Materials
PLA vs PETG cost: the same model in both, priced
PETG is not "more expensive than PLA" in the abstract. It is $0.68 more on a 100 cm³ model at mid-range prices — and less than that if you shop well. Here is the arithmetic, and the point at which the extra money buys something.
Same model, two materials
A 100 cm³ model — a large phone stand, a small enclosure — is the reference. Volume is identical; only density and price per kilogram differ. Both are read from the shipped dataset.
| Material | Density | Grams | Cheapest / kg | Mid / kg | Dearest / kg | Model at mid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLA | 1.24 | 124 g | $13.49 | $14.99 | $22.99 | $1.86 |
| PETG | 1.27 | 127 g | $14.99 | $19.99 | $24.99 | $2.54 |
At mid-range prices PETG costs $0.68 more on this model (36.6% more filament). 3.0 g of that difference is density (2.4% heavier for the same volume); the rest is price per kilogram.
Cost per cubic centimetre of solid material
| Material | Cheapest listing | Mid-price listing | Dearest listing |
|---|---|---|---|
| PLA | $0.0167 | $0.0186 | $0.0285 |
| PETG | $0.0190 | $0.0254 | $0.0317 |
Density × price per kg ÷ 1000. This is the number to compare when someone says one material is cheaper — it already contains the density difference.
The finding worth quoting: the cheapest PETG listing at $0.0190/cm³ is dearer than mid-price PLA at $0.0186/cm³, but it is cheaper than the dearest PLA at $0.0285/cm³. Brand and SKU choice moves the price more than the polymer does. Density is a 2% effect; the dearest PLA listing is 70% dearer than the cheapest one.
Price the model yourself
Change the volume and see both materials costed at the mid-price listing. This is filament only — electricity and machine time are near-identical for the two polymers.
What the extra money buys
The table below is deliberately qualitative where our dataset is silent. We have sourced densities and sourced prices; we do not have measured temperature or impact data for these two polymers, so the thermal and strength columns say what the material is for rather than inventing a number.
| Property | PLA | PETG |
|---|---|---|
| Density | 1.24 g/cm³ | 1.27 g/cm³ |
| Mid price per kg | $14.99 | $19.99 |
| Cost per cm³ | $0.0186 | $0.0254 |
| Heat resistance | Low — deforms in a hot car or a sunny window | Moderate — survives a car interior |
| Impact strength | Brittle; shatters on hard drops | Tough; bends before it breaks |
| Layer adhesion | Good | Good, but weaker when printed cold or fast |
| Print difficulty | Easiest of all filaments | Stringier, sticks to the bed hard, slower walls |
| Best for | Models, jigs, prototypes, indoor parts | Anything outdoors, wet, or dropped |
When the PETG premium pays for itself
Ask what a failure costs. On the 100 g part from the cost breakdown, a failed PLA print costs about $1.79 in material, electricity and machine time — more than 2.6 times the $0.68 PETG premium. So if switching to PETG prevents one failure in every 3 parts, it has paid for itself. For an outdoor part that PLA would warp anyway, it prevents every single one.
Buy PETG when the part will be outdoors, near water, dropped, or left in a vehicle. Buy PLA when the part is decorative, indoor, or needs fine detail and speed. If the price difference alone decides it, remember that sourcing beats polymer: the whole spread between the cheapest and dearest PLA on this page is larger than the PLA-to-PETG gap at mid prices.
What one kilogram actually buys
Kilograms are not the unit your parts are measured in. One kilogram of PLA is 806 cm³ of solid material; one kilogram of PETG is 787 cm³ — 2.4% less for the same money before you even look at the price. Over a month of production that compounds: a workshop running 5 kg of filament a week goes through 3,937 cm³ of PETG against 4,032 cm³ of PLA.
There is a second cost people forget: PETG usually needs slower walls and less part-cooling, so a profile that runs 20% longer adds $0.06 of machine time and electricity to the 100 g part — small next to the filament difference, but it means the two are never exactly comparable.
Density, grams per metre and price for every material are in the material density chart; weight-to-cost conversion is in the filament calculator.