The Best Value 3D Printer in 2026

Most 3D printers are capable of putting out some really good 3D prints nowadays. The real difference between 3D printers comes with day-to-day use. Now, when I'm looking for a 3D printer, I really look for two things. How reliable is it? I think that's the number one thing for a lot of people is how reliable is the 3D printer. And the second is how easy is the 3D printer to use? Is the software good? Am I going to upload a 3D print and it's going to air print without telling me for two days and then I come back after a 36-hour, 48-hour print and nothing actually printed? So things like tangle detection. Is it extremely difficult to troubleshoot? Is there an app so I can monitor the 3D print? Those are some things that I find important as well when it comes to purchasing a 3D printer, the value of a 3D printer, and really just 3D printers in general, that's kind of what I value. So considering all of this that I just talked about, my current best value pick for a 3D printer for 2026, at least as of right now, my mind can change. It's subject to change at this time, is the BambooLab P1S. Now you guys might be saying, this is a really old printer. I think it came out in July or June of 2023. But let me say this, when it comes to a printer that came out in 2023, it still stands up to pretty much all of the competition. And that's one of the personal reasons that I would value buying a printer from BambooLab in particular, is because they're still supporting a printer three years later now, or two and a half years if you wanna be real technical. They also did recently say that they have no plans to discontinue support for the P1S, because they did recently discontinue the P1P and the P1S kind of took its place as the budget 3D printer. But even in that article, they said they were gonna produce parts for the P1P all the way up until 2031. So you can buy the P1S without having to worry about getting spare parts for the foreseeable future. Now, currently the P1S it does have about three or four different configurations of purchasing it available. So we'll kind of walk through that. We have just the base P1S comes in at $399. This comes with your standard stainless steel nozzle. For most people, this is going to be completely fine. The next configuration to consider is the P1S combo with the original AMS unit. Now this does come in at $549. And I purchased mine actually for $700 back at Bamboo Lab's last anniversary sale. $700 guys, plus taxes. That doesn't even include taxes. And I'm still happy with my purchase, even though it's like I got ripped off because just in the last like winter sale or Black Friday sale, it was $550. And it's still sitting at $550. So take that as you will. I'm still satisfied with this printer spending $150 more than you can purchase it for today. Like that's just insane to me. But the original AMS one, and then you also have the other, the AMS two combo versions for $620 and $640 respectively. For me personally, I'm completely satisfied with the AMS one. I don't actually see myself using any more than four colors. And really, what do I use AMS units for? I use them for reloading filament automatically. I usually just print in one color when I'm working on projects like this. And so that way, if I put in multiple spools and you configure it in Bamboo Studio, that they're the same, it'll actually automatically reload spools for you. Now, speaking of prices, again, we did discuss this. Just last year in May, the P1S combo with the AMS one was $1,049 according to Aurora Tech's price chart. Now, I think this was when all of the tariff stuff was happening, but still people bought their P1Ss back then for over $1,000 and less than a year later, you're looking at $550 for a combo. That's like, think about it. Like, that's great. Now, why should you pick the BambooLab P1S over some of these other brands? And at least for me, it is personal preference is that I actually enjoy being stuck in BambooLab's ecosystem. Whether or not you think you can climb out or not, you know, I like it. It's my personal preference. So when it comes to reliability and ease of use, their ecosystem makes it extremely easy for me to get into my workflow. And with that ecosystem does come the BambooLab Handy app. It's extremely easy to use. I can monitor all my 3D prints from the BambooLab Handy app. Also on top of this, there's a abundance of replacement parts available for all BambooLab's 3D printers on their websites. And for a lot of companies, you have to go through their customer service in order to get some of these parts. So that's something that I really value. If I need a new nozzle, I don't have to go through the manufacturer website to get these things. If I need a new belt, if I accidentally break a nozzle wiper, I can actually go ahead and go straight to BambooLab's website, find the part, order it. You can't really say that for a lot of other companies. For a lot of other companies, they actually ship from China and it takes months to get some of those replacement parts. Now real quick, we can address the one thing that sticks out like a big old sore thumb when it comes to the P1S and people talking about the P1S is that's the screen. Now, let me tell you guys, you probably won't even use the screen if for anything at all. Like when I use the P1S screen, it's only because I got an alert in the Bamboo Studio app or in the Bamboo Handy app. And it's telling me like, hey, your filament's stuck or there's an error with the printer, something of that nature. So what happens is I just go out to the printer, I fix whatever's wrong with it and I hit resume on that little screen and you just hit the little okay button. And that's the only time I really ever use the screen when it comes to the P1S. Now, maybe someone else has a different experience. You can leave that down in the comments below. But like for me, it doesn't really matter. I connect all my devices. I think for the majority of users out there, it's really not gonna matter. For those of you already with a 3D printer that you really like, having two 3D printers and being able to double your output when it comes to the 3D printing, especially if your 3D printer is always going right now, it's extremely nice. I remember when I had just the A1 and the Centauri Carbon and when the Centauri Carbon was down, I felt a little lost, like how am I gonna complete all of this stuff? Because that's when I was working on this project. So again, if you're even just looking for a cheap option for another 3D printer, I still think the P1S is the best value, best bang for your buck. Of course, again, you're not getting things like an upgraded screen. You're not getting the quick swap nozzle system. You're not getting things like the AI. But really, I'm gonna be frank, I haven't really changed out the nozzle since I bought that thing and upgraded to a hardened steel. And it's been months. When it comes to the screen, again, I've already told you guys, I don't really use it. And then as far as AI detection, it hasn't really helped me anyway on the H2S. Now, there are small features like the P2S would offer like object skipping, but I don't think it's worth it to pay that much more for that. And honestly, if I was to buy another 3D printer today, purely just for an output basis point, I would buy the P1S. I wouldn't even look at the P2S based on me having one now. But with that being said, guys, if you enjoyed the content, make sure you leave a like on the video, hit that subscribe button, and we'll see you guys next time.