3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max vs Original Prusa XL+ Single-Tool
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max comparisonsMore Original Prusa XL+ Single-Tool comparisons
| Property | ELEGOO Neptune 4 MaxBEDSLINGER | Original Prusa XL+ Single-ToolCOREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | ELEGOO | Prusa Research |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max[1] | Original Prusa XL+, Single-Tool variant ("Prusa XL+ Single-Tool" in the e-shop variant data)[2][3] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Listed on the ELEGOO US store from 20 September 2023 (Shopify publish date)[4] | The XL+ refresh was announced on 13 August 2026, on sale immediately in all toolhead configurations, with assembled printers shipping later in August 2026 and upgrade kits for existing XL owners from around the end of August. The original Original Prusa XL predates it[5] |
| 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[4] | $2,128.70 on prusa3d.com, Aug 2026 (lowest listed price for the Single-Tool variant; the Enclosure bundle starts at $2,610.19)[2] |
| 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][6][7][4] | The XL+ is sold in Single-Tool, Dual-Head and Five-Head variants at $2,128.70, $2,768.52 and $3,610.18 respectively (Aug 2026), plus Enclosure bundles and a Critical Infrastructure edition. The frame is the same in all of them - Prusa states the frame is ready for toolheads to be added at any time - so build volume, bed and electronics figures are shared and only the toolhead count and price differ. The XL+ is itself a revision of the Original Prusa XL: the older XL aligned toolheads with a mechanical pin, the XL+ uses a dedicated electronic sensor, adds a nozzle wiper and is claimed to print 10-15% faster[2][3] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Not documented | Current model; an Original Prusa XL to Prusa XL+ upgrade kit is sold for existing owners[3] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 420 x 420 x 480 mm; printing platform 430 x 430 mm[1] | 360 x 360 x 360 mm, which Prusa states as 46.7 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] | About 700 x 900 x 720 mm (Prusa's own figure is approximate)[2] |
| Net weight (kg) | 18.1 kg net, 21.8 kg gross[1] | About 30 kg[2] |
| Frame construction & material | CNC-machined aluminium extrusion frame[1] | Aluminium extrusions and steel sheets (Prusa's comparison table for the XL)[8] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Open frame. The Enclosure for Prusa XL+ is an optional add-on; Prusa says the printer is ready for chamber temperatures up to 60 C, that the new better-sealed enclosure reaches around 50 C on the printer's own waste heat, and that 60 C needs an upcoming chamber heater for which no shipping date has been given[2][5] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian i3 bed-slinger[1] | CoreXY with 1.5 mm GT belts, Input Shaper and Phase Stepping[2] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Two lead screws with two tie rods[9] | Not documented |
| Belts (type, width, e.g. Gates?) | Not documented | 1.5 mm GT belts[2] |
| Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?) | "Silent Drive (All Axes)"; no driver part number published[9] | Not documented |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 500 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim)[1] | Not documented |
| Recommended/typical print speed | 250 mm/s recommended printing speed against the 500 mm/s ceiling (ELEGOO's own figure); default acceleration is 4000 mm/s2[9] | 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 |
| Vibration Compensation / Input Shaping | ||
| Input shaping supported? Implementation (Klipper IS / Marlin ZV / proprietary) | Not documented | Input Shaper and Phase Stepping[2] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Dual-gear direct extruder with 2 fans[9] | Nextruder direct drive; each toolhead carries its own extruder, hotend, nozzle and filament[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Brass nozzle, 0.4 mm, with a titanium-alloy heat break[9] | Quick-swap nozzles - 0.25 mm for detail, 0.6/0.8 mm for speed, hardened steel for abrasives, high-flow CHT for throughput; toolheads ship with high-flow nozzles[2] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1] | 290 C claimed max nozzle temperature[2] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 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[1] | 120 C max heatbed temperature[2] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | PEI spring steel sheet, now upgraded to a dual-sided textured PEI + PLA-specific surface; platform 430 x 430 mm[9] | Segmented heatbed of 16 individually controlled tiles across the 360 x 360 mm surface, so only the tiles under the part are powered; removable double-sided satin print sheet supplied[2] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Manual levelling combined with 121-point auto-levelling[9] | Load-cell sensor - the nozzle is the probe, which Prusa says automatically accounts for nozzle changes, surface textures and thermal expansion and removes manual Z-offsets. Toolhead-to-toolhead alignment on the XL+ uses a separate permanently mounted eddy-current Tool Offset Sensor, replacing the removable mechanical pin used on the original XL[2][5] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament detection and power-loss resume printing[1] | Filament sensors fitted; Prusa's comparison table lists two filament sensors for the XL[8] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Not documented | 360-degree part cooling on each toolhead, new on the XL+ and matching the MK4S and CORE One arrangement; Prusa states it delivers more airflow and distributes it more evenly around the nozzle. Additional fans and heatsinks cool the electronics. Fan sizes are not published[2][5] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | "Klipper High-Speed Quiet Motherboard" is all ELEGOO publishes[9] | Custom 32-bit xBuddy electronics with STM32 (Prusa's comparison table for the XL)[8] |
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | 100-120 V / 220-240 V, 50/60 Hz[1][9] | Not documented |
| Total rated power draw | 320 W rated power, 24 V output[9] | Not documented |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Klipper[9] | Open-source firmware - Prusa states "Firmware: Open-source; ships with the full current Prusa feature set", and the XL is covered by the prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy source tree[2][10] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 4.3-inch colour capacitive touch screen[9] | 3.5-inch 65k-colour screen with touch control (Prusa's comparison table for the XL)[8] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Colour capacitive touch UI; ElegooSlicer recommended, Orca and Cura supported[9] | On-device touch UI; Prusa Connect and the Prusa mobile app are optional - Prusa states the machine is fully offline capable[8][2] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Wi-Fi, USB and WLAN file transfer[1] | Ethernet, optional Wi-Fi; USB drive for print files. Prusa Connect optional and fully offline operation supported[2][8] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, TPU, PETG, ABS, ASA, Nylon - but note the 85 C bed ceiling against ABS and ASA[1] | PLA, PETG, ASA, ABS, PC, PA (nylon), TPU, PVA, HIPS, PP, CPE, PVB and carbon-fibre composites. Prusa states an open material policy - any brand of 1.75 mm filament, no chips and no subscriptions[2] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not documented | Open-source firmware on the xBuddy platform, which carries hardware overcurrent protection cutting heater and heatbed power above 15 A[11][10] |
| 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[9] | 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[12] | 2-year warranty for consumers in the EU, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland; 1 year for EU enterprises and 1 year for the rest of the world, which includes the United States. A printer bought from a reseller or privately carries 1 year from the original delivery date and is handled by the reseller. Prusa advertises 24/7 chat and e-mail support in seven languages[13][8] |
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 Neptune 4 Max product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Original Prusa XL+ product page (spec block and variant price data) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa 3D printers category listing with live e-shop prices, Aug 2026 prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa blog - Better Prints, Easier Use: Prusa XL+, CORE One L+ and CORE One+ (Gen 2), Our Big Product Update (published 13 August 2026) blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Original Prusa MK4S 3D Printer product page (Technical Parameters + CORE One+/MK4S/XL comparison table) prusa3d.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 - prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy (firmware for MINI, MK4, XL and CORE One) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa blog - Original Prusa MK4 is here (published 29 March 2023), including the MK4 specification table and launch prices blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- ELEGOO Refund & Warranty policy (warranty period table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa Knowledge Base - Warranty help.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc