HesapHanem

Filament Cost Per Print Calculator

Enter the grams of filament used and your spool price to find the material cost of a 3D print.

How it is calculated

First the grams from your slicer are inflated by the waste allowance: grams with waste = g × (1 + waste ÷ 100). Then the cost is cost = grams with waste ÷ 1000 × price, where g is grams of filament in the model, price is the spool price per kilogram in dollars, and waste is a percentage.

If you leave the waste field empty the tool assumes 5%. A waste of 0 is accepted; a negative waste, or a zero grams or price value, gives no result. Besides the cost, the tool shows the grams including waste and a price per gram. Because waste scales grams and cost together, the per-gram figure is always just the spool price divided by 1000 and does not change with waste. The result covers filament only, not electricity, machine wear or labour.

Worked example

A model sliced at 85 g, printed on a spool bought at $22 per kg, with a 10% waste allowance. Grams with waste = 85 × 1.10 = 93.50 g. Cost = 93.50 ÷ 1000 × 22 = 2.057, shown as $2.06. The price per gram is $0.022 (22 ÷ 1000). With the default 5% waste instead, the same print would use 89.25 g and cost $1.96, so the waste setting shifts the result by about 10 cents here.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering the spool price instead of the price per kilogram. A 750 g spool at $18 costs $24 per kg, not $18.
  • Typing the slicer's length in metres in the grams field. The tool needs weight in grams; filament length must be converted first.
  • Forgetting the waste field defaults to 5% when left empty. Enter 0 if you want the raw slicer figure only.
  • Typing waste as a decimal such as 0.1 for 10%. It is read as 0.1%, which is almost no allowance.
  • Treating the result as the full cost of a print for sale. Power, printer wear, failed prints beyond the allowance and labour are not included.

About this calculator

FDM 3D printing consumes filament by weight, and spools are priced per kilogram (typically $15–$30 for PLA, more for PETG, ABS or specialty materials), so the raw material cost of any print is simply grams used ÷ 1,000 × price per kg. Slicer software reports the estimated grams for a model before you print, making this a quick pre-print cost check.

Real prints rarely use exactly the sliced amount — failed prints, purge towers, brims and support material all add waste, so makers typically apply a waste allowance of 5–15% on top of the raw estimate. This material-only figure is what hobbyists use to price prints for sale (before adding electricity, machine time and labor), and what print farms use to track cost-per-job across a queue.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    The tool prices material only. For 25 g at 22 per kilogram with 5% waste it reports 26.25 g and a cost of 0.58, but a real print also uses electricity, machine wear and failed attempts. Add those yourself if you sell prints. Waste from purging and supports differs by printer, so adjust the percentage to what you see. How much waste do you typically see on a multi-colour print?

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