How do I work out the cost of a 3D print?

Add three parts: material, electricity and printer wear. Material is the print weight in kilograms times the filament price per kilogram. Electricity is the printer's average power draw in kilowatts times the print hours times your power price per kWh. Printer wear spreads the printer's purchase price over its expected lifetime hours. Most makers then add a failure allowance of around 10% to cover failed prints, supports and purge waste.

How much electricity does a 3D printer use?

A typical desktop FDM printer averages 100 to 200 watts while printing, once the initial bed and nozzle heat-up settles down. At an average draw of 150 W, an 8 hour print uses 1.2 kWh, which costs about 36 cents at a NZ electricity price of 30 cents per kWh. Electricity is usually the smallest of the three cost components, well behind filament and printer wear.

What should I charge if I sell my 3D prints?

The figure from this calculator is your cost of production only. If you sell prints, add your design and labour time at a realistic hourly rate, post-processing materials, packaging and postage, then apply a margin on top. Many small sellers price at two to three times their material and machine cost as a starting point, then adjust for what the market will pay.

3D Printing Cost Calculator

This 3D printing cost calculator adds up what a print really costs, not just the plastic. Enter the filament price per kilogram and the weight of your print from the slicer, and it works out the material cost. Enter the print time, your printer's average power draw and your electricity price, and it adds the power used over the run. It then spreads the printer's purchase price across its expected lifetime of printing hours, so every print carries a fair share of nozzle, belt, fan and bed wear, the depreciation most hobbyists forget. Finally it applies a failure allowance, because anyone who prints regularly knows some jobs lift off the bed, string, or clog partway through, and that wasted filament and time belongs in the cost of the prints that succeed. The defaults reflect a typical NZ desktop FDM setup: PLA at $35 a kilogram, a 100 gram print over 8 hours, 150 watts of average draw at 30 cents per kWh, and a $600 printer with 3,000 hours of expected life. Use the result to price prints for sale, split costs in a flat or makerspace, or simply see whether that overnight benchy is a 50 cent habit or a $6 one.

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Filament price per kg

Print weight

Print time

hours

Average power draw

Electricity price per kWh

Printer purchase price

Printer lifetime

hours

Failure allowance

$6.01

estimated cost of this print, including the failure allowance

Filament$3.50

Electricity$0.36

Printer wear$1.60

Base cost $5.46 plus a 10% failure allowance of $0.55 brings this print to $6.01.

Get the print weight and time from your slicer preview. The estimate excludes design time, labour, post-processing and postage, so add those before pricing prints for sale.

How it works

Material cost is the print weight in kilograms multiplied by the filament price per kilogram. Electricity cost is the average power draw in kilowatts multiplied by the print hours and your price per kWh. Printer wear divides the purchase price by the expected lifetime hours to get a machine rate per hour, then multiplies by the print time; this is how businesses recover the cost of a machine over its useful life. The three parts are added to give a base cost, and the failure allowance percentage is applied on top to cover failed prints, supports, rafts and purge waste. Set the allowance to zero if you only want the direct cost of a successful print.

Worked example

Using the defaults: a 100 g print at $35 per kilogram of filament costs 0.1 × 35, which is $3.50 of material. The printer averages 150 W for 8 hours, using 1.2 kWh, which at $0.30 per kWh is $0.36 of electricity. A $600 printer expected to last 3,000 printing hours costs $0.20 an hour to own, so 8 hours adds $1.60 of wear. The base cost is $3.50 + $0.36 + $1.60, which is $5.46, and the 10% failure allowance adds $0.55, bringing the total to $6.01.

Related calculators

Electricity Cost Calculator: running cost of any appliance.
Appliance Running Cost Calculator: compare household power users.
Markup Calculator: set a selling price from your cost.
Hourly Rate Calculator: value your labour time properly.

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