3D Print Cost Calculator
Most makers only count filament. Your real cost also includes electricity, machine depreciation, the prints that fail, and your time. This calculator adds them all up so you never sell at a loss.
Result
- Material—
- Electricity—
- Machine wear—
- Labour—
- Failure allowance—
What does a 3D print actually cost? A worked example
Using the calculator's default values ($25/kg PLA, 80g print, 6-hour print time, 120W power, $0.17/kWh electricity, $300 printer over 5,000 hours, 8% failure rate, 15 minutes hands-on at $20/hour):
| Cost component | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Filament | $25/kg × 80g ÷ 1000 | $2.00 |
| Electricity | 120W ÷ 1000 × 6h × $0.17 | $0.12 |
| Machine wear | $300 ÷ 5000h × 6h | $0.36 |
| Labour | 15 min ÷ 60 × $20/hr | $5.00 |
| Subtotal | $7.48 | |
| Failure allowance (8%) | $7.48 × 0.08 | $0.60 |
| Total cost per print | $8.08 |
Labour is 62% of the true cost — your time (slicing, removing, post-processing) is the biggest single expense, not filament. Most makers price at filament-only ($2) and wonder why they're not making money. Use the Selling Price Calculator to turn this cost into a profitable price.
Cost per hour of 3D printing
For a typical 6-hour print, the hourly cost breakdown is:
| Component | Per hour |
|---|---|
| Filament | $0.33 |
| Electricity + wear | $0.08 |
| Labour | $0.83 |
| Failure allowance | $0.10 |
| Total | $1.35/hour |
At about $1.35 per occupied printer-hour, running your printer 8 hours a day for a month adds up to roughly $330 in filament, power, wear, and allocated labour. Use the 3D Printer Cost per Hour Calculator for your own hourly rate; the Electricity Cost Calculator isolates just the power component.
How it's calculated
Material = price/kg × grams ÷ 1000. Electricity = watts ÷ 1000 × hours × rate. Machine wear = printer cost ÷ lifespan hours × print hours. Labour = minutes ÷ 60 × hourly rate. A failure allowance of failure% is then applied to the whole cost to cover wasted prints.
- Depreciation is straight-line over the lifespan hours you set.
- The failure allowance spreads the cost of wasted prints across successful ones.
- Consumables (nozzles, glue, electricity for idle/heating) beyond the print itself aren't separately itemised.
FAQ
How do I find the filament weight for a print?
Why include machine wear and failures?
How much does it cost to run a 3D printer per month?
What's the cheapest way to reduce 3D print cost?
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