What the 3D Printer Buy vs Outsource Calculator does
This calculator answers one question: for the parts you need, over the period you choose, is it cheaper to buy a 3D printer or to pay a supplier to print them? It compares the total in-house cost with the total outsourcing cost for the same quantity and the same time period, then shows the lower-cost option, the net savings, the break-even quantity and the payback period. Every assumption is an input you can see and change, and the step-by-step working under each result shows exactly how the numbers were reached.
It is built for fused deposition modeling (FDM), also called fused filament fabrication (FFF), where a printer melts plastic filament such as PLA. It does not model resin or powder printing; the section on FDM, SLA and SLS below explains why. The result is an estimate from the figures you enter. It is not a supplier quote.
The result panel shows a cumulative cost chart, so you can see where the in-house line (which starts at the upfront investment) crosses the outsourcing line (which starts at zero). If the lines never cross within your period, outsourcing is cheaper over that window.
Upfront, recurring and per-part costs
The cost of owning a printer is not the price on the box, and it is not the filament either. The calculator keeps three kinds of cost apart because they behave differently as volume changes.
- Upfront (one-time) costs: the printer purchase price, installation and setup, accessories and tools, and training. They are charged once, in full, at the start.
- Recurring monthly costs: maintenance and service contracts, software licenses (such as a slicing or CAD subscription), and any other fixed monthly cost. They do not change with the number of parts.
- Per-part (variable) costs: material, electricity and your hands-on labor, adjusted for failed prints and wasted material. They rise with every part.
Material cost alone does not represent the complete printing cost. A part that uses $1.43 of filament can still cost several times that once electricity, your time and the cost of the machine are counted, as the worked example below shows. The reverse is also true: a supplier's per-part price includes its own machines, labor, overhead and margin, so comparing it only with your filament cost would make owning a printer look better than it is.
How to find your inputs: slicing software, power and prices
Material and print time. Most slicing software shows an estimated print time and an estimated amount of material for the model you have sliced, often as grams, length or both. Slice the part with the same layer height, infill and supports you would use to print it, so the estimate includes support material and infill. Enter the total material for one part in grams and the print time in hours. These are estimates, not guarantees, and real prints can finish earlier or later than the slicer predicts.
Material price. Enter what you pay per kilogram of filament, including any shipping you pay on it. A spool's weight and price give the figure directly: price ÷ spool weight in kilograms.
Electricity. Electricity is priced in USD per kilowatt-hour (kWh), and your power bill shows your rate. A kilowatt-hour is the energy used by 1 kilowatt running for 1 hour, so a printer drawing 120 W for 4 hours uses 0.12 kW × 4 h = 0.48 kWh. Printer power consumption is listed in watts (W), usually as a maximum or typical figure on the spec sheet. A heated bed and hotend cycle on and off, so average draw during a print is often different from the rated maximum; a plug-in power meter gives you a measured figure. Enter 0 for either value to leave electricity out.
Use your own numbers. The prices in the example values are illustrative only. The calculator does not assume a material price, an electricity rate, a failure rate or a supplier price. Use editable prices and real outsourcing quotes instead of fixed assumptions.
Comparing an equivalent outsourcing quote
A comparison is only fair if both sides make the same part. Ask the supplier to quote the same printing process, material, quantity, dimensions, finish and quality requirements as the part you would print yourself. A quote for a different material, a smoother surface finish or tighter tolerances is not comparable with a basic printed part.
Many online manufacturing services take an uploaded CAD file and return a price and lead time. Xometry, for example, describes uploading a 3D CAD file to get a 3D printing quote and lead time. Enter the per-part price at the quantity you would order, since unit prices can depend on order size.
Then add only what the quote leaves out. Enter shipping per order and other fees per order (such as modeling, file repair or finishing) only when they are charged separately. If the supplier already includes shipping in its price, adding it again double-counts it. The calculator multiplies those per-order fees by the number of orders per month you expect.
Formulas and cost allocation
The calculator uses a transparent, constant-cost model. For a comparison period of T months and a monthly volume of D parts:
Total in-house cost = upfront investment + T × monthly fixed costs + (D × T) × in-house cost per part
Total outsourcing cost = (D × T) × supplier quote + shipping and other per-order fees
Net savings = total outsourcing cost − total in-house cost
A positive net savings means buying the printer is cheaper over the period, and a negative one means outsourcing is cheaper. The in-house cost per part is built from three pieces:
- Material = grams per part × (1 + extra waste) ÷ (1 − failure rate) ÷ 1,000 × price per kg
- Electricity = watts ÷ 1,000 × print hours ÷ (1 − failure rate) × price per kWh
- Labor = hands-on minutes ÷ 60 × hourly rate
How the equipment is charged. A printer's cost can be handled in two ways: charged upfront as a single investment, or allocated per operating hour by dividing its cost over the hours it is expected to run. This calculator charges the equipment upfront, once, which is the cash view that break-even and payback need, and it has no separate machine-hour rate. That keeps the printer from being counted twice. If you also add a machine-hour charge to your own spreadsheet, remove the upfront cost from it. The calculator ignores resale value and does not include a replacement printer, so a comparison period longer than the equipment lifespan is flagged when you enter a lifespan.
Worked example: 20 parts a month for 24 months
These inputs are illustrative, not market prices. Use Load example values in the calculator to reproduce them.
- Supplier: $18.00 per part, one order a month, $12.00 shipping per order.
- Upfront: $900 printer + $100 accessories = $1,000. Monthly fixed cost: $10 maintenance.
- Per part: 60 g at $22/kg, 4 hours at 120 W and $0.17/kWh, 10 minutes of hands-on time at $20/hour, 5% failed prints and 3% extra waste.
- Attempts per good part: 1 ÷ (1 − 5%) = 1.0526.
- Material: 60 g × 1.03 × 1.0526 = 65.05 g × $22/kg = $1.43. Electricity: 0.12 kW × 4 h × 1.0526 = 0.505 kWh × $0.17 = $0.09. Labor: 10 ÷ 60 × $20 = $3.33. In-house cost per part = $4.85.
- Monthly: in-house = $10 + 20 × $4.85 = $107.01. Outsourcing = 20 × $18 + $12 = $372.00.
- Over 24 months: in-house = $1,000 + 24 × $107.01 = $3,568.19. Outsourcing = 24 × $372.00 = $8,928.00. Net savings = $5,359.81 in favor of buying.
Contrast: 2 parts a month for 12 months
With the same prices and only 2 parts a month, outsourcing costs 12 × $48.00 = $576.00, while in-house costs $1,000 + 12 × $19.70 = $1,236.41 (the $1,000 upfront investment is the same). Net savings are −$660.41, so outsourcing is cheaper. The monthly saving of $28.30 would need 35.3 months to repay the $1,000.
Break-even quantity, payback period and ROI
Three numbers answer different questions, and the calculator reports all of them. The break-even quantity is how many parts you must make before owning the printer costs less. The payback period is how long it takes to recover the investment. The ROI is the percentage return on that investment over your comparison period.
Break-even parts = upfront investment ÷ savings per part
Payback months = upfront investment ÷ monthly net savings
ROI % = (cumulative operating savings − upfront investment) ÷ upfront investment × 100
- Savings per part is the monthly operating savings divided by the monthly volume. It includes the fixed monthly costs and the supplier's per-order fees, so it is the saving you actually see at your volume.
- Break-even quantities are rounded up to whole parts, because you cannot make part of a part. The example gives $1,000 ÷ $13.25 = 75.5, shown as 76 parts.
- Cumulative operating savings is the monthly saving times the number of months. In the example, 24 × $264.99 = $6,359.81, less the $1,000 investment, is $5,359.81, or an ROI of 536.0%.
- If the in-house cost per month is not below the monthly outsourcing cost, the calculator shows no financial break-even and says so, rather than printing a meaningless number.
This is a simplified model in which costs per part stay constant. If your supplier's price drops with larger batches, or you add recurring charges, compare the cumulative costs in the chart and the scenario table rather than relying on one break-even figure.
Labor, failed prints and post-processing
Hands-on time versus printing time. A print that runs for four hours does not take four hours of your time. Enter only the hands-on minutes: preparing and slicing the file, starting the print, removing supports, cleaning, finishing and routine maintenance, averaged per part. Then put a rate on it. If you leave the labor rate blank, the calculator counts your time as free and tells you so, because that assumption favors the in-house option. In the worked example, labor is $3.33 of the $4.85 cost per part, more than material and electricity together.
Failed prints and reprints. A failed print consumes material, electricity and printer time but yields no part. The calculator divides by (1 − failure rate) to find the number of attempts needed per good part, and applies it to material, electricity and the print hours used in the capacity check. Extra material waste is a separate percentage for purge, brims, test prints and spool ends beyond the slicer estimate. No universal failure rate is assumed: use your own print logs, or leave the field blank if you have none and accept that reprints are not counted.
Post-processing. Support removal, cleaning, sanding and painting all take hands-on time, so include them in the minutes per part. Sinterit's comparison of post-processing notes that FDM parts may need support removal (including dissolvable supports), gap filling, sanding and painting. If your part needs materials for finishing, such as filler or paint, add them to the monthly fixed cost or to the material cost.
Monthly volume, utilization and printer capacity
The more parts you print, the more the fixed costs are spread. That is utilization at work: the upfront investment and monthly costs are divided across more parts, so the cost per part falls. A printer that makes 2 parts a month carries the same $1,000 investment as one that makes 40.
Because of that, the calculator shows three demand scenarios next to your result: half your monthly volume, your volume, and double it. For the worked example:
| Scenario | Parts per month | Net savings over 24 months | Payback | Print hours per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low (half) | 10 | $2,203.91 | 7.5 months | 42.1 |
| Entered | 20 | $5,359.81 | 3.8 months | 84.2 |
| High (double) | 40 | $11,671.63 | 1.9 months | 168.4 |
It also reports the monthly volume at which the investment would be repaid within your comparison period. A volume that looks profitable on paper has to fit the machine, so the calculator checks the hours needed (parts × print hours × attempts) against the printing hours you say are available each month. In the example, 20 parts a month needs about 84 print hours. If that were more than the hours you can realistically run, the in-house figures would assume capacity you do not have, and the calculator warns you. The model assumes one printer; a second printer is another upfront investment you would add yourself.
FDM, SLA and SLS: what this calculator covers
This calculator supports FDM / FFF only. It does not include stereolithography (SLA) or selective laser sintering (SLS), and it does not apply filament-printing assumptions to resin or powder printing, because the cost drivers are different.
- FDM / FFF prints with filament. Post-processing is mainly support removal and finishing.
- SLA prints with liquid resin. According to Sinterit's comparison, parts need support removal, washing to remove residual resin, and curing, and resin handling and disposal have their own requirements.
- SLS sinters powder. Parts are depowdered, and powder reuse matters: Formlabs defines the refresh rate as how much powder can be reused from a previous build, and notes that a lower refresh rate uses less fresh powder and is considered more cost effective.
If you are weighing SLA or SLS, use a calculator or spreadsheet with resin or powder, washing, curing and powder-handling inputs. Service bureaus such as Xometry list FDM, SLA and SLS among the processes they offer, which is one reason outsourcing is often used for a process you do not own.
Beyond the numbers: turnaround, quality and a hybrid approach
Some of the most important differences cannot be priced from your inputs. Keep them separate from the calculated monetary savings unless you assign each a value yourself.
- Turnaround and iteration. An in-house printer is available when you are; outsourcing usually adds lead time and shipping, and each design change costs more time. Ultimaker's comparison also notes that a service bureau adds a markup to the cost per part.
- Confidentiality. Sending files to a supplier shares your design. Printing in-house keeps it under your control.
- Operator skills and maintenance. You become responsible for training, calibration, repairs and troubleshooting. Suppliers carry that responsibility and typically include their own finishing and quality checks.
- Required quality, materials and size. Outsourcing can provide specialized materials, processes or larger equipment than a desktop printer offers. Check your printer's build volume against the largest part you need.
You do not have to pick only one. A hybrid approach prints suitable recurring jobs in-house and outsources exceptional work, such as unusual materials, very large parts, or a rush order that exceeds your capacity. Run the calculator on the recurring jobs to see whether a printer pays for itself, and keep a supplier for the rest. Results are estimates from the numbers you enter, and this is a calculation tool, not business, tax or investment advice.