3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs UltiMaker S8

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

2 selected · all documented properties

Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs UltiMaker S8 — documented properties and sources
PropertyCreality Ender-3 V3 KEBEDSLINGERUltiMaker S8INDUSTRIAL
Identity
BrandCrealityUltiMaker
ClassBEDSLINGERINDUSTRIAL
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[1]UltiMaker S8 3D Printer[2][3]
Release date (announcement and actual shipping)Not documentedLaunched March 2025; the technical-specification and pricing announcement is dated 14 March 2025[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]Starting at $8,999 at MatterHackers, in stock, checked Aug 2026. The launch announcement quoted approximately $9,000[2][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]Sold as printer-only or as a Pro Bundle. The bundle is not a trim level but a different machine footprint and weight: 495 x 500 x 1210.5 mm and 47.7 kg with the 6-spool Material Station, versus 495 x 585 x 800.5 mm and 30 kg for the printer alone. Print cores AA+ 0.40 x2 are included; BB, CC+ and DD 0.40 are separate purchases[2][3]
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]330 x 240 x 300 mm[2][3]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[5]495 x 585 x 800.5 mm printer only; 495 x 500 x 1210.5 mm as the Pro Bundle[2][3]
Net weight (kg)7.8 kg[5]30 kg printer only; 47.7 kg as the Pro Bundle[2][3]
Frame construction & materialNot documentedFully assembled, made in Europe[2]
Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lidOpen frame, no enclosure[1]Enclosed, with an Air Manager UltiMaker says removes up to 95% of ultrafine particles[2][3]
Passive chamber temperature reached (if enclosed; measured values preferred)Not documentedBuild-volume temperature under 50 °C with open-loop control (manufacturer figure)[2][3]
Kinematics & Motion Hardware
Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other)Cartesian bed-slinger with a linear rail on X[1]Dual-extrusion print head with auto nozzle-lifting, flood detection and inductive probing. UltiMaker's Cheetah motion planner uses third-order continuous motion with corner blending[2][3]
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]Up to 500 mm/s in XY (manufacturer claim)[2][3]
Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²)Not documentedUp to 50,000 mm/s2 (manufacturer claim)[2][3]
Jerk / square-corner-velocity setting (exact value)Not documentedJerk up to 100,000,000 mm/s3 (manufacturer claim)[2][3]
Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s)Not documentedUp to 35 mm3/s extrusion flow (manufacturer claim)[2][3]
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameDirect-drive extruder paired with the ceramic-heated high-flow hotend[1]Dual gripper feeder with tension adjustment, release function and filament feed-rate control[2][3]
Filament diameterNot documented2.85 mm[2][3]
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]Swappable print cores; AA+ 0.40 x2 included, BB 0.40 / CC+ 0.40 / DD 0.40 sold separately[2][3]
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]Up to 340 °C (manufacturer claim)[2][3]
Heater cartridge power (W)60 W ceramic heater cartridge (manufacturer figure)[1]Not documented
Heated Bed & Surface
Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limitNot documentedUp to 120 °C on a flexible PEI plate (manufacturer claim)[2][3]
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedPEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[5]Flexible PEI plate[2][3]
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]Inductive probing, integrated into the print head[2][3]
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament run-out sensor fitted[5]Not documented
Spool holder location & max spool size; drybox compatibilityNot documentedDual spool holder with NFC recognition on the printer; the Pro Bundle substitutes a 6-spool Material Station with NFC and a dual-geared abrasion-resistant feeder[2][3]
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
Chamber/exhaust fan & filtration (activated carbon / HEPA)Not documentedAir Manager, which UltiMaker says removes up to 95% of ultrafine particles[2][3]
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][8][9]Not published; print preparation is UltiMaker Cura 5.10 or newer, fleet management via UltiMaker Digital Factory[2][3]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?4.3-inch touchscreen[5]Not documented
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[5][1]Wi-Fi 2.4 and 5 GHz (802.11a/b/g/n/ac), Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0[2][3]
Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps)Not documentedFull HD HDR camera[2][3]
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listHyper PLA, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU (95A) and ASA[1]UltiMaker cites 301+ compatible materials including its own PLA, PETG, ABS, CPE, CPE+, PC, TPU and PET-CF, plus third-party grades[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[8][9][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][3]
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[10]12 months, extendable to 5 years with an UltiMakerCare plan[2][3]
Independently Measured Performance
Dimensional accuracy measurements (third-party, with numbers)Not documentedDimensional accuracy +/-0.15 mm +/-0.15% of feature nominal length (manufacturer specification, not an independent measurement)[2][3]
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. UltiMaker S8 3D Printer listing matterhackers.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  3. New UltiMaker S8 high-speed 3D printer: technical specifications and pricing 3dprintingindustry.com · 2026-08 · review
  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. 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
  9. GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  10. Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor