How the cost is worked out
Five lines add up to the cost, and a markup turns the cost into a price.
| Line | How it is worked out | In the starting example |
|---|---|---|
| Filament | weight in kg × price per kg | 0.050 × $20 = $1.00 |
| Electricity | power in kW × hours × price per kWh | 0.12 × 3 × $0.17 = $0.06 |
| Printer wear | printer price ÷ lifetime in hours × hours, plus upkeep per hour × hours | $600 ÷ 5,000 × 3 = $0.36 |
| Failed prints | (filament + electricity + wear) × failure rate | $1.42 × 10% = $0.14 |
| Labor | minutes ÷ 60 × hourly rate | 10 ÷ 60 × $20 = $3.33 |
| Cost | the five lines added up | $4.90 |
| Price | cost × (1 + markup) | $4.90 × 1.30 = $6.37 |
Weight and time are for the whole print. If the print makes several parts, enter how many: the cost and the price are then shown for each part as well.
Where to get each number
- Weight. From your slicer, or from the sliced file itself: drop a G-code file, a binary G-code file or a sliced 3MF on this page. An STL gives an estimate.
- Print time. From your slicer, or from the G-code. A model alone does not say how long it takes to print: that depends on the layer height, the speeds and the printer.
- Filament price. What you paid for the spool, divided by its weight in kilograms. A 750 g spool at $18 is $24 a kilogram.
- Printer power. The average over a print, which a plug-in power meter measures directly. It is well below the rating of the power supply. Printing in an enclosure or on a hot bed for ABS and ASA takes more than PLA.
- Price per kWh. On your electricity bill. The calculator starts with a typical household price for the currency you choose.
- Printer price and lifetime. What the printer cost, and the hours of printing you expect from it before you replace it. A printer that runs four hours a day for three and a half years reaches 5,000 hours.
- Upkeep per hour. Nozzles, belts, build plates and other parts that wear, spread over the hours they last. A $15 build plate that lasts 500 hours is 3 cents an hour.
- Failure rate. The share of prints you throw away. If one print in ten fails, enter 10.
- Your time. The minutes a person spends on this print: slicing, starting it, taking the part off, removing supports, sanding, packing. Not the hours the printer runs on its own.
- Markup. What you add to the cost to arrive at the price.
Filling it in from a file
Drop a file anywhere on the page, or choose “Fill in from a file”.
- G-code, binary G-code or a sliced 3MF gives the exact weight: the length of filament the file pushes through the nozzle, times the filament’s cross-section, times the density of the material. The print time is the slicer’s own estimate when the file carries one. When the file names its material and density, they are used; otherwise choose the material.
- An STL, OBJ or PLY gives an estimate of the weight from the model’s volume and surface. Choose the material, the wall thickness and the infill. A 20 mm cube at 100% infill in PLA comes to 9.92 g: 8 cm³ at 1.24 g/cm³.
From the STL viewer and the G-code viewer, “Estimate the print cost” brings the open file’s figures here.
| Material | Density | Weight of 1 m of 1.75 mm filament |
|---|---|---|
| PLA | 1.24 g/cm³ | 2.98 g |
| PETG | 1.27 g/cm³ | 3.05 g |
| ABS | 1.04 g/cm³ | 2.50 g |
| ASA | 1.07 g/cm³ | 2.57 g |
| TPU | 1.21 g/cm³ | 2.91 g |
| PA (nylon) | 1.14 g/cm³ | 2.74 g |
| PC | 1.20 g/cm³ | 2.89 g |
These are typical densities. Filled and blended filaments differ, so the density can be typed over: the manufacturer’s data sheet has the figure for your spool.
Pricing prints you sell
The cost is what the print takes out of your pocket. The price has to cover that, pay for the prints that do not sell, and leave something over.
- Count your time. In the starting example labor is two thirds of the cost. Leaving it out is the most common way to sell at a loss.
- Markup is not margin. A 30% markup leaves a margin of 23%, because the margin is measured against the price, not the cost. A 100% markup is a 50% margin.
- Batches cost less per part. Ten parts on one plate share one setup and one removal. Enter the weight and time of the whole plate, 10 as the number of parts, and the time you spend on the plate.
- What comes on top. Packaging, postage, marketplace and payment fees, and tax are not part of the cost of printing. Add them to the price per order.
What is not counted
- Design time. Modeling a part is work, but it is paid for once, not with every print.
- Rent, heating, software. Running costs that do not depend on the print. If they matter to you, put them into the hourly rate or the upkeep.
- Currency conversion. Changing the currency changes the sign. The amounts stay as you typed them.
Questions
How much does it cost to 3D print something?
Less in filament than most people expect, and more in everything else. A 50 g part in filament at $20 a kilogram uses $1.00 of plastic. Three hours on a 120 W printer add about 6 cents of electricity at $0.17 a kWh. A $600 printer that lasts 5,000 printing hours adds 36 cents of wear. Ten minutes of your time at $20 an hour add $3.33, which is more than everything else together. The calculator opens with exactly this example.
How much electricity does a 3D printer use?
Multiply its average power by the hours it runs. A printer that averages 120 W uses 0.36 kWh in a three-hour print. The average is well below the rating on the power supply, because the heaters switch on and off once the bed and nozzle are warm. A plug-in power meter shows your own printer's figure after one print.
Where do I find the weight of a print?
Your slicer shows it after slicing, next to the print time. If you have the sliced file, drop the G-code on this page: the weight is worked out from the filament the file pushes through the nozzle, and the print time is read from the slicer's own estimate. With only an STL, the page estimates the weight from the model's volume and surface.
How accurate is the weight estimated from an STL?
Good to about a fifth. The estimate is a shell as thick as the walls all over the surface, plus the infill's share of what is inside. A slicer's top and bottom layers are usually thicker than its walls, it adds supports and a skirt, and it thins the infill near small features. For a quote, slice the model and load the G-code.
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is added to the cost: a 30% markup on a cost of $4.90 gives a price of $6.37. Margin is the profit as a share of the price: the same sale has a margin of 23%. The calculator asks for markup. To get a margin of 30%, enter a markup of 43%.
Does the price include shipping, packaging or tax?
No. The price is the cost of making the print plus your markup. Packaging, postage, marketplace fees, payment fees and sales tax or VAT come on top, and they differ from one sale to the next.
Is my file uploaded when I drop it here?
No. The file is read by your own browser to get its weight and time, and nothing is sent to a server. The numbers you type are kept in your browser so they are there next time; a link to them is only made when you ask for one.
Can I use it for resin prints?
Yes, with the weight of resin in grams and its price per kilogram. Resin is often sold by the liter: divide the bottle's price by its weight in kilograms, which is on the label or in the data sheet. Put gloves, alcohol and filters under upkeep per hour. Loading a file only works for filament prints.