3D printing has been around for a long time, but not a lot of people have tried it yet. If you are wondering what it’s used for, you can create items that can be practical or just fun. For instance, you can create giant pieces of cosplay armor or small statues to give as gifts: The possibilities are endless. You can even buy a few printers, open your own Etsy store and start a business.
With lower costs than ever, it’s easy to get into 3D printing, with printers available for under $200. The catch is, there’s always a catch, that these budget machines usually require some tweaking to get it right. You’ll save money, but it’s a rough-and-tumble way to get started. The best budget 3D printers have a healthy balance between cost and usability, so that’s what we’re looking at in this list.
What’s the best budget 3D printer?
Budget 3D printing is a category that is growing fast. For my money, the best you can buy right now is the Anycubic Kobra 2. It has enough upgraded features to make it an incredibly useful machine while sitting firmly around the $250-$280 mark. Having this much quality in a printer that costs so little makes it the perfect budget 3D printer.
These budget 3D printers all cost under $500 (though prices can drift a bit month to month), and some are better suited to beginners than others. Our list of picks for the best 3D printer overall covers a much wider range of choices, but these are excellent for getting started — or for buying several at once. If you are thinking of creating a print farm, then buying several Anycubic Kobra 2‘s is an excellent way to get started.
Best budget 3D printer
<div edition="us" description="
While not as fast as the P1P or the X1C, the Kobra 2 is around the same speed as the AnkerMake M5. It will happily produce prints at 250 millimeters per second, though the best quality seems to be hovering around 150mm/s in my testing. It also comes with a filament runout sensor and bed leveling, which works extremely well.
The big selling point for the Kobra 2, though, is the price. It has all the advantages of a faster printer but with a sub-$300 price tag, which is astonishing. This is my recommendation for any first-time buyer or someone on a budget.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 250 x 220 x 220
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 300
Dimensions (mm): 486 x 440 x 435
Price: $
” superlative=”Best budget fast 3D printer” imagegroup=”{"alt":"Kobra 2 on a white background","caption":"
","size":246689,"width":1600,"height":900,"dateCreated":{"date":"2023-07-05 20:26:35","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2023-07-05 20:26:54","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":"Anycubic","alt":"Anycubic Kobra 2 on an orange background","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"aca113aa-9220-419e-9cdb-10b5794670af","imageAltText":"Kobra 2 on a white background","imageCaption":"
While not as fast as the P1P or the X1C, the Kobra 2 is around the same speed as the AnkerMake M5. It will happily produce prints at 250 millimeters per second, though the best quality seems to be hovering around 150mm/s in my testing. It also comes with a filament runout sensor and bed leveling, which works extremely well.
The big selling point for the Kobra 2, though, is the price. It has all the advantages of a faster printer but with a sub-$300 price tag, which is astonishing. This is my recommendation for any first-time buyer or someone on a budget.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 250 x 220 x 220
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 300
Dimensions (mm): 486 x 440 x 435
Price: $
Anycubic
Photo Gallery 1/1
Anycubic
Show expert take Show less
<div edition="us" description="
The Elegoo is one of my favorite ultracheap printers. When testing it, I kept expecting it to fail and it just didn’t. It produced amazing results for the price, and continues to do so every time I use it. This is the last 3D printer of the previous generation that I still recommend, but the Neptune 4 Pro is coming to replace it, and that’s a faster version of this.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 220 x 220 x 280
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 300
Dimensions (mm): 442 x 452 x 530
Price: $
” superlative=”Best budget 3D printer of the last generation” imagegroup=”{"alt":"Elegoo Neptune 2 on a shelf with Anycubic Vyper in background","caption":"
Even though it costs very little, this printer delivers excellent quality every time.
","size":95116,"width":1600,"height":900,"dateCreated":{"date":"2023-02-20 19:58:45","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2023-02-20 19:59:01","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":"Elegoo","alt":"elegoo neptune 3","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"77ed7332-857a-49df-9613-8662815a0413","imageAltText":"Elegoo Neptune 2 on a shelf with Anycubic Vyper in background","imageCaption":"
Even though it costs very little, this printer delivers excellent quality every time.
The Elegoo is one of my favorite ultracheap printers. When testing it, I kept expecting it to fail and it just didn’t. It produced amazing results for the price, and continues to do so every time I use it. This is the last 3D printer of the previous generation that I still recommend, but the Neptune 4 Pro is coming to replace it, and that’s a faster version of this.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 220 x 220 x 280
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 300
Dimensions (mm): 442 x 452 x 530
Price: $
Elegoo
Photo Gallery 1/1
Elegoo
Show expert take Show less
<div edition="us" description="
Anker did way more than take its excellent M5 printer and remove a few things to create a budget-friendly model. In fact there are a couple of ways in which this budget bed-slinger actually improved over the original. The slightly smaller build platter offers guard rails so it’s much easier to get it on and off the heated base. The camera and display have been removed, but the AnkerMake app is one of the best pieces of software available for any 3D printer and has a much nicer interface. And perhaps best of all, the new all-metal hotend means it can handle a larger array of materials when printing. But at its core, it’s still a rock-solid printer with some of the most user-friendly apps you can get today.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 220 × 220 × 250
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 500 (fast mode), 250 (standard)
Dimensions (mm): 466 × 374 × 480
Price: $$
” superlative=”Fast and stable budget 3D printer” imagegroup=”{"alt":"The M5C 3D printer on a blue background","caption":"
","credits":"AnkerMake","imageData":{"id":"0cb17d76-4004-4a4a-a68c-8859398c492e","title":"AnkerMake M5C promo","filename":"ankermake-m5c-promo.jpg","path":"https://www.cnet.com/a/img/hub/2023/08/01/0cb17d76-4004-4a4a-a68c-8859398c492e/ankermake-m5c-promo.jpg","caption":null,"size":1855421,"width":1600,"height":900,"dateCreated":{"date":"2023-08-01 15:38:39","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2023-08-01 15:38:39","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":"AnkerMake","alt":"The M5C 3D printer on a blue background","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"0cb17d76-4004-4a4a-a68c-8859398c492e","imageAltText":"The M5C 3D printer on a blue background","imageCaption":"
Anker did way more than take its excellent M5 printer and remove a few things to create a budget-friendly model. In fact there are a couple of ways in which this budget bed-slinger actually improved over the original. The slightly smaller build platter offers guard rails so it’s much easier to get it on and off the heated base. The camera and display have been removed, but the AnkerMake app is one of the best pieces of software available for any 3D printer and has a much nicer interface. And perhaps best of all, the new all-metal hotend means it can handle a larger array of materials when printing. But at its core, it’s still a rock-solid printer with some of the most user-friendly apps you can get today.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 220 × 220 × 250
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 500 (fast mode), 250 (standard)
Dimensions (mm): 466 × 374 × 480
Price: $$
AnkerMake
Photo Gallery 1/1
AnkerMake
Show expert take Show less
<div edition="us" description="
The Mini Plus is one of the best small-footprint printers you can buy. It has everything you would expect from a Prusa machine: Auto bed leveling, crash detection and great print quality, all for under $450. Building it with my son gave us a lot of good insights into how a 3D printer works, and potentially how to fix one.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 180 x 180 x 180
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 200 (travel speed only)
Dimensions (mm): 380 x 330 x 380
Price: $$
” superlative=”Best small footprint” imagegroup=”{"alt":"The Prusa mini+ on a table with filament next to it and printers in the background","caption":"
","size":1020563,"width":1500,"height":844,"dateCreated":{"date":"2022-04-14 20:18:38","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2022-04-14 20:19:13","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":null,"alt":"The Prusa mini+ on a table with filament next to it and printers in the background","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"8c0d3e80-e67d-4e81-a377-8c759776405a","imageAltText":"The Prusa mini+ on a table with filament next to it and printers in the background","imageCaption":"
The Mini Plus is one of the best small-footprint printers you can buy. It has everything you would expect from a Prusa machine: Auto bed leveling, crash detection and great print quality, all for under $450. Building it with my son gave us a lot of good insights into how a 3D printer works, and potentially how to fix one.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 180 x 180 x 180
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 200 (travel speed only)
Dimensions (mm): 380 x 330 x 380
Price: $$
Photo Gallery 1/1
Show expert take Show less
<div edition="us" description="
I’ve recently been working with the Finder 3 and I’m impressed with the quality it was able to produce straight from the box. It is easy to set up and comes with a flexible build plate that you can replace the glass bed with. It makes it far easier to remove builds. Overall, the Finder 3 is a great printer for the price. It’s perfect for a teacher in the classroom as the enclosure makes it stable, and the slicer can control multiple printers at once via Wi-Fi.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 190 x 195 x 200
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 300
Dimensions (mm): 406 x 416 x 469
Price: $
” superlative=”Excellent out of the box” imagegroup=”{"alt":"A black and red 3D printer with a rainbow vase on it","caption":"
","size":237271,"width":2667,"height":1500,"dateCreated":{"date":"2022-10-14 16:05:08","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2022-10-14 16:10:12","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":"Flashforge","alt":"A black and red 3D printer with a rainbow vase on it","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"af92ab72-182e-4d0a-9607-fada8d8c6191","imageAltText":"A black and red 3D printer with a rainbow vase on it","imageCaption":"
I’ve recently been working with the Finder 3 and I’m impressed with the quality it was able to produce straight from the box. It is easy to set up and comes with a flexible build plate that you can replace the glass bed with. It makes it far easier to remove builds. Overall, the Finder 3 is a great printer for the price. It’s perfect for a teacher in the classroom as the enclosure makes it stable, and the slicer can control multiple printers at once via Wi-Fi.
Material type: Filament
Build area (mm): 190 x 195 x 200
Official max printing speed (mm/s): 300
Dimensions (mm): 406 x 416 x 469
Price: $
Flashforge
Photo Gallery 1/1
Flashforge
Show expert take Show less
Best budget resin 3D printers
Most beginner printers use a plastic filament to create models, but there are plenty of affordable resin 3D printers too. Liquid resin is a little more difficult to use than standard 3D printing material and requires safety equipment. But it also produces amazingly detailed results.
<div edition="us" description="
This small resin printer is Elegoo’s latest model in its popular Mars line. Because of the 4K monochrome LCD (these printers use light from an LCD to cure liquid resin) it can print much faster than older printers. The level of detail on models is something that standard 3D printing simply can’t reproduce. At this price, the Elegoo Mars 3 is the best resin printer for the money.
Material type: Resin
Build area (mm): 143 x 89 x 175
Official max printing speed (Layer time in seconds): 1.5 – 3
Dimensions (mm): 227 x 227 x 439
Price: $
” superlative=”The best starter resin printer” imagegroup=”{"alt":"elegoo mars 3 on a blue background","caption":"
This is easily my favorite resin 3D printer. It’s super-fast, and prints beautiful models
This is easily my favorite resin 3D printer. It’s super-fast, and prints beautiful models
","size":596027,"width":2667,"height":1500,"dateCreated":{"date":"2022-04-14 20:50:59","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2022-04-14 20:51:49","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":null,"alt":"elegoo mars 3 on a blue background","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"f8c1db11-7df5-4f64-a4a1-693c72834755","imageAltText":"elegoo mars 3 on a blue background","imageCaption":"
This is easily my favorite resin 3D printer. It’s super-fast, and prints beautiful models
This small resin printer is Elegoo’s latest model in its popular Mars line. Because of the 4K monochrome LCD (these printers use light from an LCD to cure liquid resin) it can print much faster than older printers. The level of detail on models is something that standard 3D printing simply can’t reproduce. At this price, the Elegoo Mars 3 is the best resin printer for the money.
Material type: Resin
Build area (mm): 143 x 89 x 175
Official max printing speed (Layer time in seconds): 1.5 – 3
Dimensions (mm): 227 x 227 x 439
Price: $
Photo Gallery 1/1
This is easily my favorite resin 3D printer. It’s super-fast, and prints beautiful models
Show expert take Show less
<div edition="us" description="
The Elegoo Saturn 2 is my favorite resin printer right now. It prints detailed models at a speed that’s often astonishing. The bed size is much larger than the printers in the smaller category, while its footprint is much easier to deal with than other, larger printers. You can print finely detailed cosplay pieces or multiple tabletop miniatures with equal ease with the Saturn 2, making it perfect for a small business. And right now at Newegg, you’ll get a $35 gift card with your purchase. Read more: Elegoo Saturn 2 Review
Material type: Resin
Build area (mm): 219 x 123 x 250
Official max printing speed (Layer time in seconds): 1.5 – 3
Dimensions (mm): 305.9 x 273 x 567.3
Price: $$
” superlative=”Best midsize budget 3D printer” imagegroup=”{"alt":"The Elegoo Saturn 2 on a table with doors behind it","caption":"
","size":436935,"width":4032,"height":2268,"dateCreated":{"date":"2022-11-14 16:10:33","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"dateUpdated":{"date":"2022-11-14 16:11:09","timezone":"UTC","timezone_type":3},"needsModeration":false,"mimeType":"image/jpeg","deleted":false,"credits":"James Bricknell / CNET","alt":"The Elegoo Saturn 2 on a table with doors behind it","restricted":false,"startDate":null,"endDate":null,"preferred":false,"watermark":false,"doNotCrop":false,"doNotResize":false,"primaryCollection":null,"vanityUrl":null,"notes":null,"crop":null,"cropGravity":0,"preservedRegion":null,"isNew":false,"keywords":[],"primeColor":null,"hasWarning":false,"typeName":"content_image"},"uuid":"820ed333-1318-406e-b841-2296004b2a3c","imageAltText":"The Elegoo Saturn 2 on a table with doors behind it","imageCaption":"
The Elegoo Saturn 2 is my favorite resin printer right now. It prints detailed models at a speed that’s often astonishing. The bed size is much larger than the printers in the smaller category, while its footprint is much easier to deal with than other, larger printers. You can print finely detailed cosplay pieces or multiple tabletop miniatures with equal ease with the Saturn 2, making it perfect for a small business. And right now at Newegg, you’ll get a $35 gift card with your purchase. Read more: Elegoo Saturn 2 Review
Material type: Resin
Build area (mm): 219 x 123 x 250
Official max printing speed (Layer time in seconds): 1.5 – 3
Dimensions (mm): 305.9 x 273 x 567.3
Price: $$
James Bricknell / CNET
Photo Gallery 1/1
James Bricknell / CNET
Show expert take Show less
Budget 3D printer FAQ
What material should I use to print with?
Most home 3D printers use PLA or ABS plastic. Professional printers can use all sorts of materials, from metal to organic filament. Some printers use a liquid resin, which is much more difficult to handle but offers sharper details. As a beginner, use PLA. It’s non-toxic, made mostly of cornstarch and sugarcane, handles easily, and is inexpensive. However, it’s more sensitive to heat, so don’t leave your 3D prints on the dashboard of a car on a hot day.
What settings should I use?
Most 3D printers include or link to recommended software, which can handle converting 3D STL or other files into formats supported by the printer. Stick with the suggested presets to start, with one exception. I’ve started adding a raft, or bottom layer of filament, to nearly everything I print. It has cut down dramatically on prints that don’t adhere to the bed properly, which is a common issue. If you continue to have problems, rub a standard glue stick on the print bed right before printing.
What are supports?
Your 3D models probably need some help to print properly, as these printers don’t do well with big overhangs — for example, an arm sticking out from a figure. Your 3D printer software can usually automatically calculate and add supports, meaning little stands that hold up all those sticking-out parts of the model. After the print is done, clip the supports off with micro cutters and file down any nubs or rough edges with hobby files.
How we test 3D printers
James Bricknell/CNET
Testing 3D printers is an in-depth process. Printers often don’t use the same materials, or even the same process to create models. I test SLA, 3D printers that use resin and light to print, and FDM, printers that melt plastic onto a plate. Each has a unique methodology. Core qualifiers I look at include:
Hardware quality
Ease of setup
Bundled software
Appearance and accuracy of prints
Repairability
Company and community support
A key test print, representing the (now old) CNET logo, is used to assess how a printer bridges gaps, creates accurate shapes and deals with overhangs. It even has little towers to help measure how well the 3D printer deals with temperature ranges.
When testing speed we slice the model using the standard slicer the machine is shipped with on its standard settings then compare the real-world duration of the print to the statement completion time on the slicer. 3D printers often use different slicers, and those slicers can vary wildly on what they believe the completion time to be.
We then use PrusaSlicer to determine how much material the print should use and divide that number by the real-world time it took to print to give us a more accurate number for the speed in millimeters per second (mm/s) the printer can run at.
James Bricknell / CNET
Every build plate is supposed to heat up to a certain temperature so we use the InfiRay thermal imaging camera for Android to check how well they do. We set the build plate to 60 degrees Celsius — the most used temperature for build plates — waited 5 minutes for the temperature to stabilize, then measured it in six separate locations. We then took the average temperature to see how close the 3D printer got to the advertised temperature.
Testing resin requires different criteria so I use the Ameralabs standard test — printing out a small resin model that looks like a tiny town. This helps determine how accurate the printer is, how it deals with small parts and how well the UV exposure works at different points in the model.
Many other anecdotal test prints, using different 3D models, are also run on each printer to test the longevity of the parts and how well the machine copes with various shapes.
For the other criteria, I research the company to see how well it responds to support queries from customers and how easy it is to order replacement parts and install them yourself. Kits (printers that come only semi-assembled) are judged by how long and difficult the assembly process is and how clear the instructions are.
