# 3D Printing Cost Calculator — Full Reference

> A free browser-based calculator by 3DPCC for estimating 3D printing costs and selling prices. No account required.

Website: https://3dprintingcostcalculator.com/
Short reference: https://3dprintingcostcalculator.com/llms.txt

## Purpose

The calculator helps makers, workshops, print farms and 3D printing businesses understand the costs of a job before setting a selling price. It is separate from 3DPCC News, the news publication at https://3dpcc.news/, and from the business tools at https://3dpcc.com/.

Results are estimates based on the values entered. Default material prices, printer settings, currency conversions and electricity rates are starting assumptions, not live supplier quotes, measured consumption or guaranteed local tariffs. Replace them with values appropriate to the job and workshop.

## Cost Inputs

- Material: amount used and purchase price, with an allowance for waste. Filament is costed by weight; resin mode uses volume and price per liter.
- Printing time: the duration of the job, usually estimated by a slicer.
- Machine operation: printer investment, estimated useful life, utilization, maintenance and an operating-cost buffer.
- Electricity: printer power consumption and the user's price per kWh.
- Labor: preparation, setup, post-processing and other work entered at an hourly rate.
- Extras: hardware components and packaging.
- Resin consumables, where applicable: washing, release film, screen wear and cleanup consumables.
- Batch inputs, where applicable: job totals, quantity and setup time, used to calculate cost per unit.

Electricity is part of the machine operating cost. Its separate breakdown should not be added to the machine cost a second time.

## Core Formulas

Filament cost = amount in grams / 1,000 × price per kilogram × material allowance.

Resin material cost = amount in milliliters / 1,000 × price per liter × material allowance.

Electricity cost = power in watts / 1,000 × printing hours × electricity price per kWh.

Labor cost = labor minutes / 60 × hourly labor rate, plus any separately entered batch setup time.

The total combines material, machine operation, labor, extras and applicable resin consumables. In batch mode, total job cost is divided by the quantity to obtain a per-unit cost.

For a target gross profit margin, selling price before VAT = cost / (1 − margin as a decimal). For example, a 50% gross margin requires a selling price of twice the calculated cost. A 50% markup would instead be cost × 1.5; margin and markup are not interchangeable.

Where VAT is entered, the displayed VAT-inclusive selling price adds that percentage to the net price. This is a calculation setting, not advice on tax registration, applicable rates or obligations.

## Limitations

Slicer estimates can differ from actual material use and printing time. Results depend on accurate inputs and appropriate allowances for production losses and overhead. The calculator does not automatically know the workshop's measured consumption, failure rate, marketplace fees, shipping costs or tax obligations. Include costs not represented by a dedicated input in the job's pricing assessment.

## Language and Currency

The interface supports multiple currencies and 21 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Czech, Romanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, Korean and Japanese.

English is served at /. Other language editions use /es, /fr, /de, /pt, /it, /nl, /pl, /sv, /da, /no, /fi, /cs, /ro, /hu, /bg, /sk, /sl, /tr, /ko and /ja.

## Related Websites

- [3DPCC News](https://3dpcc.news/): 3DPCC's news publication, with product reporting, practical guides and equipment comparisons.
- [Publication reference](https://3dpcc.news/llms.txt): Information about the publication and links to its coverage.
- [3DPCC](https://3dpcc.com/): Business tools for 3D printing operations. Features and availability are described on that website.

## Site Resources

- [Calculator](https://3dprintingcostcalculator.com/)
- [Sitemap](https://3dprintingcostcalculator.com/sitemap.xml)
- [Crawler directives](https://3dprintingcostcalculator.com/robots.txt)
- [Short reference](https://3dprintingcostcalculator.com/llms.txt)