Best Budget 3D Printers 2026: High-Quality Output on the Cheap
The best budget 3D printers, FDM or Resin, for $300 or less.
1. Best Budget 3D Printer Overall: Sovol SV06 Ace
2. Best Budget 3D Printer for Beginners: Creality Ender 3 V3 SE
3. Best Budget 3D Printer for Multicolor Printing: Anycubic Kobra 3 V2
4. Best Budget 3D Printer for Multicolor Printing (Alternative), Bambu Lab A1 Mini
5. Best Budget 3D Printer for Fast Printing: Elegoo Centauri Carbon
6. Best Budget Resin 3D Printer for Beginners: Anycubic Photon Mono 2
7. Best Budget 3D Printer for Miniatures: Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra
8. Shopping Tips
What's the best budget 3d printer you can buy today? Whether you want to dive into 3D printing as a hobby or use it to start a small business, you may not want to just spend hundreds or thousands of dollars right off the bat. Purchasing a beginner or budget-friendly 3D printer is a good way to get started or, if you're an experienced maker, to build out your farm.
The good news is that you won't lack for choices if you are trying to find the best budget 3D printer to suit your needs. There are dozens of capable budget 3D printers that sell for less than $300 and even some that go for below $200. The bad news is that, with a huge variety of makes and models, it can be difficult to find the right one.
At Tom's Hardware, we've tested dozens of consumer and prosumer-level 3D printers each year, measuring their speed, output quality, features, and ease of use. To help you choose, we've listed the best budget 3D printers available right now, along with the pros and cons of each.
Check out our shopping tips section below for a short checklist of things to keep in mind before buying the best budget printer for you. If you have room to spend more on premium options, we have a list of Best 3D Printers and Best Resin 3D Printers for more recommendations.
If you are looking for fast printers, check out our 3D Printer Speed Hierarchy, where we include the top high-speed FDM models and rank them according to quickness and output quality.
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Best Budget 3D Printers 2026
Best Budget 3D Printer Overall
The Sovol SV06 Ace is the best budget 3D printer available. It's an affordable FDM 3D printer that's fast, easy to assemble, and easy to use. With a 220 x 220 x 250 mm build volume, you can quickly print all kinds of fun or useful mid-sized models. We appreciate that it includes vanilla Klipper and features such as automatic bed leveling and a built-in camera.
Best Budget 3D Printer for Beginners
At $219 MSRP, the Creality Ender 3 V3 SE is easily the best affordable FDM printer you can buy. It comes with deluxe S1 features like CR Touch for automatic bed leveling, a Sprite direct drive, and can print at a max speed of 250 mm/s. The only downer is there's no WiFi connectivity. It's on sale at Creality for $169 and $228 at Amazon with filament bundle.
Best Budget Multicolor 3D Printer
With a new slicer, a better hotend, an upgraded frame, and an added camera for easy monitoring at only $279 (stand-alone model), the Anycubic Kobra 3 V2 is hard to beat. Add another $120 for the four-color ACE Pro multimaker unit for the combo, and that still comes out cheaper than the A1 mini.
Best Budget Multicolor 3D Printer
At $199 for the standalone printer and $349 for the combo with AMS lite, the A1 Mini is the ideal printer for any level maker interested in trying multicolor 3D printing for the first time. You can print up to four colors (PLA and PETG) with the AMS lite. The A1 Mini is easy to assemble, fast, and amazingly quiet.
Fastest Budget 3D Printer
With a maximum print speed of 500mm/s, this sub-$300 Core XY speedster is the ideal choice for makers who are looking for high-speed printing at an affordable price. The Centauri Carbon also comes fully enclosed with automatic calibration, a two-sided build plate, and a built-in camera.
Best Budget Resin 3D Printer for Beginners
The Photon Mono 2 is designed for anyone who wants to take on resin 3D printing for the first time. It comes with an extra-large screen protector for the LED glass. Currently on sale at an incredibly low price of $199 at Amazon and $149 at Anycubic. You also get quality 4K prints with a smaller-sized vat and a petite footprint that requires minimal space.
Best for Miniatures
The Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra is a fast, high-quality resin 3D printer that spits out super-detailed miniatures with ease. It's the perfect tool for tabletop hobbyists who expect speed and precision. The Mars 5 Ultra comes with smart features like auto-leveling, failure detection, and tilt release. On sale right now for only $269 which is a $70 savings its MSRP.
The Best Budget 3D Printers You Can Buy Today
Best Budget 3D Printer Overall
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The Sovol SV06 ACE is a mid-scale 3D printer that is both fast and affordable. Though it's not a big printer, it has plenty of real estate for medium-scale prints without needing to rearrange your whole workshop.
Based on Prusa’s open-source i3, it features a few extra touches added by Sovol. It has a high-flow hotend, built-in camera for monitoring prints, and, of course, the vanilla Klipper for speed and precision.
The Sovol SV06 ACE is a 3D printer boasting impressive features, including 600mm/s top speeds, automatic bed leveling, dual Z-axis motors, vibration reduction, and a direct-drive extruder capable of printing at temperatures up to 300°C.
With 3D printers getting more complex, it’s refreshing to find one that keeps it simple. During testing, I printed numerous dragons and experimented with highly detailed jewelry boxes and textured bowls, which came out clean and sharp-looking.
More: Sovol SV06 ACE Review
Best Budget 3D Printer for Beginners
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The Creality Ender 3 V3 SE is simply the best budget FDM 3D printer you can buy today. It's an ideal beginner-friendly machine that is packed with deluxe features and retails at an affordable $199.
The Ender 3 V3 SE is easy to use as it comes almost fully assembled and only took us 15 minutes to build before we were ready to get printing. Creality includes a printed manual to guide you through the building process as well as installing or changing filaments. Video instructions are also available online for your convenience.
With a maximum speed of 250mm/s, the V3 SE may not be among the fastest 3D printers around today, but it's faster than the Anycubic Kobra Neo (our previous best budget pick), which had a max speed of 60mm/s. Our tests turned out clean prints, some with tiny wisps like with the Domsculpts Chibi Totoro.
It's also smaller than the Kobra Neo, so it takes up less space, but it has the same build volume (220 x 220 x 250 mm) and has a slightly bigger LED interface with knob controls. Sadly, it does not have a touch screen or WiFi support. It does have CR Touch for auto bed leveling and a Sprite direct drive, which are features reserved for Creality's premium models like the S1.
Creality made significant improvements to the Ender 3 V3 Series with the SE model but kept the cost low to benefit budget-conscious makers - new and old.
More: Creality Ender 3 V3 SE Review
Best Budget 3D Printer for Multicolor Printing
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Anycubic Kobra 3 V2 is affordable, reliable and comes with a built-in filament drier to save you both money and table space. It has a camera for AI print monitoring, an improved, leak free hotend and a beefier frame.
It’s an “average” sized 3D printer, with a 255 x 255 x 260mm print volume, and a sweet $399 price tag that is $50 to $100 cheaper than the competition. The ACE Pro material handler is simple to use and easy to maintain. The Kobra 3 V2 uses a high flow hotend to produce excellent prints with an average speed of 200mm/s and input shaping to keep things crisp.
Anycubic Slicer Next is the real game changer. Based on Orca Slicer, it’s an easy-to-use, Open Source program with all the features you’d expect from a brand leader. It allows you to color your own models or use models colored in Bambu Slicer. It also has tools to fine tune your purge volume so you can cut back on wasted filament.
More: Anycubic Kobra 3 V2 Review
Best Budget 3D Printer for Multicolor Printing Alternative
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Some of the best things come in small packages, and this is so true with Bambu Lab's A1 Mini. This tiny machine is capable of producing nearly flawless multi-color models in record time. It can print at a maximum speed of 500mm/s and go toe-to-toe with its big brothers without breaking a sweat, thanks to its excellent input shaping. This is why it lands a place in our 3D printer speed hierarchy as one of the fastest printers we've tested.
The A1 Mini is also packed with the premium features from Bambu Lab that we've come to expect - from automatic bed leveling, flexible PEI coated build plate, easy to navigate smart menu and its all metal direct drive hotend that can reach up to 300 degrees. It comes almost fully assembled and makes it easy for new makers to put the rest together and start color printing right away. It's also a very quiet machine, so you can have a job running at odd hours or during a call and not even hear it working.
It debuted for $299, which is just over half the price of a P1P. Even better, it is currently on sale for $199, which is a hundred dollars less than its MSRP.
The Bambu Lab A1 Mini is your best bet if you are looking to dabble into color printing for the first time. The combo costs $399 (on sale for $349), and you can use up to four spools for printing. The A1 Mini is also compatible with other third-party filaments, so your options are limitless.
More: Bambu Lab A1 Mini Review
Best Budget 3D Printer for Fast Printing
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The Creality Ender 3 V3 KE is one of the most affordable high-speed printers available with Klipper enabled. It is currently on sale for $279, which is $40 less than our previous fast-budget pick, the Sovol SV07. This makes the ideal choice for makers who are looking for fast printing on a limited budget. With an additional $15 discount, you can purchase it directly from Creality for $265.
The KE is a step-up version of Ender V3 SE. Here are some of its notable features: open source platform provides flexibility, Wi-Fi connectivity for PC and mobile notifications and controls, has K1-based hot end capable of printing using a wide variety of filaments, supports high-speed printing with a maximum speed of 500mm/s and acceleration of 8000mm/s2.
For the most part, our test prints came out smooth and clean. However, some prints, like the one for the Maker’s Muse Clearance Castle, needed some tuning to fix minor issues.
If you have the budget or want an even faster machine with more premium features, consider upgrading to the Creality CR10 SE, currently on sale for $399.
More: Creality Ender 3 V3 KE Review
Best Budget Resin 3D Printer for Beginners
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The Anycubic Photon Mono 2 gets our nod as the best start-up printer for anyone who wants to get into resin 3D printing without breaking the bank. Designed specifically for first time resin users, this printer comes mostly assembled for easy setup, user friendly and includes an anti-scratch film screen protection.
It is lightweight and small, making it easy to store when not in use. However, despite its compact size, the Photon Mono 2 features a bigger build volume than its Photon Mono cousins. During our tests, we were able to fit six supported miniatures on the build plate at once.
The Photon Mono 2 is a great printer for miniature models and small builds. It also comes with its own custom slicer, the Photon Workshop V3. Priced at $209, this machine is a solid and affordable option if you are looking to get started with resin 3D printing. It's on sale directly from Anycubic for $149. You can also get it from Amazon at $199.
More: Anycubic Photon Mono 2 Review
Best Budget 3D Printer for Miniatures
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Reasons to avoid
The Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra has everything a tabletop enthusiast needs to print out clean miniature models with razor-sharp details. (TIP: Use high-definition resin for even better results.) The Mars 5 Ultra includes a smart sensor to detect resin levels, a built-in camera to monitor your prints and check for failures, and a tilt release mechanism for quick and easy removal of prints when you are done. These features make it easy to use and a great option for makers who want to start getting into resin 3D printing.
During our testing, we ran several test prints using different Elegoo resins (and one with Prusa’s Resin Model Color Kit), and each resulted in successful prints with clear and smooth details. We did encounter a "sticking" issue on our first test, but it was easily fixed by adjusting some settings. Check out our review for more details.
The Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra is currently on sale for $269.99 at Elegoo. If you want something with a bigger build volume and don't mind a slightly slower machine, you can get the Anycubic Photon Mono X2 for a steal at $149.
More: Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra Review
How We Test 3D Printers
Every 3D printer that enters our workshop is thoroughly tested and reviewed using the following methodologies:
- After unboxing each 3D printer, we run several test prints, such as the 3D Benchy, a well-known calibration print. The results are documented and added to our list of the fastest 3d printers.
- We slice prints with the provided software to test the new user experience, then verify that the printer is supported by well-known 3D slicers such as Cura, PrusaSlicer, and OrcaSlicer.
- We test the printer’s Wi-Fi capabilities and, if there is an app, see how easy it is to use to send files and monitor prints.
- The printer is also tested using typical models popular with our readers, from practical prints to toys.
- Multiple filaments are run, including PLA, PETG, and TPU.
- Enclosed printers are tested with high-temperature materials such as ASA and nylon.
Best Budget 3D Printer Shopping Tips
Here are a few important points to consider when choosing the best budget 3D printer.
✅ Cost?
How much can you afford to spend? If your budget is really tight, you can grab a model that's less than $200 but a sub-$300 budget will get you farther.
✅ FDM or Resin?
The two main types of 3D printers are FDM, which involves spools of filament that are extruded onto the build plate or resin (aka SLA), which uses light to shape liquid resin. FDM printers are easier to use and don't have the safety concerns that come with handling noxious chemicals. If you can handle them properly, Resin printers give you a bit more detail, particularly for miniatures. Given the ease of use, though, we think FDM is best for most people.
✅ Features
Look for auto bed leveling, easy setup, and a good UI. On FDM printers, getting a PEI build plate or direct drive design is a real plus. For resin, look for a high output resolution (2K, 4K or higher).
MORE: Best 3D Printers
MORE: Best Resin 3D Printers
MORE: Best Filaments for 3D Printing
MORE: How to Buy the Right 3D Printer
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Anj Bryant is the Assistant Managing Editor at Tom's Hardware. She provides content layout and development support, and coordinates editorial initiatives for all the talented groups of freelancers, contributors, and editors in the team.
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Giroro I have a photon mono 2; it was very cheap from microcenter over the holidays.Reply
I haven't used it much because I've broken everything I've tried to remove from being stuck to the print surface, and you can't get a removable flexible print surface for it in the right size.
Is obsolete and must not have been popular, so there's not really any 3rd party support.