Resin vs filament 3D printer: which one should you get?
These two technologies are not running the same race. A filament printer melts a plastic strand and draws the part with a nozzle; a resin printer hardens a liquid with ultraviolet light, one whole layer at a time. Every difference below comes from that: detail, size, what the part can take and what happens in your home once the print is done.
Resin vs filament at a glance
| Filament (FDM) | Resin (MSLA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Detail | Good; visible layer lines | Very high; smooth surface |
| Part size | Medium to large | Small to medium |
| Strength | PLA is stiff; PETG, ABS and ASA take impact and heat | Standard resin is hard but brittle; tougher resins exist |
| Noise | Fans and motors for hours | Almost silent |
| Smell | Low with PLA; ABS and ASA need ventilation | Resin smell whenever the vat is open |
| Mess | Almost none | Gloves, alcohol, paper towels, drips |
| After printing | Remove supports | Wash, remove supports, UV cure |
| Material per part | Partly hollow (infill) | Solid, or hollow with drain holes |
| Material price | Lower per kg | Higher per kg |
| Skin and eyes | Watch the hot nozzle and bed | Liquid resin irritates and can cause allergies |
| Best for | Brackets, organizers, spare parts, prototypes, large cosplay | Miniatures, busts, jewelry, small parts with fine text |
Detail and size: where each one wins
On a filament printer, a 0.4 mm nozzle lays down lines roughly 0.4 mm wide, and Bambu Studio's default profile uses 0.2 mm layers. You can go finer with thinner layers or a 0.2 mm nozzle, but print time climbs fast. On a figure about an inch tall, the face gets simplified and the layer lines show.
On a resin printer, detail comes from the screen's pixels and very thin layers: common profiles use 0.05 mm. Eyes, fingers, fabric textures and small lettering come out crisp, and the surface barely needs sanding. For tabletop miniatures and jewelry, it is a different league.
Size works the other way around. The build plate of a compact resin printer is about the size of a phone screen, and large resin parts need to be hollowed with drain holes, or they use a lot of material and can fail from the force of peeling each layer off the film. A typical filament printer has a bed 18 to 25.6 cm (7 to 10 in) on a side and prints boxes, brackets and cosplay helmets in sections.
What each part can take
With filament, strength depends on the material: PLA is stiff and easy, PETG bends before it breaks and handles more heat, and ABS and ASA go further. The weak spot is the bond between layers: parts break more easily when a force tries to pull one layer off the next. Choosing between the two most common filaments is covered in PLA vs PETG.
A resin part is more uniform in every direction, but standard resin is brittle: a thin clip or a part that takes knocks tends to snap. Tougher resins, sold as "tough" or "ABS-like", improve on that. For a functional part under load, filament is still the simpler route.
Day to day: noise, smell and mess
Noise. A resin printer is almost silent: a motor that slowly raises the plate and a fan. A filament printer runs fans and motors for the whole print, and fast ones are louder; an enclosed model muffles part of it.
Smell. Resin smells whenever the vat is open, during and after printing, and it needs a ventilated spot. With filament, PLA has a faint smell; ABS and ASA smell strongly and also need ventilation.
Mess and post-processing. A filament part comes off the bed ready for support removal. A resin part comes off sticky: you wash it in isopropyl alcohol (Elegoo recommends 95% or stronger and about 2 to 3 minutes of washing), let it dry, remove the supports and cure it under 405 nm UV light. Until it is cured, everything happens with gloves on.
Resin supports can also come off before washing, as in Elegoo's guide. What does not change is the end of the sequence: curing comes last, once the part is clean.
Safety: what each one asks of you
Warning: liquid resin is not paint. Resin safety data sheets warn that it may cause an allergic skin reaction, and sensitivity can get worse with repeated contact. Wear nitrile gloves and safety glasses, work in a ventilated space and, if resin gets on your skin, wash it off right away with soap and water, as Prusa advises.
Three more resin precautions: isopropyl alcohol is highly flammable, so keep it capped and away from flames; dirty alcohol and leftover resin never go down the drain or into the trash as liquids (let them cure in the sun and dispose of them under your local rules); and keep kids and pets away from the bench.
With filament, the risk is heat: the nozzle runs above 200 °C (392 °F), and the bed goes over 100 °C (212 °F) for ASA, according to Prusa. ABS and ASA give off fumes and need ventilation; Prusa itself warns that ASA releases potentially dangerous fumes while printing.
What each part costs
Resin costs more per kilogram, but the bigger factor is something else: a filament part is partly hollow inside, and a resin part is not. Here is a worked example using the calculator's starting values for the US (PLA at $20/kg; resin at $30/kg, with a density of 1.10 g/mL), for a 5 cm (about 2 in) cube, which has a volume of 125 cm³:
- Filament, 2 walls and 15% infill. Walls, top and bottom add up to about 13 cm³, and 15% of the core is about 17 cm³. That is 30 cm³ × 1.24 g/cm³ ≈ 37 g, or 37 × $0.02 = $0.74.
- Solid resin. 125 mL × 1.10 = 137.5 g, or 137.5 × $0.03 = $4.13.
- Hollow resin, 2 mm walls. The hollow core is a 4.6 cm cube (97.3 mL), so the shell is 125 − 97.3 = 27.7 mL × 1.10 = 30.47 g, or $0.91.
| Same 5 cm cube | Material | Material cost |
|---|---|---|
| PLA, 15% infill | ≈ 37 g | $0.74 |
| Solid resin | 137.5 g | $4.13 |
| Hollow resin, 2 mm walls | 30.47 g | $0.91 |
Your slicer gives the exact numbers, supports included. Resin also adds alcohol, gloves, paper towels and FEP film, which the calculator treats as consumables. On miniatures, the dollar difference is small and the detail is worth it; on large solid parts, resin gets expensive fast. The full math is in the guide to resin printing cost.
Who should pick which
Resin suits people who paint miniatures, make busts and collectibles, jewelry for casting or small parts packed with detail, and who have a ventilated corner where the gloves, washing and curing routine does not bother anyone.
Filament suits people who want to fix things around the house, make organizers, brackets, prototypes and large parts, print in a room other people use, or sell useful parts in volume.
Plenty of people end up owning both. If you are choosing one now, start with the one that covers most of what you plan to print; the guide on how to choose a 3D printer has a quick quiz that helps with that call.
Frequently asked questions
Does water-washable resin mean no alcohol and no gloves?
No alcohol, yes; no gloves, no. It is still liquid resin and needs the same care with your skin. And the wash water ends up full of resin, so it cannot go down the drain. Let it cure in the sun, separate the hardened residue and dispose of it under your local rules.
Can I run a resin printer in an apartment?
You can, in a room with a window or an exhaust fan and the door closed, ideally not your bedroom. Enclosures with activated carbon filters reduce the smell but do not replace ventilation. If you have no way to vent, a filament printer with a 0.2 mm nozzle is the closest alternative for detail.
Why do ten miniatures take as long as one on a resin printer?
Because the screen cures the whole layer at once: print time depends on the height of the tallest part, not on how many parts fit on the plate. A filament nozzle has to trace each part, so time grows with every one you add. For batches of small parts, that makes resin very productive per hour.
Does a resin printer work in a cold garage?
Poorly. Anycubic advises printing above 20 °C (68 °F), because cold resin gets thicker and failures go up. In a cold garage or in winter, move the printer to a warmer room; some models have their own resin heating, which helps. Keep space heaters away from the alcohol, which catches fire easily.
Can resin prints be sanded and painted?
Yes, once cured. Wet-sand to keep the dust down, and wear a mask if you sand dry. The smooth resin surface takes primer and paint very well, which is one reason it is the favorite of miniature painters.