What Is the Best 3D Printer for Beginners?

Want to find the best 3D printer for beginners?

3D printing technology has come a long way in just a few short years. What was once a quirky pastime for hobbyists and modelmakers has become a mature, versatile, and transformative manufacturing technique. In the coming years, it’ll be hard to find an industry or company that doesn’t benefit from this technology coming of age.

The global market for 3D printing equipment and filaments reached $13.84 billion in 2021 and will likely grow at 20% per year until 2030. 3D printers have become an important part of the automotive, defense, health care, aerospace, and general manufacturing industries.

What about hobbyists just starting out, though? What’s the best 3D printer for beginners? Here’s a breakdown of some of your top choices.

1. Monoprice Mini Delta V2

There’s no better 3D printer out there for uninitiated hobbyists than the Mini Delta V2 from Monoprice. Monoprice has been known and loved for years for their inexpensive, high-quality cables and other peripherals. With a current price tag of $179, their entry-level 3D printer is no different. It provides open-source software and compatibility wide a wide range of third-party modeling tools.

Advantages:

• Comes fully assembled
• Affordable enough for almost anybody to get started with
• Very fast printing with few misprints
• The aluminum and steel frame components should last

Disadvantages:

• Very small build area limits creative freedom
• Prints with few misprints at the expense of surface quality
• One-year warranty only

2. Original Prusa Mini+

Made by Prusa and shipped from the Czech Republic, the Prusa Mini is definitely among the best-designed and most capable budget 3D printers for beginner hobbyists. It has a compact and open frame, and it’s known for its consistently excellent print quality. Like other Prusa printers, purchasing the Mini+ grants the user automatic access to the Prusa 3D Printing and Modeling Academy.

Advantages:

• Some of the best 3D printing results in its price range ($429)
• Excellent user resources available to get started and improve your results
• The software is versatile and easy to use
• Includes a two-year warranty

Disadvantages:

• The printer requires assembly and calibration before first use
• Requires supervision if pets or children are present, due to the open-frame design

3. Creality Ender-3 V2

If you’re looking for another one of the best 3D printers for beginners that can be had for a bargain ($249), look no further than Creality’s Ender-3 V2. This is another 3D printer you’ll build yourself from a kit, making it a rewarding challenge. From there, it’ll produce parts above its price range in quality. The Ender-3 has enjoyed bestseller status since it was introduced in 2017, making it a mature product line beginners can count on.

Advantages:

• It’ll be difficult to find a more inexpensive 3D printer
• The build area is decently sized, considering the printer’s price
• Prints with above-average build quality for its price range

Disadvantages:

• Requires assembly using reportedly sub-par instructions
• Some printer components may lack quality-control consistency

4. Original Prusa i3 MK3S+

This is a new-and-improved version of the original, award-winning i3 from Prusa Research. The newest model adds several features that will be of interest to entry-level and serious hobbyists alike, including more durable parts and an improved leveling and calibration system for the print bed.

Advantages:

• Consistently delivers high-quality prints without misprints
• Software is highly capable yet easy to work with at the same time
• Provides top-shelf resources for getting started and getting great performance
• Every purchase includes access to online 3D printing learning courses and filament discounts from Prusa

Disadvantages:

• For the price ($999), the i3 MK3S+ has a smaller build volume than some other printers

5. Anycubic Vyper

The Vyper 3D printer from Anycubic provides something most of these other beginner-friendly models do not. If you need the ability to experiment with printing large objects in a relatively inexpensive printer ($359), this is the model for you. The print bed levels itself and the printer yields good-quality results every time. The printer is also nearly silent while in operation.

Advantages:

• Large build area for the price
• Automatic bed-leveling system
• Assembly is simple
• Silent while operating

Disadvantages:

• The surface quality is not the best compared to pricier printers
• The software is not as beginner-friendly as some
• The one-year warranty may disappoint some users

6. Toybox 3D Printer

Sometimes, the beginner 3D printing hobbyist in your life is a school-aged child with engineering ambitions. If you have somebody like that in mind, then the Toybox 3D printer is just what you’re looking for. Users can tweak their designs using an easy mobile app or browser interface, making the process as seamless as possible. The printer also provides out-of-the-box access to thousands of pre-designed toy and object designs.

Advantages:

• The $299 price tag puts this within reach of most families
• Printing is reliable and free of defects
• Purchase includes access to lots of learning resources

Disadvantages:

• Very small build area not suited to large object fabrication
• Not the best choice for 3D printing files created with other programs
• The six-month warranty may not instill confidence in the printer’s longevity

What Makes the Best 3D Printer for Beginners?

You’re probably wondering what makes a 3D printer good (or not) for beginners. Are there advantages to buying an entry-level model?

The primary advantage is being able to get your feet wet in this hobby without spending a king’s ransom on a new printer and filaments. We’re mostly talking about hobbyists and other curious individuals today, and they typically won’t need to spend $700 to $2,000 to figure out if this is the hobby for them.

Instead, if you’re just learning the basics, you’ll want one of the best 3D printers for beginners, which cost as little as $200 to get started. This reduces the amount of money you’re gambling with until you’re sure you’re in this for the long haul.

There’s another advantage of choosing an entry-level 3D printer when you’re just beginning – assembling it yourself. We listed this as a disadvantage for some of the models above, but this affords you a great chance to really dig into the mechanics of how additive manufacturing works and get a better sense of how your printer moves and functions. You might find this a revelatory and worthwhile experience. No matter what, we’re sure you’ll have a blast tweaking and designing with whichever printer you decide on.