Consumer 3D printers come in two flavours. FDM printers melt plastic filament; resin printers cure liquid resin with light. They’re good at very different things, and picking the wrong one is the most common first-printer mistake.
How FDM printing works
Fused deposition modelling (FDM) pushes a spool of plastic filament through a hot nozzle and draws the object one thin layer at a time. It’s the technology behind every printer on our top picks list. Filament is cheap, comes in hundreds of colours and materials, and prints need almost no post-processing: pull the part off the bed and you’re done.
How resin printing works
Resin printers (MSLA or LCD printers) shine UV light through an LCD screen into a vat of liquid photopolymer resin, curing an entire layer at once. Because the resolution is set by the screen rather than a nozzle, detail is astonishing: crisp text, fine textures and tiny features that FDM simply cannot reproduce. Every print then needs washing in alcohol and curing under UV, and uncured resin is a skin irritant that has to be handled with gloves and good ventilation.
Side by side
| FDM | Resin | |
|---|---|---|
| Detail | Good | Exceptional |
| Strength | Strong, functional parts | Brittle unless you buy engineering resins |
| Part size | Large | Usually small |
| Mess and fumes | Minimal | Significant; needs gloves and ventilation |
| Post-processing | Remove supports | Wash, cure, remove supports |
| Running cost | Low | Moderate, plus consumables |
| Best for | Functional parts, prototypes, household objects, large models | Miniatures, figures, jewellery, dental and detail models |
Which should you buy?
Buy FDM if you want to make useful things: replacement parts, brackets, enclosures, tools, toys, cosplay props and anything larger than a mug. It’s cleaner, safer, cheaper to run, and it’s what we recommend for nearly everyone’s first printer.
Buy resin if you paint tabletop miniatures, sculpt figures, make jewellery or need dental-grade detail, and you have a well-ventilated space where the mess won’t matter. Many people end up owning one of each.
Ready to choose? Our buying guide covers the rest of the decision, and our picks by budget tell you what to buy.