Printer comparison

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus vs Formlabs Form 4

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

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus guide Formlabs Form 4 guide

First printerSecond printer

2 selected · all documented properties

Open these two in the interactive comparison More ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus comparisons More Formlabs Form 4 comparisons

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus vs Formlabs Form 4 — documented properties and sources
Property	ELEGOO Neptune 4 PlusBEDSLINGER	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 4 Plus[1]	Formlabs Form 4 3D Printer[2][3]
Release date (announcement and actual shipping)	Listed on the ELEGOO US store from 20 September 2023 (Shopify publish date), the same date as the Neptune 4 Max[4][5]	Not documented
Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry)	$309.00 on us.elegoo.com, Aug 2026, against a compare-at price of $425.00. Only a Ribbon-Cable printhead variant is listed for the Plus, unlike the Neptune 4 and 4 Max which also offer a Type-C version[4][6][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)	Middle model of the Neptune 4 family. Against the base Neptune 4: bigger (320 x 320 x 385 mm), but a lower bed ceiling (100 C rather than 110 C) and much lower acceleration (12000 rather than 20000 mm/s2). Against the Max: smaller and lighter (14.4 kg against 18.1 kg) but with a higher bed ceiling (100 C against 85 C) and higher acceleration (12000 against 8000). Its Z drive is 2 lead screws with 2 tie rods, where the Centauri machines use 3 lead screws[1][7][8][9]	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]
Physical & Frame
Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable	320 x 320 x 385 mm; printing platform 330 x 330 mm[1]	200 x 125 x 210 mm (Formlabs quotes 5.25 litres)[2][3]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)	533 x 517 x 638 mm; ELEGOO also publishes a maximum size for machine activity of 578 x 750 x 860 mm including rack and tray, so allow 750 mm of depth[1]	398 x 367 x 554 mm[2][3]
Net weight (kg)	14.4 kg net, 16.65 kg gross[1]	18.3 kg[2][3]
Frame construction & material	CNC-machined aluminium extrusion frame (Neptune 4 family)[7]	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 with two tie rods[1]	Not documented
Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?)	"Silent Drive (All Axes)" is all ELEGOO publishes; the driver part number is not given on the product page[1]	Not documented
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)	30-500 mm/s printing speed, with 250 mm/s given by ELEGOO as the recommended figure - the 500 mm/s number is a ceiling, not a working speed[1]	Not documented
Recommended/typical print speed	250 mm/s recommended printing speed (manufacturer figure)[1]	Not documented
Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²)	12000 mm/s2 maximum acceleration; default acceleration 5000 mm/s2[1]	Not documented
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name	Dual-gear direct extruder with 2 fans (the Centauri machines use a 1-fan version)[1][9]	Not documented
Hotend & Nozzle
Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?)	Brass nozzle, 0.4 mm, with a titanium-alloy heat break[1]	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 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; ELEGOO notes it is now upgraded to a dual-sided textured PEI + PLA-specific surface[1]	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[1]	Not documented
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)	Filament run-out sensor and power-loss recovery; no camera, no clog detection, no auto filament unloading[1]	Not documented
Electronics & Power
Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist)	ELEGOO describes it only as a "Klipper High-Speed Quiet Motherboard" - no board model or MCU is published[1]	Not documented
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	320 W rated power; 24 V output; 110-120 V / 220-240 V input[1]	480 W[2]
Firmware & Openness
Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary)	Klipper (ELEGOO names the system "Klipper" outright for the Neptune 4 Plus, rather than the ELEGOO OS branding used on the Centauri machines)[1][9]	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 is recommended, with Orca and Cura also supported[1]	Not documented
WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive	USB, LAN and 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, Nylon[1]	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 is published as 65 dB or less - a manufacturer figure with no measuring distance or method given, so it is not comparable with a reviewer's dB reading[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[10]	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 Neptune 4 Plus product page (full specification table) 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 4 Plus Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max Shopify product JSON (variant prices 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 Neptune 4 Max product page (Specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
ELEGOO Centauri Carbon product page (full specification table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
ELEGOO Refund & Warranty policy (warranty period table) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor