3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs ELEGOO Neptune 4

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

Creality Ender-3 V3 KE guideELEGOO Neptune 4 guide

2 selected · all documented properties

Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Creality Ender-3 V3 KE comparisonsMore ELEGOO Neptune 4 comparisons
Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs ELEGOO Neptune 4 — documented properties and sources
PropertyCreality Ender-3 V3 KEBEDSLINGERELEGOO Neptune 4BEDSLINGER
Identity
BrandCrealityELEGOO
ClassBEDSLINGERBEDSLINGER
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[1]ELEGOO Neptune 4 (spec table "Product Model: Neptune 4")[2]
Release date (announcement and actual shipping)Not documentedListed on the ELEGOO US store from 27 May 2023 (Shopify publish date)[3]
Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry)$259.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026; Creality's own product page shows $279.00 on the same day[4][1]$219.00 on us.elegoo.com, Aug 2026, against a compare-at price of $249.00; both the Ribbon-Cable and Type-C printhead variants are the same price[3]
Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk)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[1][5][6][7]Two printhead variants of the same machine are sold under one SKU - "Ribbon-Cable Version" and "Type-C Version" - which use different printhead parts. Within the Neptune 4 family the numbers diverge sharply and get mixed up constantly: Neptune 4 is 225 x 225 x 265 mm with a 110 C bed and 20000 mm/s2; the Plus is 320 x 320 x 385 mm with a 100 C bed and 12000 mm/s2; the Max is 420 x 420 x 480 mm with an 85 C bed and only 8000 mm/s2. The Neptune 4 Pro is a separate model again[3][2][8][9]
Market position: superseded? successor announced?Not documentedStill listed in ELEGOO's US store Neptune section in Aug 2026 alongside the 4 Pro, 4 Plus and 4 Max, but ELEGOO's current development is on the Centauri line[10]
Physical & Frame
Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable220 x 220 x 240 mm - 10 mm shorter than the SE and V3, a difference that is easy to miss[5]225 x 225 x 265 mm; the PEI platform itself is 235 x 235 mm[2]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[5]475 x 445 x 515 mm. ELEGOO separately publishes a "maximum size for machine activity" of 475 x 550 x 735 mm including rack and tray - the depth to allow for is 550 mm, not 445 mm[2]
Net weight (kg)7.8 kg[5]8.3 kg net, 10.6 kg gross[2]
Frame construction & materialNot documentedCNC-machined aluminium extrusion frame[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)Cartesian bed-slinger with a linear rail on X[1]Cartesian i3 bed-slinger[2]
X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size)Steel linear rail on the X axis with a ball-bearing carriage; Creality Lab quotes a 0.04 friction coefficient[1]Not documented
Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlashNot documentedTwo lead screws (the Neptune 4 Plus and Max add two tie rods to the same arrangement)[11]
Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?)Not documented"Silent Drive (All Axes)" is all ELEGOO publishes; no driver part number is given[11]
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)500 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim, Creality Lab)[1]500 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim); the Neptune 4 Plus page for the same family states a recommended 250 mm/s[2][8]
Recommended/typical print speedNot documented250 mm/s recommended printing speed against the 500 mm/s ceiling (ELEGOO's own figure)[11]
Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²)Not documented20000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim) - notably higher than the Plus at 12000 and the Max at 8000, because the moving mass is smaller[2][8][9]
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameDirect-drive extruder paired with the ceramic-heated high-flow hotend[1]Dual-gear direct extruder with 2 fans[11]
Hotend & Nozzle
Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?)Hotend with a 60 W ceramic heater, a bi-metal copper/titanium-alloy heatbreak to resist thermal creep, and a copper nozzle[1]Brass nozzle, 0.4 mm, with a copper and titanium-alloy heat break - the Plus and Max use a titanium-alloy heat break only[11]
Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values)300 C claimed max nozzle temperature (Creality Lab test at 25 C room temperature)[1]300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[2]
Heater cartridge power (W)60 W ceramic heater cartridge (manufacturer figure)[1]Not documented
Heated Bed & Surface
Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limitNot documented110 C max heated bed temperature[2]
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedPEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[5]PEI spring steel sheet, now upgraded by ELEGOO to a dual-sided textured PEI + PLA-specific surface[11]
Leveling & Z-Offset
Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe)One-tap self-test covering Z offset and auto levelling; Tom's Hardware records automatic levelling with automatic Z as well[1]Manual levelling combined with 121-point auto-levelling; no full-auto calibration on this model[11]
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament run-out sensor fitted[5]Filament detection fitted; power-loss resume printing supported[2]
Cooling & Air Handling
Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting designTwo part-cooling fans, one on each side of the printhead, cooling the freshly printed section from both sides[1]Not documented
Electronics & Power
Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist)Not documentedELEGOO describes it only as a "Klipper High-Speed Quiet Motherboard" - no board model or MCU published[11]
Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto)Not documented115/230 V, 50/60 Hz on the product page; ELEGOO's compare page gives 110-120 / 220-240 VAC 50/60 Hz[2][11]
Total rated power drawNot documented310 W rated power, 24 V output[11]
Firmware & Openness
Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary)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[1][12][13]Klipper (ELEGOO names the system "Klipper" outright for the Neptune 4 series, rather than the ELEGOO OS branding used on the Centauri machines)[11][14]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?4.3-inch touchscreen[5]4.3-inch colour capacitive touch screen[11]
On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.)Touch UI with a tab bar, real-time model preview, motion graphics for print parameters and a one-tap self-test[1]Colour capacitive touch UI; ElegooSlicer recommended, with Orca and Cura also supported[11]
WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-driveWi-Fi and USB; LAN printing and cloud printing through Creality Print on PC or the Creality Cloud app, with multi-printer print-farm management[5][1]LAN and USB file transfer; no Wi-Fi is listed for the base Neptune 4, unlike the Plus (USB/LAN/Wi-Fi) and Max (Wi-Fi/USB/WLAN)[2][8][9]
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listHyper PLA, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU (95A) and ASA[1]PLA, TPU, PETG, ABS, ASA, Nylon[2]
Safety
Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible)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[12][13][1]Not documented
Noise & Power Consumption
Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method)Not documentedOperating sound published as 60 dB or less - a manufacturer figure with no distance or method stated, so it is not comparable with an independently measured reading[11]
Reliability, Support & Ecosystem
Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes)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[15]12 months on brand-new machines and parts, but ELEGOO's own table excludes a long list of parts from that: PEI plate / build plate / nozzle kit / PTFE tube / heater / thermistor / hot end / packaging / manual / tools carry no warranty at all, and the extruder, extruder kit and printhead kit get 6 months. Certified pre-owned machines carry no warranty[16]
Independently Measured Performance
Benchmark print times (source + settings)Benchy in 19 minutes 48 seconds under Speed Boat Rules in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware[5]Not documented
Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date)Tom's Hardware rating 4.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data[5]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

  1. Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  2. ELEGOO Neptune 4 product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  3. ELEGOO Neptune 4 Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  4. Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 KE 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  5. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 KE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  6. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 SE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  7. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  8. ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  9. ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  10. ELEGOO US store 3D printers collection (current line-up, Aug 2026) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  11. ELEGOO compare-products page, which embeds the full per-model specification JSON for every Neptune, Centauri and OrangeStorm machine us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  12. 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
  13. GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  14. ELEGOO Centauri Carbon product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  15. Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  16. ELEGOO Refund & Warranty policy (warranty period table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor