3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max vs Formlabs Form 4L

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

2 selected · all documented properties

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max vs Formlabs Form 4L — documented properties and sources
PropertyELEGOO Neptune 4 MaxBEDSLINGERFormlabs Form 4LRESIN
Identity
BrandELEGOOFormlabs
ClassBEDSLINGERRESIN
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max[1]Formlabs Form 4L[2]
Release date (announcement and actual shipping)Listed on the ELEGOO US store from 20 September 2023 (Shopify publish date)[3]Not documented
Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry)$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]Not documented
Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk)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[1][4][5][3]Same Low Force Display engine as the Form 4 but a different machine on every physical figure: 353 x 196 x 350 mm vs 200 x 125 x 210, 46 um vs 50 um pixels, 58.5 kg vs 18.3 kg, 900 W vs 480 W, two resin cartridges vs one. Formlabs lists Basic, Premium and Complete packages, whose prices are not printer-only prices, and no printer-only USD figure was found on a live listing[2]
Physical & Frame
Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable420 x 420 x 480 mm; printing platform 430 x 430 mm[1]353 x 196 x 350 mm (Formlabs quotes 24.2 litres)[2]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)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[1]664 x 528 x 794 mm[2]
Net weight (kg)18.1 kg net, 21.8 kg gross[1]58.5 kg[2]
Frame construction & materialCNC-machined aluminium extrusion frame[1]Not documented
Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lidOpen frame, no enclosure[1]Enclosed cabinet with a 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) with the Low Force Display engine; straight-lift peel[2]
Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlashTwo lead screws with two tie rods[6]Not documented
Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?)"Silent Drive (All Axes)"; no driver part number published[6]Not documented
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)500 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim)[1]Not documented
Recommended/typical print speed250 mm/s recommended printing speed against the 500 mm/s ceiling (ELEGOO's own figure); default acceleration is 4000 mm/s2[6]Not documented
Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²)8000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim) - the lowest in the Neptune 4 family[1]Not documented
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameDual-gear direct extruder with 2 fans[6]Not documented
Hotend & Nozzle
Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?)Brass nozzle, 0.4 mm, with a titanium-alloy heat break[6]Not documented
Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values)300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1]Not documented
Heated Bed & Surface
Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit85 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[1]Not documented
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedPEI spring steel sheet, now upgraded to a dual-sided textured PEI + PLA-specific surface; platform 430 x 430 mm[6]Not documented
Leveling & Z-Offset
Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe)Manual levelling combined with 121-point auto-levelling[6]Not documented
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament detection and power-loss resume printing[1]Not documented
Electronics & Power
Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist)"Klipper High-Speed Quiet Motherboard" is all ELEGOO publishes[6]Not documented
Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto)100-120 V / 220-240 V, 50/60 Hz[1][6]100-240 VAC, 9 A, 50/60 Hz, 900 W[2]
Total rated power draw320 W rated power, 24 V output[6]900 W[2]
Firmware & Openness
Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary)Klipper[6]Proprietary; print preparation is PreForm[2]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?4.3-inch colour capacitive touch screen[6]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[6]Not documented
WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-driveWi-Fi, USB and WLAN file transfer[1]Dual-band Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, USB-C 2.0[2]
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listPLA, TPU, PETG, ABS, ASA, Nylon - but note the 85 C bed ceiling against ABS and ASA[1]Formlabs resin range as for the Form 4; biocompatible materials require a B-series machine[2]
Noise & Power Consumption
Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method)Operating sound published as 65 dB or less - a manufacturer figure with no distance or method stated[6]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[7]Not documented
Independently Measured Performance
Dimensional accuracy measurements (third-party, with numbers)Not documentedXY dimensional tolerance +/-0.15% — a manufacturer specification[2]
Resin & MSLA
Masking LCDNot documentedLow Force Display masking LCD with a 46 um pixel size. Formlabs does not publish the screen diagonal or pixel count[2]
Light sourceNot documentedBacklight unit with uniform-wavelength LEDs behind collimating lenses, with integrated cooling[2]
Layer height rangeNot documented25-200 um[2]
Resin vat & feedingNot documentedTwo next-generation resin cartridges. No vat capacity published[2]

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. ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  2. Formlabs resin printer technical specifications (Form 4 / 4B / 4L) formlabs.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. ELEGOO Neptune 4 product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  5. ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  6. 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
  7. ELEGOO Refund & Warranty policy (warranty period table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor