Filament (material)
Your slicer’s grams for the whole plate × your spool price per kilogram, split across the items that plate makes. The slicer’s weight already includes infill, supports, purge and brim, so use it as it is.
How much should I charge for my 3D print?
This tells you the least you can charge. It can’t tell you the most — only your buyers can.
, or type in the numbers from your slicer. We’ll show what your price leaves you after fees, on every channel you sell, and explain every number. Built by Kartzy Studio, a working print farm.
Typical settings
a good start — change them to match your shop$15/h for your time · $0.14/h to run the machine · 5% set aside for failed prints
Tap the price to change it · we sold this for $22
Or aim for a set profit:
You keep
$17.7580.7%
Production
Bambu Lab A1 · 100 W · $0.15/kWh · $0.14/h to run the machine
$0.72
- Square · 2.6% + $0.15$0.72
A cash sale skips the card fee: keeps $18.48
After paying yourself $15/h, the machine earns $4.49 for every hour it runs.
Start here · your numbers from the slicer
Your print
Plates
Plate 1
Finished items: if an item needs 2 legs and this plate prints 8, that’s 4.
Print time
1 plate · 55g per item · 15h 50m plate
per plate
per item
Packaging and extras
How many you use per item, then what one costs.
Extras total $0.50 per item
What your price covers
after in-person fees
Think of yourself and your shop as two people. You get paid for your hours. The shop keeps whatever is left.
At $22.00 the shop keeps $17.75 after every expense, your time and fees. Below $3.77 you are not covering your costs.
- You lose money on every saleunder $2.17
Compare where you sell
At $22.00 you keep $17.75 in person and $11.88 in a consignment store.
Cost $3.52FeesYou keep
Compare ways to print it
is it worth filling the plate?Each option is one way to print this item: one plate or several, as many as you fit. Enter each plate’s totals from your slicer. Options are compared at your current price and channel.
1 on the plate
9h 22m| Finished items | Filament | Print time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 122 g | 9h 22m |
Production cost $6.32 · keep $14.96 each · the machine earns $1.60 an hour
2 on the plate
11h 30m| Finished items | Filament | Print time |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 155 g | 11h 30m |
One more on the plate earns $18.68 and takes 2h 08m longer.
Production cost $4.46 · keep $16.82 each · the machine earns $2.93 an hour
3 on the plate
13h 40m| Finished items | Filament | Print time |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 186 g | 13h 40m |
One more on the plate earns $18.71 and takes 2h 10m longer.
Production cost $3.83 · keep $17.45 each · the machine earns $3.83 an hour
4 on the plate
15h 50m| Finished items | Filament | Print time |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 220 g | 15h 50m |
One more on the plate earns $18.66 and takes 2h 10m longer.
Production cost $3.52 · keep $17.75 each · the machine earns $4.49 an hourMost per hour
Each extra Turtle Clicker adds about $18.50 for about 2h 10m of printing.
The first one also carries the hours the plate needs however many you fit — filling the plate spreads them out.
Setup, warm-up and purge are paid once per plate, so they’re split across more items. Finishing, packaging and the filament in each item are paid per item.
We use the same failure rate for every plate. Longer plates fail more often and lose more when they do, so fuller plates look a little better here than they are.
How we worked it out
Per item · 4 on the plateMaterialper plate220 g × $16/kg ÷ 4$0.88$3.52 for the plate
Slicer grams for the whole plate (they already include purge, prime tower and brim) at your spool price. Failed prints are a separate line.
Electricityper plate15h 50m × 0.1 kW × $0.15/kWh ÷ 4$0.06$0.24 for the plate
Power draw over the print time. Small, but it’s part of what a failed print wastes.
Machine wearper plate15h 50m × $0.12/h ÷ 4$0.47$1.90 for the plate
Printer price, upgrades and upkeep spread over its life. Set it in your shop, or let it work it out for you.
Failed printsper plate5% of $3.76 material + electricity ÷ 4$0.05$0.19 for the plate
Spreads failed prints across the good ones. Only material and electricity: a failure wastes plastic and power, not your finishing time.
Setup and handlingper plate5 min × $15/h ÷ 4$0.31$1.25 for the plate
Filament swaps, starting the print, clearing the plate. Same time for 4 or 52 on the plate, so it’s split across them.
Finishingper item5 min × $15/h · every item$1.25$5.00 for the plate
Supports, sanding, assembly. Grows with every item, so it’s never split.
Packagingper item1 × $0.50$0.50$2.00 for the plate
Per item — four items need four boxes.
Production cost, per item$3.52 · $14.10 for the plate of 4
Each line is rounded to the cent so the column adds up — a line can be a cent off its own sum.
Every line above shows its own sum — check any of them against your slicer and your bills.
Doing this for every print by hand?
Printfarm tracks every spool, deducts filament automatically per print, and keeps live costs like these across your whole shop — no spreadsheets.
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What goes into the cost of a 3D print?
A 3D print costs more than the plastic it uses. Pricing it properly — whether you are budgeting a hobby project or quoting a customer — means accounting for seven things. This calculator adds them all up for you.
Electricity
Printer wattage × print time × your local power rate. A typical FDM printer draws 100–270 W, so energy is usually a small line item, but it adds up across long prints and busy machines.
Machine wear (depreciation)
Your printer’s price, upgrades and yearly upkeep, spread over the print hours you expect from it, plus an optional allowance for surprise repairs. Already have your own per-hour figure? Type it in instead.
Labor & finishing
Two kinds of hands-on time. Setup — starting the print, swapping filament, clearing the plate — is paid once per plate and split across what that plate makes. Finishing — supports, sanding, assembly — is paid on every item. Your hourly rate turns both into money.
Failed-print buffer
Some prints fail — a clog, a warp, a knocked-loose part. Adding a small percentage on top of material and energy spreads that waste across your successful prints so a failure does not wipe out a job.
Margin (what you keep)
Cost is what the print takes out of your pocket; price is what you charge. Margin is the share of the price you keep after costs and fees — 35% margin on a $20 price is $7. It is not markup: an 80% markup on a $10 cost gives an $18 price, which is a 44% margin before fees.
Fees where you sell
The same price keeps different money on Etsy, Shopify, a consignment shelf or a market table. Commissions, card processing, listing fees and tax inside the price all come out first. This calculator shows every place you sell side by side.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate the cost of a 3D print?+
For each plate: filament (grams ÷ 1000 × price per kg), electricity (watts ÷ 1000 × print hours × your power rate), machine wear (your printer’s price, upgrades and upkeep per print hour × print hours), a failed-print allowance on material and electricity, and your setup time. Split that across the items the plate makes, then add each item’s finishing time and packaging. That is your production cost per item.
How much does it cost to 3D print something?+
For most hobby prints the material alone is roughly $0.10–$0.40 per 10 grams of PLA. A small keychain might cost under $0.50 in filament and power, while a large cosplay piece can run several dollars in material plus hours of print time and machine wear. Enter your numbers above for an exact figure.
How much electricity does a 3D printer use?+
Most FDM printers draw between 100 W and 270 W while printing, with bed-heating spikes higher. At an average US rate of about $0.15 per kWh, a 4-hour print on a 150 W printer uses roughly 0.6 kWh — about 9 cents of electricity.
Should I include machine wear in my pricing?+
Yes, if you want sustainable pricing. Your printer wears out and needs nozzles, belts, hotends and eventually replacing. Spreading its price, upgrades and yearly upkeep over the hours you expect to print gives a per-hour cost, so every print contributes to repairs and the next machine.
How much should I charge for 3D prints?+
Start from your full cost — material, electricity, machine wear, your time and failed prints — then look at what each price leaves you after the fees where you sell. This calculator shows that for your own price, or for any margin you pick, on every channel side by side. It tells you your floor, not your ceiling: what buyers will pay is something only your market can tell you.
Why add a failed-print buffer?+
Even reliable printers fail sometimes — clogs, warping, layer shifts. A failed print still consumed filament and power. Adding a few percent on top of material and energy across all your prints means a single failure does not erase the profit on a job.
Is this 3D printing cost calculator free?+
Yes. It is free, runs entirely in your browser and needs no signup. Your shop — rates, printer and the places you sell — is saved in this browser; Copy link or Download file keeps a copy you can reopen anywhere.
Stop pricing prints from a spreadsheet.
Printfarm keeps filament stock, per-print deductions and true costs live across your whole studio. Join the waitlist for the beta.
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