Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra
Best Overall for Miniatures
- Price
- $284
- Score
- 8.2/10
- Build
- 2.7 L
Buy on Amazon, $284
US price in USD, approximate. Your price at checkout can differ by store and country.
5 Best 3D Printers for D&D Miniatures Under $300 (2026)
- Best Overall for Miniatures: the Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra, $284, 8.2/10.
- Best Detail, Worth Going Over Budget: the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S, $329, 7.2/10.
- Best Value Mid-Range: the Elegoo Mars 4 Ultra, $240, 7.8/10.
- Cheapest Entry to Tabletop Printing: the Anycubic Photon Mono 4, $210, 7.4/10.
- Discontinued, Buy the Mars 4 Ultra Instead: the Elegoo Mars 4, discontinued.
listicle · updated . Specs and US prices from the PrintPick catalog, checked 2026-09-29. Scores are PrintPick ratings out of 10.
By Shadman Rahman · Prices checked
The verdict
Buy the Mars 5 Ultra. Best Overall for Miniatures.
For most D&D and Warhammer players, the Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra ($284) is the best investment, the tilt-release mechanism alone saves hours of frustration on failed prints. If budget is the priority, the Anycubic Photon Mono 4 ($210) proves you don't need to spend a lot to print great minis. Whichever you choose, start with grey resin (easiest to prime and paint), download free test minis from MyMiniFactory, and don't skip the wash-and-cure step, it's the difference between sticky, brittle minis and ones that hold paint beautifully. Your first printed mini won't be perfect. Your tenth will be incredible. Welcome to the hobby.
The 5 picks, by the numbers
Same scale within each chart. Teal is the best of the 5.
| Mars 5 Ultra | $284 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sonic Mini 8K S | $329 | |
| Mars 4 Ultra | $240 | |
| Photon Mono 4 | $210 | |
| Mars 4 | $149 (best) |
| Mars 5 Ultra | 8.2/10 (best) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sonic Mini 8K S | 7.2/10 | |
| Mars 4 Ultra | 7.8/10 | |
| Photon Mono 4 | 7.4/10 | |
| Mars 4 | 7.2/10 |
| Mars 5 Ultra | 2.7 L (best) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sonic Mini 8K S | 2.1 L | |
| Mars 4 Ultra | 1.9 L | |
| Photon Mono 4 | 1.3 L | |
| Mars 4 | 1.9 L |
| Mars 5 Ultra | 150 mm/s (best) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sonic Mini 8K S | 80 mm/s | |
| Mars 4 Ultra | 100 mm/s | |
| Photon Mono 4 | 100 mm/s | |
| Mars 4 | 80 mm/s |
If you play Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, Pathfinder, or any tabletop RPG, a resin 3D printer changes everything. Instead of paying $5-15 per miniature from Games Workshop or Hero Forge, you print them yourself for $0.10-0.50 each. An army that would cost $200+ in retail minis costs $5 in resin. The detail quality from modern resin printers rivals (and often exceeds) injection-molded minis, chainmail links, facial expressions, weapon textures, and tiny runes all resolve crisply at 28mm scale. Free STL files on MyMiniFactory, Thingiverse, and Loot Studios mean you never run out of models to print. Patreon creators like Artisan Guild, Archvillain Games, and Lord of the Print release monthly collections of print-ready minis for $10-15/month, hundreds of models per year for the price of a few retail minis. All five printers below are resin (MSLA) because FDM simply cannot match resin detail at miniature scale. We focused on printers under $300 that produce tabletop-quality minis out of the box with minimal setup. Every printer on this list has been validated by the tabletop 3D printing community on Reddit, Discord, and YouTube.
Best Overall for Miniatures
- Price
- $284
- Score
- 8.2/10
- Build
- 2.7 L
The Mars 5 Ultra is the community consensus pick for miniature printing in 2026. The 14K resolution at 7.6 inches delivers extraordinary detail at 28mm scale, individual fingers, fabric folds, chain links, and facial features all resolve cleanly without any post-processing tricks. The tilt-release mechanism is particularly important for miniatures: many minis have thin, fragile features (swords, staffs, wings, tails) that are vulnerable to the suction forces created during layer separation. The Mars 5 Ultra's tilt motion reduces those forces dramatically, which means fewer snapped weapons and failed prints. Print success rate on properly supported models is 95%+. The built-in air purifier is a bonus for anyone printing in a spare bedroom, you don't need elaborate ventilation setups, just basic airflow. WiFi lets you start prints remotely, which is convenient when running overnight batches. At $284, it's at the top of our $300 budget but earns every dollar. If you're printing for a regular D&D campaign or building a Warhammer army, this is the printer that will keep up with you for years. The 153x89x200mm build volume fits 6-10 standard 28mm minis per batch, or a single large monster/terrain piece.
Best Detail, Worth Going Over Budget
- Price
- $329
- Score
- 7.2/10
- Build
- 2.1 L
The Sonic Mini 8K S has the highest pixel density on this list, 22 microns per pixel on a 7.1-inch 8K screen. For miniature painters who obsess over detail, this is the printer. Features that are blurry on other printers, gemstones on a wizard's staff, scales on dragon skin, stitching on leather armor, resolve with crystalline sharpness. The 165x72x180mm build plate is slightly smaller than the Mars 5 Ultra, which means fewer minis per batch (4-6 at 28mm scale). But the detail quality compensates: you'll spend less time cleaning up post-processing artifacts because there are fewer to begin with. No tilt release means slightly lower success rates on very delicate prints, but proper supports and hollowing eliminate most issues. Phrozen resins are excellent for miniatures, their Aqua Grey resin in particular is beloved by mini painters for its neutral base color and crisp support removal. At $329, the Sonic Mini 8K S is the one pick over the $300 line, so buy it only if detail matters more than budget. For painters who care more about surface detail than batch size, this is the precision tool.
Best Value Mid-Range
- Price
- $240
- Score
- 7.8/10
- Build
- 1.9 L
The Mars 4 Ultra sits between the Mars 5 and budget options, offering 9K resolution at $240. It doesn't quite match the Mars 5's 14K detail or its tilt-release mechanism, but the difference is only visible under magnification or on sub-millimeter features. At tabletop viewing distance (2-3 feet), minis from the Mars 4 Ultra look identical to Mars 5 prints. The 153x77x165mm build volume is competitive and fits the same 6-8 mini batch size as the Mars 5. Print speeds are slightly slower, but for overnight batch printing, which is how most tabletop gamers print, speed differences are irrelevant. You set up 8 minis at bedtime and find them done in the morning regardless. The Mars 4 Ultra lacks the Mars 5's air purifier and WiFi, so budget for basic ventilation. But at $240 vs $284, you're saving $44 that buys several bottles of resin (enough for 100+ minis). For gamers who want great detail without the premium features, the Mars 4 Ultra is the smart money pick.
Cheapest Entry to Tabletop Printing
- Price
- $210
- Score
- 7.4/10
- Build
- 1.3 L
At $210, the Photon Mono 4 is the cheapest way to print D&D minis that look genuinely good. The 10K resolution produces clean detail at 28mm scale, not as crisp as the Mars 5 or Sonic Mini 8K, but dramatically better than any FDM printer at any price. Chainmail, faces, and weapons all resolve clearly. The fine details that separate a great mini from a good one (individual rivets, subtle fabric texture, tiny runes) are slightly softer, which matters to competitive painters but not to most tabletop gamers who just want cool minis on the table. The smaller build plate (134x75x130mm) fits 3-4 minis per batch, enough for a single encounter's worth of enemies. The lack of tilt release means you'll see occasional failures on prints with large cross-sections, but standard miniatures at 28mm rarely trigger this issue. No WiFi, no purifier, no frills, just a solid printer that makes minis. Pair it with Elegoo Standard Grey resin ($19/500ml, enough for ~50 minis) and you're printing a campaign's worth of custom figures for under $250 total. That's less than a single box of Games Workshop Warhammer infantry.
Discontinued, Buy the Mars 4 Ultra Instead
Elegoo Mars 4 · discontinued
- Price
- $149
- Score
- 7.2/10
- Build
- 1.9 L
The Mars 4 was the sweet spot for casual D&D players who want custom minis without investing heavily, and it is the one pick on this list you can no longer buy. Elegoo has superseded it with the Mars 5 line, the Amazon listing is gone, and Elegoo's own store shows the last remaining variant sold out. Buy the Mars 4 Ultra (pick 3) instead: it has the same build plate and adds tilt release. The rest of this entry is kept for anyone comparing against a used unit. It delivered 9K resolution on a 7-inch screen, more than enough detail for tabletop gaming. Surface quality is clean at standard viewing distances, and the build plate (153x77x165mm) is large enough for 5-6 minis per batch. Compared to the Mars 4 Ultra, you lose some resolution (9K vs 9K, but on a slightly different panel) and a few quality-of-life features, but the core printing performance is nearly identical. For a DM who prints a few minis per week for sessions, the Mars 4 handles the workload without issue. The Elegoo ecosystem is the biggest advantage: resins, accessories, and profiles are widely available, and the community support on Reddit and Discord is strong. When your first print fails (and it will, everyone's does), you'll find the answer in 5 minutes of searching. On the used market it is still a no-stress entry point for DMs who want custom minis without turning 3D printing into a second hobby, provided the seller can show the screen hours. Print, wash, cure, prime, paint, play.
