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Find the best 3D printer for your money - specs vs. price, no marketing noise.

Best resin 3D printers under £500

Updated 18 September 2026 · Live prices on every page load from United Kingdom marketplaces

Ranked off live United Kingdom marketplaces prices plus the specs that actually matter on a resin machine: XY pixel size (finer is better), build volume, and light-source technology. Bigger numbers don't always mean better prints - but they do mean more headroom for miniatures, dental work and jewellery casting. Resin is messier than FDM; expect to spend time on wash, cure and nitrile gloves.

  1. #1
    ELEGOO MARSMATE Air Purifier
    ELEGOO
    MARSMATE Air Purifier
    £90 MSLA · 18 µm XY · 2.1 L · 8520*4320
  2. #2
    ELEGOO Mars 4 Ultra 9K Resin
    ELEGOO
    Mars 4 Ultra 9K Resin
    £189 MSLA · 18 µm XY · 2.0 L · 8520x4320
  3. #3
    ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra 9K Resin
    ELEGOO
    Mars 5 Ultra 9K Resin
    £270 MSLA · 18 µm XY · 2.0 L · 8520 x 4320
  4. #4
    ELEGOO Saturn 3 Resin 10-Inch 12K
    ELEGOO
    Saturn 3 Resin 10-Inch 12K
    £280 MSLA · 19 µm XY · 6.7 L · 11520x5120
  5. #5
    ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 12K
    ELEGOO
    Saturn 4 Ultra 12K
    £349 MSLA · 19 µm XY · 5.9 L
  6. #6
    PHROZEN Sonic Mini 8K LCD Resin
    PHROZEN
    Sonic Mini 8K LCD Resin
    £214 MSLA · 22 µm XY · 1.6 L · 7680 x 4320
  7. #7
    PHROZEN Sonic Mini 8K S LCD Resin
    PHROZEN
    Sonic Mini 8K S LCD Resin
    £323 MSLA · 22 µm XY · 1.6 L · 8K
  8. #8
    ELEGOO 16K Monochrome LCD OEM & Aftermarket Spare
    ELEGOO
    16K Monochrome LCD OEM & Aftermarket Spare
    £199 MSLA · 23 µm XY · 14.8 L
  9. #9
    ANYCUBIC Photon P1 14K Resin
    ANYCUBIC
    Photon P1 14K Resin
    £500 MSLA · 16.8 µm XY · 0.6 L
  10. #10
    MALYAN S100 Mini Resin
    MALYAN
    S100 Mini Resin
    £120 SLA · 12 µm XY · 0.1 L

Matt's take on this budget

£500 gets you properly serious: Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra, Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K, Anycubic Photon M7 territory. 9-10K screens, larger beds, faster cure times. This is the tier where resin stops being a hobbyist-only tool and starts being viable for Etsy sellers and small commercial work. The caveat is still the workflow - a bigger build plate means bigger IPA baths and longer cure cycles.

Frequently asked

What is the best resin 3D printer under £500? +

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra, Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K and Anycubic Photon M7 Pro are the current top-of-tier machines. The live shortlist above tracks price shifts as Amazon pricing moves.

Is £500 enough to start a miniatures business? +

Hardware-wise, yes. Many successful Etsy mini sellers run Saturn 4 Ultra-class machines. The bottleneck is not the printer - it is wash-and-cure throughput, packaging, and the resin hazards you have to manage at volume.

Mono or colour LCD at this price? +

Monochrome, always, in 2026. Colour LCD resin printers are obsolete - slower cure times, worse pixel alignment, shorter screen life. If a listing at £500 still shows colour LCD, move on.

Other resin budgets
Resin under £200 Resin under £300 Resin under £1000 Resin under £2000
Or switch to FDM: Best FDM under £500 →

Related reading

Long readFDM vs resin 3D printingWhen each process wins, where each fails, and why most beginners should start with FDM.Read →Long readHow to pick your first 3D printerSpec by spec, what actually matters on a first printer and what the marketing hopes you will not question.Read →

Ranking is driven by the spec sheet plus live price. Print quality on resin also depends heavily on the slicer, the resin itself, exposure tuning and post-processing - none of which are on the spec sheet. Treat this as a shortlist, read owner reports, then buy.