There’s a dizzying number of filament options out there, making picking a cheap and cheerful material a difficult task. But what kind of choice do you have? How many cheap filaments are there, and how do they actually stack up against one another? We’re here to find out.
It doesn’t help that many materials appear nearly identical. In some cases, that is precisely what’s happening: they actually are the same. Or, at least, come from the same supplier. White labeling thrives in the consumer 3D printing space.
Not only that but on the likes of Amazon, where suppliers and resellers can adjust prices dynamically, the cost of a filament spool can vary from day to day. In this buyer’s guide, we will not be pointing to specific spools that are the cheapest filament at a given moment. If you want to cut costs the absolute most, these fleeting, price-dipping no-name spools are the ticket, but there’s no consistency there. And if there’s one thing that’s invaluable in 3D printing material, it’s consistency.
Instead, we’re looking at the options that are reliably available and exhibit stable low pricing.
| Availability | Price (approx., USD) | Check Price |
|---|---|---|
| Micro Center Inland PLA | $16.99 | |
| Overture Eco PLA | $17.99 | |
| MatterHackers MH Build Series PLA | $20.87 | |
| Sunlu ABS | $14.99 | |
| Micro Center Inland ABS | $16.99 | |
| Overture ABS | $19.99 | |
| Kinluot PETG | $17.99 | |
| Micro Center Inland PETG | $20.99 | |
| Overture PETG | $20.99 | |
| Duramic TPU | $23.99 | |
| Micro Center Inland TPU | $24.99 | |
| Overture TPU | $27.99 | |
| Micro Center Inland ASA | $24.99 | |
| Flashforge ASA | $25.99 | |
| Sunlu ASA | $26.99 | |
How to Choose the Best Cheap Filament
While you can often find 2.85mm size filament on sale, this isn’t helpful to the 1.75 mm-printing majority of us use. So, excluding 2.85mm filaments from the onset, here’s a handful of guiding principles we’ve used to make some cheap filament recommendations.
We’re taking 1-kg spools as the basis for our value calculation – no samples or jumbo spools. Easy.
With our filament spool size locked, we look at the price. Ignoring difficult-to-pin-down flash pricing, we’re focusing on stable low prices. There are helpful shopping tools for this – two free options that anyone can use are Keepa, which specializes in Amazon and eBay price tracking, and Microsoft Edge browser’s inbuilt shopping tools. With these, you can determine the long-term pricing cadence of many filaments. Additionally, we’ve scanned social media and forums to pick up on the wider community’s go-to brands.
You can’t afford to be picky when you’re in the market for the cheapest filament. Color options and packaging styles are nice to have but ultimately secondary to the price.
If you like your prints to be neutrally hued, then you’re in luck because it’s often the case that basic black and white colors are the cheapest.
We haven’t let color options or spool material influence our listing much, since price and availability are paramount here, though for reference, we include some basic information about each spool.
Our last consideration is availability. Is it available from the manufacturer directly, or will you struggle to find it again if Amazon is out of stock? Options are good if you print a lot and desire consistency.
It’d be corporately negligent of us, not to mention you can find cut-price spools featured in our regularly-updated list of 3D printing deals. We have an editor tasked with hunting down cheap 3D printing stuff for you to save money on. Do them, and yourself, a favor and check it out.
So, we’ve done the legwork. Here are three solid cheap options for PLA/PLA+, ABS, PETG, TPU, and ASA. Note that all prices stated were stable in the months before and correct at the time of publication.
PLA/PLA+
PLA is the most popular material used in FDM 3D printing. It’s safe, affordable, easy to print, and has outstanding material properties. You can use PLA filament for a wide range of applications, and it comes in an equally diverse range of composites and colors. For more on this material, see our guide to the best PLA filaments.
Micro Center Inland PLA
Micro Center is something of a wonderland for electronic appliances and parts for your making. The company’s filament is also something of a wonder and is often mentioned in online forums as a reliable, cheap go-to material.
Retailing under the Inland brand, Micro Center’s filament, at the time of writing, appears to be sourced from eSun; a popular filament producer serving the mid to upper end of the market. Micro Center’s white and brown spools of PLA can be picked up for $16.99, with others typically selling for a dollar or two more. There are 31 colors in all, although not all are available at all times.
Alternatively, spoolless PLA+ can be picked up for the same low $16.99, making it a viable, slightly more ecologically responsible option if you have a reusable spool around or are able to print one.
Availability: Micro Center, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.03 mm
Packaging: Cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: From $16.99
Overture Eco PLA
If it’s not Micro Center’s Inland, then the other name you’ll see populating popular forums for reliable cheap filament is Overture.
One of the better-presented filament brands, Overture offers a wide variety of PLA styles, including matte, “easy,” “professional,” and also recycled “eco.” A limited number of colors in these styles can be picked up for a cent under $20 (which is on the upper end of our picks but doesn’t break through that all-important $20 barrier) where you’ll find more household names such as Polymaker, MatterHackers, or PrintedSolids’ Jessie filament.
If you’re not fussy about the color of filament you use, Overture Eco PLA is a solid bet. Like the Ford Model-T, it’s available in any color you like as long as it’s black, and costs a stable $17.99.
Like many filament producers and sellers, buying in bulk knocks the price down, with purchases of 10 spools or more directly on the Overture website reducing the price-per-spool to $17.09.
Availability: Overture, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.03
Packaging: Cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $17.99
MatterHackers MH Build Series PLA
MatterHackers’ MH Build Series PLA is on the uppermost extreme of what we’d call budget for PLA, with the cheapest individual spools going for $20.87 a pop. But, between the all-round positive sentiment towards the filament’s performance and the wide choice of distinctive colors (20+ at the time of writing this guide), if you wanted a familiar filament to turn to time and again with the freedom of virtually any color you could wish for, you can’t go far wrong with MH Build Series PLA.
If you’re planning to stock up, bulk pricing via MatterHacker’s store means it’s possible to knock the price per spool down to $16.17.
Availability: MatterHackers
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.05 mm
Packaging: Plastic spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch. Cardboard spool also available (specific store option)
Price: $20.87
ABS
You likely already know ABS. It’s probably the most popular plastic for injection molding, so you find it everywhere! As a thermoplastic polymer, ABS melts and cools without altering its chemical properties. That makes it an interesting 3D printer filament, even more considering the relatively low temperatures required for melting. For more on this material, see our guide to the best ABS filaments.
Sunlu ABS
There’s a limited range of colors for Sunlu’s primary ABS offering, all available for a cent under $20 and boasting a tight 0.02-mm dimensional tolerance. Despite store listings citing a higher list price, and the three-year average being higher, too, the $19.99 we’re citing has been stable since December.
However, if you’re not fussy with the color you’re printing, and are willing to bundle three spools in one order, Sunlu offers its black ABS for just $14.99 per spool and white ABS for $15.99 – a close-to 25% saving.
Availability: Sunlu, Amazon, AliExpress
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.02 mm
Packaging: Plastic spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: From $14.99
Micro Center Inland ABS
Here we are again with Micro Center and its Inland brand. Costing $16.99 from Micro Center for a 1-kg spool – the same as its PLA and spoolless PLA+ filaments – Micro Center’s Inland ABS differs a little, with a looser dimensional tolerance of +/- 0.05 mm and approximately half the color options: just 16 colors. As with Inland PLA, color availability may be patchy.
The price jumps up if you source Inland ABS from other stores, and it seems that there’s an ongoing transition from plastic spools to cardboard spools. At the time of writing this guide, you could get either in your order – there’s no way to choose.
Availability: Micro Center, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.05 mm
Packaging: Plastic spool/cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $16.99
Overture ABS
If you’re on the hunt for a no-fuss black or white ABS, Overture’s is a fair option. Most of its ABS colors dip their toes into the “expensive” side, ticking up a couple of dollars over $20, but the black and white spools buck this everywhere they’re available, coming in at $19.99.
Despite being our priciest budget pick, the dimensional tolerance sits in the middle of the pack at +/- 0.03 mm. For the extra it costs, you get a nicer presentation with a recyclable cardboard spool and a gauge to eyeball how much filament by weight and length is left on the spool.
Availability: Overture, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.03 mm
Packaging: Cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $19.99
PETG
PETG has taken the main stage for 3D printing materials in recent years. As an easy-to-print, food-safe, durable, and affordable material, it’s largely displaced ABS as the second most popular filament — next to PLA. For more on this material, see our guide to the best PETG filaments.
Kinluot PETG
Kinluot’s presence only extends as far as it’s Amazon listing, which never truly inspires confidence in a brand. But, with its PETG rock solid at $17.99 for close to six months, and, at the time of publication, a three-dollar tickbox coupon on the page dropping that price down to $14.99, it’s too good to pass up. Kinluot’s PETG presentation is reminiscent of Overture and Polymaker – neatly presented cardboard spools with useful weight and length markers of the sides.
There’s a decent variety of colors, too.
Availability: Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.03 mm
Packaging: Cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $17.99
Micro Center Inland PETG
Are we surprised to see yet another Inland entry on this list? No. Some brands just get it right, and scoop up the recognition with a low-cost and reliably decent product. As with PLA and ABS, Micro Center’s Inland PETG is also a go-to recommendation for many.
Your color choice isn’t as vast as with PLA, but a respectable twelve different options of Inland PETG are available to you. A 1-kg spool from Micro Center directly will set you back ~$20. Elsewhere, it may cost a little more.
Availability: Micro Center, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.03 mm
Packaging: Cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $20.99
Overture PETG
And another one from Overture which, like Inland, is a regular name in discussions of cheap go-to filaments. The brand’s PETG, as with its other materials, comes on a cardboard spool with helpful markers to track your usage.
As with Overture’s ABS, the black and white Overture PETG comes in at a cent under $21. You can also pick up the transparent PETG, direct from Overture, for this price. The rest are uniformly two dollars more.
Availability: Overture, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.03 mm
Packaging: Cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $20.99
TPU
If your 3D printed part needs to be flexible, bendy, elastic, or soft to the touch, there’s a growing range of filaments on the market that can deliver these characteristics while being easy to print. For more, check out our pro guide to the best TPUs and other flexible filaments.
Duramic TPU
TPU typically costs a fair whack more than the likes of PETG and PLA, although you can find some that depart from this trend. Duramic is one, with its 1-kg spools of TPU steadily going for $23.99 when purchased in black. There’s a wide variety of colors, though, all for just a dollar more. The material’s presentation is in line with other popular brands like Overture and Polymaker: recyclable spools, clear and useful labeling.
Product descriptions for Duramic TPU state it has a Shore hardness of 95A, which is about the average hardness of 3D printer TPU — though some softer varieties can be found for higher prices.
Availability: Duramic, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.05 mm
Packaging: Cardboard spool, resealable foil bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: From $23.99
Micro Center Inland TPU
Micro Center’s Inland brand consistently caters to the lower end of filament price ranges. What else can we say?
There’s a little less information about things like color options — we count 13 on the Micro Center website — but that only reflects availability now, rather than the complete range. The material has a Shore hardness of 95A and mostly costs $24.99 per 1-kg spool, with a couple of specialty colors stretching $3 higher.
Availability: Micro Center, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.03 mm
Packaging: Cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $24.99
Overture TPU
Another entry for the brand that’s essentially a slightly more affordable version of Polymaker, a 1-kg spool of Overture’s Shore 95A TPU will cost you $27.99 flat, no matter the color, when bought direct. Elsewhere, you may see prices peak by a dollar or two but, generally, wherever you buy, the range remains under $30.
Typical Overture presentation applies: cardboard spool, helpful labeling, and a vacuum-sealed (and resealable) foil bag keeps this option one of the more pleasant budget options to try.
Availability: Overture, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.03 mm
Packaging: Cardboard spool, resealable foil bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $27.99
ASA
ASA, like ABS, is a little difficult to 3D print because it’s sensitive to temperature while being printed. However, after printing, ASA parts are very heat-resistant and durable. ASA prints are also rigid and strong, and can even be more so than the same parts made from ABS. For more on this material, see our guide to the best ASA filaments.
Micro Center Inland ASA
It’s a little boring, at this point, to point out yet another Inland filament. But blame Micro Center. We don’t set the pricing, and the low pricing of the brand’s ASA sets the bar high once again.
This weather-resistant filament is available in six colors, with flat pricing across the range. A 1-kg spool costs $24.99.
Unlike Inland’s other materials, its ASA is only available through Micro Center.
Availability: Micro Center
Dimensional tolerance: n/a
Packaging: Cardboard spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $24.99
Flashforge ASA
Alongside the regulars of this list, Flashforge’s ASA offering has a reputation for being a consistent filament that’s easy to print and delivers decent results. Available in four colors, a 1-kg spool will set you back $25.99 – just one dollar more than Inland’s ASA. If you shop for it at the online superstore that happens to share a name with a large rainforest, then the price ceiling is $25.99 with frequent drops close to $20. One to keep an eye on for the occasional bargain.
Flashforge’s ASA also boasts an impressive dimensional tolerance – just +/- 0.02 mm (covering 99% of the spool).
Availability: Flashforge, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.02 mm
Packaging: Plastic spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $25.99
Sunlu ASA
Available in eight colors (although we could only find black and white at the time of writing), Sunlu’s ASA is another reliably cheap option. Users report it can be fiddly to print with and may require trial and error with your temperatures and print speeds for predictable printing. Otherwise, though, a solid listing for this weatherproof filament.
Availability: Sunlu, Amazon
Dimensional tolerance: +/- 0.02 mm
Packaging: Plastic spool, vacuum-sealed bag with a desiccant pouch
Price: $26.99
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