Many companies and individuals prefer 3D printing because it offers precision and accuracy, ease of process, and suitability for making products with intricate designs.
In 2021, the global 3D printing market size was valued at $13.84 billion, and it’s likely to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 20.8% from 2022 to 2030. There were 2.2 million units of 3D printers that were shipped globally in 2021, and these shipments are estimated to reach 21.5 million units by 2030.
Aligned with this trend, more and more printing services are emerging with a variety of different materials, processes, and finishing methods available. Many of them are very similar, however, and finding the signal in the noise is a tedious task. For more information, take a look at our list of the best 3D printing services online.
Whichever service you go with, it’s essential to deliberate the pricing before diving into the procedure. Read on to find out how much a 3D printing service costs.
Considerations & Added Value
It’s easy to think about how much a service costs relative to how much it would cost to print at home, but it’s not always that straightforward. Here are some reasons why:
- More professional product: Getting the perfect print – without stringing, layer gaps, and so on – takes time and effort. Using a service, you’re more likely to get a perfect print the first time. And that’s not even taking finishes into account.
- New and difficult materials: As with the previous point, trying out new and difficult materials isn’t just a matter of load and go. And even if it does work out, there’s no guarantee that you’ll like the final result. Before committing to a material, it can be beneficial to have the pros show you what’s possible.
- Simple bulk orders: Average cost per model tends to be lower when you order in bulk. Meanwhile, the more models you print at home, the more time it takes (depending on the technology). Putting these two points together, ordering many multiples of prints can be advantageous over printing them yourself.
Comparing Services
Craftcloud, All3DP’s 3D printing marketplace, does the hard work for you by comparing top services worldwide to find the one that best meets your needs.
Based on your location, you’ll be shown real-time prices from providers who can print your design in the material of your choice and deliver it straight to you. There are more than 80 material options, not to mention numerous finishes and colors. Besides the wide array of choices, users benefit from no minimum order price, IP-protected ordering, and a customer care team that answers within an 11-hour average timespan (weekends included). And for business customers, Craftcloud offers customized payment options to adapt to everyone’s needs.
Every printing partner featured in the marketplace is screened and met by Craftcloud staff as part of the onboarding process, and the quality of their performance is evaluated on an ongoing basis. The transparency is full: Customers know who is printing their order, and partners are visibly acknowledged on the site. And if you’re not sure where to start, Craftcloud will provide you with some suggestions to help guide you through the amazing world of 3D printing.
Throughout the rest of the article, we’ll use Craftcloud to get an idea of how much it costs to use a 3D printing service.
Price Check Method
Finally we get to the gist of the article: learning how much a 3D printing service costs. In fact, this is a difficult question to answer, as it depends on a combination of factors. Nevertheless, we can generalize in order to get an idea. Toward that end, we’ve considered three factors.
Factors
- Type of print: Often, the main factor will be what you want to print, as this is likely to influence the size, shape, complexity, and perhaps most importantly, material.
- Material: Some materials are more valuable than others, and different materials require different technologies. Both factors can influence the cost.
- Location: When it comes to ordering online, shipping costs become relevant. Many services offer worldwide delivery, but that doesn’t mean the price will always be the same…
Method
With these factors in mind, the rest of this article is broken down into three sections for three types of prints. For each type, we then consider three materials, and we’ve selected popular materials that are also suited to the part.
- Functional part: PLA, ABS, SLS nylon
- Miniature/figurine: standard resin, high-detail resin, transparent resin
- Piece of jewelry: brass, plated brass, sterling silver
Finally, for each material, we present the suggested “best price”, first in dollars, shipping to Chicago, USA, and then in euros, shipping to Frankfurt, Germany. No special finishes were selected.
Also Important
All prices were requested and generated on the 8th of December, 2022, when the exchange rate was 0.95 euros to 1 dollar. Note that, at that time, shipping prices were less reliable and often inflated.
Some price differences might seem unintuitive. This may be because not all materials are offered by all manufacturers. As a result, the closest manufacturer with the overall best price might have more printing or shipping costs relative to others.
Functional Part
Functional parts come in many shapes, sizes, and functions, but we thought we’d keep things simple with this camera lens cap. Just one cap, you say? How useful is that? Fret not, the designer provides models for over 15 standard diameters of lens caps.
Below are the prices for three very common materials often used for functional parts or prototypes.
PLA
- US: $2.13 + $6.99 shipping
- Germany: €1.39 + €11.90 shipping
ABS
- US: $4.50 + $4.00 shipping
- Germany: €1.39 + €11.90 shipping
SLS Nylon
- US: $3.45 + $5.00 shipping
- Germany: €5.95 + €9.52 shipping
Looking for more useful prints? Take a look at our list of the best 3D printable gadgets.
Miniature/Figurine
There are millions of tabletop miniatures out there, so we thought we’d go for something representative and relatable, an elf ranger. Because of the small and intricate details, resin printing is ideal for this and similar models.
Standard Resin
- US: $2.27 + $6.00 shipping
- Germany: €10.85 + €7.14 shipping
High-Detail Resin
- US: $11.90 + $6.00 shipping
- Germany: €5.95 + €7.14 shipping
Transparent Resin
- US: $9.90 + $21.00 shipping
- Germany: €16.84 + €16.66 shipping
Though offering slightly more than this single model, our list of the best D&D miniature models barely scrapes the surface of what’s out there. Still, you’ll probably find something you like. Check it out!
Jewelry Piece
This 3D printable bracelet showcases a diagrid pattern, which gives a visually pleasing look. The structure is inspired by radiolaria, protozoa with complex skeletal structures.
The designer provides sizes with inner diameters ranging from 2.3 to 2.7 inches. For the following, we’ve used the “medium” size, which has an inner diameter of 2.5″.
Brass
- US: $191.70 + $15.40 shipping
- Germany: €217.01 + €11.07 shipping
Plated Brass
- US: $257.27 + $15.40 shipping
- Germany: €291.24 + €11.07 shipping
Sterling Silver
- US: $372.08 + $15.40 shipping
- Germany: €421.20 + €11.07 shipping
You can find similar models in our article on the coolest 3D printable bracelets.
License: The text of "How Much Do 3D Printing Services Cost?" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.