Topic / Running costs
What 3D printing really costs after the printer: cost per print, filament price per kilogram, electricity and a first-year budget.
The printer price is only the start. Filament, spare parts, and a few extras most buyers do not plan for make up the rest of what you spend, and the balance between them depends on how much you print.
Read the first-year budget guide first to see every cost category in one place. Then use the cost-per-print guide to work out what a typical print costs you, and the filament price guide to compare brand spools, refills and bulk packs once you know how much material you use.
A worked per-print cost using Bambu’s published power measurements, official filament prices and US average electricity rates, with a downloadable CSV calculator.
Official-store prices for PLA and PETG from Bambu Lab, Creality and Anycubic normalised to price per kilogram, with refill, multi-buy and bulk options, a yearly worked example and RFID caveats.
A first-year cost model built from official printer, plate, hotend, filament and dryer prices, with worked low-use and medium-use budgets and the items warranties do not cover.
Where multicolour waste comes from, what Bambu Lab’s own slicing examples show, which Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer settings reduce it, and two worked cost scenarios using official per-kilogram filament prices.
Rated maximum power versus measured average draw for Bambu Lab printers, the heat-up peak, standby cost, and yearly electricity cost at 5, 15 and 30 print-hours a week using the US average residential rate, with a formula for your own tariff.
A year-one and year-two cost model for a hobbyist printing tabletop miniatures every week, built from Anycubic’s listed resin, film, printer and wash-and-cure prices, with the lines you must price locally, the safety costs first-time buyers miss, and how it compares with a first FDM year.