3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs UltiMaker S5

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

2 selected · all documented properties

Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs UltiMaker S5 — documented properties and sources
PropertyCreality Ender-3 V3 KEBEDSLINGERUltiMaker S5INDUSTRIAL
Identity
BrandCrealityUltiMaker
ClassBEDSLINGERINDUSTRIAL
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[1]UltiMaker S5 3D Printer[2]
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[3][1]Starting at $6,950 at MatterHackers, in stock, checked Aug 2026[2]
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][4][5][6]Three generations share the same 330 x 240 x 300 mm envelope and are easy to confuse: S5 (280 °C nozzle, glass bed to 140 °C, 4.7-inch screen), S7 (PEI-coated flexible plate, Wi-Fi 5 GHz added, $5,999) and S8 (340 °C, 500 mm/s, 50,000 mm/s2, PEI plate to 120 °C). Build-volume figures alone will not tell them apart[2][7][8]
Market position: superseded? successor announced?Not documentedSuperseded by the S7 and then the S8, but still sold[2][7][8]
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[4]330 x 240 x 300 mm[2]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[4]495 x 585 x 780 mm assembled with the spool holder[2]
Net weight (kg)7.8 kg[4]20.6 kg[2]
Frame construction & materialNot documentedFully assembled professional chassis[2]
Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lidOpen frame, no enclosure[1]Not documented
Kinematics & Motion Hardware
Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other)Cartesian bed-slinger with a linear rail on X[1]Dual-extrusion gantry with an articulating nozzle-lifting print head. UltiMaker does not publish the kinematic layout in this spec table[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
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)500 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim, Creality Lab)[1]Not documented
Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s)Not documentedBuild speed under 24 mm3/s (manufacturer figure)[2]
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameDirect-drive extruder paired with the ceramic-heated high-flow hotend[1]Dual-geared feeder rated for advanced composites; dual extrusion with swappable print cores[2]
Filament diameterNot documented2.85 mm[2]
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]180-280 °C nozzle temperature range; heat-up under 2 minutes[2]
Heater cartridge power (W)60 W ceramic heater cartridge (manufacturer figure)[1]Not documented
Stock nozzle size & sizes included in boxNot documented0.4 mm standard; 0.25, 0.6 and 0.8 mm available[2]
Heated Bed & Surface
Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limitNot documentedHeated glass bed, 20-140 °C[2]
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedPEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[4]Heated glass build plate[2]
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]Automatic advanced levelling; probe technology not stated in this table[2]
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament run-out sensor fitted[4]Not documented
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
Total rated power drawNot documented500 W maximum power output[2]
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][9][10]Not published; print preparation is UltiMaker Cura and UltiMaker Essentials[2]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?4.3-inch touchscreen[4]4.7-inch colour touchscreen[2]
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-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[4][1]Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB[2]
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listHyper PLA, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU (95A) and ASA[1]Not documented
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[9][10][1]Not documented
Noise & Power Consumption
Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method)Not documentedUnder 50 dBA operating sound, manufacturer figure. No independent measurement; distance and method not stated[2]
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[11]Not documented
Independently Measured Performance
Dimensional accuracy measurements (third-party, with numbers)Not documentedXYZ resolution 6.9 / 6.9 / 2.5 micron (manufacturer specification, not an independent measurement)[2]
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[4]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[4]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. UltiMaker S5 3D Printer listing matterhackers.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  3. Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 KE 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  4. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 KE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  5. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 SE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  6. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  7. UltiMaker S7 product listing shop3duniverse.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  8. UltiMaker S8 3D Printer listing matterhackers.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  9. 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
  10. GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  11. Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor