How much does a 3D print cost?
Quick answer: a typical home 3D print costs cents to a few dollars in materials. A 60 g, 3-hour PLA print uses about $1.20 of filament at $20/kg and $0.06 of electricity. With printer wear and an allowance for failed prints, it costs about $2. Ten minutes of your time at $20 an hour brings it to $5.30.
- After your time, filament is the biggest cost. PLA runs from about $10/kg for budget brands to over $20/kg for premium ones.
- Electricity is small: about 2 cents an hour for a printer drawing 120 W at $0.17 per kWh.
- The free print cost calculator does the sum. Drop in an STL for a filament estimate.
The five costs, and how to work out each
Filament
Take the grams from your slicer's estimate, which is the most accurate number. Without a slicer, the calculator estimates grams from the STL, the infill and the wall count. In January 2026, budget PLA cost about $10/kg and premium brands over $20/kg.
Electricity
Most of the power goes to the heated bed and the hotend. A plug-in power meter shows your printer's real average. The US average residential price was 17.3 cents per kWh in 2025, and the EIA projects 18.2 cents for 2026. At 120 W, a 3-hour print uses 0.36 kWh, or about 6 cents.
Printer wear and upkeep
A $600 printer expected to run 5,000 hours costs 12 cents an hour. Add an allowance for nozzles, build plates and belts, such as 5 cents an hour.
Failed prints
Here f is the share of prints that fail. At 10 %, each good print carries the cost of about 0.11 failed ones.
Your time
Count slicing, removing supports, finishing and packing. For a print you keep, you may leave this out. For anything you sell, it is usually the largest cost.
Worked example
| Item | Assumption | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Filament | 60 g of PLA at $20/kg | $1.20 |
| Electricity | 120 W for 3 h at $0.17/kWh | $0.06 |
| Printer wear | $600 over 5,000 h, plus $0.05/h upkeep | $0.51 |
| Failed prints | 10 % of prints fail | $0.20 |
| Machine and material | $1.97 | |
| Your time | 10 minutes at $20/h | $3.33 |
| Total cost | $5.30 | |
| Price at 100 % markup | $10.60 |
These are the calculator's starting values. Change any of them to match your printer, your filament and your electricity bill.
What it costs to run a 3D printer per hour
With the figures above, about 19 cents an hour before filament: 2 cents of electricity and 17 cents of wear and upkeep. Filament is extra, and depends on how fast the printer extrudes.
Pricing a print to sell
Start from the total cost, including your time and packaging, then add a markup for profit. A marketplace then takes its fees from the sale. On Etsy, for a US seller:
- $0.20 to list each item, for four months.
- 6.5 % of the item price, plus shipping and gift wrap.
- Payment processing: 3 % + $0.25 of the whole order, for a US bank account.
- Offsite Ads: 15 %, or 12 % once a shop passes $10,000 in a year, capped at $100 an order. It applies only to sales from those ads.
The calculator's Etsy section shows what is left of a price after these fees.
Work out what your print costs
Filament, power, wear, failures and time, with a selling price and Etsy fees. Drop an STL for the grams.
Open the cost calculatorFrequently asked questions
How much does a 3D print cost?
In materials and power, usually cents to a few dollars. A 60 g PLA print uses about $1.20 of filament and $0.06 of electricity. With printer wear and failed prints it costs about $2. Your time is extra.
How much does it cost to run a 3D printer per hour?
About 2 cents of electricity for a printer averaging 120 W at $0.17 per kWh. With wear on a $600 printer and upkeep, about 19 cents an hour before filament.
How much is a spool of filament?
In January 2026, a 1 kg spool of PLA cost about $10 from budget brands and over $20 from premium ones. Specialty and engineering filaments cost more.
How do I work out how much filament a print uses?
Read the grams from your slicer's estimate. Or drop the STL into the print cost calculator, which estimates the grams from the model's volume, infill and walls.
How should I price 3D prints to sell?
Add up filament, electricity, wear, failures, your time and packaging, then add a markup. Check what marketplace fees leave you. On Etsy that is $0.20 to list, 6.5 % of the price plus shipping, and 3 % + $0.25 processing in the US.
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, October 2026 — residential price 17.3 ¢/kWh in 2025, 18.2 ¢ projected for 2026. Read 9 Nov 2026.
- Fabbaloo, FFF filament prices continue to fall as competition pushes PLA into commodity range, 13 January 2026 — about $10/kg budget, over $20/kg premium. Read 9 Nov 2026.
- Etsy, Fees & Payments Policy — listing fee, 6.5 % transaction fee, Offsite Ads rates and cap. Read 9 Nov 2026.
- Etsy, Etsy Payments Policy — US processing fee 3 % + $0.25. Read 9 Nov 2026.
What changed — November 9, 2026: first published.