PLA vs Resin vs Nylon vs Stainless Steel
A practical comparison of the four materials most people choose between: what each one costs per cubic centimetre, how it is made, what detail and strength it gives, and which jobs each one suits.
Which 3D printing material should I choose?
Choose PLA for display pieces and the lowest cost, standard resin for fine detail on small objects, nylon for functional parts that take impact, and stainless steel when the part is genuinely load-bearing, exposed to weather, or needs to look and feel like metal.
The four differ by roughly fifteen times in price per cubic centimetre — PLA is $0.15/cm³ and stainless steel is $2.20/cm³ — so the decision is usually driven by whether plastic will survive the job.
PLA: the default for display and prototypes
PLA is an FDM material printed at $0.15 per cm³, the cheapest option on the platform, and it holds fine surface detail well enough for figurines, models and decorative objects. It comes in a matte finish and is the right first choice when the part only needs to look correct.
Its weaknesses are heat and load: PLA softens at low temperatures (a car interior in summer is enough) and creeps under sustained weight. It is not the material for a functional bracket or anything left outdoors.
Standard resin: maximum detail at small scale
Standard resin is an SLA/DLP material at $0.25 per cm³ with a notably smoother surface and sharper small features than FDM. Tabletop miniatures, jewellery masters and any object with sub-millimetre detail are where it earns its price.
It is limited to 400 mm on the longest edge, which is why it suits small objects. Standard resin is also more brittle than nylon — thin protruding parts can snap rather than bend.
Nylon: the engineering plastic
Nylon is an SLS material at $0.30 per cm³ — only twice the price of PLA — but it is tough, slightly flexible and resistant to repeated impact. Living hinges, clips, gears, brackets and replacement parts are the classic use case.
It has a faintly textured, slightly porous surface, so it is not the material for a show piece that must look smooth. It wears well, which is why functional prototypes are usually printed in nylon rather than PLA.
Stainless steel: when plastic will not do
Stainless steel is machined (CNC) at $2.20 per cm³ and is about six times denser than PLA, so the same shape costs far more on both rate and mass. It is corrosion-resistant and can be polished, which makes it the choice for hardware, kitchen and outdoor parts, and anything that must feel like metal.
Reserve metal for parts where its properties are the point — the price jump is large enough that a decorative piece rarely justifies it.
What about ABS, PETG and TPU?
ABS ($0.18/cm³) is a tougher everyday plastic than PLA with slightly better heat resistance; PETG ($0.20/cm³) is semi-translucent and weather-resistant, a good outdoor plastic; TPU ($0.28/cm³) is rubber-like and used for grips, gaskets and flexible parts. They sit between PLA and nylon in both price and capability.
Quick answers
Is resin stronger than PLA?
Resin is harder and holds more detail, but it is also more brittle — it resists scratching better than PLA and shatters more easily under impact. For toughness, nylon outperforms both.
Can stainless steel be 3D printed?
On this platform metal parts are machined (CNC) rather than printed, which is why they are quoted per cubic centimetre of material at metal rates. The ordering flow is identical: upload or pick a model, choose the material, get a quote.
Which material is best for a miniature?
Standard or tough resin. Resin resolves the fine features a miniature depends on, and the 400 mm size limit is irrelevant at miniature scale. PLA is acceptable for larger, simpler figures where cost matters more than detail.
How much difference does size make to price?
Volume scales with the cube of length, so doubling the longest edge multiplies material volume by about eight. A material choice that is affordable at 50 mm can be expensive at 200 mm — check the configurator quote at your intended size.
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