Prusa is a well-known 3D printing company, that has been in operation for over 10 years. However, there are many different options for 3D printers. I looked into whether Prusa 3D printers are good, and how they compare to the other options, and here’s what I found.
In general, Prusa 3D printers are good. Prusa is the second most well-known 3D printer brand after Creality. They also sell about $73.9 million (€70 million) of their 3D printers every year. By comparison, Creality only sells $5 million to $25 million worth of their 3D printers every year.
Today I will explain what makes a Prusa 3D printers good. I will do this by comparing certain key metrics about Prusa compared to the other most well-known 3D printer brands. At the end of the article, I provide a comprehensive score for each 3D printer brand to show how Prusa compares.
Is Prusa a Good Brand
Some brands of 3D printers are better than others. A better 3D printer will have fewer problems and will be easier to use out of the box. So, is Prusa a good brand?
Overall, Prusa is a good brand. They are the most successful 3D printing company. They sell more of their products than the most well know 3D printing brands: Creality, Anycubic, Elegoo, Dremel (Now 3PI solutions), and Flashforge. They have also been in operation for over 10 years.
Prusa also makes a bunch of very high-quality filaments called Prusament. I did a survey of over 100 3D printing enthusiasts. To see what they think is the best 3D printer brand. Here’s a table that shows the results:
| Brand | What 3D Printer Brand Is Your Favorite? |
|---|---|
| Creality | 40% |
| Prusa | 39% |
| Anycubic | 5% |
| Elegoo | 10% |
| Dremel (Now 3PI Solutions) | 3% |
| Flashforge | 3% |
Based on the result Prusa is definitely considered to be a very good printer brand. It was virtually tied in first place with Creality. And has significantly more votes than the other 3D printers. With almost 4 times as much. So, it can be concluded that Prusa is a very good 3D printer brand.
Another interesting metric to look at is how well-known a 3D printer brand is. A survey was also conducted that asked how familiar people are with a bunch of different 3D printer brands. Here’s a table that shows how well known each 3D printer brand is:
| Brand | How Familiar People Are With It (Score) |
|---|---|
| Creality | 82.2% |
| Prusa | 74.6% |
| ANYCUBIC | 59.3% |
| Elegoo | 55.5% |
| Dremel (Now 3PI Solutions) | 51.8% |
| Flashforge | 50.9% |
| Monoprice | 39.6% |
| Snapmaker | 38.9% |
Here, again Prusa ranked in the top 2. It is the second most well-known 3D printer brand after Creality. This, however, doesn’t say much about how good they are. But, they have been in operation for over 10 years. So, if there were any major flaws with them it would be well known by now. Also, they would likely not be as popular as they are today.
The next thing I wanted to look at to evaluate if Prusa 3D printers are good is how many of their 3D printers they sell. I also looked out how many employees they have. This was done to get an idea of how big each company is. Here are the results:
| Brand | Number of Employees | Yearly Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Creality | 500 to 1000 | $5 million to $25 million |
| Prusa | 460 | $73.9 million |
| Anycubic | 500 to 1000 | Under $5 million |
| Elegoo | 200 to 500 | Under $1 million |
| Dremel (Now 3PI Solutions) | Unknown | Unknown |
| Flashforge | 6 | $300,000 |
From the table, you can see that Prusa has the most average yearly revenue out of all of the 3D printer brands. They also sell filament and 3D printer accessories. So, it’s hard to say how much of this yearly revenue is from 3D printers alone.
But, it’s safe to say that they’re the most successful 3D printer company. They have about average the amount of employees that other 3D companies have.
Do they provide a slicing software with their 3D printers
Cura is one of the most well-known 3D printing slicers. As you may know, a slicing software is required to prepare a 3D print file. A slicing software will provide unique instructions within the 3D print file. These are based on the unique geometry and setting requirements for your 3D printer. That are then read by your 3D printer as it executes the print.
Cura works with a large number of 3D printer models. But, not all of them. It makes use of a custom printer profile. Or, a built-in printer profile. Many 3D printer brands make custom slicing software.
In most cases, it works far better than using Cura. Due to the fact, that it’s designed specifically for the 3D printer. So, if a 3D printer brand also has a slicing software, it’s an advantage.
Here’s whether the brands above make their own slicing software:
| Brand | Has Their Own Slicing Software |
|---|---|
| Creality | Yes – CrealityPrint |
| Prusa | Yes – PrusaSlicer |
| ANYCUBIC | Yes – Photon Slicer |
| Elegoo | Yes – Elegoo Neptune |
| Dremel (Now 3PI Solutions) | Yes – Dremel Digilab 3D |
| Flashforge | Yes – Flashprint |
All of the 3D printers provide a slicing software. Therefore, this shows that Prusa is on par with the other 3D printer brands. And is not lagging behind or missing something important.
Price range of the 3D printers different brands sell
Next, I wanted to know how Prusa 3D printers compare in price to the other 3D printer brands. Because of course, at the end of the day, it’s what most people care about!
| Brand | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Creality | $199 to $1099 |
| Prusa | $299 to $2599 |
| ANYCUBIC | $299 to $1099 |
| Elegoo | $200 to $600 |
| Dremel (Now 3PI Solutions) | $1499 to $2199 |
| Flashforge | $289 to $1999 |
The cheapest 3D printer that Prusa sells is on the low end. And their 3D printer models start at $299. Creality and Elegoo 3D printers have a cheaper lowest-end model of $200. But, overall Prusa 3D printers are similarly priced to the other 3D printer brands. Except for, Dremel which sells higher-end 3D printers.
It’s safe to say that Prusa 3D printers are by no means overpriced. But, if you’re just starting out with 3D printing you may want to go with a Creality or Elegoo 3D printer. Simply, because it will save you $100. Then once you’re happy with 3D printing you can get a more expensive 3D printer.
However, you can’t go wrong if you get a Prusa 3D printer as a first 3D printer.
Summary of all the factors – overall ratings
I took each of the factors I used to evaluate each of the 3D printing brands and gave them a numerical number.
To remind you the factors are:
- The brand that people voted as their favorite brand
- The yearly revenue of the brand
- The price range of the 3D printer models they sell
- How well known the brand is (familiarity score)
I didn’t include which brands had their own slicing software. Because all of the brands have their own slicing software.
The overall score is based on how they rank from best to worst. For example, if a 3D printer brand is the best in one of the factors it got a 1. Whereas, if it is the worst I gave it a 6.
I then totaled the scores for each category for each brand. Here’s a table that shows the overall score. With a lower score being better.
| Brand | Overall Rating |
|---|---|
| Creality | 5 |
| Prusa | 9 |
| ANYCUBIC | 14 |
| Elegoo | 15 |
| Dremel (Now 3PI Solutions) | 19 |
| Flashforge | 19 |
The brand with the highest score overall is Creality, and Prusa is second. This means that Prusa 3D printers are definitely good. It has a score significantly above the other 4 most well-known 3D printer brands. But, was quite a bit lower than Creality.
Let’s look at each of the categories. And where Prusa ranked against the other 3D printer brands. Here’s a table that summarizes the results:
| Category | How it Compares to Other 3D Printer Brands |
|---|---|
| Brand that people voted as the favorite | 2nd |
| The yearly revenue of the brand | 1st |
| The price range of the 3D printer models they sell | 4th |
| How well known the brand is (familiarity score) | 2nd |
Prusa compares very well to the other 3D printer brands. The one area where they were a little bit worse is the lowest price of their 3D printers. It is a $20 difference between 4th and 3rd place. But, Prusa 3D printers are $100 more expensive than Creality and Elegoo.
Who Makes Prusa 3D Printers
Some 3D printer brands are clones of some of the most popular 3D printers. It’s also interesting to know about a company if you’re interested in getting one of their 3D printers.
Prusa 3D printers are made by the company Prusa. Prusa has its headquarters in Prague, the Czech Republic. It was founded by Josef Prusa a Czech national in 2012. They now have over 600 employees, and ship about 6000 3D printers every year.
Prusa is also the most successful 3D printer company. They sell the most 3D printers per year out of all the different 3D printer companies. Including big names, like Creality. Creality now makes a range of different 3D printers.
I researched how good the Creality Ender 3 is and summarized what I found in this article about whether the Creality Ender 3 is worth it. It also covers if it’s good for beginners.
What Filament Does Prusa Use
There are many different brands of filament. And they range in price from very cheap to expensive. Most 3D printers can use any brand of filament, but here’s specifically what filament a Prusa 3D printer uses.
Overall, you can use any filament brand in a Prusa 3D printer. Prusa manufacturers a special filament called Prusament. They make PLA, PETG, PC blend, PVB, ASA/ABS, PA (nylon), Composite, XT, CPE, Flex, PVA/BVOH, and Wood/metal filled filaments.
The most common type of filaments are PLA and ABS. I recently took a look at how good Prusament filament is. I looked at the most common filaments they sell and how they compare to each other. Based on how well they print, how strong they are, and how thermally resistant they are. You can read about the results in this article about Prusament filament.
Is a Prusa 3D Printer Worth It
Prusa is one of many 3D printer brands. With all the 3D printers out there it’s harder to filter through each of them and figure out which ones are actually good. After doing, thorough research about the different 3D printer brands, here’s a summary of whether a Prusa 3D printer is worth it.
Overall, a Prusa 3D printer is worth it. Prusa 3D printers compare very well to the other most well-known 3D printer brands such as Creality and Elegoo. They were also voted as the 2nd most popular 3D printer in an independent survey.
The one area where Prusa 3D printers weren’t as good as other 3D printer brands is price. Prusa 3D printers are about $100 more expensive. It can be a little bit difficult to justify the higher price. Considering that the 3D printers that are cheaper are just as good. In my opinion, it depends on what 3D printer you like the look of more.
3D printers generally last a very long time. I explained in this article how long 3D printers last. So, you’ll want to get a 3D printer that you think looks good. As with all decisions, at the end of the day, it’s up to you. Here’s a really good video that compares the Creality Ender 3 with the Prusa:
Based on what people report as their favorite 3D printer it appears that most like Prusa and Creality 3D printers are about the same. So, any decision past this is a matter of personal preference.
Related Articles
- PrusaSlicer vs Cura – Which is Right for You?
- Can You Use Cura With Prusa? – We Find Out!
- Create a Temperature Tower Using Cura – The Easy Way
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