Top
Pick
Pick
Voxelab Aquila
Best 3D Printer Under $200
- Easy to use
- Glass print bed works well with ABS and PLA
- Great price
- Uses micro SD cards
- Hot end only goes to 250 ℃
It’s not a huge stretch to think of consumer 3D printing technology as following a similar path as the smartphone. Initially expensive and limited, but over a relatively short space of time sophisticated to the point of virtual witchcraft and affordable for the majority.
Much like $200 can now get you a decent phone that runs apps, snaps photos, and has juice left at the end of the day for some web browsing, $200 can also get you a great out-of-the-box printing experience – high print quality, little to no effort on your part, and most often with a clear open path ahead to upgrade and improve the machine, should you have the liquidity to do so.
With this in mind, here are our top picks of 3D printers to be found for $200 or less.
Best 3D Printers Under $200
We’ve made the Voxelab Aquila our new Top Pick, replacing the Creality Ender 3. The Aquila is an excellent 3D printer for first-timers, available at a price that’s easy to stomach. In testing, we found it an easy-to-use beginner 3D printer that produces some stellar prints. It’s an Ender 3 clone, but a handful of improvements and upgrades set it apart, such as, a filament sensor, belt tensioners, and a textured glass bed – things that put it closer to the Ender 3 V2, a ~$260 machine.
The Creality Ender 3 remains a good pick, of course, and gives you a rock-solid core for 3D printing. Its enormous online community of owners keep it perfectly relevant but it is starting to show its age a little bit. Think of it as an oldie but a goodie.
Really though, you can’t go wrong with any of the printers mentioned below. Here are the sub-$200 3D printers worth knowing right now. To see what’s new and changed from our last update, check out the new ‘What’s Changed?‘ section.
Overview
| 3D Printer | Build Volume (mm) | Market Price (Approx., USD) | Check Price (Commissions Earned) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voxelab Aquila | 220 x 220 x 250 | $169 | |
| Tronxy XY-2 Pro | 255 x 255 x 260 | $170 | |
| Creality Ender 3 | 220 x 220 x 250 | $189 | |
| Anycubic Mega Zero 2.0 | 220 x 220 x 250 | $189 | |
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Best Printers Under $200
We’ve pointed out our top pick above, but there are similar printers in contention. Without further ado, here’s our extended shortlist of printers worth your time and money, ordered by price, not preference.
Best Printer Under $200
Best 3D Printers Under $200
Voxelab Aquila
Here we have the Voxelab Aquila, an Ender 3 clone of sorts (something common to all of the printers on this list – such was the impact the Ender 3 had) that really impressed us when we reviewed it back in the summer of 2021. It’s also often listed as on sale, and it’s possible to pick one up for around $169, a great price given the quality of the printer.
The Aquila is Voxelab’s first fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer, which might give pause for thought with other brands, but gets a pass here because, in actuality, it’s a sub-brand of 3D printing giant Flashforge. Part of a shift to cater to the consumer space more, Voxelab’s printers are direct competitors to the likes of the Ender 3 and Mega Zero. This first attempt hit the mark and is an easy-to-use beginner 3D printer that produces some excellent prints. For the price, the overall quality of the machine is very impressive indeed.
At its core, it is an Ender 3, but a clutch of improvements and upgrades set it apart, namely, a filament sensor, belt tensioners, plus a textured glass bed – things that put it closer to the Ender 3 V2, a ~$260 machine. Support for upgrades such as the BLTouch bed leveling probe is, apparently, in the works, so in time the Aquila could prove to be far better value than the Ender 3 as a starting point for printing.
One thing it’s important to be aware of with the Aquila is the firmware. It was reported that the firmware in earlier versions of the Aquila was liable to freeze on a thermistor break and prevent thermal runaway protection from engaging, which is dangerous. The problem was, according to Voxelab, cleared up with a firmware upgrade and since the problem was detected, new firmware has been installed in all newly produced Aquilas. Though Voxelab did mention they can’t be sure how many of the original systems are still on shelves, so be sure to check for an update yourself if you get one.
Voxelab Aquila
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Best 3D Printers Under $200
Tronxy XY-2 Pro
The Tronxy XY-2 Pro is a sub-$200 3D printer, but you now have to be quite careful where you order it from, as some outlets are charging closer to $300 for it. Obviously, this is a good printer as it made this list, but that doesn’t mean you should be spending over the odds for it.
On paper, the Tronxy XY-2 Pro is a beastly little printer, bringing an above-average build volume of 255 x 255 x 260 mm, automatic mesh bed leveling, a filament out sensor, and a mainboard with silent stepper motor drivers to the familiar Ender 3 form factor.
In testing, we found it an agreeable printer, with most features benefitting the experience of using it. Print quality was good enough, though, as is often the case, there’s room for improvement via settings and mechanical upgrades.
The Buildtak-like print bed sticker is bad and degrades quickly from prints fusing to it, so that’d be the first thing we suggest swapping (being mindful of the inductive sensor triggering in proximity to metal, you may need to adjust Z-offsets to not crash into glass or other thick bed surfaces.) Deal with this, and the fact that the firmware and technical support lags behind the curve of other manufacturers that are more transparent about their machines (read: upgrades and enhancements may not be straightforward), and the XY-2 Pro should serve you well. In essence, not one for complete beginners but a fun printer for intermediates.
Tronxy XY-2 Pro
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Best 3D Printers Under $200
Creality Ender 3
The original good ‘cheap’ printer, Creality’s Ender 3, gave personal 3D printing a shot in the arm, tilting things away from overly fussy DIY kits to semi-assembled simplicity paired with the good-enough print quality and plenty of headroom to make your own improvements.
All the basics are there for less demanding 3D printing tasks – a heated bed and relatively accommodating 220 x 220 x 250 mm print volume. The bed heats to 110 °C, too, so the occasional printing of higher temp materials such as ABS is possible (though we wouldn’t recommend making this your main use of the printer without making modifications.)
Recently, the Ender 3 has increased by around $10 in price, not enough to make you avoid it, though, as the Ender 3 is, more or less, the blueprint for many of the inexpensive printers available today. Its users are legion, and there’s undoubtedly no question left unanswered online should you run into problems.
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Best 3D Printers Under $200
Anycubic Mega Zero 2.0
Anycubic’s follow up to the uber-cheap and now seemingly discontinued Mega Zero printer, the Mega Zero 2.0 seems an assured starting point for the maker on a budget, featuring a Bondtech-style dual-gear extruder that should power through tricky extrusions and a magnetic removable print bed for easy print removal and minimization of bed leveling.
The original Mega Zero, which we liked a lot for its no-nonsense approach to printing basics, has been superseded here with the addition of a heated bed and a jump from 12 V to 24 V, meaning fast heating and less waiting before prints start. Because of these changes, the Mega Zero 2.0 will be more accommodating for bed adhesion and should be capable of more challenging filaments like PETG (though we’d recommend minor modifications if you plan to print ‘hot’ filaments a lot, focusing on the hot end and PTFE tube within.)
Being a new printer, we’re reluctant to place it over the Ender 3 simply for how untested it is. Newcomers wanting to upgrade or modify it will find far less help online than they would with Creality’s machine, but there is a small but active community on the likes of Reddit. Building on the Mega Zero before it, and for the same money as the comparatively basic Ender 3, it’s worth a look.
To be noted is the fact this printer has had a fairly erratic pricing history over the last few months, with some outlets charging close to or over $200 for the printer. On average, it seems to be listed for around $189, but it is also often listed on sale. At the time of writing, Anycubic is selling this printer for $154. Long story short, it’s worth shopping around if you want one of these.
Anycubic Mega Zero 2.0
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What's Changed?
This article is on a rolling update cycle. The moment we test a printer that deserves to be known, it goes on this list.
Do keep in mind that if a printer drops off this list, it doesn’t mean that it’s no longer good. We’ll be keeping track of all the printers that have been removed and the printers that replaced them here, so you can easily see our past picks and investigate further.
Update: June 7, 2022: We added some important extra information regarding a safety concern with earlier versions of the Voxelab Aquila. After speaking with Voxelab about the issue, we’re confident that the problem has been dealt with, so it remains the top pick here.
Update: October 13, 2021: A notable change this update as the Voxelab Aquila surpasses the Creality Ender 3 as Top Pick. This is a short list, but quality sub-$200 3D printers aren’t all that common, and globally, prices appear to be slowly creeping up too. We suspect supply chain issues might be the cause of that. We’ve updated the prices, making sure everything still comes in under $200, and while some machines on this list are now being sold for more, we’ve noted that you can still get them for less.
License: The text of "Best 3D Printers Under $200 – Buyer’s Guide" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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