3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
ANYCUBIC Photon Mono M5s vs Creality Ender-3 V3 SE
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore ANYCUBIC Photon Mono M5s comparisonsMore Creality Ender-3 V3 SE comparisons
| Property | ANYCUBIC Photon Mono M5sRESIN | Creality Ender-3 V3 SEBEDSLINGER |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Anycubic | Creality |
| Class | RESIN | BEDSLINGER |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | ANYCUBIC Photon Mono M5s[1][2] | Creality Ender-3 V3 SE[3] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $609.00 on store.anycubic.com, with the compare-at price also $609.00, but marked Sold out, checked Aug 2026. 3DJake also shows it sold out and delisted[1][2] | $186.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026; Creality's own product page shows $199.00 for the same machine on the same day, so the two Creality properties disagree[4][3] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Older and smaller than the M7 family: 12K LCD (11520 x 5120) vs 14K, 218 x 123 x 200 mm vs 223 x 126 x 230, an LED-matrix light source rather than COB + Fresnel, and 105 vs 150-170 mm/h on high-speed resin. Note Anycubic's spec table lists the machine dimensions in H x W x D order[1][2][5][6] | The cheapest of the Ender-3 V3 family and mechanically the most conservative: it keeps a conventional i3 bed-slinger layout, while the Ender-3 V3 and V3 Plus use CoreXZ and the V3 KE keeps the bed-slinger layout but adds an X-axis linear rail, a 60 W ceramic hotend and Klipper-based Creality OS. Speed ceilings differ sharply - 250 mm/s and 2500 mm/s2 on the SE against 500 mm/s on the KE and 600 mm/s on the V3/V3 Plus. The SE also stops at a 260 C nozzle where the others reach 300 C[3][7][8][9][10] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 218 x 123 x 200 mm (Anycubic quotes 5.4 L; the table writes it as 200 x 218 x 123 mm in H x W x D order)[1][2] | 220 x 220 x 250 mm[9] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 460 x 270 x 290 mm (H x W x D per Anycubic; 3DJake writes 270 x 290 x 460 mm)[1][2] | 349 x 364 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware measurement of the machine footprint)[9] |
| Net weight (kg) | 8.9 kg[1][2] | 7.12 kg[9] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open-frame MSLA with a UV-blocking cover[1] | Open frame, no enclosure[3] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | MSLA, single Z axis on double linear guides, straight-lift peel[1][2] | Cartesian i3 bed-slinger - Creality describes "neat X, Y, Z-axis, smooth T-shaped profiles" with a rigid dual Z-axis and a moving build platform on the Y axis[3] |
| Y-axis guide type | Not documented | Y axis runs on a pair of 8 mm steel linear shafts carrying the build platform[3] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Double linear guides, 10 um precision[1] | Rigid dual Z-axis, which Creality says reduces Z wobble[3] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | Not documented | 250 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim, Creality Lab figure)[3] |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | Not documented | 2500 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim). Tom's Hardware attributes the modest Benchy time directly to this acceleration cap[3][9] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Not documented | Creality "Sprite" direct-drive extruder, which Creality says works with PLA, PETG and flexible TPU and had shipped over 500,000 units as of June 2023[3] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Not documented | Direct-drive hotend with a 0.4 mm high-flow nozzle (Tom's Hardware description); Creality does not describe an all-metal path for the SE[9] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | Not documented | 260 C maximum nozzle temperature per Tom's Hardware's spec box - the lowest of the Ender-3 V3 family, where the V3, V3 Plus and KE all reach 300 C[9][8] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Laser-engraved aluminium-alloy build platform[1][2] | PC-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[9] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Levelling-free design[1][2] | CR Touch inductive/mechanical probe for auto bed levelling plus a separate strain sensor for automatic Z offset - Creality's pitch is no levelling screws and no paper method[3] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Not documented | Filament run-out sensor fitted[9] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Not documented | Two fans on the printhead: a front-mounted fan onto the hotend heatsink and a second fan in the shroud with twin ducts aimed at the nozzle (Tom's Hardware teardown description)[9] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Total rated power draw | 100 W rated[1][2] | Not documented |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Not documented | Creality publishes an open-source firmware repository for this model, CrealityOfficial/Ender-3V3-SE on GitHub under GPL-3.0 (last pushed July 2024). Unlike the KE, K1 and K2 repositories, it is not described as a Klipper clone, and Creality does not call the SE a Creality OS machine on its product page[11][12][7] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 4.3-inch TFT touchscreen (control panel — not the masking LCD, see W1)[1][2] | 3.2-inch colour screen with a control knob - not a touchscreen, unlike the KE and V3[9] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Not documented | Knob-driven colour UI using motion graphics to show levelling progress and print parameters; auto filament load/unload from the menu[3] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | USB Type-A 2.0 and Wi-Fi[1][2] | SD card only - no Wi-Fi and no USB host, in contrast to the Wi-Fi-equipped KE and V3[9] |
| Calibration Routines & QoL | ||
| Assembly level & time from unbox to first print | Not documented | Kit-style assembly from a small number of pre-built sections; Creality claims printing within 20 minutes of unboxing[3] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | 405 nm photopolymer resin; no closed compatibility list published on this page[1] | PLA, PETG and TPU (Tom's Hardware); Creality's own copy names PLA, PETG and flexible TPU for the Sprite extruder[9] |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | Not documented | 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 41 minutes under Speed Boat Rules (2 walls, 3 top/bottom layers, 10% grid infill, 0.25 mm layer height, 0.5 mm width) in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware, not a manufacturer figure[9] |
| 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[9] |
| Resin & MSLA | ||
| Masking LCD | 10.1-inch monochrome masking LCD at 12K, 11,520 x 5,120 px, 480:1 contrast, XY pixel pitch 19 x 24 um (manufacturer specification)[1][2] | Not documented |
| Light source | LED matrix UV light source. Anycubic does not publish wavelength or collimating optics for this model[1][2] | Not documented |
| Vertical print speedmm/h | 105 mm/h with high-speed resin, 70 mm/h with standard resin (manufacturer claims; Anycubic labels these average printing speeds and does not state the layer height assumed)[1][2] | Not documented |
| LCD life & replaceability | Swappable scratchproof screen protector film over the masking LCD. Anycubic publishes no rated screen life in hours[2] | Not documented |
| Resin vat & feeding | Unibody resin vat with scale lines. Capacity not published; no auto-refill and no level sensing stated for this model[1] | Not documented |
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 Photon Mono M5s product page store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic Photon Mono M5s technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality Ender-3 V3 SE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 SE 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic Photon Mono M7 product page store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Anycubic Photon Mono M7 Pro product page store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality Ender-3 V3 product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- 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 KE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/Ender-3V3-SE repository metadata ("Open source for Ender-3V3 SE", GPL-3.0) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor