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3D print cost calculator

Updated 

Drop an STL or 3MF and see what it costs to print at home: filament, electricity, printer wear and failed prints, with the weight and print time estimated from the shape. A 25 g PLA wall hook comes to about $0.70, most of it filament.

Your file stays in your browser. Selling your prints? Add your time and a markup to get a price.

Material

How much does a 3D print cost?

Cents to a few dollars for most parts printed at home. Filament is the main cost; electricity is small on a modern printer. Typical prints in PLA on a Bambu Lab P1S, at US prices ($18/kg filament, $0.18/kWh):

Total includes printer wear (a $600 printer over 3,000 printing hours) and 5% failed prints.
PrintFilamentTimeFilament costElectricityTotal cost
Keychain or cable clip5 g18 min$0.09$0.01$0.16
Wall hook or small bracket25 g1 h$0.45$0.02$0.70
Phone stand60 g2.5 h$1.08$0.05$1.71
Electronics enclosure150 g5 h$2.70$0.09$3.98
Large print (full plate)800 g20 h$14$0.38$20

How 3D printing cost is calculated

  • Filament: grams used x spool price per kg / 1000. The weight comes from your slicer, or from the calculator's estimate when you drop a file.
  • Electricity: the printer's average power while printing x hours x your price per kWh.
  • Printer wear: hours x printer price / its useful printing hours. It covers nozzles, belts, the build plate and the printer itself.
  • Failed prints: a percentage of the above for the prints that go wrong and get reprinted.

Filament prices per kg

Typical prices for common 1 kg spools (late 2026). Use your own spool's price in the calculator: brands and sales vary a lot.

Density turns the plastic volume into grams: the same part weighs 16% less in ABS than in PLA.
MaterialDensityUSDEURGBP
PLA1.24 g/cm³$18€18£16
PETG1.27 g/cm³$18€19£17
ABS1.04 g/cm³$18€19£17
ASA1.07 g/cm³$24€24£22
TPU1.21 g/cm³$28€28£25
Nylon (PA)1.14 g/cm³$40€40£36
PLA-CF / PETG-CF1.29 g/cm³$30€30£27

How much electricity a 3D printer uses

Average power while printing PLA, as measured by the makers, and what an hour of printing costs at typical household prices.

Sources: Bambu Lab wiki (Printer and AMS power parameters), Prusa FAQ (80 W with generic PLA), 3DSolved's Ender 3 measurement (125 W). Electricity at $0.18, €0.29 and £0.25 per kWh. ABS and PC use more: about 140 to 200 W on Bambu Lab printers.
PrinterAverage power (PLA)Per hour, USPer hour, EUPer hour, UK
Bambu Lab P1S / X1C105 W1.9¢3.0 c2.6p
Bambu Lab A195 W1.7¢2.8 c2.4p
Bambu Lab A1 mini80 W1.4¢2.3 c2.0p
Prusa MK4 / CORE One80 W1.4¢2.3 c2.0p
Creality K1 / Ender 3 V3110 W2.0¢3.2 c2.8p
Creality Ender 3 / older printer125 W2.3¢3.6 c3.1p

What a print service charges

Ordering a small part online costs far more than printing it yourself. On November 7, 2026, the cheapest offer for one solid 50 x 30 x 20 mm PLA part on Craftcloud, which compares many print services, was €25.73 delivered to Germany, €25.94 to France and £21.11 to the UK, VAT included. All3DP priced a similar small PLA part at $16.19 delivered in the US. The plastic itself was worth €2 to €7: the rest is the services' minimum order and shipping. A service is still the way to go without a printer, or for materials and sizes a home printer can't do.

Pricing 3D prints to sell

  • Cost to print: the calculator's total, failures included.
  • Your time: setup, removing supports, cleanup and packing, at your hourly rate. For small parts this is often more than the plastic.
  • Markup: multiply the sum by 2 to 3 for generic items, more for your own designs or custom work.
  • Marketplace fees and shipping come on top: Etsy, for example, charges listing, transaction and payment fees.

How the estimate from a file works

A slicer prints a part as walls around its sides, solid layers on its top and bottom and a sparse infill inside. The calculator does the same sums on the mesh: the surfaces facing sideways get 2 walls of 0.42 mm, the surfaces facing up or down 4 top and 3 bottom layers of 0.2 mm, and the rest of the volume is filled at your infill density. Time follows from the plastic laid down and the number of layers.

We checked it against Bambu Studio (P1S, 0.20 mm Standard, Bambu PLA Basic, 20% infill) on six parts designed with BuildCAD AI, from a 0.4 g clip to a 60 g tray: the weight was within 3% on average (12% at worst) and the time within 14% on average (about 30% at worst). Supports, brims and unusual settings change the real numbers: when you have sliced the part, type the slicer's weight and time.

Need a part to print? Describe it to BuildCAD AI and download a print-ready STL, or start from the library of customizable models.

FAQ

How much does a 3D print cost?

At home, most small prints cost well under $1.00: a 25 g PLA wall hook costs about $0.70 in total ($0.45 of filament, $0.02 of electricity, the rest printer wear and the odd failed print). A 60 g phone stand is about $1.71. Filament is most of the cost. Ordering the same part from an online print service usually costs $15 to $30, because services charge a minimum order and shipping.

How do you calculate 3D printing cost?

Filament: grams x price per kg / 1000. Electricity: the printer's average power x print hours x your price per kWh. Printer wear: print hours x printer price / its useful hours (we use 3,000). Add a few percent for failed prints (5% by default). The calculator does it from your STL, or from the weight and time your slicer shows.

How much does 3D printer filament cost per gram?

A 1 kg spool of PLA costs about $18 (€18, £16), so about 1.8 cents per gram. PETG is similar, ASA and TPU cost more, nylon about twice as much. Engineering filaments and small spools cost more per gram.

How much electricity does a 3D printer use?

Less than most people think: Bambu Lab measures 105 W on average for a P1S printing PLA, 95 W for an A1 and 80 W for an A1 mini; Prusa gives 80 W for its printers with PLA. That is about 1.9 cents an hour at a typical US price of $0.18/kWh, or 3.0 euro cents in Europe. ABS and enclosed printers with a heated chamber use more.

Can I calculate the cost from an STL file?

Yes: drop the STL or 3MF in the calculator. It reads the mesh in your browser (nothing is uploaded), works out the plastic a slicer would lay down from the part's walls, top and bottom layers and infill, and gives the weight and time. On our test parts the weight was within about 3% of Bambu Studio's and the time within about 15%. For an exact figure, slice the part and type the slicer's weight and time.

How should I price 3D prints to sell?

Start from the cost to print, add your own time (setup, removing supports, packing) at an hourly rate, then multiply by a markup: 2x to 3x is common for small sellers, more for designs that are yours. Open the selling price section of the calculator to do it per part. Don't forget platform fees and shipping on marketplaces like Etsy.

Is it cheaper to 3D print yourself or use a service?

For small parts, printing yourself is far cheaper per part: cents to a few dollars, against $15 to $30 from a service, mostly minimum order and shipping. A service makes sense for a one-off when you don't own a printer, for materials a home printer can't print (nylon powder, resin, metal), or for parts bigger than your printer's bed.