Resin Print Cost Calculator

Cost an MSLA or DLP print properly: resin by volume, plus IPA, gloves, curing, machine time and the prints that fail.

Cost of one resin print

Resin used (ml)

Resin price ($/L)

IPA / wash per part ($)

Alcohol, gloves, paper, filters.

VAT / FEP film per part ($)

Amortise film replacements.

Print time (hours)

Printer draw (W)

Electricity ($/kWh)

Post-processing time ($)

Wash, remove supports, cure, sand.

Failure rate (%)

Profit margin (%)

Resin cost	—
Consumables (IPA, gloves, film)	—
Electricity	—
Post-processing time	—
Failure allowance	—
True cost per part	—
Suggested selling price	—

Resin is priced by volume, not weight

This is the first thing that trips up anyone moving from filament to resin. Filament is sold by mass, so the slicer's gram figure converts directly into money. Resin is sold by volume, and your slicer reports millilitres — which is convenient, but it means the density of the resin matters whenever you need to work backwards from a finished part's weight.

resin cost per part = (ml used ÷ 1000) × price per litre
true cost           = resin + consumables + power + labour + failure allowance
failure allowance   = (resin + consumables + power + labour) × failure rate ÷ 100

Standard resins sit at roughly 1.1 g per millilitre, so a 45 ml miniature weighs around 50 g once cured. Tough, flexible and castable formulations differ, and the price per litre differs far more — a standard grey might be $35/L while a castable resin can exceed $90/L.

The costs people forget on resin prints

With filament printing the hidden costs are mostly power and wear. With resin the hidden costs are consumables and time, and together they routinely exceed the resin itself on small parts.

Isopropyl alcohol. Two-stage washing keeps the alcohol usable far longer, but it is still consumed and eventually disposed of. Budget per part, not per bottle.
Nitrile gloves. You will go through several pairs per session. Small per part, relentless in aggregate.
FEP or nFEP film. A consumable with a finite life. Amortise the replacement across the parts you print between changes.
Post-processing time. This is the big one. A 45 ml miniature may print in three hours unattended but needs washing, support removal, curing and cleanup by hand. If that takes fifteen minutes, your time is very likely the largest single line in the cost.
Failed prints. Resin failures are often more expensive than filament failures because the part is stuck to the film and the film may be damaged with it.

Because post-processing labour is usually the dominant cost on small resin parts, the highest-return improvement is rarely a cheaper resin. It is batching: washing and curing ten parts together takes meaningfully less than ten times the time of one.

Resin versus filament: where each wins

Factor	Resin (MSLA/DLP)	Filament (FDM)
Surface detail	Excellent — the reason to choose resin	Visible layer lines
Material cost per part	Higher per ml, but parts are small	Lower for large parts
Print speed (one part)	Slow, layer by layer	Slow, but scales with part size
Print speed (many parts)	Whole plate at once — big advantage	One at a time unless batched
Post-processing	Wash, cure, gloves, ventilation	Usually just support removal
Part strength	Brittle unless formulated tough	Strong, especially PETG and nylon
Handling requirements	Gloves, ventilation, disposal	Minimal

The deciding factor is usually the plate. Resin prints an entire plate of parts in the same time as one part, which is why it dominates miniatures and jewellery masters. Where parts are large, structural or few, filament remains far cheaper per unit — and the main print cost calculator handles that side.

Frequently asked questions

How much does resin cost per print?

A typical 45 ml miniature at $45/L uses about $2.03 of resin. Add consumables, power and fifteen minutes of your time and the true cost is usually between $6 and $10 before margin, depending on how you value your time.

Is resin printing more expensive than filament?

Per millilitre of material, yes. Per finished part, it depends entirely on size and quantity. Small detailed parts printed a plate at a time are often cheaper with resin; large structural parts are almost always cheaper with filament.

How do I convert millilitres to grams?

Multiply by the resin's density, typically around 1.1 g/ml for standard formulations. A 45 ml part is therefore about 50 g. Check the technical data sheet for specialty resins, as the figure varies.

Why is my resin print cost higher than the slicer suggests?

The slicer reports resin volume and print time. It does not know the price of your alcohol, the life of your FEP film, the gloves you used, or the twenty minutes you spent cleaning up. Those are the costs that turn a two-dollar part into an eight-dollar part.