What is the best 3D printer for under $1,000?

With a $1,000 budget, you’re bound to find a good FDM 3D printer.

Low-cost 3D printer manufacturers– mostly Chinese– have been driving prices down over the past two or three years, all while putting more and more effort into quality.

We’ve gone from complex, DIY 3D printer kits that required hours or days to be assembled, to more user-friendly, pre-assembled machines that you can almost use right out of the box.

New standards have arisen, too. Features that used to be considered rare are now pretty common on the top 3D printers under $1,000: filament detection, heated beds, touchscreens, closed frames, and more.

Without further ado, let’s move on to the next section to check out which FDM 3D printers pack in the best performance for under $1K!

The 10 best 3D printers under $1,000 in 2024

Overview of the best budget 3D printers under $1,000

Buying guide for 3D printers under $1,000

These are some of the things you should take into account when deciding on which 3D printer to buy.

Build volume

Your printer’s maximum build size will, obviously, determine how big your prints can be. Keep in mind that the bigger your prints are, the longer they’ll take. Even small prints can require a few hours, so for a big 3D model, you may be looking at a few days worth of printing.

For an idea of what can be printed, take a look at some of these sites where you can download STL files for free. Note that if your build volume is too small, it’s possible to “cut” models into separate 3D printable files and glue them together after.

Materials

PLA is the most common kind of plastic you’ll find to 3D print. There’s an incredibly wide range of colors and types available, from glittery rainbow gradients to glow-in-the-dark filaments. This material is also the cheapest and doesn’t require a heated bed (even if it does help for first layer adhesion).

If you want to go beyond PLA filament, for example, if you want to print flexible TPU or strong ABS, you’ll need a heated print bed. Ideally, it’s also best to have a closed frame for these materials, to protect your prints from room drafts. You can still go for an open printer though and make a frame yourself. Even cardboard can do the trick!

For abrasive materials like Carbon-fiber-filled Nylon, your nozzle must be reinforced. A brass nozzle can be damaged with just one abrasive print. It’s possible to order new, suitable nozzles online if your printer doesn’t come with one.

Layer thickness and speed

Almost all 3D printers under $1,000 boast similar specs. Minimum layer thicknesses are typically around 0.1mm, or 0.05mm for some. The thinner your layers, the better your prints will look, and the longer they’ll take to print, too.

Users tend to print thicker layers anyways to get their prints done more quickly, as the difference isn’t too noticeable. In slicing software, you can see various layer profiles; “draft quality” is around 0.2mm, for example.

Maximum print speeds are also quite similar from one printer to another in the sub-1000 price range. They’re generally between 120 mm/s and 180 mm/s, but at those speeds, you’re losing precision and print quality.

Recommended speeds for most prints are around 60 mm/s, or slower for highly detailed prints. If you want small, detailed prints with excellent surface quality, you should look into resin 3D printers. There are cheap options, too, with some resin 3D printers under $1,000.

Extra features

3D printing still has a long way to go before it’s truly plug-n-play, even with professional or industrial 3D printers.

However, there have been many advances in the past years. Here are a few key features that can make printers more user-friendly:

• Automatic bed leveling: it’s recommended to level your print bed before each print. Some printers have sensors that allow them to level the bed automatically, so all you need to do is press a button. Otherwise, you have to do this manually, and it can take a while depending on how off it is.
• Assisted bed leveling: with this feature, the touchscreen interface lets you choose different points of the print bed (e.g. corners, the center of the build plate). The print head moves automatically where you tell it to, instead of you having to move it by hand. You still have to tighten or loosen the print bed screws manually.
• Dual extruder: this functionality is relatively rare in this price range. It allows you to 3D print with two different materials at the same time.
• Filament sensor or filament run-out detection: many printers have this feature. With a filament sensor, the print head can detect if there’s a jam, breakage, or if you run out of filament. If that’s the case, the printer pauses immediately.
• Print resume: enables you to pause and resume your prints. Often, it works automatically in case of an unexpected power cut. If your print has been going on for several hours and you get a power failure, you’ll really appreciate being able to easily pick up where you left off.
• Swappable build plates: this makes it easier for you to remove your prints, and to do so without un-leveling your print bed (sometimes tugging on your part can throw off your bed level).

Assembly

Some printers come fully assembled, or only require you to plug in the print head, for example. However, the majority of affordable 3D printers come as kits that you need to assemble yourself.

Kits used to be complex and time-consuming to assemble for beginners (shoutout to the Anet A8 kit), but today they mainly come as semi-assembled kits. That means that most of the complicated parts are already assembled and you only have to put together the frame. This shouldn’t take more than an hour of your time.

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