3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

Creality Ender-3 V3 vs ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max

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

2 selected · all documented properties

Creality Ender-3 V3 vs ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max — documented properties and sources
PropertyCreality Ender-3 V3BEDSLINGERELEGOO Neptune 4 MaxBEDSLINGER
Identity
BrandCrealityELEGOO
ClassBEDSLINGERBEDSLINGER
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)Creality Ender-3 V3, marketed as a CoreXZ machine[1]ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max[2]
Release date (announcement and actual shipping)Not documentedListed on the ELEGOO US store from 20 September 2023 (Shopify publish date)[3]
Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry)$239.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026 (listed as "Ender-3 V3 CoreXZ 3D Printer")[4]$389.00 on us.elegoo.com, Aug 2026, against a compare-at price of $559.99; Ribbon-Cable and Type-C printhead variants are the same price[3]
Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk)Do not confuse with the Ender-3 V3 SE or KE, which are cheaper and slower and use a conventional bed-slinger gantry - only the V3 and V3 Plus use CoreXZ. The V3 Plus is the same idea scaled to 300 x 300 x 330 mm. Creality's own spec table gives the V3 a 110 C bed, where the SE, KE, V4 and K1 series stop at 100 C[1][5][6]Largest Neptune 4. The trade-off against the smaller models is easy to miss: the bed only reaches 85 C (against 100 C on the Plus and 110 C on the base Neptune 4) and acceleration is capped at 8000 mm/s2 (against 12000 and 20000), because of the mass of a 430 x 430 mm moving bed. Two printhead variants, Ribbon-Cable and Type-C, are sold under one SKU[2][7][8][3]
Physical & Frame
Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable220 x 220 x 250 mm[1]420 x 420 x 480 mm; printing platform 430 x 430 mm[2]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)358 x 374 x 498 mm[1]658 x 632 x 740 mm; ELEGOO's maximum size for machine activity is 658 x 950 x 960 mm including rack and tray - allow nearly a metre of depth and height[2]
Net weight (kg)7.83 kg net (Creality); Tom's Hardware rounds it to 7.8 kg[1][9]18.1 kg net, 21.8 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)CoreXZ kinematics - the X and Z axes are coupled and driven together, with the bed still moving in Y[1]Cartesian i3 bed-slinger[2]
Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlashNot documentedTwo lead screws with two tie rods[10]
Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?)Not documented"Silent Drive (All Axes)"; no driver part number published[10]
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)600 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim; Creality Lab states the typical speed is 300 mm/s)[1][5]500 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim)[2]
Recommended/typical print speed300 mm/s typical printing speed (Creality Lab figure quoted on the sibling V3 Plus page for the same CoreXZ platform)[5]250 mm/s recommended printing speed against the 500 mm/s ceiling (ELEGOO's own figure); default acceleration is 4000 mm/s2[10]
Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²)20000 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1]8000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim) - the lowest in the Neptune 4 family[2]
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameNew high-speed direct-drive extruder[1]Dual-gear direct extruder with 2 fans[10]
Hotend & Nozzle
Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?)Quick-swap nozzle with a hardened steel tip integrated with the heatbreak (Creality's "unicorn" nozzle), replaced as a unit[1][9]Brass nozzle, 0.4 mm, with a titanium-alloy heat break[10]
Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values)300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1]300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[2]
Heated Bed & Surface
Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit110 C max heatbed temperature - higher than the rest of the Ender-3 V3 family[1]85 C max heated bed temperature at 25 C ambient - well below the 100-110 C of the smaller Neptunes, which limits ABS/ASA work despite them being on the compatibility list[2]
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedPEI flexible build plate, removable spring steel[1]PEI spring steel sheet, now upgraded to a dual-sided textured PEI + PLA-specific surface; platform 430 x 430 mm[10]
Leveling & Z-Offset
Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe)Auto levelling with automatic Z offset (Creality states auto levelling; Tom's Hardware records "Automatic + Z")[1][9]Manual levelling combined with 121-point auto-levelling[10]
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament run-out sensor fitted[1]Filament detection and power-loss resume printing[2]
Electronics & Power
Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist)32-bit mainboard (Creality does not name the board or MCU)[1]"Klipper High-Speed Quiet Motherboard" is all ELEGOO publishes[10]
Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto)Not documented100-120 V / 220-240 V, 50/60 Hz[2][10]
Total rated power drawRated power 350 W; input 100-120 V / 200-240 V, 50/60 Hz[1]320 W rated power, 24 V output[10]
Firmware & Openness
Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary)Creality Print slicing ecosystem; input shaping with an included G-sensor accelerometer. Creality does not name the firmware base on the V3 page (the sibling KE page states Creality OS is Klipper-based)[1][11]Klipper[10]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?4.3-inch HD colour touchscreen[1]4.3-inch colour capacitive touch screen[10]
On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.)Colour touch UI; power-loss recovery; file transfer from USB drive, WLAN or Creality Cloud[1]Colour capacitive touch UI; ElegooSlicer recommended, Orca and Cura supported[10]
WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-driveWi-Fi; USB drive, WLAN and Creality Cloud file transfer[1]Wi-Fi, USB and WLAN file transfer[2]
Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps)AI camera optional, not fitted as standard[1]Not documented
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listPLA, TPU, PETG, ABS, PLA-CF, PETG-CF and Creality CR-carbon[1]PLA, TPU, PETG, ABS, ASA, Nylon - but note the 85 C bed ceiling against ABS and ASA[2]
Noise & Power Consumption
Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method)Not documentedOperating sound published as 65 dB or less - a manufacturer figure with no distance or method stated[10]
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]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[13]
Independently Measured Performance
Benchmark print times (source + settings)Benchy in 14 minutes 54 seconds under Speed Boat Rules in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware[9]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[9]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 product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  2. ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  3. ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  4. Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 CoreXZ 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  5. Creality Ender-3 V3 Plus product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  6. Creality Ender-3 V4 product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  7. ELEGOO Neptune 4 product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  8. ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  9. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  10. 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
  11. Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  12. Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  13. ELEGOO Refund & Warranty policy (warranty period table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor