If you’ve just unboxed your first 3D printer, the honest answer is: start with PLA. It’s the easiest material to print, the most forgiving of a beginner’s mistakes, and the cheapest to experiment with while you’re still learning your machine. PETG and ABS both have real advantages, but neither is where you want to spend your first few rolls.
Here’s why, what it actually costs, and when you’ll outgrow it.
Why PLA Is the Right Starting Material
PLA prints at a lower temperature (190-220°C nozzle, little to no heated bed required), doesn’t warp the way ABS does, and doesn’t need a fully enclosed printer to come out looking good. If your first print curls off the bed or your retraction settings are wrong, PLA is the material most likely to still give you a usable result while you work out what went wrong.
It also has almost no smell while printing and doesn’t release the fumes ABS does, which matters if your printer lives on a desk in a bedroom or lounge rather than a garage.
The trade-off: PLA is more brittle than PETG or ABS and softens in direct sun or a hot car. For display models, gifts, prototypes, and most of what a new printer owner actually makes in the first few months, that trade-off doesn’t matter yet.
What PLA Actually Costs in South Africa
A standard 1kg spool of PLA runs R295 — that’s true across Creality’s Ender PLA range and Soleyin’s Ultra PLA range, both available in a wide colour spread. If you want something with a bit more character than a flat colour, ERYONE’s Silk PLA (R395) gives a shinier, more reflective finish for the same print settings, and their Hyper Speed Matte Gradient Rainbow PLA (R415) shifts colour through the print without you touching a setting.
None of these need anything special — the same 190-220°C nozzle range works across all of them, so you’re not reconfiguring your printer to try a different colour or finish.
PETG: Where You’ll Probably Go Next
Once you’ve got a handful of clean prints behind you, PETG is the natural next material. It’s stronger and more flexible than PLA, handles heat far better (useful for anything that sits in a car or near a window), and doesn’t go brittle with age the way PLA eventually can.
The trade-off is that PETG strings more than PLA if your retraction isn’t dialled in, and it needs a slightly hotter nozzle (around 230-250°C). It’s not hard — it’s just not the material you want to be learning your printer’s quirks on at the same time as learning a new material’s quirks.
Creality’s CR-PETG runs R295 a spool and comes in eight colours including a transparent option, which is genuinely useful for anything you want light to pass through — light diffusers, lamp shades, that kind of thing.
ABS: Save It for Later
ABS is stronger again than PETG and handles heat better still, which is why it’s the material behind a lot of functional automotive and engineering parts. But it warps if your bed isn’t heated evenly, needs an enclosure to print reliably, and puts out fumes you’ll want ventilation for.
None of that is beginner-friendly. Creality’s CR-ABS (R325, black or white) is worth having once you’ve got a printer with a heated bed you trust and a space you can ventilate properly — not for your first ten prints.
A Simple Way to Decide
If you’re asking “what filament should I buy first,” the answer doesn’t need to be complicated:
- First 10-20 prints: PLA. Any colour, any brand from the list above — they all print the same way.
- Once PLA prints reliably: try PETG for anything that needs to survive heat or flex a little.
- Once you’ve got a heated bed and ventilation sorted: ABS, if your project actually needs the extra strength.
Most beginners never need to “graduate” past PLA and PETG for hobby printing — ABS is really a functional-parts material, not a beginner one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a heated bed for PLA?
No. PLA prints fine on an unheated bed, though a heated bed (50-60°C) helps first-layer adhesion, especially on larger flat prints.
Is PETG harder to print than PLA?
A bit — mainly around stringing and slightly trickier retraction settings. It’s still well within reach for a beginner on their second or third material.
What’s the difference between standard PLA and PLA+?
PLA+ (like Creality’s Ender PLA+, R325) is a reformulated PLA that’s less brittle and holds up better to light impacts, at a small premium over standard PLA. Worth it for anything that’ll get handled a lot.
Can I mix brands on the same printer?
Yes — PLA is PLA. Switching between Creality, Soleyin and ERYONE spools on the same printer needs no settings changes beyond what you’d already adjust between colours.
Browse the full PLA filament range to see current colours and stock, or head straight to Creality Ender PLA if you want the simplest possible starting point.