How much does it cost to 3D print something?

Estimate your part

Pick a size, a material and how strong the part needs to be. The estimate uses the same model we quote from. No file and no email needed.

What 3D printing costs per material

Three things make up the price: material by the gram, machine time by the hour, and a one-time setup per job. The rates below already include our margin, so they are what you pay. Material is the small part of almost every quote; machine time is the large part.

• Machine time: about $2.05 per hour of printing, including electricity.
• Setup: $8.10 once per job. Slicing, plate prep, removing the part and checking it.
• Material: 2.7¢ per gram for PLA and PETG, up to 6.1¢ per gram for carbon-fibre filament.

Prices at standard 0.2 mm layers and 20% infill, one part. "Small" is a knob or bracket, "medium" a phone stand, "large" an enclosure lid. TPU is slower to print, which is why it costs more at the same size. Resin printing is not offered yet.

What the filament itself costs

PLA and PETG filament costs about $20 for a 1 kg spool at list price. That is about 2.0¢ a gram, so 100 g of plastic is about $2. Other filaments cost more per kilogram: PLA Glow about $30, ABS about $24, ASA about $30, TPU about $35, Carbon Fiber about $45.

Filament is a small share of what a printed part costs. The large PLA enclosure lid in the table above uses 60 g of plastic, which is $1.19 of filament. Its price is $22.02. The difference is 6.0 h of machine time and the setup of the job.

Machine time covers printer wear, nozzles, build plates, electricity and the prints that fail and are run again at our cost. Setup covers slicing the file, preparing the plate, removing the part and checking it.

What drives the price

Seven things move the number. In order of how much they move it:

1. Print time. The largest share of almost every quote, at $2.05 per hour. A 12 cm³ bracket prints in 36 min; a 120 cm³ lid takes 6.0 h. That gap is the difference between $9.49 and $22.02.
2. Layer height. Halving it roughly doubles the passes, so it roughly doubles the time. The same phone stand costs $11.93 at 0.28 mm draft, $13.33 at 0.2 mm standard, $17.94 at 0.12 mm fine and $27.18 at 0.08 mm ultra fine. Pay for fine layers only where the surface is seen.
3. Size. Twice the volume is roughly twice the material and twice the time. Hollowing a model or splitting a large part into sections is the usual way to bring a big print down.
4. Strength (infill). How solid the inside is. The phone stand is $12.34 at a light 10% fill for display, $13.33 at the standard 20%, and $15.27 at 40% for a load-bearing part. The shell is always printed solid, so even light fill is sturdy.
5. Material. Matters less than people expect for everyday filaments: PLA and PETG price the same. Flexible TPU prints slowly, so the stand costs $16.51 in TPU; carbon-fibre filament brings it to $14.15.
6. Supports. Overhangs need scaffolding that is printed and then removed. On a small part that is a dollar or two of material and time. Removal is included in the price.
7. Finishing. Sanding, filling, priming, painting and threaded inserts are quoted separately, by the hour. Most functional parts need none.

Quantity works the other way. Setup is charged once per job and discounts start at 10 parts, so the jig plate below is $10.64 on its own, $3.15 each for ten and $2.49 each for twenty-five.

Example parts and what they cost

Priced by the same model as the quotes, at the settings shown. Your part will differ, which is why we quote before printing.

How much does it cost to get something 3D printed vs buying a printer

An entry-level printer is about $300. Filament is about $22 a spool, and a spool prints many small parts, so the printer is the real cost. At our $9.49 for a small part, the printer alone equals about 32 parts before you buy filament, before the failed prints every new owner goes through, and before the evenings spent slicing and tuning.

The honest break-even: below roughly 32 small parts a year, sending the file is cheaper. Above that, and if you enjoy the tinkering, a printer pays for itself. Many of our customers own one and still send us the large, the fine-detail and the engineering-material jobs their machine cannot do.

Turnaround and rush pricing

• Standard: within the week. Most small jobs are ready in 48 hours. This is the price shown everywhere on this page.
• Rush: 24 to 48 hours. Available for most parts under about ten machine hours, priced in the quote.
• Long prints: a 120 cm³ part is 6.0 h on the machine; a batch of 25 jig plates is 27.3 h. We state the date in the quote.
• Design work first: if we model the part, add the design time (usually under an hour for a replacement part) before printing starts.

How we quote your part

Send the file, or a photo and the key dimensions, through the contact form. We reply within 24 hours with material, layer height, infill, quantity, price and a date, in writing. Nothing is printed until you approve it. Parts are picked up in Hershey or delivered across Hershey and the Lebanon Valley.

For what we need from you, turnaround tiers and payment terms, see how we quote and what turnaround looks like. For the full lineup of 34 filaments in 185 colors, see materials and colors.

Where the cheap quotes come from

An online service that quotes a dollar or two below everyone else is usually printing at draft height with thin walls, or shipping from far enough away that postage eats the difference. We print locally, state the layer height and infill in the quote, and you pick the part up or we deliver it.

Layer heights we print: 0.08 mm ultra fine, 0.12 mm fine, 0.20 mm standard, 0.28 mm draft.