Printer comparison
Original Prusa MK4 vs QIDI Plus5
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Original Prusa MK4 comparisonsMore QIDI Plus5 comparisons
| Property | Original Prusa MK4BEDSLINGER | QIDI Plus5COREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Prusa Research | QIDI |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Original Prusa MK4[1] | QIDI Plus5, sold as "QIDI Plus5 3D Printer"[2][3] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Announced 29 March 2023 with assembled printers shipping immediately from stock; kits opened for ordering about two weeks later[1] | Launched 5 August 2026, 09:00 EDT / 15:00 CEST[4] |
| Launch MSRP (USD) | 1099 USD assembled, 799 USD as a kit, VAT included, at launch[1] | $749 regular launch price; a launch-window member discount put it under $700[4] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | Not documented | $749.00 for the standard model on us.qidi3d.com, checked Aug 2026. Other variants: Polar Cooler bundle $899.00, Plus5 Combo $899.00, Combo + Polar Cooler $1,049.00. No compare-at price listed[2] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Superseded by the MK4S, which is the same machine plus a 360-degree turbine part-cooling fan, a high-flow CHT nozzle and firmware/profile work; Prusa sold a 99 USD MK4-to-MK4S upgrade kit and automatically converted unshipped MK4 orders to the S version. The MK3.5 and MK3.9 upgrades convert an MK3S+ to part of the MK4 electronics stack but are not an MK4[5][1] | Four purchase variants at the US store: Standard, Polar Cooler bundle, Combo (adds QIDI Box), and Combo + Polar Cooler. The Polar Cooler is a pre-sale add-on shipping separately, so its specs are not Plus5 specs. Replaces the Plus4 (305x305x280, 450 W + 400 W chamber)[2][4] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Discontinued. No MK4 appears in Prusa's Aug 2026 3D-printer listing, and the MK4 product-page slugs redirect to the MK4S page, so no live first-party price could be recorded[6][5] | Current flagship of QIDI's large-format line as of Aug 2026; sits below the Max4 (390x390x340)[2][7] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 250 x 210 x 220 mm (manufacturer figure)[1] | 320 x 320 x 300 mm advertised — QIDI states this is about 18% more volume than the Plus4[2][3][4] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | Not documented | 500 x 488 x 558 mm[3] |
| Net weight (kg) | Not documented | 29.0 kg net[3] |
| Frame construction & material | Die-cast aluminium frame - Prusa replaced the MK3S+'s cut-aluminium frame for the MK4, keeping only the Y-axis profiles, some bearings, the heatbed and the power supply[1] | Enclosed CoreXY chassis; QIDI does not publish a frame-material breakdown[2] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame; the Original Prusa Enclosure is an optional add-on[1] | Fully enclosed, with a 3-stage air filter (G3 pre-filter + H12 HEPA + coconut-shell activated carbon)[2][3] |
| Passive chamber temperature reached (if enclosed; measured values preferred) | Not documented | 65 °C, actively heated, 550 W chamber heater — reported as a 37.5% increase in heater power over the Plus4 (manufacturer claim)[3][4] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian bed-slinger of the Prusa i3 family - Prusa's MK4 announcement records that the MK3S+ Y-axis profiles and heatbed were carried over[1] | CoreXY[3] |
| X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size) | Not documented | High-precision linear rails on X[2][4] |
| Belts (type, width, e.g. Gates?) | Not documented | 1.5GT belts, 9 mm wide — wider than the 2GT 6 mm belts common in this class[2][4] |
| Stepper motors (frame size, step angle, brand if known) | 400-step (0.9 degree) stepper motors, stated by Prusa to prevent vertical fine artefacts[1] | Not documented |
| Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?) | Trinamic TMC2130-LA silent stepper drivers on the xBuddy board[1] | Not documented |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | Not documented | 600 mm/s (manufacturer claim)[3] |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | Not documented | <=20,000 mm/s2 (manufacturer claim)[3] |
| Vibration Compensation / Input Shaping | ||
| Input shaping supported? Implementation (Klipper IS / Marlin ZV / proprietary) | Not documented | Resonance compensation listed as a feature; implementation not named on the product page[3] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Nextruder direct drive with a planetary gear system, 1:10 gearbox ratio; aluminium heatsink, all-metal hotend, no PTFE tube in the filament path[1] | Direct drive with hardened dual gears[3] |
| Gear ratio & drive gear material | 1:10 planetary gearbox[1] | Not documented |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Quick-swap nozzle system, 0.4 mm default, other diameters supported[1] | Ceramic heating-plate hotend with a bimetal nozzle; 0.4 mm standard, 0.2/0.6/0.8 mm optional[3] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max hotend temperature in Prusa's MK4 announcement table - note the MK4S product page publishes 290 C for the same hotend family[1][8] | <=370 °C claimed[2][3] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 120 C max heatbed temperature[1] | <=120 °C claimed, described by QIDI as an even-heating bed[2][3] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Magnetic heatbed with removable PEI spring-steel sheets; compatible with the MK3 sheets (smooth PEI, satin, textured PEI, PA nylon)[1] | Aluminium silicone heated bed with a dual-sided textured PEI plate[3] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Load-cell sensor: fully automatic first-layer calibration with the nozzle as the probe, plus automatic mesh bed levelling over the print area[1] | Automatic levelling using an integrated load cell; QIDI describes it as direct nozzle-contact detection[3][4] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Built-in Hall-effect filament sensor supporting automatic filament loading[1] | Filament run-out sensor, plus a filament cutter[3] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Chamber/exhaust fan & filtration (activated carbon / HEPA) | Not documented | 3-in-1 filtration: G3 pre-filter, H12 HEPA, coconut-shell activated carbon; QIDI claims 99.5% capture of airborne particles and dust[2][3][4] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Custom 32-bit xBuddy board with STM32, designed and built in-house, with a separate extruder breakout board[1] | Not documented |
| PSU (brand, wattage, rail voltage) | 240 W Delta PSU with hardware power panic[1] | Not documented |
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 100/240 VAC, 50/60 Hz[3] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | 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[9][8] | Not stated on the product page. QIDI's slicer ecosystem is QIDI Studio, and Orca/PrusaSlicer are listed as supported[3] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 3.5-inch 65k-colour graphic screen[1] | 4-inch touchscreen, 480 x 320[3] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | On-device colour UI with one-click printing and status LEDs; Prusa Link is integrated and Prusa Connect adds remote printing[1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Ethernet built in, optional ESP Wi-Fi module delivered with the printer, USB drive; print files can also arrive over LAN or the internet via Prusa Connect[1] | Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz, Ethernet, USB; 32 GB eMMC storage plus USB 2.0 flash drive[3] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Not documented | AI camera with failure detection, up to 1080p, timelapse supported (low frame rate)[2][3][4] |
| LED chamber/toolhead lighting | Not documented | RGB status light[2] |
| Power-Loss & Interruption Recovery | ||
| Power-loss recovery: mechanism (how is state saved? capacitor / eeprom / file on shutdown?) | Not documented | Power-loss recovery listed; mechanism not published[3] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Prusa's launch table says "any thermoplastic including Nylon and Polycarbonate"; the enclosure is still needed in practice for ABS/ASA-class materials[1] | PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PC, carbon- and glass-fibre-reinforced polymers[3] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | xBuddy hardware overcurrent protection disconnects heater and heatbed power when total current exceeds 15 A; firmware is open-source and auditable[1][9] | Not documented |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | 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[10][8] | QIDI store terms: 1-year coverage, lifetime tech guidance, 14-day no-reason return[7] |
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
- 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
- QIDI Plus5 product page (US store) us.qidi3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Tech Plus5 technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Plus5 launch write-up 3dprintbeginner.com · 2026-08 · review
- Prusa blog - The Original Prusa MK4S is Here! (published 12 August 2024) blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa 3D printers category listing with live e-shop prices, Aug 2026 prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Max4 product page (US store) us.qidi3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Original Prusa MK4S 3D Printer product page (Technical Parameters + CORE One+/MK4S/XL comparison table) 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