Best Cheap PLA Filament from Amazon: What to buy?

From time to time, I get asked about what is the best cheap PLA filament from Amazon. Of course, “best” and “cheap” usually doesn’t mix very well, but there’s still a few popular choices which have good price/performance ratio and I will list them below.

Popular Pick for Cheap PLA: Overture PLA

I believe Overture PLA is probably the most popular filament on Amazon for 3D printing, especially in USA. It has over 20.000 reviews with a 4.5 star rating, ±0.03mm tolerance and a decent range of colors.

I have personally not used it, but for around 18$/spool for regular filament, it’s a relatively cheap PLA for Amazon that it’s used by a lot of people.

The only downside I see is the use of cardboard spools, which would make it incompatible with the regular AMS from Bambu Lab, but if you are using an AMS lite, it should work great. Or, you can print some rings for the sides and it could also work.

Great Selection and Affordable Price: Polymaker PLA

Of course, there’s Polymaker with their wide range of PLA filament which is available on Amazon. They have the regular PolyLite PLA but I also recommend looking into the PolyTerra PLA which is excellent for when you need a matte finish.

Their filament is around ~20$ per spool, with a ±0.03 mm tolerance, and while they don’t have a very high number of reviews on Amazon (just a few thousand) they are still a very popular choice and a well-known brand in the 3D printing community. Besides that, they probably have the widest selection of colors available, including different textures, so they are an easy recommendation.

Polymaker filament is using cardboard spools but usually they work fine with the AMS as long as the spool is not damaged in any way and it spins freely. I have successfully used it in multi-day prints in my Bambu Lab X1 review without any trouble.

They also just introduced the PolySonic PLA Pro which is a specially formulated high-flow PLA made to be used with the latest fast 3D printers on the market, like the Bambu Lab X1 or the Creality K1 series.

Popular Cheap PLA Alternative: ELEGOO PLA

I have seen a lot of good feedback about ELEGOO’s PLA and I also used it successfully with good results. It has over 2300 reviews with a 4.4 star rating, boasts a ±0.02mm tolerance and probably the best part: it is very cheap.

For just 22$ at the time of writing this article, you can get 2 rolls of PLA Black which is an excellent price for regular PLA. You can even get a pack of 10 spools of Black PLA for only 108$ which ends up being less than 11$/spool which is a total steal!

They have a relatively good color selection, but for other colors the price is around 15$-17$, which is still quite good. And a bonus: even though the spools are made from cardboard, the sides have smoother finish which could make the spools work in the Bambu Lab AMS.

Worthy Mention: SUNLU PLA

SUNLU PLA is a filament I used extensively, and judging by the Amazon ratings, it’s still a popular choice for a lot of people. It has over 16500 reviews with a 4.4 star rating, boasts a ±0.02mm tolerance and comes on a plastic spool.

The price is not amazing, at around ~18$/spool for black and ~23$/spool for other colors but it’s still decent. They have a good color selection and usually it’s in stock.

What made me jump ship and use other filaments is the slight inconsistency for SUNLU. I had a lot of good experiences with their filament, but twice, I was lucky enough to get very inconsistent filament which printed at totally different temperatures, which ruined a few prints.

Overall, I would recommend it only if you find a good deal on it, otherwise I would recommend ELEGOO instead.

Wrapping Up

I hope this short selection has helped you find some cheap PLA filament on Amazon. If you are using other filament from Amazon which is good, please leave a comment, so others know about it.

After you get your order, don’t forget to dry your filament. While the filament is usually expected to be dry out of the bag, it still helps to dry it for a few hours just to make sure you are getting the best print results.