3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Anycubic Kobra 2 Max vs Creality Ender-3 V3 KE
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Anycubic Kobra 2 Max comparisonsMore Creality Ender-3 V3 KE comparisons
| Property | Anycubic Kobra 2 MaxBEDSLINGER | Creality Ender-3 V3 KEBEDSLINGER |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Anycubic | Creality |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | BEDSLINGER |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Anycubic Kobra 2 Max[1] | Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[2] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Listed on the Anycubic store from 31 August 2023 (Shopify publish date)[1] | Not documented |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $639.00 on store.anycubic.com, Aug 2026[1] | $259.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026; Creality's own product page shows $279.00 on the same day[3][2] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Largest Kobra 2. Shares the Plus's 90 C bed ceiling and 500/300 mm/s figures but scales to 420 x 420 x 500 mm and 21 kg. Anycubic's on-page comparison is against the older Kobra Max (450 x 400 x 400 mm, Bowden, 180 mm/s), not against the Kobra 2 Plus. Note the newer Kobra 3 Max has the same 420 x 420 x 500 mm volume - build volume alone will not distinguish them[1][4][5] | Sits between the SE and the V3 in the Ender-3 V3 family. Against the SE: linear rail on X instead of wheels, 500 mm/s instead of 250, 300 C ceramic hotend instead of 260 C, 4.3-inch touchscreen instead of a 3.2-inch knob screen, Wi-Fi instead of SD-card only. Against the V3: the KE keeps the conventional bed-slinger layout while the V3 is CoreXZ and reaches 600 mm/s. Build volume also differs subtly - 220 x 220 x 240 mm on the KE against 220 x 220 x 250 mm on the SE and V3[2][6][7][8] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 500 x 420 x 420 mm stated HWD, i.e. 420 x 420 x 500 mm; Anycubic quotes 88.2 L[1] | 220 x 220 x 240 mm - 10 mm shorter than the SE and V3, a difference that is easy to miss[6] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 740 x 735 x 640 mm stated HWD - footprint about 735 x 640 mm; this is a floor- or bench-dominating machine[1] | 433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[6] |
| Net weight (kg) | 21 kg[1] | 7.8 kg[6] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Open frame, no enclosure[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian bed-slinger with double metal spindles on X and Y and included belt tensioners[1] | Cartesian bed-slinger with a linear rail on X[2] |
| X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size) | Not documented | Steel linear rail on the X axis with a ball-bearing carriage; Creality Lab quotes a 0.04 friction coefficient[2] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Dual-motor dual Z axis[1] | Not documented |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 500 mm/s maximum print speed (Anycubic Lab figure)[1] | 500 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim, Creality Lab)[2] |
| Recommended/typical print speed | 300 mm/s typical print speed (manufacturer figure)[1] | Not documented |
| Vibration Compensation / Input Shaping | ||
| Input shaping supported? Implementation (Klipper IS / Marlin ZV / proprietary) | One-click vibration compensation on X/Y plus flow control[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct extruder with double gears[1] | Direct-drive extruder paired with the ceramic-heated high-flow hotend[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Not documented | Hotend with a 60 W ceramic heater, a bi-metal copper/titanium-alloy heatbreak to resist thermal creep, and a copper nozzle[2] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 260 C nozzle temperature ceiling; 0.4 mm replaceable nozzle[1] | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature (Creality Lab test at 25 C room temperature)[2] |
| Heater cartridge power (W) | Not documented | 60 W ceramic heater cartridge (manufacturer figure)[2] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 90 C hotbed temperature ceiling[1] | Not documented |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | PEI magnetic spring steel plate, 420 x 420 mm[1] | PEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[6] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Anycubic LeviQ 2.0 automatic levelling, 49-point, with smart Z-offset[1] | One-tap self-test covering Z offset and auto levelling; Tom's Hardware records automatic levelling with automatic Z as well[2] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament detection fitted as default[1] | Filament run-out sensor fitted[6] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Not documented | Two part-cooling fans, one on each side of the printhead, cooling the freshly printed section from both sides[2] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Host computer (SoC, RAM, storage) if firmware runs on embedded Linux | Cortex-A7 1.2 GHz processor; 8 GB built-in storage[1] | Not documented |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Not documented | Creality OS, which Creality states is "Based on the popular Klipper firmware", with open-source files published; the source is on GitHub as CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper, described as a clone of upstream Klipper, GPL-3.0. Input shaping and motion advance (pressure advance) are exposed as features[2][9][10] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | Not documented | 4.3-inch touchscreen[6] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Not documented | Touch UI with a tab bar, real-time model preview, motion graphics for print parameters and a one-tap self-test[2] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Not documented | Wi-Fi and USB; LAN printing and cloud printing through Creality Print on PC or the Creality Cloud app, with multi-printer print-farm management[6][2] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, ABS, PETG, TPU (Kobra 2 family list)[11] | Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU (95A) and ASA[2] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not documented | Not verified directly. Creality states the Ender-3 V3 KE runs a Klipper-based Creality OS and publishes CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper (GPL-3.0) as a clone of upstream Klipper, which ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check; the stock configuration was not checked here[9][10][2] |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | One year on the complete machine (excluding gifted and second-hand machines), with component warranty periods that vary by part; the period starts on the delivery date and is suspended while a replacement is in transit. Anycubic states it will follow longer local statutory periods where they apply[12] | Creality's US store states "Up to 12-Month Warranty", a 14-day return and refund window and "Lifetime Customer Support" on its printer product pages. The "up to" wording means the term is not uniform across parts[13] |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Benchmark print times (source + settings) | Not documented | Benchy in 19 minutes 48 seconds under Speed Boat Rules in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware[6] |
| Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date) | Not documented | Tom's Hardware rating 4.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data[6] |
Manufacturer claims, independent measurements, packages and test conditions retain their source wording. FDM linear speed and resin vertical speed use different units and are not directly comparable. Unknown values are marked “Not documented”. Prices and source dates remain historical snapshots; check the linked guide for product details. Differences highlight text, not a universal winner.
Sources for this comparison
- Anycubic Kobra 2 Max store page and Shopify product JSON (Tech Specs block, price, store publish date) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 KE 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic Kobra 2 Plus store page and Shopify product JSON (Tech Specs block, price, store publish date) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic Kobra 3 Max product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 KE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 SE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper repository metadata ("clone from https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/", GPL-3.0) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Anycubic Kobra 2 store page and Shopify product JSON (Tech Specs block, price, store publish date) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic refund and warranty policy store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor