3D printing hourly rate and labor cost calculator
Enter your hourly rate and the hands-on minutes a print takes to see what your time costs per item, and what the printer costs per hour.
Working it out…
How this is worked out
A print costs two kinds of time. Your own is the minutes your hands are on it, at your hourly rate. The printer's is the hours it runs, at what each hour costs to wear it out and power it.
Your time per item = (hands-on minutes per plate ÷ items on the plate + hands-on minutes per item) ÷ 60 × hourly rate
Printer per hour = printer cost ÷ printing life + watts ÷ 1000 × price per kWh + upkeep per hour
Printer per item = printer per hour × print hours ÷ items on the plate
Time cost per item = your time per item + printer per item
Assumptions
- You are paid only for hands-on minutes. The hours the printer runs by itself are not your time, which is why the printer's hourly cost is small next to your rate.
- Set-up minutes are shared by every item on a plate; clean-up and packing minutes are per item.
- The hourly rate, the minutes, the printer cost, its life and the upkeep are examples, not research. The power figure is the maker's, checked on the date in the table.
- Filament, failed prints, packaging and fees are not included. Add them in the price calculator.
Preset figures and where they come from
Each figure was read on the company’s own page, checked on 15 November 2026.
| Preset | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bambu Lab A1 | 95 W | wiki.bambulab.com |
| Bambu Lab A1 mini | 80 W | |
| Bambu Lab P1S | 105 W | |
| Bambu Lab X1 Carbon | 105 W | |
| Bambu Lab P2S | 200 W | |
| Bambu Lab H2D | 197 W | |
| Bambu Lab H2S | 200 W | |
| Bambu Lab H2C | 200 W | |
| Bambu Lab X2D | 250 W | |
| Prusa MK4S | 80 W | prusa3d.com |
| Prusa Core One | 90 W | prusa3d.com |
Every preset is only a starting value. Change any field if your account, country or plan differs.
Questions sellers ask
Should I charge for my time when I sell 3D prints?
Yes, or you are working for nothing. Count the minutes your hands are on each print: slicing, loading, taking it off, cleaning it up and packing it. With the example figures here that is 10 minutes at $20 an hour, which adds $3.33 to a single print.
What is the hourly rate of a 3D printer?
It is small. A $700 printer that lasts 5,000 hours costs $0.14 an hour to wear out, and a Bambu Lab P1S at 105 W uses $0.021 of electricity an hour at $0.20 per kWh, so about $0.161 an hour in all. A 2.5 hour print costs $0.40 of machine time. The cost of the printer is not what makes a print expensive: your time and your materials are.
How does printing several items at once change the labor cost?
Set-up is shared. With 4 items on one plate, the 5 minutes of set-up is split four ways, so each item carries 6.25 minutes of your time instead of 10, which is $2.08 instead of $3.33, and the printer time per item falls to a quarter as well.
How do I put labor into my price?
Add the time cost per item to your material cost, then add your fees and margin. The price calculator has a hands-on time line; use this tool when you want to see the split, or to quote a job by the hour.