3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
FlashForge Guider 3 Ultra vs Original Prusa MK4S
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore FlashForge Guider 3 Ultra comparisonsMore Original Prusa MK4S comparisons
| Property | FlashForge Guider 3 UltraINDUSTRIAL | Original Prusa MK4SBEDSLINGER |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | FlashForge | Prusa Research |
| Class | INDUSTRIAL | BEDSLINGER |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Flashforge Guider 3 Ultra; the FlashForge spec table gives the machine name as "Guider 3 Ultra"[1] | Original Prusa MK4S (Prusa Research, Prague). Sold as "Original Prusa MK4S 3D Printer" and "Original Prusa MK4S 3D Printer kit"[2][3] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Not documented | Announced and available to order on 12 August 2024, the date of Prusa's launch blog post, with assembled printers, kits and an MK4S/MMU3 bundle in stock at announcement[4] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $2,399.00 against a $3,499.00 regular price on flashforge.com, but the listing checked is the refurbished SKU and is marked Sold out (Aug 2026)[1] | $925.00 assembled, $657.40 as a kit, on prusa3d.com, Aug 2026. Bundles: $1,171.11 with MMU3, $1,185.65 with the Enclosure, $1,438.33 with both[3][2] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Top of the Guider 3 series. Build size depends on which head is used: 330 x 330 x 600 mm with one extruder, 300 x 330 x 600 mm with both. Siblings Guider 3 (300x250x340) and Guider 3 Plus (350x350x600) are both single-extruder. A refurbished SKU exists alongside the new machine, so check which one a price refers to[1][5][6] | The MK4S is a revision of the MK4, not a new platform: Prusa sold a $99 upgrade kit that gives an MK4 all of the MK4S features (360-degree turbine part cooling, high-flow CHT nozzle, firmware and profile changes). Watch the published nozzle ceiling: Prusa's MK4 announcement table says 300 C, while the MK4S product page says 290 C. Related family members are the MK3.5 and MK3.9 upgrades of the MK3S+, which are not the same machine. With the MMU3 the standard (non-high-flow) nozzle is the recommended one[4][7][2] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Not documented | Still sold in Aug 2026 as the entry point to the Nextruder line, positioned below the enclosed CORE One+ (Gen 2). Prusa also sells an MK4S-to-CORE One+ (Gen 2) conversion kit[3][2] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 330 x 330 x 600 mm with a single extruder; 300 x 330 x 600 mm when both extruders are in use[1] | 250 x 210 x 220 mm (manufacturer figure)[2] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 635 x 550 x 1070 mm; packaging 775 x 690 x 1235 mm[1] | 500 x 550 x 400 mm (X x Y x Z), stated without the spool holder[2] |
| Net weight (kg) | 70 kg net, 86 kg gross[1] | 7 kg (without spool)[2] |
| Frame construction & material | Enclosed professional chassis; FlashForge describes a lightweight, stable structure for high-speed operation[1] | Aluminium extrusions and frame. Prusa's MK4 announcement records that the cut-aluminium frame of the MK3S+ was replaced by a die-cast aluminium frame for the MK4 platform, which the MK4S inherits[2][7] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Closed design with an air filter fitted[1] | Open frame. The Original Prusa Enclosure is a separate add-on and raises the achievable chamber temperature to 45 C; there is no active chamber heating[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | CoreXY with two extruders, per a third-party buyer's guide. FlashForge's own spec table does not state the kinematics[8][1] | Cartesian bed-slinger - Prusa's own comparison table gives "Cartesian" for the MK4S against "CoreXY" for the CORE One and CORE One L[9] |
| Stepper motors (frame size, step angle, brand if known) | Not documented | 0.9 degree X and Y stepper motors, which Prusa states are used to prevent vertical fine artefacts[2] |
| Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?) | Not documented | Trinamic 2130. The MK4 announcement is more specific: TMC2130-LA drivers on the xBuddy board[2][7] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 10-500 mm/s printing speed, 500 mm/s maximum travel speed (manufacturer figures)[1] | Not documented |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 20,000 mm/s2 maximum (manufacturer claim)[1] | Not documented |
| Vibration Compensation / Input Shaping | ||
| Input shaping supported? Implementation (Klipper IS / Marlin ZV / proprietary) | Active vibration compensation, which FlashForge says was enhanced for this model. Implementation not named[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Two extruders[1] | Nextruder, direct drive, E3D V6 compatible with an adapter; Nextruder planetary gear system with a 10:1 gearbox ratio; aluminium heatsink and all-metal filament path[2] |
| Gear ratio & drive gear material | Not documented | 10:1 planetary gearbox in the Nextruder[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Not documented | Quick-swap Prusa nozzle system with an all-metal filament path; the MK4S ships with the high-flow Prusa brass CHT 0.4 mm nozzle. Standard (non-CHT) Prusa nozzles remain usable and are the recommended choice with the MMU3[2][4] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 350 °C maximum extruder temperature (manufacturer claim)[1] | 290 C claimed max nozzle temperature on the MK4S product page (Prusa's MK4 announcement table gave 300 C for the MK4)[2][7] |
| Stock nozzle size & sizes included in box | 0.4 mm default; 0.6 and 0.8 mm optional[1] | Not documented |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 120 °C bed setting supported (manufacturer figure)[1] | 120 C max heatbed temperature (manufacturer figure)[2] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Replaceable flexible steel-plate platform, magnetic. No glass bed[1] | Magnetic heatbed with removable double-sided PEI spring-steel sheets; smooth PEI sheet supplied[2] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Full-auto one-click levelling; probe technology not named[1] | Load-cell sensor in the toolhead - the nozzle itself is the probe. First-layer calibration and mesh bed levelling over the print area only are fully automatic, with no Live Adjust Z step[2][7] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament run-out reminder[1] | Filament sensor fitted as standard; on the MK4 platform this is a built-in Hall sensor that also drives automatic filament loading[2][7] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Not documented | High-performance turbine part-cooling fan with a 360-degree air-delivery duct - the headline change from the MK4, derived from work on Prusa's HT90 industrial machine. Fan RPM is monitored in firmware[2][4] |
| Chamber/exhaust fan & filtration (activated carbon / HEPA) | Air filter fitted; filter media not specified in the FlashForge table[1] | Not documented |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Not documented | Custom 32-bit xBuddy board with an STM32 MCU, designed, manufactured and tested in-house, plus a custom extruder breakout board for fans and thermistors[2][7] |
| PSU (brand, wattage, rail voltage) | Not documented | 240 W PSU custom-made by Delta with hardware power-panic support[2] |
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | AC 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz[1] | Not documented |
| Total rated power draw | 850 W maximum[1] | Power consumption 80 W on PLA settings, 120 W on ABS settings (manufacturer figures)[2] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Not named; slicers are Orca-Flashforge and FlashPrint 5, with OrcaSlicer listed as compatible[1] | Open-source Prusa Buddy firmware. The source tree (prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy on GitHub) explicitly covers the Original Prusa MINI/MINI+, MK4, XL and CORE One and was last pushed to in August 2026. Updates are applied from a USB drive, through Prusa Connect or through the Prusa mobile app[10][2] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 7-inch touch LCD[1] | 3.5-inch 65k-colour graphic screen with touch control[2] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Not documented | On-device colour UI with G-code preview and one-click printing; remote control and firmware updates through Prusa Connect and the Prusa mobile app[2] |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, plus cloud[1] | Ethernet, Wi-Fi via the ESP module delivered with the printer, USB drive for print files, plus an NFC receiver used to hand over Wi-Fi credentials from the phone app[2][9][4] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Remote camera monitoring and time-lapse video supported; resolution not published[1] | Not documented |
| Calibration Routines & QoL | ||
| Assembly level & time from unbox to first print | Not documented | Sold both assembled (plug-and-print after a 10-minute self-test) and as an assembly kit[4] |
| Power-Loss & Interruption Recovery | ||
| Power-loss recovery: mechanism (how is state saved? capacitor / eeprom / file on shutdown?) | Power-loss recovery supported; mechanism not published. Automatic shutdown also supported[1] | Not documented |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, ABS, HIPS, ASA, PETG, CoPA, PLA-CF, PETG-CF, PAHT-CF, PAHT-GF, PET-CF, PET-GF, PA12-CF, PA-CF, PA-GF, NexPA-CF25[1] | PLA, PETG, Flex, PVA, PC, PP, CPE, PVB; ABS, ASA, HIPS and PA only when using the Original Prusa Enclosure with the filtration add-on[2] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not documented | The xBuddy platform carries hardware overcurrent protection that disconnects heater and heatbed power when total current exceeds 15 A, and the firmware is open-source and auditable. Prusa also shipped Thermal Model protection to the earlier MK3 line[7][10] |
| Certifications (UL/ETL/CE/FCC — verify, don't assume) | CE, FCC, RoHS (as printed in FlashForge's own spec table)[1] | Prusa states the MK4S is the first consumer 3D printer to receive UL GREENGUARD certification[2] |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | Not documented | 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[11][2] |
| Spare parts availability & pricing (nozzle, hotend, plate, board, belts) | Not documented | Prusa cites a perfect 30/30 print-quality score from TechRadar and a CNET "Best Printer for Quality" title; these are quoted on Prusa's own page and were not verified against the original reviews here[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
- Flashforge Guider 3 Ultra product page (refurbished listing) flashforge.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Original Prusa MK4S 3D Printer product page (Technical Parameters + CORE One+/MK4S/XL comparison table) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa 3D printers category listing with live e-shop prices, Aug 2026 prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa blog - The Original Prusa MK4S is Here! (published 12 August 2024) blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- FlashForge Guider 3 technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- FlashForge Guider 3 Plus technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- 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
- Flashforge printer buyer's guide, 5M to Creator 5 eolasprints.com · 2026-08 · review
- Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) product page (Technical Parameters + CORE One+/MK4S/CORE One L comparison) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- GitHub - prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy (firmware for MINI, MK4, XL and CORE One) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa Knowledge Base - Warranty help.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc