Best resin 3D printer for miniatures and detail work: which desktop MSLA to buy

Buying a resin printer for miniatures comes down to one question before any talk of resolution: how big are the things you print? Every machine below is a desktop MSLA printer, and the catalog data shows they split cleanly into two families: compact ones with a small plate, and standard ones with a much bigger one. Pick the family first, the brand second.

All figures here come from our product pages. Prices are the catalog prices in euro and can move; check the shop before you buy.

The compact family: for figures, busts and small parts

These machines share a build area of about 153 mm wide, a depth of 78 to 87 mm and a height of 165 mm. That is plenty for gaming miniatures printed in batches, and for a single bust or a helmet in pieces.

Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra is the cheapest of the six at 249 euro in the catalog (listings range from 249 to 269). It has a 9K monochrome screen, a 153.36 x 77.76 x 165 mm build volume, 72 W of power and weighs 8.8 kg. If you are starting out and mostly print miniatures, this is where I would begin: it is the least money for the same plate as the Mars 4 Ultra.

Elegoo Mars 4 Ultra has the same plate size and the same 72 W, and a 9K mono LCD, but it is the 2023 model, weighs 7.1 kg and is listed at 329 euro. Unless you find it discounted well below the Mars 5 Ultra, the newer machine at 249 is the better buy. The Mars 4 Ultra only makes sense if a shop is clearing stock.

Anycubic Photon Mono 4 Ultra is the odd one out: 153.36 x 87.03 x 165 mm, so a slightly deeper plate, at just 4.1 kg and 66 W. It is listed at 299 euro. Choose it if the printer has to live on a shelf or a small desk and you will move it around; it is the lightest machine in this list by a wide margin. You pay 50 euro more than the Mars 5 Ultra for the extra depth and the low weight, so only do it if one of those two matters to you.

The standard family: for large models and full batches

The next three share a much bigger plate, roughly 220 x 125 mm with 220 to 230 mm of height. This is the size for a large bust, tall terrain pieces, or filling the plate with a whole army in one run.

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K offers 218.88 x 122.88 x 220 mm, weighs 14.5 kg and draws 144 W. The catalog price is 399 euro, although the price range we recorded runs from 479 to 499, so compare shops. It is also one of the resin pages people find most often through Bing on our site, which tells you the interest is real.

Anycubic Photon Mono M7 Pro gives you 223 x 126 x 230 mm, 12.8 kg and 150 W, at 499 euro. It has the tallest plate of the three and is lighter than the Saturn 4 Ultra 16K.

Creality HALOT-MAGE S 14K matches the M7 Pro on volume, 223 x 126 x 230 mm, weighs 13 kg and uses only 100 W. It is listed at 459 euro. It is the one to look at if you want the big plate for less than the Anycubic.

Who should buy what

If you print miniatures at gaming scale and nothing else, buy the Mars 5 Ultra and stop shopping. A bigger plate does not improve the detail of a small figure; it only lets you print more figures at once or larger ones.

If you want to print busts, cosplay parts or terrain, go to the standard family. Between the three, the Saturn 4 Ultra 16K is the pick if you find it near its 399 euro catalog price. At 479 euro or more, the HALOT-MAGE S 14K at 459 is the more sensible spend, and it also draws less power. The M7 Pro is for people who want the tallest plate and accept the highest price of the group.

If space and weight matter more than plate size, the Photon Mono 4 Ultra at 4.1 kg is the answer, and nothing else here comes close.

We list the specifications but we have not run these printers ourselves, so this guide says nothing about print quality that the data cannot support. What the numbers do say is clear: plate size, weight and power split these machines into two groups, and price then sorts them inside each group. Open the product pages above to see the full specifications of each one.