PLA vs PETG, by cost
PETG costs more per gram, prints slower and hotter, and takes longer to finish. This works through what that adds to a finished part, and when the premium is actually buying something.
The price gap on the shelf
PETG normally costs more per kilogram than PLA, and the gap varies enough between countries and suppliers that any figure quoted here would be wrong for most readers within a month. What travels well is the method: compare landed cost per gram from your own receipts, using the filament cost calculator, and never compare two spools by sticker price.
For the worked example below we use a plausible pair — PLA at $22 per 1000 g and PETG at $32 per 1000 g, which is $0.022 and $0.032 per gram. Replace both with your own figures before using the result.
What changes when you actually print PETG
The material cost is only the first difference. Printing PETG changes three other lines in the costing:
- Electricity. PETG prints hotter — commonly around 230–250 °C at the hotend with an 70–85 °C bed. A hotter bed cycles its heater on for a larger share of the time, so average draw rises.
- Machine hours. PETG is usually printed slower than PLA, and the higher temperatures mean longer heat-up and cool-down. A job that takes 4.3 hours in PLA may take 5 or more.
- Post-processing. PETG strings and oozes more readily. That is hands-on time — a minute with a deburring tool and a lighter per part, added to the labour line.
It also needs drying more often than PLA if it has been open for a while, which is another hour of machine time not spent printing.
Worked comparison on one part
One 45 g phone stand, 12% waste, printed both ways. Machine rate $0.20/h, electricity at $0.30/kWh, 6 minutes of finishing for PLA and 8 for PETG, and the same $0.35 of packaging:
| PLA | PETG | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spool cost per gram | $0.022 | $0.032 | +45% |
| Effective filament, 50.4 g | $1.11 | $1.61 | +$0.50 |
| Machine hours | 4.3 h | 5.1 h | +0.8 h |
| Machine cost at $0.20/h | $0.86 | $1.02 | +$0.16 |
| Electricity | $0.15 | $0.22 | +$0.07 |
| Finishing time | $1.20 | $1.60 | +$0.40 |
| Packaging | $0.35 | $0.35 | — |
| Cost to produce | $3.67 | $4.80 | +$1.13 |
The shelf price rose 45%, but the finished part costs 31% more. Worth noting that the material line contributed less than half of the difference — machine hours, power and finishing made up the rest. Anyone comparing only filament prices would have overestimated the gap.
When PETG is worth the premium
PETG earns its extra cost in specific situations, and those situations are physical rather than decorative:
- Heat. A part that lives in a car, near a radiator or in direct summer sun will deform in PLA. PETG will not.
- Outdoors. UV and moisture degrade PLA noticeably faster.
- Load over time. PLA creeps — a bracket under continuous load deforms slowly. PETG resists that better.
- Impact. PETG is tougher and less brittle, so parts that get knocked around last longer.
- Contact with water or cleaning. PETG handles both better than PLA.
If none of those apply, the honest answer is that PLA is the better buy: it is cheaper, prints faster, uses less power, finishes more cleanly and needs less drying. Paying a 31% premium for a decorative item buys nothing the customer can perceive.
The hidden cost of switching material
Switching a product from PLA to PETG is not just a price change. It is a revalidation: test prints, possibly a new profile, a revised failure rate, and a period where your scrap rate is genuinely higher while you dial it in.
That cost is real and it is one-off. If you are changing material for one part, budget a couple of spools and a weekend for the tuning, and keep the failure allowance on affected quotes elevated until your measured rate comes back to normal.
Important assumptions
The prices, print times and finishing minutes above are illustrative. Filament pricing varies by country and moves with shipping and exchange rates; print times are specific to a machine and a profile. The structure of the comparison is the part that carries over.
This page does not rank materials. Both PLA and PETG are appropriate for different jobs, and the question is which is appropriate for yours, not which is better.
Questions
Is PETG worth the extra cost over PLA?
It depends entirely on the part. PETG costs more per gram and adds machine hours, power and finishing time — on the example here, about 31% more for the finished part. It earns that premium when the part faces heat, sunlight, moisture, impact or continuous load. For a decorative item it buys nothing the customer can detect.
How much more expensive is PETG than PLA?
The shelf gap varies too much between countries and suppliers for a single figure to be useful. What matters is the landed cost per gram from your own receipts, and then the knock-on costs — PETG prints slower and hotter, which adds machine hours and electricity on top of the material difference.
Does PETG use more electricity than PLA?
Yes, usually. PETG prints at higher hotend and bed temperatures, so the bed heater cycles on for a larger share of the print and average draw goes up. On a 5-hour job the difference is cents, but it is real and it compounds across a batch.
Can I mix PLA and PETG in the same printer?
Yes, with different temperature profiles and usually a purge between them. Colours and materials should not be mixed within one part unless you are deliberately doing multi-material printing, because the two do not bond reliably.