Pick the right process
Print It or Mold It?
Injection molding is very good at what it does, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The right answer depends on how many different shapes you make, how many of each, how often the design changes, and how much stock you are stuck holding. Run your own numbers below.
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Nothing is gated. Use the calculator as much as you want. We only ask for an email if you want a copy of the result, and it will happily tell you to go get a mold.
100,000 of one part?
Mold it.
One shape, huge volume, settled design. The tool cost disappears into the price and molded parts get very cheap. This is molding at its best and we will say so.
100 each of 10,000 parts?
Now the problem changes.
Same total parts. Ten thousand tools instead of one, and each one only has a hundred parts to pay it back. This is where printing earns its place.
This is a way of thinking, not a cutoff. The real answer for your part depends on the shape, the material, the tolerance you need, and how long you plan to make it. More on why high mix changes the math.
Run your own numbers
Print vs Mold Calculator
Change any box and the answer updates as you type. Rough numbers are fine. The point is to see which way your part leans and by how much, not to get a quote.
Your numbers
Estimates are fine. Nothing here is sent anywhere unless you ask for a copy.
How many different shapes, not how many parts.
How many of one part number you actually use in a year.
How long this part stays in your product or your service list.
What one tool costs. A rough number is fine.
What one part costs once the tool exists.
Ours, or anyone's. Get a real one from the instant quote.
Per part number, across the whole life above.
The smallest run they will make of one part number. Put 0 if there is none.
What your numbers say
Strong printing candidate
Over the life you entered, printing costs clearly less and you never pay for a tool. Send us the part and we will price it for real.
Molding it
- Tooling bill
- $480,000
- Design changes
- $144,000
- Parts you must buy
- $420,000
- Total
- $1,044,000
- Per part you actually use
- $58
Printing it
- Tooling bill
- $0
- Design changes
- $0
- Parts you must buy
- $117,000
- Total
- $117,000
- Per part you actually use
- $7
- 18,000
- Parts you will use
- 300,000
- Parts a molder makes you buy
- 282,000
- Extra you did not need
Bought, stored, maybe never used
Over 3 years, printing comes out about $927,000 cheaper on these numbers. Price is not the only thing that matters here, so read the assumptions below before you decide anything.
What this tool assumes
- A design change to a molded part is priced at a third of a new mold. Changing a printed part costs nothing but the new file.
- Each part number is ordered once a year from the molder, at the minimum order size or your yearly usage, whichever is larger.
- Anything you are forced to buy above what you use is counted, but the cost of storing it is not. Real shelf cost makes molding look worse than this, not better.
- Printing has no tooling cost and no minimum, so you only pay for what you use.
- Prices are what you enter. This tool does not quote your part.
This is an estimate to start a conversation, not an engineering ruling. It knows nothing about your part shape, your tolerances, or the material you need, and any one of those can outweigh every number above.
Straight answers
When Each One Is Actually Better
Mold it when
- The shape is settled and you do not expect it to change
- You need a lot of the same thing, year after year
- The tool has enough volume behind it to pay itself back
- You need a molded surface, a clear part, or a resin we cannot print
- The part is safety critical and needs a proven molded process
If your part looks like this list, go find a good molder. We would rather be right than busy.
Print it when
- You have many different shapes and only a few of each
- The design is still moving, or you know a change is coming
- You cannot justify a tool for the volume you actually use
- A minimum order is making you buy far more than you need
- The supplier or the old mold is gone and you need parts now
- You need parts in days and cannot wait on tooling
If your part looks like this list, upload it and you will have a price in seconds.
The part nobody puts on their comparison page
What You Give Up by Printing
You can see the layers. FDM parts have fine lines across the surface. On a bracket inside a machine nobody cares. On a part a customer holds and judges, it matters, and we will tell you before you order rather than after.
Strength is not the same in every direction. Printed parts are built up in layers, so they hold up better along the layers than across them. How a part is turned on the plate changes that, and it is one of the things a person checks before we print your run.
Per part, molded is cheaper once the tool is paid for. That is simply true. Printing wins on the total bill when the tool is expensive, the volume is low, or the minimum order is forcing you to buy parts you will never use.
We print in a set list of plastics. PLA and PETG price instantly. ABS, PA-CF, and TPU take a quick human quote. If your part needs a resin outside that list, molding may be your only real option and we will say so.
Stop Guessing. Price the Real Part.
Upload your file and see a per part price in seconds, with no login. If it turns out molding is the better answer for this one, we will tell you that too.
Common Questions
Is 3D printing cheaper than injection molding?
Per part, almost never at high volume. A molded part can cost pennies once the tool exists. Printing wins when you count the tool, the minimum order, and the parts you buy but never use. The fewer of each shape you need, the more that math swings toward printing.
At what volume does injection molding become worth it?
There is no single number, and anyone who gives you one is selling something. It depends on the tool cost, the price gap per part, how long you will make it, and how often the design changes. Run your own numbers in the calculator above and you will see where your break even actually sits.
Are 3D printed parts as strong as molded parts?
Not in every direction. FDM parts are built in layers, so they are stronger along the layers than across them. For a lot of brackets, housings, guides, and fixtures that is fine. For a part that gets hit hard across the layer lines, it may not be. Tell us what the part does and we will be straight with you.
Can I print now and mold later?
Yes, and it is a common reason people start here. You print the first few hundred while sales prove the part is worth a tool. If the volume shows up, cut the mold with real demand behind it instead of a forecast. If it does not show up, you never spent the money.
Will you tell me to go use a molder?
Yes, when that is the right answer. Printing a part that should have been molded means you get parts you are unhappy with and we get a customer who never comes back. That is a bad trade for both of us.