Prusa if you can stomach the price, otherwise no clue. I have a Core One + myself. I'm happy with it.
this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2026
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Prusa undisputed #1 for their open and honest approach by reputable people who care, followed, in my opinion, by Snapmaker. Snapmaker is running Klipper with (mostly) open source stuff layered on top. They do have a few binary modules that run alongside, but overall an open ecosystem and a company that seems to thrive in it.
Sovol in third for me. They're very much just following what other companies and the voron project are doing, but they haven't fucked up too massively yet, basically open source software, and everything in the printer is commodity, off the shelf hardware.
"budget-friendly"
Well....I did miss that... sorry. But, if the upfront cost matters Prusa is expensive, if the lifetime cost matters its not. That's just my opinion, feel free to disagree.
I used to recommend the Bambulab A1 (Mini), because they are amazing, really cheap printers. But Bambulab in the meantime Bambulab is pulling an Apple in a very bad way, so can't recommend them anymore.
I have a Snapmaker U1, a decidedly not-budget printer, but I can totally recommend that one for anyone who's seriously into 3D printing. What an awesome machine!
Really wish I had backed the Kickstarter. Definitely in for the next one if they keep this up.
Seriously, amazing piece of kit and pretty open and hackable at that.
Way fun to use.
Only downside: the reverse bowden tubes make printing with PLA annoying because it keeps breaking in the tubes if you leave it in there for a few days without printing.
The upside: it prints PETG just as well as PLA, so I just stopped using PLA alltogether.
Snapmaker u1. Currently the best.
Prusa for sure—good quality, support, and availability. But for less money I've had good experience with the Qidi Q2C and Max 4, more open then Bambu (Klipper firmware) and good performance for the cost.
I would probably recommend Prusa or Sovol. Although I've not used Sovol, they seem to be very popular and not screwing people over.
Prusa
Sovol due to openness. An enclosed or easily encloseable one (core-xy design) if you want to print ABS/ASA.
Sovol have really made name for themselves in recent years. I feel like when I was first getting into printing they were just another cheap brand, but in recent years with all the other companies closing themselves off Sovol have instead made things better and more open for everyone, including (IIRC) giving money to the Voron team.
I'm not sure why there's hate for Creality—my Hi/CFS combo has been great for me, with only occasional hiccups (in thousands of hours of print time), mostly from my inexperience (like not realizing my filament was brittle because it wasn't dry...)
I'm really looking forward to seeing how the K3 with KliTek pans out. Allowing for zero-purge multi-material printing with TPU, including multi-hardness printing, in particular. Being able to print soft parts with TPU with (cheap) supports from a material TPU didn't bond well with is super exciting, like slippers with durable 95A soles and softer 80A cushioning.
And, AFAIK, there's no printer right now that allows for multi-material printing with different hardness TPU.
They're so user-hostile, it's bonkers.
I'm not sure why there's hate for Creality
Going IPO, meddling with AI a lot, prior license issues
Creality has a long history of under delivering features they market printers on.
Because they are horrible unless you are lucky.
On topic: Sovol, Elegoo CC.
I don't know much about the current prices but maybe a second hand Prusa MK4 ?
I bought one a few months after they released it and it's still printing perfectly for me after more than 4000 hours of print time.
Second hand MK4 are still pricey. Second hand MK3 are cheap! I was on the fence to get a second MK3S with MMU3 fully functioning for 250€ but it's several hours of driving away from me. In the end I decided to upgrade my current MMU from WS to 3 to get it back and running on the printer I already have.
Prusa MK3 are slow by today's standards, but they still print well, are reliable and customizable.
The Elegoo Centauri Carbon is really good for the price: enclosed, CoreXY, etc. Arguably better than Bambu's offerings even by feature set alone.
Qidi's Q series is also quite good if you want to print more engineering type filaments, but might be considered "midrange tier" given that it's ~$500 ish.
Sovol makes some good machines too, a lot of people have already suggested them.
I just got a Centauri Carbon based on a friends suggestion and I'm very glad I did.
Internet discussion likes to focus on features and gimmicks. As much as I detest Bambu, the print quality and reliability of the H2 series has yet to be bettered.
Being downvoted doesn’t make you any less right.
That being said: I won’t be buying Bamboo again myself. The H2S is awesome, but my next machine will be RatRig/Prusa (European)or maybe even Snapmaker. Still waiting to see how they hold up after some more time, and if head swappers are better or worse than toolchangers like INDX.
- That's simply wrong, the most reliable (consumer) machine is probably the Prusa Core One, and the best print quality would depend on what you are printing (resin printing is nicer than most FDM but has its own set of challenges, Prusa XL can have six toolheads, single toolhead printers, etc.)
And of course, enterprises grade machines are probably much more reliable than any consumer grade hardware
- This is focusing on the budget segment, which the H2 series is far outside of anyways (as is the Prusa machines). The Centauri Carbon by Elegoo is better than the A1 Mini in most metrics (larger volume, enclosed, CoreXY, more open ecosystem, etc.) for around the same price point, and the Sovol machines are quite good there as well.
I don't know what your definition of budget friendly is, but I recently got a Flashforge Creator 5 pro. I've got around 30 print hours on it so far, and it's been fantastic so far. I have it in LAN only mode and have been using Orca slicer. Compared with my old Ender 3, it's an absolute joy to work with!
I don’t have any more than my one printer, and it’s been mostly pretty damn good thus far. AnyCubic Kobra S1 is a great all-around printer that’s really easy to use. Don’t remember the price, but I’ve never had any big issues with it.
Second Sovol, and I would also recommend the Anycubic Kobra S1 - its been a great lil printer for me over the last year. Avoid Creality and Elegoo like the plague.
Does the Kobra use Klipper, and do you have SSH access?
It does, but you do need to apply a quick hack to get access to SSH and the Klipper web interface for some reason. Slightly annoying, but it was the best of all the options I had in my price range at the time.
I see. It seems a good option for an enclosed printer for the price. I feel a bit uncomfortable with manufacturers selling machines with locked down open source software though 😖
Oh same. I was definitely grumpy about it, but I just couldn't spend 3x the price for a Prusa at the time, even though I love them and really, really want one.
What’s wrong with Elegoo? I don’t have their printers but I’ve used a fair bit of their filament which seems to be good value.
Considering an upgrade myself so wondering what to avoid.
The short version is that I've had two of their printers and both failed due to mainboard issues, and I got no help with either after six months of getting the runaround, escalating, providing video evidence, etc. They sent me a mainboard replacement for one which also failed within days, and their solution was to send me a used printer that was the next class up in size, but two versions back. MicroCenter took pity on me after I showed them the 100+ email chain and refunded the printer fully even though I was well outside of the return period. I'll never buy a single Elegoo product ever again.
I am up to 2566 hours on my Creality K1 Max and 890hrs on my Ender3 V3, currently eyeing the spark i7 combo to add to my print farm.
Mine are from FlashForge because I can run them without an internet connection. Not sure if that will change in the future.