Are you thinking about buying a 3D printer, but you're new to this and still hesitant about how to choose a cheaper one? I have listed 12 of the best cheap 3D printers for you. This guide will walk you through the detailed 3D printer alternatives, which are choosing ideal printers of related factors like price range, key features, and ease of use pros and cons.
Whether you're interested in creating intricate models or practical household items, there's a low-cost 3D printer to suit your needs. Understanding the differences between types of 3D printers, like FDM and resin, can help you make an informed decision. Additionally, exploring 3D printing ideas and familiarizing yourself with 3D printing software and 3D modeling software will enhance your printing experience.
What is the Best Cheap 3D Printer?
When you select a 3D printer for your projects, you should know the specifications of the printer. Key terms such as FDM, SLA, and SLS often arise in conversations about 3D printing, so understanding their nuances is vital. In addition, the cheapest 3D printer should have a lower price and satisfy the customer's needs.
To let you have fully optional consideration, I sorted out the best cheap 3D printers for beginners or amateurs, and all of them are lower than $400.
Here are the main factors you need to take into account:
- Affordability: Price range under $300
- Key Features: Look for automatic bed leveling, ease of assembly, and reliable print quality.
- FDM vs. Resin: FDM printers are generally more user-friendly, while resin printers offer higher detail.
- Choosing the Best: Consider ease of use, support, and community.
- Features and Specifications: Compare to find the best value 3D printer.
- Beginner Considerations: Focus on user-friendly features and reliable support.
Creality Ender 3 V3 SE
What is the best cheap 3D printer for beginners is that Creality Ender 3 V3 SE is the top one. Because of its seamless blend of user-friendly features and affordability, more and more beginners intended to use it during the learning phase. Its automatic bed leveling and direct drive system make it a top choice for those new to 3D printing.
Ender-3 V3 can print 12 times faster than a regular i3-style 3D printer, a new benchmark for bed slingers. It prints faster and better with Creality Hyper PLA filaments.
- Price Range: under $390
- Print Volume: 220x220x250 mm³
- Max Printing Speed: 250mm/s
- Best Overall: Ideal for those seeking a balance of features and price
- Features: Automatic bed leveling, direct drive, easy assembly
Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro
The Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro is ideal for those seeking a balance of features and price, with its easy-to-use interface and robust features that ensure a smooth introduction to 3D printing. Additionally, this powerful FDM printer brings you significant enhancements to the printing process.
With its high-performance mainboard and remarkable top speed of 500 mm/s, it delivers exceptional printing capabilities and is compatible with Klipper firmware. Whether you're a professional or hobbyist, the Elegoo Neptune 4 is a reliable choice for high-quality, efficient 3D Printing.
- Price Range: $229.9
- Print Volume: 225x225x265 mm³
- Maximum printing Speed: 500 mm/s
- Best for Beginners: Perfect for those just starting out
- Features: High-speed printing, powerful cooling system
Bambu Lab A1 Mini
The Bambu Lab A1 Mini is a compact, high-speed 3D printer designed for both beginners and experienced users seeking efficiency and precision. For those interested in multicolor printing, it offers an excellent entry point with its ability to print in multiple colors, enhancing creative possibilities. Moreover, it supported a wide range of materials like PLA, PETG, TPU, and their corresponding support filaments.
- Price Range: $199
- Print Volume: 80x180x180 mm³
- Maximum printing Speed: 500 mm/s
- Best for Multicolor Printing: Ideal for creative projects.
- Features: Prints up to four colors, easy assembly, easy to use.
Creality Ender 3 V3 KE
Built in the well-known Ender 3 series, the Creality Ender 3 V3 KE is an advanced 3D printer with various improvements to raise performance and user experience. For printing speed, it provides rapid printing options without low quality.
For its key features, it is worth noting that Creality Ender 3 V3 KE comes with Klipper firmware pre-installed, enabling high-speed printing with a maximum speed of up to 500 mm/s and acceleration up to 8,000 mm/s². Additionally, it is equipped with a direct drive extruder and offers better filament control, making it compatible with a variety of materials, including flexible filaments.
- Price Range: $289
- Print Volume: 220x220x240 mm³
- Maximum printing Speed: 500 mm/s
- Best for: Fast prototyping or quickly printing multiple parts, DIY projects
- Features: Klipper firmware integration, direct drive extruder, x-axis linear rail
Anycubic Photon Mono 2
The Anycubic Photon Mono 2 is outstanding and the best cheap resin 3D printer, making technology to cure liquid resin layer by layer with UV light. It is an entry-level SLA (Stereolithography) 3D printer, designed for users who need high-precision and detailed prints at a budget-friendly price.
For its key features, it provides 4K+ resolution (4096 x 2560 pixels) for sharper and more detailed prints compared to its predecessor. Additionally, it uses an improved LighTurbo Matrix system to ensure uniform exposure and better print accuracy. Finally, it comes with Anycubic Photon Workshop slicing software, making it easy to prepare and process 3D models.
- Price Range: $189
- Print Volume: 165x143x89 mm³
- Max Printing Speed: About 50 mm/h
- Best Budget Resin Printer: For miniature printing, jewelry design, dental and medical models
- Features: Large screen protector, compact design
Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra
The Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra is a resin 3D printer designed to deliver high-quality prints with user-friendly features, making it an excellent choice for both beginners and experienced users. It is also the best cheap 3D printer for miniatures, making it a favorite among professionals and hobbyists.
This printer uses a tilting tank mechanism, unlike conventional resin printers that raise the build plate vertically. This method lowers stress during layer separation, therefore lowering print failures and raising print quality.
- Price Range: $269.99
- Print Volume: 153.36x77.76x165 mm³
- Maximum Printing Speed: 150mm/h
- Best for Miniatures: Ideal for detailed small-scale models
- Features: Auto-leveling, AI camera monitors
Flashforge Adventurer 5M
Flashforge Adventurer 5M is designed for those who love fast printing. Furthermore, it offers extensive customization options, allowing users to modify and enhance their printing experience. With its adventurer 5M’s power-loss recovery, you can unlock creativity with its long battery life, and unexpected outages won’t stop your progress.
For its features, Flashforge Adventurer 5M has a built-in camera, a flexible steel plate printing platform covered with PEI-coating, a quick-detachable nozzle, one-button automated adjustment, and other potent capabilities.
- Price Range: $399
- Print Volume: 220x220x220 mm³
- Maximum printing Speed: Up to 600mm/s
- Best Moddable Printer: For miniature models, jewelry design, dental models
- Features: 9K monochrome LCD, tilt-release technology, integrated Wi-Fi and AI camera, smart sensors
AnkerMake M5C
The AnkerMake M5C is the best and cheapest 3D printer designed to provide high-speed and precise printing, making it an excellent choice for both beginners and experienced users. It offers a combination of speed, precision, and user-friendly features, making it a valuable tool for a wide range of 3D printing projects.
With its high-speed printing, it boasts a standard printing speed of up to 500 mm/s, with an acceleration speed of 5,000 mm/s², allowing for the rapid production of models without compromising quality.
- Price Range: $358
- Print Volume: 220x220x250 mm³
- Maximum printing Speed: 500 mm/s
- Fast and Stable: Combines speed with reliability
- Features: Automatic leveling, high-speed printing
Anycubic Kobra 2
The Anycubic Kobra 2 is a high-performance 3D printer designed to deliver rapid and precise printing, catering to both beginners and professionals. For speed printing, it is capable of reaching speeds up to 300 mm/s, with an acceleration of 3,000 mm/s², allowing for rapid project completion.
Additionally, it has a magnetic PEI spring steel plate, which allows for effortless model removal by bending the plate slightly after printing. It also has a 16-point automatic bed leveling system, ensuring precise first layers and improved print quality.
- Price Range: $169
- Print Volume: 250x220x220 mm³
- Max Printing Speed: 300mm/s
- Best for Fast Prints: Quick and efficient
- Features: Auto-leveling, excellent print quality, enhanced extrusion and cooling
Toybox 3D Printer
The Toybox 3D Printer is a kid-friendly printer for children to learn 3D printing with its user-friendly interface and basic features that ensure a fun and educational experience. One of the highlights of this printer is that it is app-controlled, which means you don't need any slicing software for printing.
It has a library of pre-designed toys and a simple one-touch printing system, making it easier for children or parents to enjoy the 3D printing process. Furthermore, parents can rest assured that it is safe for kids, non-toxic, and a biodegradable PLA filament.
- Price Range: $329
- Print Volume: 75x80x90 mm³
- Maximum Printing Speed: 60 mm/s
- Best for Children: Toy printing, educational purposes, DIY accessories
- Features: Easy-to-use interface, safe for kids, no need for slicing software
Elegoo Neptune 4 Plus
The ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus is a high-speed FDM printer designed for users who need to print larger models, offering a spacious print volume and precise printing capabilities. With its default setting of 250 mm/s, it achieves remarkable printing speeds of up to 500 mm/s and accelerations of 12,000 mm/s². Pre-installed KIipper firmware drives it.
Additionally, this printer improves quality by reducing artifacts and ensuring consistent filament flow, and it makes it more accessible to print large models at a high speed. So, this is especially suited for both hobbyists and professionals seeking high-quality and efficient printing capabilities.
- Price Range: $339.99
- Print Volume: 320x320x385 mm³
- Maximum printing Speed: 500mm/s
- Best for Large Prints: For bigger projects
- Features: Large Print Volume, high precision
Creality Ender-3 S1 Pro
The Creality Ender-3 S1 Pro is an upgraded version of the popular Ender-3 series. It is a high-performance 3D printer for DIY amateurs and professionals, providing advanced features that allow for extensive customized options.
It supports up to 300°C, allowing the use of advanced filaments like ABS, PETG, Nylon, TPU, and PC. Moreover, the all-mental sprite direct drive extruder ensures smooth filament feeding, especially for flexible materials. Satisfy those who have more requirements for printing; trying it could be the best alternative.
- Price Range: Under $380
- Print Volume: 220x220x270 mm³
- Max Printing Speed: 160mm/s
- Best for Tinkerers: Makers, engineers, and hobbyists who need a high-performance, versatile 3D printer
- Features: High-temperature nozzles, dual gear extruder
Best Cheap 3D Printer Buying Guide
Discovering the realm of 3D printing is an interesting trip, and with the correct entry-level 3D printer, you will open countless creative opportunities. Starting your 3D printing journey with an affordable printer opens up a world of creativity. These 12 best cheap 3D printers offer a good mix of quality and accessibility, making them great for beginners.
As you explore this new printer for your projects, keep in mind that each has different features, such as speed, precision, and multicolor options. Choosing the right printer will help you bring your ideas to life and grow your skills in the exciting field of 3D printing.
