3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Anycubic Kobra S1 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 S1 comparisonsMore Creality Ender-3 V3 KE comparisons
| Property | Anycubic Kobra S1COREXY | Creality Ender-3 V3 KEBEDSLINGER |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Anycubic | Creality |
| Class | COREXY | BEDSLINGER |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Anycubic Kobra S1[1] | Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[2] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Listed on the Anycubic store from 2 January 2025 (Shopify publish date)[3] | Not documented |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $349.00 with a US plug on store.anycubic.com, Aug 2026, against a compare-at price of $549.00 ($401.00 for the EU plug variant)[3] | $259.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026; Creality's own product page shows $279.00 on the same day[4][2] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | The CoreXY line, not to be confused with the gantry/bed-slinger Kobra 3, Kobra 4 and Kobra X. Within the S line the Kobra S1 Max is a much bigger machine: 350 mm cube against 250, a 350 C hardened-steel nozzle against 320 C, 65 C active chamber heating that the S1 does not have at all, and 25.7 kg against 9.37 kg. Multicolour is sold separately on both (ACE Pro / ACE 2 Pro)[1][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 | 250 x 250 x 250 mm[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) | 400 x 410 x 490 mm[1] | 433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[6] |
| Net weight (kg) | 9.37 kg net, 20.2 kg packaged[1] | 7.8 kg[6] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Fully enclosed - Anycubic's own wording is "Fully Enclosed CoreXY Construction". There is no active chamber heating on the S1 (that is the S1 Max's addition)[1][5] | Open frame, no enclosure[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | CoreXY (stated outright in Anycubic's specification table)[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] |
| 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, Creality Lab)[2] |
| Recommended/typical print speed | 300 mm/s recommended print speed (manufacturer figure)[1] | Not documented |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 20000 mm/s2 maximum acceleration, 10000 mm/s2 recommended (manufacturer claims)[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct drive ("short distance extrusion")[1] | Direct-drive extruder paired with the ceramic-heated high-flow hotend[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Quick-release hotend; 0.4 mm standard nozzle expandable to 0.25, 0.6 and 0.8 mm[1] | 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) | 320 C maximum nozzle temperature[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 | 120 C maximum hotbed temperature on a PEI spring steel build plate - the highest bed ceiling of any Anycubic machine in this file except the S1 Max[1] | Not documented |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Not documented | PEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[6] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | LeviQ 3.0 auto-levelling with Z-offset, plus area levelling[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 with auto resume, filament entanglement detection and power-loss resume[1] | Filament run-out sensor fitted[6] |
| Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade path | Multicolour is sold separately - the ACE Pro / ACE 2 Pro units are not included with the bare S1[1] | Not documented |
| 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] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Kobra OS, with pressure advance and flow calibration supported[1] | 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? | 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen[1] | 4.3-inch touchscreen[6] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Touchscreen plus slicing software, the Anycubic app and USB (print only); AI spaghetti detection and object-skip supported[1] | 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 | Printer UI, slicing software, Anycubic app, USB (print only)[1] | 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] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Standard HD camera fitted, but only 480p - lower than the 720p units on the S1 Max, Kobra 4 and Kobra X[1][5][11] | Not documented |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA[1] | 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] |
| Noise & Power Consumption | ||
| Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method) | 46 dB or less in standard mode and 44 dB or less in quiet mode - manufacturer figures with no distance or method stated, so not comparable with an independently measured reading[1] | 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 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 S1 product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic Kobra S1 Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) store.anycubic.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 S1 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 4 product page (Specifications table) 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