3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
ELEGOO Neptune 3 Pro vs Formlabs Form 4
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore ELEGOO Neptune 3 Pro comparisonsMore Formlabs Form 4 comparisons
| Property | ELEGOO Neptune 3 ProBEDSLINGER | Formlabs Form 4RESIN |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | ELEGOO | Formlabs |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | RESIN |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | ELEGOO Neptune 3 Pro[1] | Formlabs Form 4 3D Printer[2][3] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Listed on the ELEGOO US store from 11 November 2022 (Shopify publish date)[4] | Not documented |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $259.99 on us.elegoo.com, Aug 2026, with the compare-at price also $259.99 - notably more than the newer and far faster Neptune 4 at $219[4][5] | Starting at $2,625.00 at GoEngineer, in stock, checked Aug 2026. Formlabs sells the printer as part of packages (Form 4 Complete Package etc.), so package prices are much higher than the printer-only figure[3] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | The last Neptune 3 still listed; the 3 Plus and 3 Max are gone from the store's Neptune section. Do not read Neptune 4 figures onto it: the 3 Pro runs Marlin, not Klipper, tops out at 180 mm/s rather than 500, uses a 36-point mesh rather than 121-point, and its nozzle stops at 260 C rather than 300 C. Its machine size, 475 x 445 x 515 mm, is identical to the Neptune 4's, so body dimensions will not tell them apart[1][6][7] | Three machines share this platform and are constantly conflated. Form 4: 200 x 125 x 210 mm, 50 um pixels, 18.3 kg, 480 W, one resin cartridge, NOT biocompatible. Form 4B: identical hardware but validated for 38 Formlabs materials including 15 biocompatible. Form 4L: 353 x 196 x 350 mm, 46 um pixels, 58.5 kg, 900 W, two cartridges[2] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Superseded by the Neptune 4 series and, in ELEGOO's current marketing, by the Centauri line[7] | Not documented |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 225 x 225 x 280 mm; printing platform 235 x 235 mm[1] | 200 x 125 x 210 mm (Formlabs quotes 5.25 litres)[2][3] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 475 x 445 x 515 mm - the same body as the Neptune 4. ELEGOO's maximum size for machine activity is 475 x 580 x 725 mm[1][6] | 398 x 367 x 554 mm[2][3] |
| Net weight (kg) | 8.1 kg net, 10.15 kg gross[1] | 18.3 kg[2][3] |
| Frame construction & material | CNC-machined aluminium extrusion frame (Neptune family)[6] | Not documented |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Enclosed cabinet with a hinged UV-blocking cover. Operating temperature 18-28 C[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian i3 bed-slinger[1] | Masked stereolithography (MSLA). Formlabs brands the engine Low Force Display; straight-lift peel[2][3] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Two lead screws[1] | Not documented |
| Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?) | "Silent Drive (All Axes)"; no driver part number published[1] | Not documented |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 30-180 mm/s, with 60 mm/s given by ELEGOO as the recommended speed - a pre-Klipper machine, and the slowest in this file apart from the OrangeStorm Giga[1] | Not documented |
| Recommended/typical print speed | 60 mm/s recommended printing speed (manufacturer figure)[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Dual-gear direct extruder with 2 fans[1] | Not documented |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Brass nozzle, 0.4 mm, titanium-alloy heat break[1] | Not documented |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 260 C claimed max nozzle temperature - 40 C below the Neptune 4 series[1][6] | Not documented |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 100 C max heated bed temperature at 25 C ambient[1] | Not documented |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | PEI spring steel sheet[1] | Not documented |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | 36-point auto-levelling (the Neptune 4 family moved to 121 points)[1][8] | Not documented |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament run-out sensor and power-loss recovery[1] | Not documented |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 100-240 VAC, 4.8 A, 50/60 Hz, 480 W[2] |
| Total rated power draw | 300 W rated power, 24 V output[1] | 480 W[2] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Marlin - ELEGOO names the system "Marlin" for the Neptune 3 Pro, against "Klipper" for the whole Neptune 4 family[1][8] | Proprietary. Print preparation is PreForm; fleet management is Formlabs Dashboard[3] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 4.3-inch colour capacitive touch screen[1] | 7-inch interactive touchscreen, 1280 x 800 (control panel — not the masking LCD, see W1)[2] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Colour capacitive touch UI; ElegooSlicer recommended, Orca and Cura supported[1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | TF (microSD) card and USB cable only - no LAN and no Wi-Fi[1] | Dual-band Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbit), USB-C 2.0[2][3] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, TPU, PETG, ABS, ASA - no Nylon, unlike the Neptune 4 family[1][6] | Formlabs resins across rigid, tough, general purpose, flame retardant, silicone, elastic, ceramic and castable families. Biocompatible resins require the Form 4B, not the Form 4[2] |
| Noise & Power Consumption | ||
| Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method) | Operating sound published as 48 dB or less - a manufacturer figure with no distance or method stated[1] | Not documented |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | 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[9] | Not documented |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Dimensional accuracy measurements (third-party, with numbers) | Not documented | XY dimensional tolerance +/-0.15% — a manufacturer specification, not an independent measurement[2][3] |
| Resin & MSLA | ||
| Masking LCD | Not documented | Low Force Display masking LCD with a 50 um pixel size and pre-tuned anti-aliasing. Formlabs does not publish the screen diagonal or pixel count[2][3] |
| Light source | Not documented | Backlight unit with 60 uniform-wavelength high-power LEDs behind collimating lenses, with integrated cooling[2][3] |
| Vertical print speedmm/h | Not documented | Maximum 100 mm/h; average 40 mm/h at a 100 um layer height (manufacturer figures — GoEngineer publishes both, which is unusually explicit about the basis). Formlabs separately claims most prints finish in under 2 hours[3][2] |
| Layer height range | Not documented | 25-200 um per Formlabs' own tech-spec page; GoEngineer's listing for the same machine says 25-300 um. Unresolved[2][3] |
| Resin vat & feeding | Not documented | Single next-generation resin cartridge; Formlabs claims 5-10x faster filling and 63% less waste. Resin tank rated for 75,000+ layers with any Formlabs material. No vat capacity published[2][3] |
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
- 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
- Formlabs resin printer technical specifications (Form 4 / 4B / 4L) formlabs.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Formlabs Form 4 3D printer listing store.goengineer.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Neptune 3 Pro Shopify product JSON (price and store publish date) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 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 Neptune 4 Plus product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Refund & Warranty policy (warranty period table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor