A print costs more than the filament. There is the power to run the printer for hours, the slow wear on the machine, and the prints that fail and use both. This works out the real number, so the price you set is one you can defend.
How to use it
- Enter the filament weight your slicer reports for the print, in grams.
- Enter what you paid for the spool and its weight, so the tool knows the cost per gram.
- Add the print time, your printer's average power draw, and your electricity rate.
- Optionally add machine wear (printer price divided by its expected working hours) and a failure rate.
- Read the breakdown: filament, power, wear and the failure buffer, then the total.
What it does
The whole cost, not just filament
Filament is usually the biggest line but never the only one. Power and failures are the two people forget, and they are exactly the two that quietly eat a thin margin.
A failure buffer
Instead of pretending every print succeeds, you set a realistic failure rate and the cost of the ones that do not finish is spread across the ones that do.
Nothing to sign up for
Type numbers, read the answer. It runs in your browser and keeps none of it.
What people use it for
Pricing for a shop
Etsy, a market stall, a commission. Know the floor before you set the price, then add your margin on top of a real number.
Quoting a custom job
Someone sends you a model and asks what it costs. Slice it, read the grams, and answer with a figure that already covers power and the odd failed plate.
Comparing filaments
A cheaper spool that prints slower can cost more once power is counted. This shows you which one actually wins.
Good to know
- Average power draw matters more than peak: the bed and hotend heat hard at the start, then cruise. 100 to 150W average is typical for an open bed slinger.
- Enclosed and large-format printers draw more, especially with a heated chamber. Measure with a plug meter if you want the real figure.
- Spool weight is the filament weight, not the gross weight with the spool. A 1kg spool of filament weighs around 1.2 to 1.3kg on the scale.
- A 5 to 10 percent failure rate is realistic for tuned printers running varied jobs. Raise it for tall, thin, or bridge-heavy prints.
Questions
How do I know how many grams a print uses?
Your slicer tells you. Bambu Studio, Orca, Cura and PrusaSlicer all show the filament used in grams in the summary after you slice, next to the estimated time. Type that number in here.
Does it include electricity?
Yes. Enter your printer's power draw in watts (most bed slingers pull 100 to 150W average, a large enclosed printer more) and your electricity rate, and it adds the running cost to the filament.
What is the failure rate for?
A print that fails at hour six still used filament and power. Setting a small failure rate, say 5 to 10 percent, spreads the cost of the ones that do not finish across the ones that do, so your average price is honest.
Should I charge for my time?
That is not a printing cost, it is a labour cost, and it is yours to set. This tool gives you the true machine cost so that whatever you add for your time is profit, not covering a gap you did not see.
Also called
People look for this as a 3D print cost calculator, a filament cost calculator, a 3D printing cost estimator, or simply a way to work out how much a print costs. It is the same job each time: turn grams and hours into money.