How to choose a 3D printer: up to three picks for your goal and budget
Which 3D printer should I buy depends on what you print, what you spend and which material you use. Answer five questions and get up to three printers with a price in euros and a link to the shop, ranked by points. The screen is in Bulgarian.
Opens with a free account.
- 5 questionsgoal, budget, material, priority, size
- Up to 3 printersfrom different makers when there is a choice
- Price in eurosfive budgets, from under 300 to over 10,000 euros
- On to materialwith a click on the printer
How to choose a 3D printer: what the picks are based on
The 3D printer finder is an EduFacturing tool that turns your answers (three required, two optional) into up to three printer picks for your goal: hobby, school, prototypes, a small production run, dental work or jewelry.
Printers for filament (FDM) and resin (SLA, DLP, LCD) come only from the catalog of partner shops, not from the whole market. Industrial powder (SLS, MJF) and metal machines come from a built-in list.
What you get after the five questions
Asks about goal, budget and material
Six goals: hobby, education, prototyping, small series, dental work, jewelry. Five budgets: up to 300, 300-700, 700-2,000, 2,000-10,000 and over 10,000 euros. Material: filament, resin, powder or all.
Asks about priority and size, optionally
Priority: speed, surface quality, reliability or many materials. Size: miniatures under 5 cm, standard 5-25 cm, large over 25 cm. After the third question there is a button for the result.
Shows up to three printers, not a long list
Each card has a name, maker, price in euros, technology, build volume, layer height and materials. The buy button is an affiliate link to the shop.
Continues to material choice
A click on a printer opens the Material Selector: the printer and its technology carry over.
When a 3D printer finder helps
The finder is for the moment before you buy: you know what the printer is for, but not which model.
A first printer for home
Choose “hobby” as the goal, then a budget and a material, and get up to three models instead of dozens of listings.
A printer for a school
The goal “education” gives the most points to machines that suit a classroom. For shop printers this is a guess from the price.
A jeweler or a dental technician
The material “resin” keeps only SLA, DLP and LCD, and the goals “jewelry” and “dental work” give points to machines marked for them.
How the printers are ranked by points
Every printer gets points from a table and is shown only with more than 35. The top three are taken, one per maker while there are enough makers.
Material filters the technologies
Filament keeps only FDM, resin keeps SLA, DLP and LCD, powder keeps SLS and MJF.
The main points
The goal brings up to 30, the budget up to 40, the material up to 30. Priority adds up to 15, size from -5 to +10.
The threshold and the order
A printer with 35 points or fewer is not shown. A shop printer under 100 euros, or more than 25% above the top of the budget, does not enter at all.
| Applies to | Formula | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | 30 for a match, otherwise 5 | a match means the printer is marked as suitable for the goal; for shop printers the mark is a guess from the price and the words in the title |
| Budget | 40 inside the range; above it 20 minus 30 times the overshoot, not below 0 | overshoot = (price minus upper limit) / upper limit; below the range it is 15 points, and for jewelry, dental work and production only 5 if the price is under half of the lower limit |
| Size | large: +10 from 300 mm build width, +7 from 250, +3 from 200 | miniatures: +10 for resin, +5 for others up to 200 mm; standard: +7 at 150 to 300 mm |
Up to three picks from different makers
Up to three models from different makers
It avoids three models of one brand while there is a choice; with fewer than three makers it fills up with the next by points.
Price in euros and five budgets
The ranges and the card prices are in euros. Prices in other currencies are converted at an approximate rate.
The step to material is one click
The printer and its technology carry over into the Material Selector, which sets the use and the property from your goal by a rough rule, so you are not asked again.
The finder recommends, it does not sell. It shows three printers at most, does not compare two machines side by side and has no filter by brand. Reliability means the maker is on a short built-in list, not measured failure rates. The budget is not a hard limit for industrial powder and metal machines: the built-in list is not filtered by price, so with a budget up to 300 euros and the material “powder” you may get machines costing hundreds of thousands of euros. The screen is in Bulgarian only.
For shop printers, volume, layer height, speed, materials, technology, maker and the goal they suit are estimated from the name and price, not taken from a data sheet: for example, an FDM printer under 350 euros counts as fit for hobby and school, and every resin printer is labeled SLA. Check them with the seller. The buy links are affiliate links: EduFacturing may earn a commission on a purchase, the list comes from partner shops, and the commission plays no part in the points. If no printer gets more than 35 points, the screen says there are none.
Questions about choosing a 3D printer
Which 3D printer should I buy?
It depends on your goal, budget and material. The finder asks about them and shows up to three printers ranked by points.
How to choose a 3D printer for a beginner?
Pick “hobby” or “education” as the goal, a budget, and “filament” as the material. You get up to three FDM printers with a price in euros.
Do I have to answer all five questions?
No. The first three are required: goal, budget and material. Priority and size are optional and only refine the order.
Is the screen available in English?
No. The questions, answers and buttons are in Bulgarian only. The prices and the numbers in the results need no translation.
How much does the 3D printer finder cost?
It opens with a free account, and registration is free. You do not need Pro for it.
The 3D printer finder opens with a free account. Pro opens the rest
Pro costs 15 EUR a month and opens 45 Pro tools.
In the Idea & selection group:
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Choose a 3D printer for your project
Opens with a free account.