How Much Does 3D Printing Cost?

The Five Factors That Set the Price

Every quote we give comes down to five variables. Understanding them helps you see why two parts that look similar in size can cost very differently.

1. Material

Filament cost per gram varies a lot, and so does print speed. PLA is the cheapest and fastest to print, which makes it the default choice for decorative items, signs and prototypes. PETG costs a bit more and adds moisture and temperature resistance, useful for parts that will sit outdoors or near heat. Flexible TPU and engineering-grade filaments (nylon, ASA) cost the most per gram, print considerably slower, and often need more careful settings — all of which shows up in the final price. As a rule of thumb: PLA is the cheapest, PETG sits in the middle, TPU and engineering materials cost the most.

The right choice isn't just about price, though. A cheap PLA part that warps in a hot car or cracks under load ends up costing more once you reprint it. We factor the intended use into the recommendation, not just the sticker price of the filament.

2. Size & Volume

Bigger parts use more material and take longer to print, so size is naturally part of the equation. But it isn't a straight line — a part twice the size doesn't automatically cost twice as much, because a lot of that added volume can be hollow (see infill below). What matters more than raw dimensions is how much plastic the printer actually has to lay down layer by layer.

Orientation on the print bed also plays a role. A part printed standing up may need support structures that a part printed lying flat doesn't, and removing those supports afterward adds time. Whenever there's a choice, we orient parts to minimize both support material and print time — it keeps the price down without changing the part itself.

3. Infill & Walls

Most 3D printed parts aren't solid inside. Infill is the internal lattice structure that gives a part its strength, typically set anywhere from light and mostly hollow for decorative pieces up to fully solid for parts that carry real load. Wall thickness — how many solid perimeters surround the infill — has a similar effect. A part with high infill and thick walls uses far more material and print time than a visually identical part printed hollow with thin walls, and the price reflects that difference directly.

This is also where a lot of the savings hide. If a part only needs to look right and doesn't carry weight, we default to lighter infill and thinner walls, which brings the price down without changing anything you can see. If it's a functional part that will be gripped, mounted, or loaded, we go the other way and build in the strength it needs.

4. Surface Finish & Post-Processing

A part straight off the printer has visible layer lines. If you need a smoother surface, specific colors, sanding, painting, or assembly of multiple printed pieces, that's additional labor on top of the raw print time. Standard finish (as-printed, support material removed) is included in the base price; anything beyond that is quoted separately.

Color is usually free or near-free if it's a single color from our standard filament range, since it's just a filament swap. Multi-color parts, painted finishes, or a specific brand color match take extra setup and are priced accordingly.

5. Quantity

Preparing a file, calibrating a printer and setting up a job takes the same time whether you order one part or ten. Spreading that setup cost across a batch lowers the price per unit, so ordering several copies in one run is almost always cheaper per piece than ordering them one at a time.

This matters most for businesses ordering repeat parts — spare brackets, branded signage for multiple locations, small production runs. If you know you'll need more later, mention it upfront; batching now is usually cheaper than reordering piece by piece over time.

Ready Design vs Custom Part

There are two very different starting points, and the price structure depends on which one applies to you.

If you already have a printable 3D file (STEP or STL) for a custom part, you skip the modeling step entirely and pay for printing only.

A quick way to tell which path applies: if what you need looks like something you could find in a homeware or hardware catalog — a nameplate, a stand, a bracket in a common shape — check the catalog first, it's usually cheaper and faster. If it has to match an exact drawing, fit a specific part, or replace something that doesn't exist as an off-the-shelf design, it's a custom job and modeling comes first.

Worked Examples

Putting the five factors together looks like this in practice. These are illustrative ranges built from the anchors above, not fixed quotes — every job is confirmed individually once we see the file or drawing, since material, size and finish still shift the final number within each range.

What We Need From You to Quote

The faster we get accurate information, the faster you get an accurate price. Send whichever of these applies:

One practical limit worth knowing upfront: the maximum print size is 320 × 340 × 340 mm (L × W × H). Larger parts need to be split and assembled, which we'll flag in the quote if it applies to your design.

Once we have what we need, you get a fixed price, not an estimate that changes later. Simple parts typically move from confirmed quote to finished print in 3–5 days; multi-part assemblies take 5–10 days. If your project has a deadline, mention it — we'll tell you upfront whether it's realistic rather than promising something we can't deliver.

Frequently Asked Questions