3D Print Cost Calculator (FDM)
Enter the filament weight and print time from your slicer, plus your spool price and electricity rate. The calculator adds machine wear and a failure allowance to give the real cost of one successful print.
The formula
Worked example. 50 g from a spool that costs 20 per kg, 3 hours at 120 W and 0.16 per kWh, and a 300 printer over 5000 hours comes to 1.24, or 1.30 with a 5% failure rate.
How to use it
- Slice the model and copy the filament weight in grams and the estimated print time from the slicer summary. Cura, PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer and Bambu Studio all show both.
- Enter what you paid for the spool and how much filament it holds, usually 1000 g.
- Enter your printer's average power draw and your electricity price per kWh. Most desktop printers average 100–150 W; heated enclosures can use more.
- Optionally enter the printer price and expected lifetime in hours to include wear, and your typical failure rate.
Questions
Why divide by the success rate instead of adding the failure percentage?
If 5% of prints fail, you need on average 1 ÷ 0.95 = 1.053 attempts per good print. Dividing by the success rate spreads the cost of failed attempts over the prints that succeed.
How do I find my printer's power draw?
The most accurate way is a plug-in power meter over a full print. The bed heater draws the most while heating up, then cycles on and off, so the average over a print is usually well below the power supply's rated wattage.
What should I charge for a print?
This calculator gives your cost. To set a selling price, add your time for design, support removal and post-processing, plus a profit margin. The handmade pricing calculator does that step.