Printer comparison
ANYCUBIC Photon Mono M5s vs Creality K1 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 K1 SE comparisons
| Property | ANYCUBIC Photon Mono M5sRESIN | Creality K1 SECOREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Anycubic | Creality |
| Class | RESIN | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | ANYCUBIC Photon Mono M5s[1][2] | Creality K1 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] | Creality's K1-series comparison page lists $359 for the K1 SE (Aug 2026); it does not appear as its own product on the Creality US store printer sitemap, so no separate live store price could be recorded[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][4][5] | The cheapest K1. It keeps the 220 mm cube volume, CoreXY frame and 600 mm/s claim but drops a lot: hotend body is PA+30%GF rather than all-metal, the build plate is epoxy rather than PEI, there is no air filter, no chamber heating entry at all in Creality's table, no foreign-object or failure detection, and the AI camera, remote monitoring and time-lapse are optional. Its filament list stops at Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG and TPU. It does get the steel-tipped nozzle integrated with the heatbreak and dynamically balanced fans, which the base K1 does not[3] |
| 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[3] |
| 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] | 355 x 355 x 482 mm[3] |
| Net weight (kg) | 8.9 kg[1][2] | Not documented |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open-frame MSLA with a UV-blocking cover[1] | Enclosed body, but Creality's comparison table leaves chamber heating blank for the K1 SE where the K1, K1C and K1 Max are listed as passive heating[3] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | MSLA, single Z axis on double linear guides, straight-lift peel[1][2] | CoreXY (Creality's own K1-series comparison table)[3] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Double linear guides, 10 um precision[1] | Not documented |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | Not documented | 600 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim). Creality's own footnote says the 600 mm/s figure was achieved in Creality Lab and that the typical speed is 300 mm/s[3][6] |
| Recommended/typical print speed | Not documented | 300 mm/s typical printing speed with 12000 mm/s2 typical acceleration, stated by Creality alongside the 600 mm/s headline[3] |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | Not documented | 20000 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim)[3] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Not documented | Dual-gear direct-drive extruder[3] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Not documented | Hotend body in PA+30% glass fibre with a steel-tipped nozzle integrated with the heatbreak - not the all-metal assembly of the K1C[3] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | Not documented | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[3] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | Not documented | 100 C max heatbed temperature[3] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Laser-engraved aluminium-alloy build platform[1][2] | Epoxy flexible build plate - different from the PEI plate on the K1C[3] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Levelling-free design[1][2] | Not documented |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Not documented | Dynamically balanced closed-loop part-cooling fan and dynamically balanced PWM hotend fan; no air filter[3] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Total rated power draw | 100 W rated[1][2] | 350 W rated power[3] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Not documented | Open-source Creality OS, a Klipper derivative (CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper on GitHub, GPL-3.0)[7][8][3] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 4.3-inch TFT touchscreen (control panel — not the masking LCD, see W1)[1][2] | Not documented |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Not documented | Colour touch UI; remote monitoring and time-lapse are optional because they require the optional AI camera[3] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | USB Type-A 2.0 and Wi-Fi[1][2] | Wi-Fi[3] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | 405 nm photopolymer resin; no closed compatibility list published on this page[1] | Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, TPU only[3] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not documented | Not verified directly. Creality's published firmware for the K1 series (CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper, GPL-3.0) is described by Creality itself as a clone of upstream Klipper, and upstream Klipper ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check; whether Creality's stock printer.cfg enables it, and with what thresholds, was not checked here[7][8] |
| 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[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 - Compare K1 Flagship Series (K1 / K1C / K1 Max / K1 SE side-by-side spec table) 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 K1C product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper repository metadata ("clone from https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/", GPL-3.0, last push Dec 2025) 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