How to Price 3D Prints
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To price a 3D print, work out what it costs you to make (filament, electricity, machine wear and your time), add a buffer for the prints that fail, add your margin, then round up to a clean number. PrintCost.site's calculator does exactly this, in this order, and the steps below are the ones it runs.
The formula, in order
- Filament: grams used times the material's price per kilogram. PLA at $20.00/kg
- Electricity: print hours times the printer's power draw times your price per kWh. 120 W at $0.17/kWh
- Machine wear: print hours times a wear rate that spreads the printer's price over its life. $0.25/h
- Handling: a flat fee per job for your time: slicing, setup, taking it off the bed. $2.00 per job
- Packaging: a flat cost per job, if you charge for it. These five add up to the cost to make the print. $0.00 per job
- Failure buffer: a percentage of that cost, to absorb the prints that fail. 10%
- Multi-color surcharge: a percentage for a print that uses more than one filament. 5% for two colors, up to 15% for four or more
- Profit margin: a percentage of the cost so far, added on top. 50%
- Minimum charge: if the total comes out lower, the price is raised to this. It floors the print, before shipping. $5.00
- Shipping: added at cost after everything else, so no buffer or margin is taken on it. $0.00 per job
- Rounding: the total is rounded up to a clean price, never down.
In one line: price = (filament + electricity + wear + handling + packaging) × (1 + failure buffer) × (1 + color surcharge) × (1 + margin), raised to the minimum charge if it comes out lower, plus shipping, rounded up. The figures above are the calculator's default rates; change a rate under User Setting and this page follows. The homepage prices one real print line by line if you want to see the working.
What the formula charges for 9 real prints
Shop price is what the calculator quotes for the print at the rates above. Per gram and per hour are that price divided by the filament weight and by the print time.
| Filament | Time | Shop price | Per gram | Per hour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keychain5.5 g · 31m | 5.5 g | 31m | $5.00 | $0.91 | $9.80 |
| 3DBenchy11.4 g · 50m | 11.4 g | 50m | $5.00 | $0.44 | $5.95 |
| Phone stand26.7 g · 1h 24m | 26.7 g | 1h 24m | $5.00 | $0.19 | $3.57 |
| Articulated dragon65.9 g · 5h 39m | 65.9 g | 5h 39m | $8.50 | $0.13 | $1.50 |
| Book stand91.6 g · 2h 38m | 91.6 g | 2h 38m | $7.50 | $0.08 | $2.84 |
| Magazine holder232 g · 7h 56m | 232 g | 7h 56m | $15.00 | $0.06 | $1.89 |
| 30 cm LEGO-style figure529 g · 21h 31m | 529 g | 21h 31m | $31.00 | $0.06 | $1.44 |
| Cosplay helmet708 g · 35h 31m | 708 g | 35h 31m | $43.00 | $0.06 | $1.21 |
| Life-size figure16.74 kg · 283h | 16.74 kg | 283h | $685.00 | $0.04 | $2.42 |
Weights and times are OrcaSlicer's own totals for each model. The cost page has the models, their creators and how each was sliced.
Why a flat price per gram or per hour fails
At these rates the calculator charges from $0.04 per gram (the life-size figure) to $0.91 per gram (the keychain), and from $1.21 an hour (the cosplay helmet) to $9.80 an hour (the keychain). 3 of the 9 prints sit on the $5.00 minimum, and the $2.00 handling fee is the same for every job, so the smallest prints cost the most per gram.
One rate cannot fit all of them. At a flat $0.91 per gram, the rate that suits the keychain, the life-size figure would cost about $15,236 instead of $685.00. At a flat $0.04 per gram, the rate that suits the life-size figure, the keychain would cost about $0.22 instead of $5.00. Price each job from its own weight and time instead.
Set each rate from your own costs
The calculator's defaults are starting points, not market prices. Each one has a source you can work out for yourself:
- Filament: the price of a spool divided by its weight in kilograms.
- Electricity: your local price per kWh. The printer's power draw comes from its printer profile in the calculator, or you can type it.
- Machine wear: the printer's price divided by the print hours you expect it to last. The calculator's printer profiles work it out this way.
- Handling: the minutes you spend on a job, at your hourly rate.
- Failure buffer: the share of your prints that fail and have to be redone.
- Margin: what you want to keep on top of cost.
- Minimum charge: the least a job is worth taking. It is what sets the price of small prints.
Type your slicer's print time and filament weight into the calculator, set these rates under User Setting once, and every quote after that uses them. They are saved on your device and never sent anywhere. About PrintCost.site explains the assumptions behind a file-based estimate.