The tools I tested
LayerMath (layermath.com)
The most feature-rich calculator I found. Covers material, electricity (including heat-up phase), labour, depreciation, failure rate, platform fees for Etsy/eBay/Amazon, VAT, G-code import, multi-material rows, and country-aware shipping. Some features are locked behind a Pro tier, but the free version is solid. If you want a manual calculator that does everything, this is the one to beat.
OmniCalculator (omnicalculator.com)
Clean and simple. Covers the basics: material, electricity, and gives you a quick estimate. No platform fees, no shipping, no depreciation. Good for a quick sanity check, not for serious pricing.
3DPCC / Calc3DPrint (calc3dprint.com)
Covers material, basic electricity, and Etsy fees. More limited than LayerMath but still useful if Etsy is your only platform. No labour, no depreciation, no G-code import. Does offer PDF export for quotes.
SlicePrice3D (sliceprice3d.com)
Similar scope to 3DPCC. Handles material and basic costs with a clean interface. Limited on platform fees and advanced cost factors.
Printpal
Covers material, electricity, depreciation, and failure rate. Limited platform fee support. Free tier is restricted.
The comparison table
| Feature | LayerMath | OmniCalc | 3DPCC | SlicePrice3D | PolyQuote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material cost | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electricity cost | Yes | Yes | Basic | Yes | Yes |
| Custom printer wattage | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Labour cost | Yes | Limited | No | No | Yes |
| Machine depreciation | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Failure rate buffer | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Platform fees | Etsy/eBay/Amazon | No | Etsy only | No | Etsy/eBay/Amazon/Shopify |
| Packaging cost | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Shipping/postal cost | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| VAT calculation | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| G-code import | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Multi-currency output | No | No | No | No | Yes (GBP/USD/EUR) |
| Live exchange rates | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| REST API access | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Google Sheets integration | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Programmatic batch pricing | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| PDF export | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (200 calls/month) |
So which one should you use?
If you price one or two prints manually per week, LayerMath is the best free calculator available. It covers more cost factors than anything else and the interface is well built. Use it.
If you price dozens of listings, manage a spreadsheet of SKUs, or build tools for your shop, none of the calculators above will help you. They're all manual input, one quote at a time, no way to automate.
That's why I built PolyQuote.
Where PolyQuote fits
PolyQuote isn't a calculator. It's a REST API. You send it your print parameters (filament type, weight, time, markup, wattage, labour rate, shipping, VAT) and it returns a full cost breakdown with a recommended price in GBP, USD, and EUR using live exchange rates.
The difference matters when you need to:
- Price every listing before publishing, via a script or spreadsheet formula
- Pull live pricing into Google Sheets with a single formula (no code, no setup)
- Embed accurate pricing into a custom tool or Shopify app
- Batch price a catalogue of products in seconds
- Get platform fee breakdowns for Etsy, eBay, Amazon, or Shopify in the same call
The free tier gives you 200 calls per month. No credit card required. Paid plans start at £8/month for 5,000 calls.
You can try it at api.polyformprints.co.uk
The Google Sheets integration is covered here: How to get live 3D print pricing in Google Sheets with one formula
What PolyQuote doesn't do (yet)
Being honest: LayerMath still has features PolyQuote doesn't. G-code import for automatic weight/time extraction, multi-material rows, and country-aware shipping calculations are not yet supported. Those are on the roadmap.
But no calculator on this list offers API access, Google Sheets integration, or programmatic pricing. That's the gap PolyQuote fills.
TL;DR
- For manual one-off pricing: use LayerMath
- For automated, repeatable, integrated pricing: use PolyQuote
- They solve different problems. Pick the one that matches how you work.
