Which brands of 3D printers are most well-known?
Our 2022 annual survey is now complete, and one of the questions related to the most well-known brands of desktop 3D printers.
This is actually a difficult question, because there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of different 3D printer brands on the market today and even more from the past. While I’ve been around the space for over 15 years, I’ve seen many brands come and go. But most of our respondents have been involved in 3D printing for only two years or less. These folks have been exposed to far fewer brands, but their opinion is quite important.
In the survey respondents were presented with a long list of 3D printer brands. Note these were all desktop equipment, and we excluded professional brands (e.g. Ultimaker, MakerBot, etc.) and industrial equipment brands (e.g. EOS, 3D Systems, etc.) We respondents asked to rate their knowledge of these brands in one of three categories:
- Never heard of them
- Know something about them
- Know a lot about them
The results were compiled in a 0-1-2 point scoring system and scaled as a percent of the maximum points possible (100% of respondents “know a lot about them”).
A well-known brand is one that not only sells many devices, but also one that leverages social media and other platforms to make certain you know about them. The top players turn out to be exactly that.
In first place is Creality, the Shenzhen-based 3D printer manufacturer that seems to issue a new product or two every few months. They offer a very wide spectrum of equipment at low costs, and it’s no surprise they are the most well-known brand at 82.2%.
In second place is Prusa Research, ranking at 74.6%. The company has an outstanding reputation and brilliant online presence, so it’s logical to see them ranked here.
In third place is ANYCUBIC at a distant 59.3%. This company has been putting out great equipment for some time, and we’ve been able to review several pieces.
Elegoo is next at 55.5%. This company produces very well-regarded desktop resin 3D printers that helped open up the gaming figurine market.
Here’s the entire list:
| RANK | BRAND | FAMILIARITY LEVEL |
| 1 | Creality | 82.2% |
| 2 | Prusa | 74.6% |
| 3 | ANYCUBIC | 59.3% |
| 4 | Elegoo | 55.5% |
| 5 | Dremel | 51.8% |
| 6 | Flashforge | 50.9% |
| 7 | Monoprice | 39.6% |
| 8 | Snapmaker | 38.9% |
| 9 | LulzBot | 36.9% |
| 10 | Polaroid | 33.8% |
| 11 | Voron | 31.3% |
| 12 | ANET | 30.5% |
| 13 | Voxelab | 29.3% |
| 14 | Geeetech | 28.2% |
| 15 | Creatbot | 28.0% |
| 16 | XYZPrinting | 26.7% |
| 17 | Artillery | 25.6% |
| 18 | PHROZEN | 23.6% |
| 19 | TRONXY | 23.2% |
| 20 | FLSUN | 22.9% |
| 21 | BIQU | 22.6% |
| 22 | TEVO | 20.2% |
| 23 | Wanhao | 19.8% |
| 24 | QIDI | 15.0% |
| 25 | Longer3D | 12.9% |
| 26 | Cetus | 12.5% |
| 27 | HE3D | 11.0% |
| 28 | JGMaker | 9.3% |
| 29 | Easythreed | 8.9% |
| 30 | Kingroon | 7.4% |
| 31 | Tiertime | 5.8% |
| 32 | Syndaver | 5.5% |
I won’t go through all the entries, but I will point out a few brands I found positioned where I did not expect them.
Note that we did not include all possible brands in this survey as there are literally hundreds and no one would both answering such a long survey. Instead we handpicked those that we felt might be more well known than most.
LulzBot appears in ninth place. This seems low to me for a brand that at one point appeared to be near the top of popularity. It may be that they lost a bit of knowledge when they changed ownership, but I’m sure they will rise on the list.
Dremel appears in fifth place, even though it really isn’t a popular 3D printer. I suspect this is because respondents recognized the brand “Dremel” from their non-3D printer products. Nevertheless, brand recognition is brand recognition, and this is why they are important. Polaroid, in tenth place, seems to have had a similar effect on their ranking.
Snapmaker appears higher ranked than I would have thought, but their position might be due to their very loud presence online in social media and advertising. Evidently their strategy is working!
Voron is surprisingly well-known. This is a high-performance machine design that made by a very small team, but has gained incredibly popularity as the design is able to reliably achieve extremely high print speeds. For a 3D printer that must be built from parts, the brand recognition is notable.
Towards the bottom of the list is Tiertime, one of the oldest brands in the market. We reviewed the company’s original device, the Up! Desktop 3D printer way back in 2010. However, it seems their brand recognition has been surpassed by others. On the other hand, the company has focused more on the professional segment in recent times.
This list of brand recognition shows where buyers’ minds are positioned, but it’s important to remember that this is definitely NOT a list of the “best” 3D printers. These are only the most well-known 3D printer brands.
The best 3D printer, as always, is something you should evaluate yourself. Your needs are not necessarily the same as others, and it may be that the best machine for you just happens to be from a lesser known brand.
