Printer comparison
Anycubic Kobra X 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 X comparisonsMore Creality Ender-3 V3 KE comparisons
| Property | Anycubic Kobra XBEDSLINGER | 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 X (store variant title "Kobra X (4 Colors)")[1] | Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[2] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Listed on the Anycubic store from 25 December 2025 (Shopify publish date)[3] | Not documented |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $299.00 with a US plug on store.anycubic.com, Aug 2026, against a compare-at price of $399.00 ($344.00 for the EU plug variant). The collection page headline reads "Kobra X - Price from $289"[3][4] | $259.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026; Creality's own product page shows $279.00 on the same day[5][2] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Same 260 mm cube and the same machine dimensions as the Kobra 4 (455.4 x 445.3 x 461.3 mm) - the difference is that the Kobra X has native 4-colour printing built in, expandable to 19 colours, where the Kobra 4 needs an ACE 2 Pro for any multicolour at all. The Kobra X also takes a wider filament list (adds PVA, PLA-CF, PETG-CF, ASA) but still needs an ACE 2 Pro for active drying[1][6] | 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][7][8][9] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 260 x 260 x 260 mm[1] | 220 x 220 x 240 mm - 10 mm shorter than the SE and V3, a difference that is easy to miss[7] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 455.4 x 445.3 x 461.3 mm for the printer; the ACE 2 Pro, if added, is a separate 368 x 291.5 x 236.5 mm unit[1] | 433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[7] |
| Net weight (kg) | About 9.5 kg for the printer (Anycubic's own figure is approximate); packaged 13.2 kg bare or 18 kg as the Combo[1] | 7.8 kg[7] |
| 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) | Anycubic does not state a construction type for the Kobra X, but its dimensions, price and feature set match the gantry/bed-slinger Kobra 4 rather than the CoreXY S1 series[1][6] | 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[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?) | Hardened-steel nozzle, 0.4 mm standard, 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) | 300 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 | 100 C maximum hotbed temperature on a PEI spring steel build plate[1] | Not documented |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Not documented | PEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[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] | 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, entanglement detection and power-loss resume[1] | Filament run-out sensor fitted[7] |
| Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade path | Native 4-colour printing built in, expandable to 19 colours; active drying still needs a separate ACE 2 Pro[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][10][11] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | Not documented | 4.3-inch touchscreen[7] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Control from the printer, the 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 and USB drive (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[7][2] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Standard HD camera fitted, 720p[1] | Not documented |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, PETG, TPU, PVA, PLA-CF, PETG-CF, 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[10][11][2] |
| Noise & Power Consumption | ||
| Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method) | 48 dB or less - a manufacturer figure with no mode, distance or method stated[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[7] |
| 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[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
- Anycubic Kobra X product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic Kobra X Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic store 3D printers collection (current line-up and headline prices, Aug 2026) 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 4 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 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