The real cost of owning a 3D printer

The printer is the big number, but it is not the whole bill. The good news is that a filament printer is cheap to run. The less obvious costs are wear parts, storage and the prints that fail.

Filament: the main running cost

Mainstream PLA and PETG typically cost somewhere around £10–£20 per kilogram, with specialist and branded materials above that. Most everyday prints use tens of grams, so a single part often costs well under £1 in plastic.

Spool sizes vary, and a cheap-looking spool can be a smaller one, so compare on price per kilo. We rank every filament we track by price per kilo, using the weight stated in the listing.

Electricity: less than people fear

Power use depends on the printer, the material and how hot the bed runs, so check your own printer’s figures. As a worked example, assume a printer averaging 150 W during a five-hour PLA print, and a unit price of 25p per kWh:

• 150 W for 5 hours is 0.75 kWh.
• 0.75 kWh at 25p is about 19p.

Swap in your own tariff and your printer’s average draw. Hotter materials such as ABS need a hotter bed and cost more, but for most people electricity is a small line on the bill.

Wear parts

• Nozzles wear gradually, and much faster with abrasive filaments such as carbon fibre or glow-in-the-dark. Brass nozzles are cheap; hardened steel lasts far longer with abrasives. See hardened vs brass nozzles. Printers with proprietary quick-swap nozzles usually cost more per nozzle than those taking standard ones.
• Build plates lose grip and pick up scratches over time. A replacement plate is a routine purchase. See build surfaces explained.
• PTFE tubes, belts and wipers are small and occasional. See PTFE tubing and belts and layer shifts.

Keeping filament dry

Many filaments absorb moisture from the air, and wet filament prints badly: stringing, popping and weak parts. PLA tolerates it better than most; PETG, TPU and nylon are much fussier. A sealed box with desiccant is cheap insurance, and a dryer earns its place if you print the fussier materials. See dry boxes and desiccant and whether you need a filament dryer.

Failed prints: the cost nobody lists

Every failure wastes plastic, electricity and, most of all, time. This is where a more reliable, self-calibrating printer pays for itself: a printer that saves £40 up front but fails one print in five is not the cheaper printer for long. It is why our printer reviews score reliability and ease of use rather than just listing features.

Resin costs more to run

Resin printing adds consumables that filament does not need: resin itself, which usually costs more per part, isopropyl alcohol for washing (unless you use water-washable resin), nitrile gloves, paper towels, and the film in the bottom of the vat, which is a wear part. A wash and cure station is optional but popular. See resin ranked by price per litre, when to replace FEP film and whether a wash and cure station is worth it.

A sensible starting budget

On top of a filament printer, set aside roughly £30–£50 for two spools of filament, a spare nozzle and a dry box. After that, most hobbyists find the running cost is mostly filament, and far lower than they expected.