3D Printing Cost Calculator

Break a print into filament, power, machine wear, labor and failures so you know the cost before you pick a selling price.

Display only — amounts are not converted between currencies.

Filament and print
$
g
g
hr
W
/kWh
/hr
Labor, waste and price
min
$
%
$
%
%

Total production cost

$14.33

Total production cost
$14.33
Recommended selling price
$32.94
Profit
$16.47
Profit margin
50.0%
Profit per hour
$3.14
Cost per hour
$2.73

Cost breakdown

Filament cost$3.00
Electricity cost$0.11
Machine cost$4.00
Labor cost$5.00
Waste cost$0.97
Packaging$1.25
Platform fees$2.14
Total production cost$14.33

Total production cost

$14.33

Filament is prorated from spool price and grams used. Electricity uses printer watts, hours and your kWh rate.

Machine cost is hours times your hourly depreciation/opportunity rate. Labor is finishing minutes times your wage.

Waste applies to production costs so failed prints are not ignored. Packaging is added last.

How this calculator works

How we calculate this

  1. Filament = grams used / spool grams × spool price
  2. Electricity = (watts / 1000) × hours × kWh rate
  3. Machine = print hours × machine hourly rate
  4. Labor = (minutes / 60) × labor rate
  5. Waste = (filament + electricity + machine + labor) × waste %
  6. Total cost = those lines + packaging
  7. Recommended price uses your target margin after platform fees.

Example

Example: a 120 g functional print

$25 per 1 kg spool, 120 g used, $0.15/kWh, 150 W printer, 5 hour print, $0.80/hr machine rate, 15 minutes labor at $20/hr, 8% waste, $1.25 packaging, 50% margin, 6.5% fees.

  • Filament is $3.00.
  • Electricity is about $0.11 — real, but usually not the driver.
  • Labor and machine time will likely exceed filament.
  • Waste adds a slice of production so reprints are funded.

How much should I charge?

Use the recommended price when you sell the part. If you only need shop cost for internal use, ignore the price line and use total cost.

Pricing tips

  • Weigh a finished part or read slicer grams — do not guess 50 g for everything.
  • Put support-heavy prints in a higher waste or labor time.
  • Increase machine hourly rate if the printer is a bottleneck.
  • Include drying, sanding and insert installation in labor minutes.

Common mistakes

  • Pricing only filament because electricity “is just the house bill.”
  • Assuming zero failures on a new filament or a tall print.
  • Forgetting packaging on parts that must ship without scuffing.

FAQ

How do I calculate 3D printing cost?

Add filament, electricity, machine time, labor, waste and packaging. This calculator lists each line from your inputs.

What machine hourly rate should I use?

A simple method is purchase price divided by expected productive hours, plus a little for maintenance. Even $0.50–$2.00/hr changes long prints.

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