This year, we tested and reviewed the latest generation of 3D printers. While they were all excellent, 8 of them really stood out to me as top-performers for accuracy, speed, and print quality (and you’ll already spot several of them in my guide to the best 3D printers).
It’s been an exciting year for 3D printing, and we’ve seen some serious innovation in the space. Of particular note are units from the likes of Bambu Lab, with its refined P2S and large-format H2S units, and Prusa, which developed its first fully enclosed 3D printers.
Thanks to the mass adoption of CoreXY kinetics, AI failure detection, speeds now routinely topping 600mm/s, it feels to me that 3D printing is moving away from its hobbyist curiosity origins and towards reliable, high-speed units for businesses, creators, and crafters. As hardware editor for TechRadar Pro, I’ve selected the machines that genuinely impressed us for precision and print quality across a range of budgets.
Creality Hi
Exceptional quality for the cost
For the cost, nothing came close to the Creality Hi in 2025 – and after review it went straight into my 3D printer guide. Considering it’s an entry-level 3D printer, it’s jam-packed with features, single filament printing is very fast, and multi-filament printing is some of the most impressive we’ve ever seen from any 3D printer.
Read our full Creality Hi review
Bambu Lab H2D
Excellent performance across the board
The Bambu Lab H2D rocketed to the top of my 3D printer guide post-review – it really is an exceptional machine suitable for just about any office, workshop, or home. Grab the 4-in-1 version and you get a laser cutter, engraver, and digital plotter, all of which performed brilliantly during our tests. Overall, we found it one of the most impressive 3D printers on the market.
Read our full Bambu Lab H2D review
Creality K2 Plus
A top pick for professionals
Outstanding speeds, outstanding build quality, and outstanding prints – the Creality K2 Plus was one of our highlights of the year. It’s one of the next-generation 3D printers, and feels like a genuine step forward. It performs like a truly professional-grade machine perfectly suited for business and educational use.
Read our full Creality K2 Plus review
Elegoo Centauri Carbon
A single filament mid-range marvel
The Elegoo Centauri Carbon might be a mid-range, entry-level machine, but don’t let that fool you. It’s one of a number of new CoreXY fully enclosed machines we tried this year with support for carbon fibre materials out of the box. Considering it’s relatively inexpensive and only supports single filament printing, we were seriously impressed with the build quality, design, print speeds, and ease of use. Its main competitor is more than double the cost, too.
Read our full Elegoo Centauri Carbon review
Bambu Lab H2S
Fast prints with a huge build volume
The Bambu Lab H2S delivered enterprise-level features and a huge print volume during our tests, and all at an extremely affordable price compared to rivals. The single-nozzle hotend is, we discovered, highly tuned for precision and quality, and after tweaking a few of the options, we found we could unleash speeds that were up to 30% faster than standard settings.
Read our full Bambu Lab H2S review
Original Prusa Core One
A superb B2B 3D printer
We reviewed this at the start of the year and it’s been a firm favorite since. The Core One is ultra-fast, boasts exceptional print accuracy and quality, and the best choice for professional use. Later this year, Prusa launched the Core One L, which almost doubles the print volume while retaining the compact size of the unit (it’s only about 10% larger). But for general B2B use, the original Core One remains one of the best we tested in 2025.
Read our full Original Prusa Core One review
Bambu Lab P2S
A strong contender for best overall
We loved almost everything about the Bambu Lab P2S, which was in the running for best overall in my 3D printer guide. While it does feel a little last-gen compared to the new models hitting the market, it’s easy to use, ultra-reliable, and the price is excellent. After several weeks of testing and over 300 hours of print time, we experienced no failures at all – and not many multi-filament 3D printers can boast that.
Read our full Bambu Lab P2S review
Bambu Lab H2C
Ideal for engineers and studios
The Bambu Lab H2C is a genuinely exceptional machine, particularly if you’re an engineer, business, or studio looking to create prototype models. This innovative machine boasts seven filaments right out of the box, and when we compared it to the Snapmaker J1, we saw just how good the print quality and dimensional accuracy really were. Overall, it feels like a more solid, pro-level machine. But most importantly, we finally have a 3D printer that unlike rivals like the Prusa XL produces little to no waste.
Read our full Bambu Lab H2C review
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