3D Printing Cost Calculator — Filament & Electricity
Enter your material usage, filament price, print time, printer power draw, electricity rate, and expected failure rate to get the true cost of a 3D print — down to the cent.
g
$/kg
hours
W
$/kWh
%
Material + electricity, adjusted for expected failures
$3.08
Material
90.3%
Electricity
9.7%
- 1
Raw material cost
(100 g ÷ 1,000) × 25 $/kg = 2.5 - 2
Failure multiplier
1 ÷ (1 − 10% ÷ 100) = 1.1111Each successful part costs this multiple of the base material on average. - 3
Material cost with failures
2.5 × 1.1111 = 2.7778 - 4
Electricity cost
(250 W ÷ 1,000) × 8 h × 0.15 $/kWh = 0.3 - 5
Total print cost
2.7778 + 0.3 = 3.08
How does this calculator work?
Total 3D print cost = (weight_g / 1000 × $/kg) ÷ (1 − failure rate) + (W / 1000 × hours × $/kWh). Enter filament weight from your slicer, material price, print time, printer wattage, electricity rate, and failure rate to get material cost, electricity cost, and the total side by side.
Formula
How this is calculated
The material cost is calculated from the filament or resin weight reported by your slicer software: divide by 1,000 to convert grams to kilograms, then multiply by the cost per kilogram. If you have a non-zero expected failure rate (prints that fail and must be re-run), the material cost is divided by (1 − failure rate) to find the average cost across attempts — a 10% failure rate means you spend roughly 11% more on material on average.
The electricity cost is the product of your printer's average power draw in kilowatts, the total print time in hours, and your local rate per kilowatt-hour. Typical FDM (filament) printers draw 100–400 W depending on heated bed temperature; resin printers draw 30–60 W. Check your printer's spec sheet or measure with a plug-in power meter for accuracy.
This calculator covers direct consumable and energy costs only. It does not include equipment depreciation, wear parts (nozzles, FEP film), post-processing consumables (supports, solvents), or labour. Add those as overhead on top of the calculated total for a fully loaded production cost.
Frequently asked questions
Your slicer software (Cura, PrusaSlicer, Chitubox, etc.) shows the estimated filament or resin usage in grams and the estimated print time before you send the job to the printer. Use those figures as inputs.
Track the number of failed prints over a batch. For example, if 2 out of 20 prints fail, the failure rate is 10%. A well-tuned FDM printer typically runs 5–15% failure rate; beginners may see 20–30%. Reliable resin printers often run lower. Enter 0 if all your prints succeed first-time.
This calculator covers consumables (filament/resin) and electricity only. To include machine depreciation, divide the printer cost by its expected print hours over its life and add that rate per hour on top of the cost-per-hour figure shown.
Also known as
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). 3D Printing Cost Calculator — Filament & Electricity [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/3d-printing-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "3D Printing Cost Calculator — Filament & Electricity." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/3d-printing-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "3D Printing Cost Calculator — Filament & Electricity," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/3d-printing-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_3d_printing_calculator, title = {3D Printing Cost Calculator — Filament & Electricity}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/3d-printing-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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