3D Printing Cost Calculator — True Cost Per Part
Who this is for: For print-farm sellers and makers quoting commissions — especially those charging 'filament plus a bit' and quietly losing money on every 12-hour print.
Filament grams, print hours, machine rate and failure allowance in — get the true cost per part and the price to charge.
Quick answer: 3D print cost = grams/1000 × material price + hours × machine rate, × (1 + failure%) + finishing. Example: 120 g PLA at $20/kg + 9 h at $2/h with 15% failures and $2 finishing = $25.46 per part — charge $38+ at a 50% markup or $50+ at 100%. The calculator runs the full breakdown.
From the slicer
5–25 honest band
Supports, sanding, pack
50–150
| Material | PLA $20 · PETG $25 · ABS $22 · TPU $30 · resin $55 /kg |
|---|---|
| Machine rate | FDM $1–3/h · pro $5–10/h · resin $3–6/h |
| Failure | +5–25% on material+machine |
| Example | 120 g PLA + 9 h @ $2 +15% + $2 = $25.46 |
| Charge | ×1.5–2.5 markup on cost |
| Status | Quotes use standard shop math: machine-hour rate × cycle time + materials + setup amortization. SFM/chipload figures are conservative HSS starting points (carbide runs 3–4× SFM). Compiled September 2026 — estimates for budgeting; real quotes come from the shop that runs the job. |
What does a 3D print actually cost?
Four line items decide it. Material: grams × material price (PLA ≈ $20/kg, PETG ≈ $25, ABS ≈ $22, TPU ≈ $30, resin ≈ $55/kg). Machine time: hours × your machine rate — an Ender-class FDM runs $1–3/hour, a professional printer $5–10, a resin machine $3–6. Failure allowance: failed prints don't vanish, they amortize into the good ones (10–20% is honest for FDM, varies with model difficulty). Human time: slicing, bed prep, support removal, packing — 10 minutes here and there is real money at scale. Example: a 120 g, 9-hour PLA print at $2/h with 15% failures and $2 of finishing costs $25.46 — and at a 100% markup you charge $50.92, not '$3 of filament'.
Common uses
- Quoting commission prints with the failure rate priced in
- Setting print-farm prices that survive a bad week of failures
- Comparing PLA vs PETG cost on a customer part
- Deciding whether a print service's quote is worth accepting
The electricity myth
Hobby printers draw 50–150 W average while heating and printing — about $0.05–0.15 per 10-hour print at US residential rates. Electricity is a rounding error; machine time and failures are the real costs. This is why 'it only costs pennies in power' arguments miss the point entirely: you're pricing the machine's working life and your evenings, not the kilowatt-hours.