
The Windows Print Spooler is one of the most frequently exploited services in enterprise environments. 9% of Windows security vulnerabilities trace back to the print stack, according to the Microsoft Security Response Center. Every on-premises print server is an endpoint that needs hardening, monitoring, and incident response planning.
They Don’t Scale Gracefully
Adding a new office location means adding a new print server, or extending a VPN back to a central one. Neither approach is clean. When a server goes down, every user connected to it stops printing. The more locations you have, the more failure points you carry.
They Generate Disproportionate Support Volume
Spooler crashes, driver conflicts, GPO deployment failures, and “I can’t find my printer” tickets account for a significant share of IT help desk volume. Print servers are a reliable source of recurring, low-value support work that keeps IT staff from more important tasks.
How Does ezeep Implement Serverless Printing?
ezeep replaces print servers with a cloud platform and the ezeep Hub - a compact device that connects any network or USB printer to the cloud without requiring a PC, print server, or VPN on-site. Print jobs are rendered in the cloud, routed through the Hub, and delivered to the printer. IT manages printers, users, policies, and reporting from a single web console. New locations go live in minutes, not days.
Where Does Serverless Printing Make the Biggest Difference?
Multi-Location Organizations
Every branch, retail location, warehouse, or satellite office that previously needed its own print server (or a VPN tunnel back to a central one) can be brought online in minutes with a hub and a cloud connection. Centralized management covers all sites from one console.
Hybrid and Remote Teams
Organizations Modernizing Print Security
IT Teams Reducing Infrastructure Overhead
Dive Into the World of ezeep
What is Driverless Printing?
How cloud rendering eliminates printer drivers from endpoints, and how that fits into a serverless setup.
Cloud Printing Security
The security case for removing print servers and drivers from your on-premises environment.
How Cloud Printing Works
Everything you need to know about the full architecture from device to cloud to printer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Curious about how it all works? Here's everything you wanted to know about ezeep's cloud printing solution.
What is serverless printing?
Serverless printing is any print setup that works without an on-premises print server handling queues, drivers, and spooling. Local methods like AirPrint and direct IP printing are serverless in the simplest sense. For organizations, though, serverless usually means a cloud-managed platform: print jobs route from user devices to printers through a cloud platform that handles authentication, policy enforcement, job routing, and reporting. IT manages the entire print environment from a web console, and printers connect to the cloud through a compact hub or connector device.
Is serverless printing really serverless, or does a server still exist somewhere?
It depends on the method. With local serverless printing (AirPrint, Mopria, direct IP) there’s genuinely no server anywhere; the device talks straight to the printer. With cloud-managed serverless printing, a server still exists, but it’s the vendor’s cloud platform rather than hardware you own and maintain. Either way, “serverless” means you don’t provision, own, or maintain print server infrastructure yourself. The cloud-managed version keeps the management, identity, and reporting a print server provided. Local methods drop all of that.
How is serverless printing different from direct IP printing?
Direct IP printing is the most basic form of serverless printing. The computer sends the job straight to the printer’s IP address over the local network, with no server in between. It’s genuinely serverless, but the limits are real: the printer has to be on the same network as the user, every device needs the right driver installed and maintained, and there’s no central management, user authentication, policy control, or reporting. It also doesn’t work off-network without a VPN. Cloud-managed serverless printing keeps the no-server benefit and removes those limits. Jobs route through a cloud platform so users can print from any location, rendering happens in the cloud so endpoints don’t need drivers, and IT gets identity-based access, central policy, and reporting across every site.
Does serverless printing require replacing our existing printers?
No. Most serverless cloud printing platforms connect to existing printers through a hub device or connector, regardless of manufacturer or model. You don’t need new hardware. The printers you already have stay in place; only the infrastructure managing them changes.
How does serverless printing handle users in different locations?
Users authenticate against the cloud platform using their existing identity provider (Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, Okta). The platform checks their group membership and assigned printers, then routes the job to the correct device. Location doesn’t affect the authentication flow. Users see the right printers whether they’re in the office, at a branch, or working from home.
Does serverless printing work with legacy printers that don’t support cloud connectivity?
Yes. Platforms that include a hardware hub connect any printer (including older models and USB-only devices) to the cloud without requiring the printer itself to have cloud capabilities. The hub handles the cloud connection on behalf of the printer.
Is serverless printing suitable for high-security environments?
Yes, and it often improves security compared to traditional setups. Removing the Windows Print Spooler from on-premises endpoints eliminates an entire class of vulnerabilities. Cloud platforms enforce encrypted job delivery, identity-based access, and authenticated print release. These controls align with Zero Trust architecture and reduce the attack surface compared to a print server that must be patched and hardened indefinitely.
No More Print Servers. Just Printing.
ezeep is free for up to 10 users. Replace your first print server and see what the difference looks like in your own environment.
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