3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Creality K1 vs QIDI Max4
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
| Property | Creality K1COREXY | QIDI Max4COREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Creality | QIDI |
| Class | COREXY | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Creality K1 (store title "Creality K1 Speedy 3D Printer")[1][2] | QIDI Max4, sold as "Max4 High-Temp 3D Printer"[3][4] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Not documented | Not published on QIDI's product page; the machine is listed as the current replacement for the discontinued X-Max 3 (checked Aug 2026)[3][5] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $299.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026. Creality's own K1-series comparison page shows $389 against a struck-through $599 on the same day[2][1] | $1,099.00 standard on us.qidi3d.com against a $1,149.00 compare-at price, checked Aug 2026. Variants: Polar Cooler bundle $1,249.00 (was $1,348.00), Max4 Combo $1,249.00 (was $1,299.00), Combo + Polar Cooler $1,399.00[3] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Base model of the K1 family. The differences that matter are in the hotend: the K1 uses a metal + PTFE-tube hotend with a copper nozzle, while the K1C is all-metal with a steel-tipped nozzle integrated with the heatbreak and adds an air filter and a 1080p AI camera. Creality's own comparison table annotates the K1 hotend "Changing to All-metal Soon", so the hotend on a given unit depends on when it was built - check before buying. The K1 Max is the 300 mm version with 1000 W rated power and Ethernet; the K1 SE has a PA+30%GF hotend and an epoxy plate[1][6] | Four variants at the US store: Standard, Polar Cooler bundle, Combo (adds QIDI Box), Combo + Polar Cooler. Direct replacement for the X-Max 3, which it differs from on every headline figure: 390x390x340 vs 325x325x315, 800 vs 600 mm/s, 370 vs 350 °C. Do not carry X-Max 3 specs across[3][5] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Not documented | Current large-format flagship as of Aug 2026; QIDI's X-Max 3 page directs buyers here[3][5] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 220 x 220 x 250 mm[1] | 390 x 390 x 340 mm advertised[3][4] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 355 x 355 x 480 mm[1] | 558 x 578 x 612 mm[4] |
| Net weight (kg) | 12.5 kg (Tom's Hardware measurement)[7] | 46.5 kg net[4] |
| Frame construction & material | Not documented | Enclosed CoreXY chassis; QIDI does not publish a frame-material breakdown[3] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Enclosed with passive chamber heating only - Creality's comparison table lists "Passive Heating" for the K1, K1C and K1 Max and no chamber heating for the K1 SE[1] | Fully enclosed with a 3-in-1 air filter (G3 pre-filter + H12 HEPA + coconut-shell activated carbon)[4] |
| Passive chamber temperature reached (if enclosed; measured values preferred) | Not documented | 65 °C, independent active chamber heating (manufacturer claim), with a 4-pin PWM chamber fan with RPM feedback[4] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | CoreXY (Creality's own K1-series comparison table)[1] | CoreXY[4] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Not documented | 2 mm lead Z screw with an anti-backlash nut[3] |
| Stepper motors (frame size, step angle, brand if known) | Not documented | FOC closed-loop stepper motors[4] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 600 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim). Creality's own footnote says the 600 mm/s figure was achieved in Creality Lab and that the typical speed is 300 mm/s[1][6] | 800 mm/s (manufacturer claim, maximum)[4] |
| Recommended/typical print speed | 300 mm/s typical printing speed with 12000 mm/s2 typical acceleration, stated by Creality alongside the 600 mm/s headline[1] | Not documented |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 20000 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1] | 30,000 mm/s2 (manufacturer claim, maximum)[4] |
| Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s) | Not documented | 40 mm3/s rated flow (manufacturer claim)[4] |
| Vibration Compensation / Input Shaping | ||
| Input shaping supported? Implementation (Klipper IS / Marlin ZV / proprietary) | Not documented | Input shaper listed as a feature[4] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Dual-gear direct-drive extruder[1] | Direct drive, dual hardened-steel gears, 8.9:1 reduction[4] |
| Gear ratio & drive gear material | Not documented | 8.9:1; drive gears hardened steel[4] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Metal hotend with a PTFE (Teflon) tube in the filament path and a copper nozzle. Creality's own comparison table adds "(Changing to All-metal Soon)", so this is a moving target across production runs[1] | Multi-metal hotend with a ceramic heater and a 0.4 mm bimetal nozzle; ceramic throat[4] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1] | <=370 °C claimed[3][4] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 100 C max heatbed temperature[1] | <=120 °C claimed on a 390 x 390 mm bed QIDI markets as ultra-uniform (no thermal imaging published)[3][4] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Coated steel flex plate, heated, removable[7] | Aluminium plate with silicone heater; double-sided magnetic PEI build plate[4] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Automatic bed levelling (Tom's Hardware); unlike the K1 Max there is no lidar[7][8] | Automatic levelling; probe technology not named by QIDI[4] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament run-out sensor fitted[7] | Filament run-out sensor and filament tangle detection (tangle mechanism not described), plus a filament cutter[4] |
| Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade path | Not documented | QIDI Box multi-colour unit supported; sold bundled as the Max4 Combo[3][4] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Closed-loop part-cooling fan; PWM hotend cooling fan[1] | Toolhead, model and auxiliary fans are all 4-pin PWM with RPM feedback; mainboard and chamber fans are closed-loop, chamber fan high-power turbo[4] |
| Chamber/exhaust fan & filtration (activated carbon / HEPA) | Not documented | 3-in-1 filtration: G3 pre-filter, H12 HEPA, coconut-shell activated carbon[4] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 110 V / 220-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz[4] |
| Total rated power draw | 350 W rated power[1] | Not documented |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Creality OS, a Klipper derivative. Creality publishes the source as CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper on GitHub, whose own description is "clone from https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/", GPL-3.0, last pushed December 2025[9][10][1] | Not stated on the product page; QIDI Studio, PrusaSlicer and Orca are the supported slicers[4] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 4.3-inch 800x480 colour touchscreen[1] | 5-inch touchscreen, 480 x 800[4] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Colour touch UI; remote monitoring, time-lapse, failure detection and build-surface detection are all optional on the K1 because they depend on the optional AI camera[1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Wi-Fi only - no Ethernet (the K1 Max adds RJ45); 8 GB of on-board storage[1] | Wi-Fi, LAN, USB[4] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | AI camera optional, not fitted as standard - unlike the K1C and K1 Max, which include a 1080p camera[1] | AI camera with print-failure detection[3][4] |
| Power-Loss & Interruption Recovery | ||
| Power-loss recovery: mechanism (how is state saved? capacitor / eeprom / file on shutdown?) | Not documented | Power-loss recovery listed; mechanism not published[4] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS - a notably shorter list than the K1C, because of the PTFE-lined hotend[1] | PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PC, and glass- and carbon-fibre-filled polymers[4] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not verified directly. Creality's published firmware for the K1 series (CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper, GPL-3.0) is described by Creality itself as a clone of upstream Klipper, and upstream Klipper ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check; whether Creality's stock printer.cfg enables it, and with what thresholds, was not checked here[9][10] | 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[2] | 1-year coverage, lifetime tech guidance, 14-day no-reason return[3] |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date) | Tom's Hardware rating 4 out of 5 in the page's structured data - the lowest of the K1 family, where the K1C and K1 Max both score 4.5[7][8][11] | 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 - Compare K1 Flagship Series (K1 / K1C / K1 Max / K1 SE side-by-side spec table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Max4 product page (US store) us.qidi3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Tech Max4 technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI X-Max 3 product page (US store) us.qidi3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality K1C product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Tom's Hardware - Creality K1 Review (spec box) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Tom's Hardware - Creality K1 Max Review (spec box) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper repository metadata ("clone from https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/", GPL-3.0, last push Dec 2025) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Tom's Hardware - Creality K1C Review (spec box and measured print time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review