3D printer cost per hour: electricity, wear and depreciation
The cost-per-hour formula
A printer's hourly cost, also called the machine rate, adds up three parts:
cost per hour = electricity per hour + wear per hour + maintenance per hour
- Electricity per hour = average power in watts ÷ 1,000 × price per kWh.
- Wear per hour = printer price ÷ useful-life hours. It is the slice of the printer's price that each hour of printing uses up.
- Maintenance per hour = what you spend on parts and repairs over a period ÷ hours printed in that same period.
Then multiply the result by the print time the slicer shows: a 10-hour print costs 10 times the machine rate, plus filament. Resin printers also wear out an LCD screen and FEP film; that is covered in the guide to resin printing cost.
Example: a $600 printer
Suppose a filament printer that cost $600, with the starting values of the MakerPrice 3D calculator:
- Electricity: 120 W ÷ 1,000 = 0.12 kWh per hour. At $0.17 per kWh, that is $0.0204 per hour.
- Wear: $600 ÷ 6,000 h = $0.10 per hour.
- Maintenance: $0.05 per hour, the calculator's starting value.
Total: $0.0204 + $0.10 + $0.05 = $0.17 per hour. A 10-hour print uses $1.70 of machine time, filament not included.
What an hour of your printer costs
Cost per hour
Electricity per hour
Wear per hour
Maintenance per hour
This print
Calculated in your browser, with the same formulas as the calculator.
Wear: divide by useful-life hours or by years of use
The calculator divides the printer price by its useful-life hours. The starting value, 6,000 h, is an example for the math, not a guaranteed lifespan. That method assumes you will actually print those 6,000 hours before you retire the machine.
If you print little, you may never get there. Printers get replaced by newer models, by a repair that is not worth doing or because your needs change, and the printer has to pay for itself within the time you keep it. In that case, the right divisor is the number of hours you will print before you replace it.
| Hours printed per year | Per week | Years to reach 6,000 h | Wear per hour by useful life | Wear per hour if replaced in 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300 h | about 6 h | 20 years | $0.10 | $0.67 (900 h) |
| 600 h | about 12 h | 10 years | $0.10 | $0.33 (1,800 h) |
| 1,200 h | about 23 h | 5 years | $0.10 | $0.17 (3,600 h) |
| 2,000 h | about 38 h | 3 years | $0.10 | $0.10 (6,000 h) |
Math examples: a $600 printer, a 6,000 h useful life and a planned replacement after 3 years.
The rule of thumb is to use the shorter of the two lives, whichever runs out first. If you print 2,000 hours a year, you reach 6,000 hours in 3 years and both methods agree. If you print 300 hours a year and plan to replace the printer in 3 years, your real wear cost is $0.67 per hour, almost seven times the useful-life figure. On a 10-hour print, that is $6.67 against $1.00.
In the calculator, the Estimate operating hours and maintenance helper in the Machine section does this conversion: enter the years you plan to use the printer and the hours you print per week, and it fills in the useful life in hours.
If you only print as a hobby, the printer is already paid for and wear does not come out of your pocket with each print. It matters once you sell: the price of your parts has to earn back the printer before you replace it.
Where each hour's money goes
Over the useful life, wear is already the biggest slice, close to 60% of the hour. For someone who prints little, it is over 90%. Electricity, the obvious expense of a machine running for hours, is the smallest part: about 2 cents an hour at 120 W and $0.17/kWh. The published power draw of each printer model is in the guide to 3D printer electricity cost.
Maintenance: how to find your number
Maintenance covers what wears out with use: nozzles, PTFE tube, build plate, belts, fans, lubricant and the occasional hotend repair. The math follows the same logic as wear:
maintenance per hour = expected spending on parts and repairs per year ÷ hours you print per year
Suppose you set aside $120 a year and print 1,200 hours a year: $120 ÷ 1,200 h = $0.10 per hour. With that value instead of the $0.05 in the example, the machine rate goes from $0.17 to $0.22 per hour.
The calculator's $0.05 is a starting point. Swap in your own: add up what you spent on parts over the last few months, or build a budget from the price of the parts you usually replace. Abrasive filaments, such as carbon fiber blends and glow-in-the-dark, wear brass nozzles faster; if you print them, count more nozzle changes. In the same helper in the Machine section, the annual maintenance budget field does the division by your yearly hours.
What does not belong in the printer's hourly cost
- Your labor. Slicing, prepping the bed, removing supports and packing are your time, and that does not track machine time: a 10-hour print may take 10 minutes of your time, and a 1-hour print may take 30. That is why labor goes in as minutes worked per order, not per printer hour. The guide to how much to charge for 3D printing shows how to add it.
- Filament. It goes in by the gram, using the slicer's total weight. See the guide to cost per gram.
- Business overhead. Rent, internet and software subscriptions are not the printer's. The calculator has a separate field for them, per printing hour.
- Failed prints. A lost print uses electricity and machine time without becoming a sale. The calculator adds a percentage reserve on material, electricity and machine.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours does a 3D printer last?
There is no single number. Nozzles, belts and fans get replaced along the way, and the frame can outlast all of them. The calculator's 6,000 h is a starting point for the math, not a promise. For costing, what defines useful life is how long you keep the printer before replacing it, whether because of a failure or a better model.
I got the printer as a gift or bought it used: what price do I use for wear?
Use what you paid. If it was a gift, use what an equivalent printer would cost today: that is what your sales need to set aside for the next one. If a used printer already has a lot of hours on it, shorten the remaining useful life to match.
Do accessories like a multicolor unit, an enclosure or a dryer go into the price?
If they work with the printer and will be replaced along with it, add them to the price before dividing by the useful life. Suppose a $600 printer with a $250 multicolor unit: $850 ÷ 6,000 h = $0.14 per hour of wear. The electricity they draw goes into the electricity part.
Does an idle printer cost anything?
Switched off, it uses no power. Switched on and idle, it uses little: Bambu Lab lists 4 to 29 W on standby for its models, depending on the machine (Bambu Lab wiki, checked November 2026). What keeps running while it sits there is wear by the years method: if you will replace the printer in 3 years, it loses value whether it prints or not. That is why printing little makes each hour more expensive.
Does charging only by print hour, instead of by the gram, work?
Charging only by the hour or only by the gram leaves costs out. Suppose two 100 g parts: a solid one that prints in 2 hours and a tall, thin one that takes 9. The filament is the same, but the second one ties up the printer for 7 more hours, $1.19 more of machine time in this guide's example. A price that covers everything adds both parts, plus your time.