The maker’s pricing guide
How much should you charge for 3D prints?
Turn filament and print time into a price that pays for your work. Five practical steps, with the numbers made simple.
Build your priceThe price-building blocks
A price worth printing for.
Start with your actual costs, then check whether your customers and your margin agree.
Count every cost.
A spool price is a starting point. A sustainable selling price also covers hands-on work, delivery and the small components that make your product complete.
Materials
Filament, supports, waste, magnets, keyrings and other components.
Time & energy
Electricity, setup, finishing and packing labor.
Getting it there
Packaging, actual shipping cost and order overhead.
Filament cost · worked example
Include supports and waste in the weight. Electricity is average watts ÷ 1,000 × print hours × your rate per kWh.
Per order or per item? Setup and shipping may happen once per order. Spread batch costs across the number of units you expect to deliver; keep per-item costs separate.
Protect your margin.
Margin is profit divided by customer revenue. Markup is profit divided by cost. The same percentage can lead to two very different prices.
Example: $8 total cost · no selling fees
30% target margin
$11.43
$8 ÷ (1 − 0.30)
About $3.43 profit · 30% margin
30% markup
$10.40
$8 × 1.30
$2.40 profit · about 23.1% margin
Fees change the answer. Include percentage and fixed fees using your actual fee basis. Customer-paid shipping is revenue, postage is a cost, and selling fees may apply to shipping revenue too.
Make printer time pay.
Two jobs can earn the same profit but occupy a printer for very different amounts of time. Profit per printer-hour helps you compare them.
- Estimated order profit
- $6
- Printer time
- 3 hours
- Profit per printer-hour
- $2/hour
This is a comparison metric, not a forecast of take-home pay. Its accuracy depends on the costs you included and whether you can sell the prints.
Go beyond the basics.
Printer wear and failed attempts affect what a job really costs. Multi-plate products can use different filament quantities and prices on each plate. Itemize those details when they matter.
Start with Free
One repeatable plate layout
- • Up to 10 filaments on your plate
- • Material, energy and labor
- • Packaging, shipping and overhead
- • One total for extra components
- • Target margin and profit per printer-hour
Maker and higher
More detail for repeatable work
- • Printer depreciation and maintenance
- • Failed-print reserves
- • Additional plate layouts with independent runs
- • Itemized, saved component costs
Paid assumptions are excluded from Free estimates. Opening a locked section does not add example costs to your calculation.
Check your market.
A cost-based price tells you what a job needs to earn under your assumptions. Compare similar products before deciding what to charge.
- Quality and finish
- Delivery and packaging
- Customer demand
- Costs from actual jobs
A profitable estimate does not prove customers will buy at that price. Revisit your inputs as you complete real orders.
Put your numbers to work
Price your next print with confidence.
Choose your currency, enter your actual costs and see what the job can earn. No account needed.
Try the free calculator →Want to see the exact math? Explore the formulas and worked example.
Keep building your pricing confidence
Read next
Pricing fundamentals · 5 min read
Margin vs. markup: stop underpricing your 3D prints
An interactive example, clear formulas and a fee-inclusive comparison that shows why adding 30% is not a 30% margin.
Production economics · 6 min read
3D print batch pricing: share setup costs without hiding work
Compare one, four and eight prints on a plate. See which costs repeat and what a larger batch earns per printer-hour.