Printer comparison
Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Creality Ender-3 V3 KE comparisonsMore Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S comparisons
| Property | Creality Ender-3 V3 KEBEDSLINGER | Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K SRESIN |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Creality | Phrozen |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | RESIN |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[1] | Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S 7.1" LCD 3D Printer. Manufacturer number 51010040501102[2][3][4] |
| 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[5][1] | $270.00 on us.phrozen3d.com, backordered with an end-of-September ETA, checked Aug 2026. The collection page rendered it as unavailable on the same day[4][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][6][7][8] | Phrozen's 7.1-inch line is easy to confuse: the Sonic Mini 8K S ($270) sits beside the older Sonic Mini 8K ($340, sold out) and the 5.5-inch Sonic Mini ($129.99). The 10.1-inch Sonic Mighty family is a different size class entirely. The 8K S is the only one of the group with a single linear rail and a lead screw rather than a ball screw[3][2][4][9] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 220 x 220 x 240 mm - 10 mm shorter than the SE and V3, a difference that is easy to miss[6] | 165 x 72 x 170 mm[2][4] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[6] | 290 x 290 x 430 mm[2][4] |
| Net weight (kg) | 7.8 kg[6] | 10 kg[2][4] |
| Frame construction & material | Not documented | Black textured housing with a neon-green plastic cover[2] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Open-frame MSLA with a UV-blocking plastic cover[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian bed-slinger with a linear rail on X[1] | MSLA, single Z axis on one linear rail with a lead screw, straight-lift peel[2][4] |
| 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] | One linear rail; lead screw (not a ball screw)[2][4] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 500 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim, Creality Lab)[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct-drive extruder paired with the ceramic-heated high-flow hotend[1] | Not documented |
| 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] | Not documented |
| 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] | Not documented |
| Heater cartridge power (W) | 60 W ceramic heater cartridge (manufacturer figure)[1] | Not documented |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | PEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[6] | Not documented |
| 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] | Not documented |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament run-out sensor fitted[6] | Not documented |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Two part-cooling fans, one on each side of the printhead, cooling the freshly printed section from both sides[1] | Not documented |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 24 V DC, 2 A[4] |
| Total rated power draw | Not documented | 48 W maximum system power[4] |
| 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][10][11] | Not named by Phrozen. Native file format .PRZ; compatible slicers CHITUBOX, Lychee and VoxelDance Tango[2][4] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 4.3-inch touchscreen[6] | 3.5-inch touch panel (control panel — not the masking LCD, see W1)[4] |
| 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] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | 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][1] | USB only[2][4] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU (95A) and ASA[1] | 405 nm photopolymer resin; no closed compatibility list published[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[10][11][1] | Not documented |
| 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[12] | Not documented |
| 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[6] | 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[6] | Not documented |
| Resin & MSLA | ||
| Masking LCD | Not documented | 7.1-inch 8K monochrome masking LCD, XY pixel pitch 22 um. Phrozen does not publish the pixel count for this model[2][4] |
| Light source | Not documented | Linear projection LED module. Wavelength not published for this model[2][4] |
| Vertical print speedmm/h | Not documented | Max 80 mm/h (manufacturer claim). Phrozen does not state the layer height or resin type the figure assumes[4] |
| Layer height range | Not documented | 0.01-0.30 mm[4] |
| Release film | Not documented | FEP film — note this is plain FEP, whereas the Sonic Mighty Revo 14K ships nFEP. No rated life published[4][9] |
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
- Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Phrozen US 3D printer collection (live prices and stock) us.phrozen3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S 7.1" LCD 3D Printer product page us.phrozen3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 KE 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.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
- Phrozen Sonic Mighty Revo 14K 10.1" LCD 3D Printer product page us.phrozen3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- 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
- Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor