How much should I charge for a 3D print?

Add up the real cost — filament by weight, energy for the print time, printer amortization, a failure allowance and any accessories — then apply a markup. 3–4× the unit cost is common for hobby and Instagram sales; around 2× for wholesale/reseller pricing. PrintCalc computes the real cost and both sell prices for you, so you're never guessing.

Yes. PrintCalc is 100% free, no signup, no paid tier, no usage limits. We don't sell data — we just show modest ads to cover hosting.

Is my data saved anywhere?

Your settings are saved only in your own browser via localStorage. Nothing is sent to our servers. Clearing your browser wipes everything.

Does it work with any 3D printer?

Yes. You can pick a preset profile (Bambu Lab, Ender, Prusa, etc.) or enter your printer's wattage manually. Calculations are generic and work with any FDM printer.

How does amortization work?

Amortization is your printer's wear-and-tear per hour of use. We take the printer's purchase price and divide by its expected useful life in hours — that gives a depreciation cost per hour, multiplied by your print time.

Why include a failure percentage?

Every production run has failures: warping, detachment, jams. Adding a failure percentage (e.g. 10%) covers the material and time lost on prints that didn't come out — without it, your real margin is smaller than it looks.

What's the difference between Consumer Price and Retailer Price?

Consumer Price is what the end customer pays, including markup, taxes and payment fees. Retailer Price is the suggested wholesale price for someone reselling your prints — usually a lower markup (2x by default) to leave room for the reseller's margin.

How do I pick the right markup?

Markup depends on your market, but 3× to 5× is standard for FDM prints. Below 3× you cover cost but barely pay yourself. Above 5× only works in premium niches (cosplay, custom functional parts, decor). Use Compare to simulate different values and see the impact on net margin.

How do I account for multi-color prints (AMS, AMS Lite)?

Use the Purge (%) field to record filament discarded on color swaps. For 4 colors on AMS, 30–60% is typical. Add multiple filaments to the library (same type, different colors) to mirror the real setup. The 'AMS 4-color PLA' template ships with this configured.

Does the filament cost include purge?

Depends on the 'Plate weight is part-only' toggle. Default off: the weight you type already includes purge (slicers report total). On: you type only the part weight and PrintCalc adds purge on top — useful when you want to break out purge cost from part cost.

How do I configure taxes for my country?

Add your local sales tax rate (VAT, GST, state sales tax) to the Tax field. For marketplace sales where the platform withholds tax, toggle 'include in price' so the displayed price already nets the after-tax margin. For direct invoicing where you charge tax on top, leave the toggle off.

Can I use multiple plates for one large part?

Yes. If the part doesn't fit on the bed at once (e.g. a helmet in 4 sections, a sectioned large sculpture), split it into N plates. Each plate has its own time, weight and (optionally) filament. PrintCalc sums everything for the final part cost.

Which slicers does the G-code upload support?

PrusaSlicer, Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer, SuperSlicer and Cura. The parser reads estimated print time and filament weight (or length) from the .gcode comments. 100% browser processing — the file never leaves your computer.

Why does energy cost vary so much between printers?

Enclosed CoreXY printers (Bambu X1, Prusa MK4S) typically draw 130–200W. Open bedslingers (Ender 3) sit at 80–150W. Heated beds consume a lot — a printer with a 60°C bed running constantly can double the consumption vs one without an aggressively heated bed. Use the printer preset or measure with a Kill A Watt.

Purge vs Tool-changer Break-Even Calculator

The blog post shows the math for one fixed pair. Here you can run it for any two printers in the catalog with your actual work profile and volume.

Impressoras

Purge-based printer$299Tool-changer printer$699

Flashforge Creator 5 costs $400 more upfront

Work type

Each preset maps to a typical weight and purge waste percentage for that part profile.

50 g · 5 cores · purga ~40%

Parts per plate

Energy and amortization split by N; filament and purge stay the same per part.

Parts / month

Cost / part (Anycubic Kobra X)

$1.74

Purge waste (%): 40%

Cost / part (Flashforge Creator 5)

$1.27

purga: 0%

Savings / part

$0.47

Flashforge Creator 5 por peça

Time advantage

~29%

Flashforge Creator 5 ~29% faster per job

~120.0 machine-hours/month saved at 300 parts/month

~851 peças· ~3 meses

Flashforge Creator 5 pays for itself in ~851 parts — about 3 months at 300 parts/month.

Payback by monthly volume

Parts/month	Anycubic Kobra X / month	Flashforge Creator 5 / month	Payback (months)
50	$87	$63	18 m
100	$174	$127	9 m
300	$521	$380	3 m
500	$869	$633	2 m
1000	$1,737	$1,267	1 m
Print time estimated at 0.02 h/g (e.g. 50 g ≈ 1 h). Purge printer time includes tower build (+purge%). PLA at $22/kg. Energy: $0.18/kWh. Failure: 8%.

Calcule o custo exato na calculadora completa

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