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3D Printer Electricity Cost Calculator

Estimate monthly and annual electricity cost for FDM or resin 3D printing, including idle/standby power and (for resin) UV cure station time.

Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software · Last verified · Sources

When to use this

Use this to budget the ongoing electricity cost of a hobby 3D printing setup, or to compare the running cost of an FDM printer against a resin printer with a UV cure station.

How it compares

Unlike a rough per-print cost estimate based on wattage alone, this calculator separately tracks printing, curing, and standby energy across a full month, which better reflects printers that sit plugged in and idle for most of the day.

Enter your values below. Calculations run locally as you type.

Printer

Electricity cost

Cost / print
$0.154
8h @ 120W
Monthly cost
$3.46
21.60 kWh total
Printing
19.20 kWh
per month
Idle/standby
2.40 kWh
per month
Annual cost
$41.47

Running 20 prints a month at 120W plus standby draw costs about $3.46/month ($41.47/year) in electricity.

How it works

Printing energy is your printer’s average running wattage converted to kWh, multiplied by hours per print and prints per month.

Idle/standby energy is calculated separately from the wattage the printer draws while powered on but not printing, since many printers stay plugged in for far more hours than they actually print.

For resin printers, UV cure station energy is added per print based on its wattage and cure time, then everything is multiplied by your electricity rate to get monthly and annual cost.

FAQs

How much does standby/idle power actually cost over a month?

A printer left plugged in and idle at 5W for 16 hours a day uses about 2.4 kWh a month — a few dollars at most residential rates, but it adds up over a year, especially for printers that stay on between prints.

Does resin printing use less power than FDM?

Often yes for the print itself, since resin printers have no hotend or heated bed to maintain — but you also need to add the UV cure station, so total power draw per print can be similar once curing is included.

Does the UV cure station meaningfully add to the electricity bill?

Usually only a small amount, since cure times are short (often under 20–30 minutes per print). It is a much smaller contributor than the printer itself or standby time across the month.

Worked example

Input

FDM printer at 120W, 8 hrs/print, 20 prints/month, 5W idle for 16 hrs/day, $0.16/kWh.

Output

Printing: 19.2 kWh/mo. Idle: 2.4 kWh/mo. Monthly cost: about $3.46 ($41.47/year).

Printing uses 19.2 kWh a month (0.12 kW × 8 hrs × 20 prints). Idle standby adds another 2.4 kWh a month even though the printer is not actively printing most of the day. Combined, that is about $3.46/month or roughly $41.47/year at $0.16/kWh.

Common pitfalls

  • Ignoring idle/standby power understates the real bill — many printers stay powered on far more hours per day than they spend actively printing.
  • Forgetting the UV cure station on a resin printer misses a real, if usually small, part of the total electricity cost.
  • Using a printer’s peak wattage instead of its average running wattage overstates cost, since most printers do not run at peak draw for the entire print.

Idle draw is easy to forget and adds up

The model separates printing draw from idle draw, defaulting to 120 W printing and 5 W idle over 16 idle hours a day. The idle figure looks negligible and is not: 5 W left on continuously is about 44 kWh a year, which on many tariffs is comparable to the printing itself for a machine used a few times a week.

Resin printers add a separate curing load, which is why cure watts is its own input rather than folded into the print figure.

Why FDM electricity is usually the small cost

For FDM the honest conclusion is that electricity is rarely the reason a print is expensive. A 120 W printer over an 8-hour print uses under 1 kWh — pennies on most tariffs — against filament, machine wear and the labour of setup and finishing.

The figure is still worth computing for two reasons: it scales with print time, which is the same variable that drives machine wear, and heated-chamber or high-temperature machines draw far more than the default. If you are pricing work, use this alongside a proper cost model rather than on its own.

Where these numbers come from

The method behind this tool, so you can check it rather than take it on trust.

Read more about this

· 8 min read

What your 3D printer actually costs in electricity (including standby)

Why idle/standby draw quietly adds up over a month, the power difference between FDM and resin printing plus UV cure stations, and worked monthly and annual cost examples.

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