Buying a 3D printer is often far from straightforward, not because they’re difficult to get hold of, but because there are so many different models from different manufacturers to choose from.
That being said, some brands have better reputations than others, one being Creality – but how do you go about choosing the best Creality 3D printer for you?
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Budget pick
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Large Volume pick
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Resin pick
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$189
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$340
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$149
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Creality is well known in 3D printing for making some of the best budget-friendly machines.
In fact, it’s the proud maker of the world’s best-selling 3D printer, the Ender 3. However, it offers a wide range of different models, and your choice will depend on several factors, including your budget, working area, and printer type.
In this guide, we take a detailed look at the best Creality 3D printers.
We’ll review its five most popular models, covering everything you need to know to make an informed purchase. So without further ado, here are the best Creality 3D printers, starting with the cheapest.
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Creality Ender 3 – Best For Beginners
Price: $199 — Available at Creality Official here / Amazon here
Pros
Best low-cost 3D printer kits available.
Reliable and durable.
Very upgradeable.
Cons
There are more advanced 3D printers with newer features available.
If you’re familiar with 3D printers, you may well have heard of the Creality Ender 3.
If not, then it’s worth knowing that this is the best-selling 3D printer in the world. The main reason behind this Creality 3D printer’s success is that it’s arguably the best beginner 3D printer on the market.
This is due to the Ender 3 offering a great combination of precision, stability, durability, simple operation, and affordability.
It has a Y-shaped guide rail installation groove to help ensure accurate positioning and smooth printing, while the MK8 extruder reduces the risk of plugging and spillage, making for super quiet and smooth working.
It comes partially assembled but has really helpful instructions so it takes just a couple of hours to get up and running.
The large twist nut makes it easy to level, and it takes just a few minutes to heat the hotbed up.
The Ender 3 can work continuously for 200 hours, so it’s capable of handling both simple and more demanding projects.
The Ender 3 is the only Creality printer that’s fully open source, and in fact, is the first 3D printer from China to be so. This means that if you have the expertise, you can modify the Ender 3 hardware and software to your liking, opening up a whole world of possibilities.
The Ender 3 was released back in March 2018, and since then Creality has released several upgraded and modified versions.
There’s the Ender 3 Pro, which costs around $255 and comes with various upgrades, including a new Mean Well power supply and a redesigned aluminum extrusion, helping make it more stable and simpler to use than its predecessor.
There’s also the Ender 3 V2. This version of the Ender 3 will set you back around $290 and comes with the same improved durability as the Pro but further upgrades.
Perhaps the most important is the tempered carborundum glass bed that replaces the detachable magnetic heated bed of the older models. The older bed accumulated filament residue over time, whereas the glass bed doesn’t, in addition to being flatter and improving material adhesion.
The largest and most expensive version is the Ender 3 Max. You’ll need to fork out $380 to bag this printer, and in return, you get a considerably larger working area, 300x300x340mm to be precise.
Check out our Ender 3 reviews
- Creality Ender 3 review
- Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro review
- Creality Ender 3 vs Ender 3 Pro vs Ender 3 V2
- Creality Ender 3 (V2) vs CR-10 (V3)
Creality Ender 5 Pro – Great for Professionals & Small Business Owners
Price: $379 — Available at Creality Official here / Amazon here
Pros
Highly modifiable.
Quiet operation.
Affordable and great print quality.
Cons
Manual bed leveling.
While Creality’s Ender 3 series printers are ideal for beginners, the Ender 5 series, particularly the Ender 5 Pro, offers the same levels of usability but with overall better printing.
One of the Ender 5 Pro’s main differences is the upgraded metal print head frame.
This offers considerably stronger pressure while pushing filament through the printer nozzle, boosting the printer’s performance. You can also easily adjust the extruder gear pressure thanks to the adjustable bolts, so you can tweak the settings to best suit the filament you’re using.
This Creality printer also boasts an upgraded silent motherboard with solid filters and capacitors, which offer improved ESD protection and quieter, more precise printing.
This higher performance level is further enhanced by the TMC2208 driver that allows this model to achieve finer, more detailed printing than Creality’s more affordable ones.
Another benefit of this 220x220x300mm Creality printer is the upgraded, built-in power supply that makes for quicker and safer heating. In fact, it takes just five minutes to heat the hotbed to 110°C, which is faster than many other 3D printers.
There’s also improved Capricorn Bowden PTFE filament tubing, with a 1.9mm ± 0.05mm inner diameter that results in less wiggle room, less buckling, and makes the Ender 5 Pro better suited for printing flexible filament and exotic materials.
The dual Y-axis control system makes for stable output and reduces vibrations emitted from long-term printing. There’s also the high-quality V profile pulley, which reduces noise and wear while helping the printer run smoothly.
Like all Creality printers, the Ender 5 Pro is built with the user in mind and is a pleasure to operate.
The display screen gives you all the information you need in an easy-to-read format, while the printer has an ergonomic design and easy leveling nuts to make leveling faster and simpler.
If the Ender 5 Pro doesn’t quite tick all your boxes, there’s also the Ender 5 Plus.
Not only does this version provide a significantly larger production space of 350x350x400mm, but it also provides steadier printing thanks to the dedicated stepper motors on each axis and the fact that the motor on the Y-axis drives both sides simultaneously.
The 5 Plus retails at $599.
Check out our Ender 5 reviews
Creality Halot-One – Best Creality Resin Printer & Budget-Friendly Option
Price: $189 — Available at Creality Official here / Amazon here
Pros
Accurate and precise.
Strong performance.
Cons
More expensive than its rivals.
The Halot-One isn’t just the cheapest Creality 3D printer on our list, but it’s also the only resin printer, whereas others are filament FDM printers.
If you’re new to 3D printing, resin printers use light to cure resin into solid objects, layer-by-layer. This technique allows you to achieve much more detail in small models, though it limits the size of your projects and typically takes longer for post-processing.
When it comes to affordable resin printers, you really won’t find a better value than the Creality Halot-One.
It uses a highly precise integral light source that uses reflection and refraction to raise light intensity distribution uniformity to above 80%.
This makes it far more accurate than other resin printers that use matrix light sources and helps to achieve even light-curing while preventing overexposure.
The Halot-One uses a high-performance, self-developed motherboard with built-in WiFi and an ARMCoretexM4 processor, meaning it has high-level computing power and therefore offers strong performance with low power consumption.
Another highlight is the dual cooling system, made up of a custom heat sink, a cooling fan, and activated carbon air filtration.
This allows heat to dissipate quickly, allowing the printer to work at optimum levels over continuous periods without becoming damaged, while the carbon air filter helps reduce odor.
In terms of software, Creality has created its own slicing program, Halot Box Slicer, for this machine which is really easy to use.
It’s available both as downloadable software and online via Creality Cloud, and it also supports both cloud and local upgrades, continuously improving the user experience. This printer is also compatible with the Lychee Slicer program.
The Halot-One is also a really intuitive printer that is simple to use, even if you’re a beginner. This is largely due to the built-in 5-inch touchscreen panel, with a user-friendly interface that provides an easy way of managing your work.
CR-6 SE – Best for Auto Leveling
Price: $429 — Available at Creality Official here / Check on Amazon here
Pros
Uses auto-leveling technology.
Great out-of-the-box print quality.
Cons
Filament loading can be difficult.
Creality’s CR-6 SE is one of the most unique 3D printers out there mainly due to its auto-leveling technology.
This innovative printer is the result of a Kickstarter campaign that attracted 10,000 supporters and raised over $4.3 million due to its promise of making a commercially available auto-leveling 3D printer.
It uses a smart sensor pressure that intelligently levels the platform with no manual input required.
This is hugely helpful for several reasons, the main one being that it completely removes the hassle of having to level the bed yourself, and in doing so it also reduces human error and makes for more precise and more efficient printing.
The auto-leveling feature makes this 3D printer ideal for everyone, regardless of whether you’re a beginner, experienced hobbyist, or professional.
While it’s one of Creality’s more expensive models, it’s certainly value for money due to how much easier it makes 3D printing.
Although the CR-6 SE’s auto-leveling technology is easily its most impressive feature, it’s not the only notable aspect of this Creality 3D printer.
It uses the same carborundum glass bed as other Creality models like the Ender V2, which offers stronger adhesion than standard hotbeds and helps prevent mold warping.
It’s also an extremely quiet 3D printer, pretty much as close to silent as you can get. This is thanks to the 2208 Silent Motherboard, so you can run it without disturbing yourself or those around you.
The CR-6 SE also boasts the usability that’s characteristic of Creality printers.
You can easily adjust the temperature and other settings using the 4.3” HD touchscreen, and the machine takes just one minute to heat up the nozzle and bed, so you can get up and running quickly.
Other notable aspects of this 235x235x250mm printer are the high-performance dual extruder, dual cooling fans, photoelectric filament damage detection, and impressive printing speed of up to 180mm/s.
This is one of the most popular of Creality’s printers with a 4.7 rating on Amazon, making it one of the highest-rated 3D printers on the platform.
CR-30 – Best Creality 3D Belt Printer
Price: $1,099 — Available at Creality Official here / Amazon here
Pros
Revolutionary triangular design.
Runs like a treadmill, for increased productivity and reduce time and money.
Ultra silent motherboard and chip for quiet printing.
Cons
The interface feels outdated.
The CR 30 is one of Creality’s most expensive printers, and also one of its most unique. This is because it’s a 3D conveyor belt printer.
Conveyor belt 3D printing is still a relatively new innovation but is already highly popular as the infinite Z-axis allows for infinite printing on the belt.
Not only does this make it much easier to produce long models, but it also allows you to mass-produce small models in a far more efficient way than with standard 3D printers.
Creality is currently one of few manufacturers to develop a commercial conveyor belt printer, and the CR-30 is the most popular by some way.
The print dimension is 200x170x∞ due to the unlimited z-axis, while the machine dimensions are 535x656x410mm, so it’s still compact enough to fit on a benchtop.
Stability is always key when it comes to 3D printing, and this is particularly true for conveyor belt printing.
The CR-30 offers this in abundance, with an extremely sturdy Core-XY precision structure complete with isosceles right triangle support for optimum reliability.
It’s also a very durable machine as the belt is made of wear-resistant nylon, which not only prevents damage but also provides fantastic adhesion.
The printer also features a dual metal gear extruder with a 45-degree slanting nozzle, allowing you to print continuously for up to 200 hours at a time!
Another great feature is the smart filament breakage detector. This stops the CR-30 from printing whenever there is filament damage or the filament runs out, helping to prevent your printer from being damaged.
It will then resume printing once new filament is fed in.
Conveyor belt 3D printing requires different software for model slicing than regular 3D printing applications, and for this Creality offers CrealityBelt, a slicing software designed specifically for this machine.
The program is super intuitive and easy to get to grips with, so you’ll have no problems getting going.
If you have a small business that relies on 3D printing, this model could be a fantastic addition to your workshop.
Not only will it allow you to ramp up production and produce longer models, but it lets you do this in a much more hands-free way than other printers.
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