Free tool
3D print cost calculator
What a print really costs, with every layer shown. Includes the waste and the failure rate that most calculators leave out. No account needed.
This print
- Filament · 50g
- £1.00
- of which waste · 5g
- (£0.10)
- Electricity · 0.48 kWh
- £0.13
- Labour · 10 min
- £2.00
- Subtotal
- £3.13
- Failure-rate uplift
- £0.27
- Total for this print
- £3.40
Printer running cost: £0.03 an hour in electricity. Add the printer's price above to include machine wear, usually the bigger part.
This uses a failure rate you typed
That is a guess, and it is the number that moves the total most. MakerProof works it out from the prints you actually log, along with your real waste, so the cost stops depending on what you estimated.
Create a free accountEvery layer is shown rather than a single total, including the failure-rate division. How the arithmetic works
How the cost is worked out
Each line is a separate layer, so you can see where the money goes rather than one total.
- Filament: grams used × (spool price ÷ spool size). The grams include purge, supports and the skirt, which is why waste is shown but not added again.
- Electricity: average watts ÷ 1,000 × hours × your price per kWh. Use the average draw, not the number on the power supply: most printers average a third to a half of it.
- Machine wear: the printer's price ÷ the hours you expect it to last, × the print time. Leave the price at 0 to skip it.
- Your time: minutes ÷ 60 × your hourly rate, for slicing, removing supports, finishing and packing.
- Failures: the total is divided by (1 − failure rate), not increased by it. At 8%, 100 good prints take about 109 attempts, and the good ones carry the cost of the rest.
- Per unit: the total ÷ the sellable units from the plate.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with: a 50g print on a £20 spool, 4 hours at 120W, 10 minutes of your time and an 8% failure rate.
| Filament | 50g at £20 a kg (5g of it waste) | £1.00 |
| Electricity | 0.48 kWh at 27p | £0.13 |
| Your time | 10 minutes at £12 an hour | £2.00 |
| Before failures | £3.13 | |
| Failures | £3.13 ÷ (1 − 0.08) | + £0.27 |
| Cost of one good print | £3.40 |
Machine wear is left out of the opening figures. Add a £700 printer expected to last 5,000 hours and it adds 14p an hour, 56p on this print.
Common questions
How do I work out the cost of a 3D print?
Add filament, electricity, machine wear and your time, then divide by (1 − your failure rate). That last step is the one most calculators leave out, and it is why a print can cost more than it looks.
How much does a 3D printer cost to run per hour?
For a typical £700 printer, about 25p an hour before filament: roughly 3p of electricity, 8p of wear parts and 14p of the machine wearing out. Electricity, the part most people ask about, is the smallest.
How much filament does a print use?
Your slicer gives the grams for the model. The spool loses more, because of purge, supports and prints that fail. A 1kg spool of 1.75mm PLA is about 335 metres.
Why divide by the failure rate instead of adding it?
Because the failed prints are paid for by the good ones. At an 8% failure rate you make about 109 attempts for 100 good prints, so each good print carries 1 ÷ 0.92 of the cost. Adding 8% instead under-states it, and by more the worse things are going.
How do I turn the cost into a price?
Price = (cost of a good print + your time) ÷ (1 − margin), then allow for the marketplace's fees. Cost and price are separate on purpose: cost comes from your numbers, price is your judgement.
Does this include VAT?
No. Every figure here excludes VAT and sales tax. Enter your prices without VAT if you are registered, so the figures match your accounts.
How much does a 3D printer cost to run per hour? · How to price a 3D print · How much filament is on a 1kg spool?