3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Creality Ender-3 V3 SE vs ELEGOO Neptune 4
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 SE comparisonsMore ELEGOO Neptune 4 comparisons
| Property | Creality Ender-3 V3 SEBEDSLINGER | ELEGOO Neptune 4BEDSLINGER |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Creality | ELEGOO |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | BEDSLINGER |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Creality Ender-3 V3 SE[1] | ELEGOO Neptune 4 (spec table "Product Model: Neptune 4")[2] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Not documented | Listed on the ELEGOO US store from 27 May 2023 (Shopify publish date)[3] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $186.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026; Creality's own product page shows $199.00 for the same machine on the same day, so the two Creality properties disagree[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) | The cheapest of the Ender-3 V3 family and mechanically the most conservative: it keeps a conventional i3 bed-slinger layout, while the Ender-3 V3 and V3 Plus use CoreXZ and the V3 KE keeps the bed-slinger layout but adds an X-axis linear rail, a 60 W ceramic hotend and Klipper-based Creality OS. Speed ceilings differ sharply - 250 mm/s and 2500 mm/s2 on the SE against 500 mm/s on the KE and 600 mm/s on the V3/V3 Plus. The SE also stops at a 260 C nozzle where the others reach 300 C[1][5][6][7][8] | 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][9][10] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Not documented | Still 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[11] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 220 x 220 x 250 mm[7] | 225 x 225 x 265 mm; the PEI platform itself is 235 x 235 mm[2] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 349 x 364 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware measurement of the machine footprint)[7] | 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) | 7.12 kg[7] | 8.3 kg net, 10.6 kg gross[2] |
| Frame construction & material | Not documented | CNC-machined aluminium extrusion frame[2] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Open frame, no enclosure[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian i3 bed-slinger - Creality describes "neat X, Y, Z-axis, smooth T-shaped profiles" with a rigid dual Z-axis and a moving build platform on the Y axis[1] | Cartesian i3 bed-slinger[2] |
| Y-axis guide type | Y axis runs on a pair of 8 mm steel linear shafts carrying the build platform[1] | Not documented |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Rigid dual Z-axis, which Creality says reduces Z wobble[1] | Two lead screws (the Neptune 4 Plus and Max add two tie rods to the same arrangement)[12] |
| 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[12] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 250 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim, Creality Lab figure)[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][9] |
| Recommended/typical print speed | Not documented | 250 mm/s recommended printing speed against the 500 mm/s ceiling (ELEGOO's own figure)[12] |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 2500 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim). Tom's Hardware attributes the modest Benchy time directly to this acceleration cap[1][7] | 20000 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][9][10] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Creality "Sprite" direct-drive extruder, which Creality says works with PLA, PETG and flexible TPU and had shipped over 500,000 units as of June 2023[1] | Dual-gear direct extruder with 2 fans[12] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Direct-drive hotend with a 0.4 mm high-flow nozzle (Tom's Hardware description); Creality does not describe an all-metal path for the SE[7] | Brass nozzle, 0.4 mm, with a copper and titanium-alloy heat break - the Plus and Max use a titanium-alloy heat break only[12] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 260 C maximum nozzle temperature per Tom's Hardware's spec box - the lowest of the Ender-3 V3 family, where the V3, V3 Plus and KE all reach 300 C[7][6] | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[2] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | Not documented | 110 C max heated bed temperature[2] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | PC-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[7] | PEI spring steel sheet, now upgraded by ELEGOO to a dual-sided textured PEI + PLA-specific surface[12] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | CR Touch inductive/mechanical probe for auto bed levelling plus a separate strain sensor for automatic Z offset - Creality's pitch is no levelling screws and no paper method[1] | Manual levelling combined with 121-point auto-levelling; no full-auto calibration on this model[12] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament run-out sensor fitted[7] | Filament detection fitted; power-loss resume printing supported[2] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Two fans on the printhead: a front-mounted fan onto the hotend heatsink and a second fan in the shroud with twin ducts aimed at the nozzle (Tom's Hardware teardown description)[7] | Not documented |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Not documented | ELEGOO describes it only as a "Klipper High-Speed Quiet Motherboard" - no board model or MCU published[12] |
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 115/230 V, 50/60 Hz on the product page; ELEGOO's compare page gives 110-120 / 220-240 VAC 50/60 Hz[2][12] |
| Total rated power draw | Not documented | 310 W rated power, 24 V output[12] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Creality publishes an open-source firmware repository for this model, CrealityOfficial/Ender-3V3-SE on GitHub under GPL-3.0 (last pushed July 2024). Unlike the KE, K1 and K2 repositories, it is not described as a Klipper clone, and Creality does not call the SE a Creality OS machine on its product page[13][14][5] | Klipper (ELEGOO names the system "Klipper" outright for the Neptune 4 series, rather than the ELEGOO OS branding used on the Centauri machines)[12][15] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 3.2-inch colour screen with a control knob - not a touchscreen, unlike the KE and V3[7] | 4.3-inch colour capacitive touch screen[12] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Knob-driven colour UI using motion graphics to show levelling progress and print parameters; auto filament load/unload from the menu[1] | Colour capacitive touch UI; ElegooSlicer recommended, with Orca and Cura also supported[12] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | SD card only - no Wi-Fi and no USB host, in contrast to the Wi-Fi-equipped KE and V3[7] | 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][9][10] |
| Calibration Routines & QoL | ||
| Assembly level & time from unbox to first print | Kit-style assembly from a small number of pre-built sections; Creality claims printing within 20 minutes of unboxing[1] | Not documented |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, PETG and TPU (Tom's Hardware); Creality's own copy names PLA, PETG and flexible TPU for the Sprite extruder[7] | PLA, TPU, PETG, ABS, ASA, Nylon[2] |
| Noise & Power Consumption | ||
| Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method) | Not documented | Operating 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[12] |
| 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[16] | 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[17] |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Benchmark print times (source + settings) | Benchy in 41 minutes under Speed Boat Rules (2 walls, 3 top/bottom layers, 10% grid infill, 0.25 mm layer height, 0.5 mm width) in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware, not a manufacturer figure[7] | 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[7] | 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
- Creality Ender-3 V3 SE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 SE 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality Ender-3 V3 product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- 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 KE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO US store 3D printers collection (current line-up, Aug 2026) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- 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
- GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/Ender-3V3-SE repository metadata ("Open source for Ender-3V3 SE", GPL-3.0) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- ELEGOO Centauri Carbon product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Refund & Warranty policy (warranty period table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor