Free 3D printing cost calculator. Enter the filament weight and price per kilogram to find the material cost of one print in your currency.
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Enter the filament weight in grams and the price per kilogram, with your currency selected first. The calculator converts grams to kilograms and multiplies by the price to give the material cost of the print. Results are estimates for budgeting, not professional financial advice.
Material cost comes from one line of arithmetic: grams used times price per gram. Price per gram is the spool price divided by the spool weight in grams, so a 1 kg spool at $25 costs $0.025 per gram. This calculator does the same math in kilograms: kilograms equal grams divided by 1000, and cost equals kilograms times price per kilogram.
A 200 gram print from a $25 per kg spool costs $5.00 in filament, because 0.2 kg times $25 is $5.00. A 150 gram print from a $20 per kg spool costs $3.00. A small 50 gram print at $22 per kg costs about $1.10. Keep the grams figure from your slicer, since that is the number the whole estimate rests on.
PLA is usually the cheapest at $20 to $25 per kg with a density of 1.24 grams per cubic cm. ABS is similar in price at 1.04, PETG runs $25 to $30 at 1.27, and flexible TPU costs $30 to $45 at 1.21. Density matters when a slicer reports length instead of weight, because denser filament weighs more per metre.
Infill percentage is the biggest lever on filament usage. A 10 cm cube uses about 55 grams at 20 percent infill but over 160 grams at 100 percent, and most functional parts only need 20 to 40 percent. Support material adds another 10 to 20 percent on overhanging models, and tree supports can cut that extra use by a third or more.
Filament is usually the largest hobby cost, but a true print cost also includes electricity, machine wear and labour. A full cost breakdown adds those lines to the filament line: electricity is print hours times printer watts times your rate per kWh, often just cents per print. Machine depreciation spreads the printer price over its life, and labour for slicing, prep and finishing often exceeds the plastic itself on paid work.
Divide the spool weight by the grams per print to count prints per spool: a 1 kg spool gives 20 prints at 50 grams each but only 5 at 200 grams. Always compare listings by price per kilogram, not sticker price, because a $12 spool of 500 grams costs more per print than a $20 spool of 1 kg.
Start with filament: grams used times price per gram. For a full cost, add electricity, machine depreciation and labour, then any markup if you sell the print.
It depends on volume, infill and wall thickness. A 10 cm cube at 20 percent infill with 1.2 mm walls uses about 50 to 70 grams of PLA.
Every major slicer shows it after slicing: Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer and Cura all report filament weight in grams and usually length in metres.
Divide 1000 grams by the grams per print. A 1 kg spool gives 15 to 30 small prints under 50 grams, or 3 to 5 large prints over 200 grams.
No, it covers filament only, which is the largest running cost for most hobby prints. Add electricity, machine time and labour separately for a full quote.
PLA is generally cheapest per print, ABS is close, PETG costs a little more, and TPU is the most expensive of the common filaments.
Higher infill means more grams and higher cost. Going from 20 percent to 100 percent infill can triple or quadruple the filament weight.
Start from your true cost of material, energy, machine wear and time, then add a markup. Hobby sellers commonly add 20 to 50 percent on material cost, while professional services charge considerably more.