3D Print Cost Calculator: Material, Machine Time and Quantity
Put your slicer’s grams and hours in and get the same number our checkout charges, including the discount for ordering copies.
A 3D print costs the plastic it uses plus the time it occupies a machine. On our published formula that is material by the gram, then $3.00 per print-hour, with a $2.00 minimum per order. Put your slicer’s grams and hours into the calculator below and you get the same number our checkout would charge, including the discount for ordering copies.
Make-cost calculator
What does this part cost to make?
Take the grams and the print time from your slicer. The rest is our published formula.
Make cost per part
$6.24
Order of 10
$62.40
- Material
- $12.00
- Labour
- $60.00
- Quantity discount
- −$9.60
- One on its own
- $7.20
Copies past the 10th each take 30% off their labour, the deepest rung.
Shipping is on top, at the cheapest USPS rate. Upload the file and you’ll see the exact number for your own geometry.
Price your file →Material by the gram plus $3.00 per print-hour, pro-rated on shorter prints, with a $2.00 minimum per order. Copies of one file in one colour that share a plate take 10% / 20% / 30% off their labour from the 2 / 5 / 10th copy. An estimate, not a quote: your sliced file decides.
The thing most cost guides get backwards
Filament is cheap. The bill is the hours.
Try itDouble the print time in the calculator above, then double the weight. Only one of them moves the total much.
How the number is built
Three things go into a make cost, in the order they matter:
- Machine time. $3.00 per print-hour, pro-rated on shorter prints.
- Material. The sliced weight times the price per gram of the filament you pick.
- The order minimum. Any order whose parts come to less than $2.00 is charged $2.00.
That is the whole formula. There is no monthly fee, no per-listing fee and no markup on top of it, and it is the same arithmetic whether you order one part or five hundred.
Why print time matters more than weight
Two parts can weigh the same and cost very different amounts, because one of them ties up a printer for three times as long. This is the single biggest lever you have, and it is a design decision, not a buying decision.
PLA at $0.02/g. The vase holds under three times the plastic of the keychain and costs over four times as much.
| Part | Weight | Print time | Material | Machine time | Make cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dense keychain | 40 g | 1.2 h | $0.80 | $3.60 | $4.40 |
| Desk tray | 60 g | 2.0 h | $1.20 | $6.00 | $7.20 |
| Tall hollow vase | 110 g | 6.0 h | $2.20 | $18.00 | $20.20 |
- Dense keychainWeight40 gPrint time1.2 hMaterial$0.80Machine time$3.60Make cost$4.40
- Desk trayWeight60 gPrint time2.0 hMaterial$1.20Machine time$6.00Make cost$7.20
- Tall hollow vaseWeight110 gPrint time6.0 hMaterial$2.20Machine time$18.00Make cost$20.20
If a part is coming out more expensive than you hoped, look for hours before you look for a cheaper filament. Thicker layers, less infill, fewer supports and a shorter Z height all cut the bill directly. Designing 3D prints that sell covers the changes that save the most time.
What each material costs
Material is a small share of the total, so picking by function rather than by price is almost always right. These are the rates in our catalogue in September 2026; the calculator above reads the live ones.
On a 60 g part, the gap between the cheapest and the priciest of these is about 90 cents.
| Material | Per gram | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| PLA (Basic, Matte, Silk, Glow, Wood) | $0.02–$0.03 | Most decorative and indoor products |
| PETG | $0.03 | Parts that flex a little, or live outdoors |
| ABS / ASA | $0.03 | Heat and impact; ASA for sunlight |
| PETG-CF / PET-CF | $0.03–$0.035 | Stiff, dimensionally stable functional parts |
| TPU 90A | $0.03 | Grips, bumpers, anything rubbery |
- PLA (Basic, Matte, Silk, Glow, Wood)Per gram$0.02–$0.03Use it forMost decorative and indoor products
- PETGPer gram$0.03Use it forParts that flex a little, or live outdoors
- ABS / ASAPer gram$0.03Use it forHeat and impact; ASA for sunlight
- PETG-CF / PET-CFPer gram$0.03–$0.035Use it forStiff, dimensionally stable functional parts
- TPU 90APer gram$0.03Use it forGrips, bumpers, anything rubbery
The material guide matches each one to the kind of product it suits.
Ordering copies: what changes
Copies of the same file in the same colour are priced on a graduated ladder, like tax bands. The first copy pays full labour; copies 2 to 4 take 10% off their labour, copies 5 to 9 take 20%, and every copy from the tenth on takes 30%.
Material is never discounted — it is what a copy costs us. And because each copy is priced by its own position in the run, adding one more can never make the order cheaper overall. The whole curve, for your own part, is drawn in what 100 units costs.
The saving is real because copies printed side by side share one setup, one plate change and one purge. So the ladder applies only when two copies actually fit on a bed at once. A part wider than about 120 mm in both directions prints one per plate, and every copy costs the same as the first. The checkbox in the calculator switches between those two cases.
What the make cost does not include
- Shipping. Bought on your own Shippo account at the cheapest USPS rate.
- Hardware. Magnets, threaded inserts and screws are charged at the part’s price.
- Your marketplace fees, which come out of what your customer pays you, not out of this.
To turn a make cost into a price your customers pay, see how to price 3D-printed products. To see the whole per-unit curve at bigger quantities, see what it costs to print 100 units.
FAQ
On PrintPort3D’s published formula: the sliced weight times the filament’s per-gram price, plus $3.00 per print-hour, with a $2.00 minimum per order. A 60 g part that prints in two hours costs $7.20 to make. Shipping is separate.
Divide the filament’s spool price by its weight in grams, then multiply by your sliced weight. Our catalogue runs $0.02 to $0.035 a gram depending on material. But per-gram cost alone will mislead you: machine time is usually five to ten times the material cost.
Yes, when copies of one file in one colour share a plate. Copies 2 to 4 take 10% off their labour, 5 to 9 take 20%, and every copy from the tenth on takes 30%. Material is never discounted, and a part too big to pair on a bed is priced the same at any quantity.
Only slightly. PETG, ABS, ASA and TPU cost about a cent more per gram than PLA in our catalogue, which is roughly 60 cents on a 60 g part. Print time affects your total far more than the choice of material.
Every order takes a plate, a pack and a label whatever it contains, so an order of one very small part is floored at $2.00. It applies once per order, not per part: five 60-cent keychains in one order are charged $3.00, not $10.00.
Now put the real file in.
We slice your actual geometry and the per-part price comes back in seconds — no account, no form. Assembly $1 a part if you want it.
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