Prusa 3D Printers and PLA

Prusa Research in brief

Prusa Research sells its printers from prusa3d.com with a technical parameters table on each product page, runs the Prusa Knowledge Base at help.prusa3d.com, and makes its own filament under the Prusament name. Three printers are covered here: the Original Prusa MK4S, the Core One and the Original Prusa MINI+. One thing sets Prusa's tables apart from most rivals: none of the three pages we read states a maximum print speed in mm/s. Comparisons below therefore lean on build volume, enclosure, extruder type and multi-material support rather than a headline speed.

Which Prusa printer suits which buyer

• You want an enclosed printer for PLA today and ABS or ASA later: Core One. Prusa lists ABS, ASA, HIPS and PA as advanced materials for it.
• You prefer an open frame you can see and reach into: MK4S. Prusa sells an enclosure separately, and its page says ABS, ASA, HIPS and PA need that enclosure with the filtration add-on.
• You print small parts and want the smallest footprint: MINI+.
• You want several colors from one nozzle: MK4S or Core One, both of which take the MMU3. The MINI+ does not.

Original Prusa MK4S

The MK4S product page (opens in a new tab) lists a 250 x 210 x 220mm build volume, a 290°C nozzle and a 120°C bed. Prusa calls it an open bed-slinger design. It uses the Nextruder direct drive with a 0.4mm High-flow Prusa Nozzle in brass CHT, load-cell auto mesh leveling, Ethernet and a removable Wi-Fi module that ships with the printer. A camera is an optional add-on. Without the enclosure, Prusa lists PLA, PETG, Flex, PVA, PC, PP, CPE and PVB. Prusa launched the MK4S in 2024.

Core One

The Core One page (opens in a new tab) describes a fully enclosed CoreXY printer with a 250 x 220 x 270mm volume, a 290°C nozzle, a 120°C bed and a chamber that reaches 55°C. It shares the Nextruder and the brass CHT nozzle with the MK4S and has load-cell first layer calibration. For multi-material, the page lists the MMU3 for five filaments and INDX for up to eight. The same URL now sells the Core One+ and says it keeps the Core One platform, so check which version an offer describes.

Original Prusa MINI+

Prusa's MINI+ parameters (opens in a new tab) give a 180 x 180 x 180mm volume, a 280°C nozzle and a 100°C bed. Unlike the other two, it feeds filament through a Bowden system with 3:1 gearing rather than a direct drive. The 0.4mm nozzle is E3D V6 compatible, leveling is automatic through a SuperPINDA probe, and Wi-Fi is an optional accessory. Prusa's comparison table says it does not support the MMU3. Its material list is long, from PLA and PETG to ASA, PC, nylon and wood-filled grades.

How the three differ

The MK4S and Core One are close on paper. The Core One trades the open frame for a chamber and gains 50mm of height. The MINI+ is a different class: smaller, Bowden-fed and single-material.

Alternatives to Prusa

• Bambu Lab: the enclosed P1S and the open A1 cover similar ground with their own AMS feeders.
• Creality: the K1 series offers enclosed CoreXY frames with hardened steel nozzles as standard.
• QIDI: heated-chamber printers for buyers who lean toward engineering filaments.
• Sovol: the SV08 offers a much larger CoreXY bed for big PLA parts.

Filament and Prusa printers

All three printers take 1.75mm filament. Prusa's own Prusament PLA (opens in a new tab) is listed at 200 to 220°C with a 40 to 60°C bed, a 0.02mm diameter tolerance and a 200mm/s maximum, in 1kg and 2kg spools. Those numbers sit well inside every Prusa printer's limits.

The stock brass nozzle is not meant for carbon-filled spools. Prusa's Knowledge Base lists a hardened nozzle and ObXidian for Nextruder printers (opens in a new tab), and its E3D V6 nozzle article (opens in a new tab) covers hardened steel options for the MINI+ hotend. The site checks individual spools against each machine on the MK4S filament list, the Core One filament list and the MINI+ filament list. Spool offers there show when the price was last verified with Amazon, and switch to "Check price at Amazon" once that is more than 24 hours old.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Core One enclosed?

Yes. Prusa describes it as a fully enclosed CoreXY printer with a chamber that reaches 55°C. The MK4S is open, with an enclosure sold separately.

How fast are Prusa printers?

Prusa does not state a maximum mm/s figure on the MK4S, Core One or MINI+ pages we read, so we do not quote one. Compare them on build volume, enclosure and extruder instead.

Can the MINI+ print in several colors?

Not with Prusa's multi-material unit. Prusa's comparison table lists MMU3 support as no for the MINI+.

Do I have to use Prusament on a Prusa printer?

No. Any 1.75mm PLA whose published temperature range fits the printer will work. Prusament's 200 to 220°C range is simply one well documented option.