3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

Anycubic Kobra 3 Max vs Creality Hi

Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.

2 selected · all documented properties

Anycubic Kobra 3 Max vs Creality Hi — documented properties and sources
PropertyAnycubic Kobra 3 MaxBEDSLINGERCreality HiBEDSLINGER
Identity
BrandAnycubicCreality
ClassBEDSLINGERBEDSLINGER
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)Anycubic Kobra 3 Max[1]Creality Hi, sold as the "Creality Hi Combo" with one CFS unit[2]
Release date (announcement and actual shipping)Listed on the Anycubic store from 19 February 2025 (Shopify publish date)[3]Not documented
Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry)$429.00 with a US plug on store.anycubic.com, Aug 2026, against a compare-at price of $699.00 ($493.00 for the EU plug variant)[3]The Creality US store Hi Combo page lists three variant prices - $299.00, $399.00 and $539.00 - on the same page, Aug 2026; the lowest is recorded here and the combo includes one CFS unit[4]
Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk)Same 420 x 420 x 500 mm build volume as the older Kobra 2 Max, so build volume will not tell them apart - but the Kobra 3 Max is faster (600 mm/s claimed against 500), runs Kobra OS with multi-colour support and a 4.3-inch touchscreen, and is lighter at 19 kg against 21 kg. Its acceleration ceiling is 10000 mm/s2, half the 20000 mm/s2 of the smaller Kobra 3 - a difference the marketing does not lead with[1][5][6]Sold as a combo bundled with one CFS multi-material unit; up to four CFS units can be stacked for 16 colours, and the extra three are bought separately. Three price variants exist on the store page, so a single "Creality Hi" price is ambiguous[2]
Physical & Frame
Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable420 x 420 x 500 mm, which Anycubic states as 88 L[1]260 x 260 x 300 mm[2]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)706 x 640 x 753 mm[1]409 x 392 x 477 mm (Tom's Hardware measurement of the printer's footprint)[7]
Net weight (kg)19 kg[1]11.58 kg (Tom's Hardware measurement)[7]
Frame construction & materialNot documentedFull metal body with frame parts die-cast from aluminium alloy[2]
Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lidOpen frame, no enclosure[1]Open frame, no enclosure[2]
Kinematics & Motion Hardware
Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other)Anycubic's table gives the construction as "Gantry System" - a bed-slinger, with dual Y-axis motors added to stop layer misalignment on the large moving bed[1]Not documented
Belts (type, width, e.g. Gates?)Semi-automatic belt tensioning, which Anycubic pairs with motor anti-skip[1]Not documented
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)600 mm/s maximum print speed (manufacturer claim), 300 mm/s recommended[1]500 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim)[2]
Recommended/typical print speed300 mm/s recommended print speed (manufacturer figure)[1]Not documented
Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²)10000 mm/s2 maximum acceleration - half the ceiling of the smaller Kobra 3, because of the moving mass[1][6]12000 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim)[2]
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameDirect drive ("short distance extrusion") with a quick-release hotend[1]Modular direct-drive extruder, which Creality markets as clog-free and designed for repairability[2]
Hotend & Nozzle
Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?)300 C quick-release hotend with an aerospace-grade ceramic composite throat tube; 0.4 mm standard nozzle, expandable to 0.6 and 0.8 mm[1]0.4 mm high-flow hardened steel "unicorn" quick-swap nozzle[7]
Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values)300 C maximum nozzle temperature[1]300 C maximum nozzle temperature (Tom's Hardware)[7]
Heated Bed & Surface
Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit90 C maximum hotbed temperature on a PEI spring steel plate - 20 C below the smaller Kobra 3[1][6]Not documented
Heat-up time to 60°C (measured preferred)Anycubic claims the ultra-large hotbed heats up in 125 s; no target temperature is stated for that figure and it is a manufacturer claim, not a measurement[1]Not documented
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedNot documentedTwo-sided epoxy-resin flexible build plate, heated[7]
Leveling & Z-Offset
Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe)LeviQ 3.0 auto-levelling with Z-offset and area levelling[1]Auto levelling, plus automatic filament load and unload[2]
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament detection with auto resume, entanglement detection and power-loss resume[1]Filament run-out sensor fitted[7]
Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade pathSupports 4- or 8-colour printing with ACE Pro units[1]Pairs with up to four CFS units for up to 16 colours; the combo ships with one CFS. Multi-material also enables snap-away support material[2]
Firmware & Openness
Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary)Kobra OS; Anycubic Slicer Next is built on the open-source Orca slicer[1]Klipper-derived firmware - Creality publishes the source as CrealityOfficial/Hi_Klipper on GitHub, GPL-3.0, last pushed March 2026[8][9]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen[1]3.2-inch touchscreen, pre-assembled and foldable to shrink the footprint[2]
On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.)Touchscreen plus slicer, Anycubic app and USB (print only); AI spaghetti detection and object skip supported[1]Touch UI with input shaping, alarm sounds and auto filament identification via the built-in RFID reader (needs Creality RFID filament)[2]
WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drivePrinter UI, slicing software, Anycubic app and USB drive (print only)[1]USB, LAN, cloud and app[7]
Calibration Routines & QoL
Assembly level & time from unbox to first printNot documented95% pre-assembled[2]
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listPLA, PETG, TPU (TPU is not compatible with the ACE Pro)[1]PLA and PETG (Tom's Hardware's materials line for the Hi Combo)[7]
Safety
Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible)Not documentedNot verified directly. Creality publishes CrealityOfficial/Hi_Klipper (GPL-3.0) for this model; upstream Klipper ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check, but the stock configuration was not checked here[8][9]
Noise & Power Consumption
Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method)60 dB or less in standard mode - a manufacturer figure with no distance or method stated; markedly higher than the 46-48 dB Anycubic claims for the Kobra S1 and Kobra 4[1][10][11]Not documented
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 documentedBenchy in 32 minutes 33 seconds under Speed Boat Rules in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware[7]
Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date)Not documentedTom's Hardware rating 3.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data - the lowest score of any Creality machine recorded here[7]

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

  1. Anycubic Kobra 3 Max product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  2. Creality Hi Combo product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  3. Anycubic Kobra 3 Max Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  4. Creality US store - Creality Hi Combo 3D Printer product page (live prices for the variants) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  5. Anycubic Kobra 2 Max store page and Shopify product JSON (Tech Specs block, price, store publish date) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  6. Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  7. Tom's Hardware - Creality Hi Combo review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  8. GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/Hi_Klipper repository metadata (GPL-3.0, last push Mar 2026) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  9. GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  10. Anycubic Kobra S1 product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  11. Anycubic Kobra 4 product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  12. Anycubic refund and warranty policy store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  13. Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor