If you've ever priced 3D printing from a service shop, you've probably hit the same wall we did: a vague form, a "we'll get back to you" email, and 48 hours later a number that feels made up. We hated that, so we built our quoting the opposite way.
The price you see at upload is the price you pay. No call. No follow-up to "discuss the brief." No mystery surcharges.
The formula, plainly
A PrintRush print fee is made of four real costs and one fair margin:
- Filament weight — we slice your file and weigh the result in grams.
- Material rate — PLA and PETG cost different amounts per kg.
- Printer time — minutes of machine, watt-hours of electricity.
- Labor — orientation, plate prep, inspection, packing.
- A modest margin — keeps the lights on, the printers calibrated.
If filament weight × material rate looks low to you, that's the point — it's a real number, not a markup pretending to be one.
What we don't do
We don't charge a "setup fee." We don't charge "engineering time" to look at your STL. We don't quote one number then add 30% for shipping at checkout. Shipping is shown on the quote page, before you add to cart.
Free shipping at $50
Once your order subtotal hits fifty dollars we cover ground shipping in the continental US. Below that, we use EasyPost to compare carriers and pick the cheapest reliable option — usually $5–9.
What you can do to keep cost down
- Use 20% infill unless you need strength. Most parts don't need 80%.
- Pick PLA for prototypes, PETG for parts that get used. PLA is cheaper.
- Use a 0.28 mm layer height if the part is structural and the surface doesn't need to be smooth.
- Bundle small parts into one order. Shipping is the same whether it's one or eight items.
That's the whole pricing story. Honest, real, and printed on the receipt — exactly the way we'd want it as customers ourselves.