PETG vs ABS: Which Should You Order for Your Part?
Almost every PETG versus ABS article is written for someone standing in front of their own printer, worrying about bed temperature and enclosure design. If you are ordering a part from someone else, none of that is your problem. Your problem is a dropdown on an order form and a decision you have to justify without ever touching the machine.
The buyer's version of this question is different, and it has a shorter answer. Two things decide it: the temperature your part will actually see, and whether it needs to be chemically bonded or smoothed. Everything else is a reason to pick PETG and move on.
PETG or ABS: which should you order for your part?
Order PETG unless your part will exceed about 65°C, needs acetone smoothing, or must be solvent-welded. PETG deflects at 68°C and ABS at about 100°C, both at 0.45 MPa, but ABS needs an enclosed printer, so it draws fewer bids and adds 2–4 days of lead time. For outdoor parts, order ASA instead of ABS.
Last verified: July 2026
Key takeaways
- •PETG deflects at 68°C (Prusament PETG) and ABS at about 100°C (Polymaker PolyLite ABS), both at 0.45 MPa. That 32°C gap is the main reason to choose ABS.
- •PETG generally tests stronger in tension; ABS is tougher under impact and handles heat better. Those are different properties, and vendors do not all publish tensile the same way.
- •ABS shrinks noticeably more than PETG while cooling, so large flat ABS parts warp without an enclosed printer. PETG prints flat on anything.
- •Expect 4-9 days of lead time on an ABS job against 2-5 days on PETG, purely because fewer makers can run it.
- •For outdoor parts, order ASA rather than ABS. ASA deflects at 93°C against ABS at about 100°C, close enough not to matter, with dramatically better UV stability for roughly $3-8/kg more.
The Only Two Questions That Matter
One: how hot does the part get? Not how hot the room is. The temperature the part itself reaches, in the worst case you can imagine. A bracket in a parked car in July, a spacer next to a power supply, a knob on a range bezel. If that number is comfortably under 65°C, PETG is fine. If it is above, or you genuinely do not know and cannot afford to be wrong, order ABS or ASA.
Two: does it need to be chemically bonded or smoothed? ABS dissolves in acetone. That is a manufacturing feature, not a weakness: it lets a maker solvent-weld two halves into a joint as strong as the parent material, and vapour-smooth the surface to a gloss finish with no sanding. PETG does neither. If your part is bigger than the build plate and has to be joined invisibly, that alone can decide it.
If both answers are no, order PETG. It is not a compromise. It is a genuinely better material for the majority of functional parts, and the reason it dominates the marketplace is not laziness.
Head to Head, With Numbers
The heat deflection figures below are Prusament PETG and Polymaker PolyLite ABS V5.5, both at a 0.45 MPa load to ISO 75, read July 2026; quoting HDT without the load is the most common way this comparison goes wrong. The remaining rows are given as directions rather than numbers on purpose: tensile figures are not comparable between brands that publish yield and brands that publish strength at break, and filament data sheets do not publish shrinkage at all. Printed parts also always test below injection-moulded values for the same polymer, because layer bonding is the weak axis.
| Property | PETG | ABS | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat deflection (0.45 MPa) | 68°C | ~100°C | The single biggest difference. 32°C of headroom is why ABS exists in this comparison at all. |
| Tensile strength | Higher | Lower | PETG resists being pulled apart harder. If your part is a strap, hook or tie, PETG is the stronger choice. Published megapascal figures are not comparable across brands, because some vendors report yield and others report strength at break. |
| Impact toughness | Moderate | High | ABS absorbs a sharp knock and deforms; PETG is more likely to crack. Dropped parts favour ABS. |
| Shrinkage on cooling | Low | Noticeably higher | Why a 200mm ABS baseplate lifts at the corners without an enclosure, and why big flat parts should be PETG. Filament data sheets do not publish shrinkage, so treat any precise percentage you see quoted with suspicion. |
| UV stability | Moderate, yellows slowly | Poor, chalks in one season | Neither is an outdoor material. Order ASA for anything in direct sun. |
| Solvent bonding and smoothing | No practical solvent | Acetone welds and vapour-smooths | Decides multi-part assemblies and any part that must look moulded rather than printed. |
| Printing constraints | Any open-frame printer | Enclosure and ventilation required | The practical reason ABS quotes come back slower and from fewer makers. |
What Each One Actually Costs You to Order
Filament price is the least interesting part of the difference. A 200g bracket contains roughly $4–7 of filament in either material, and no quote you receive will hinge on that. The real cost of choosing ABS is in bids and days.
Retail filament price per kilogram
PETG and ABS cost within a few dollars per kilogram of each other. Material price is almost never the deciding factor in a quote; ASA carries the only meaningful premium.
| material | Typical low | Typical high |
|---|---|---|
| PLA | $19 | $30 |
| PETG | $22 | $32 |
| ABS | $22 | $35 |
| ASA | $28 | $40 |
Source: Retail spool pricing sampled across mainstream filament brands, July 2026
Typical quoted turnaround by material, in days
ABS and ASA jobs take roughly twice as long to turn around as PETG, because only makers with an enclosed and ventilated printer can bid on them at all.
| material | Fastest typical | Slowest typical |
|---|---|---|
| PLA | 2 days | 4 days |
| PETG | 2 days | 5 days |
| ABS | 4 days | 9 days |
| ASA | 5 days | 10 days |
Source: 3D Print Bounty editorial estimate of typical quoted turnaround, July 2026. Indicative ranges, driven by how many makers can run each material at all.
If you want to see how material choice moves the total on a specific part, the 3D printing cost guide breaks down how filament, print hours and post-processing combine into a quote.
Order PETG For These, ABS For Those
Order PETG for: outdoor-adjacent brackets and mounts, anything that flexes or clips, large flat plates and panels, garden and greenhouse parts, water-contact parts, anything holding a load in tension, and every part where you are not certain what you need.
Order ABS for: parts near an engine, a heater or a power supply; parts that must be solvent-welded from multiple printed sections; parts you want vapour smoothed to a moulded finish; interior automotive trim; and enclosures that will be tapped, drilled or machined afterwards, since ABS cuts cleanly where PETG grabs.
Order ASA for: anything permanently outdoors. Roof mounts, garden sensor housings, boat fittings, letterbox parts, antenna brackets. It costs roughly $3–8 per kilogram more than ABS and is the only one of the three that still looks acceptable after two summers.
And a fourth answer people forget: if the part lives indoors, does not flex, and never gets warm, PLA is cheaper, more dimensionally accurate and printed by every maker on the platform. Our PLA vs PETG guide covers that half of the decision in detail, and it is the right starting point more often than this comparison is.
What to Write on the Order
Do not just name a material. Name the condition it has to survive, then name your preference. A maker who prints functional parts every week will correct you if the condition and the material do not match, and that correction is worth more than getting the dropdown right yourself.
Four lines cover it:
- Where it lives. "Mounted inside an engine bay" or "screwed to a garden fence, full sun". This is the line that changes the answer.
- How it is loaded. Pulled, bent, knocked, or just holding position. Tension favours PETG; impact favours ABS.
- Whether appearance matters. If you want a moulded look with no visible layers, say so, because that pushes toward ABS and vapour smoothing rather than hours of sanding.
- Your deadline. If you need it in three days, PETG is the answer regardless of what the temperature chart says.
Frequently asked questions
Should I order my part in PETG or ABS?
Order PETG unless the part will exceed about 65°C in service, needs acetone vapour smoothing, or must be solvent-welded to another piece. PETG deflects at 68°C against ABS at about 100°C, both at 0.45 MPa, but PETG prints on any machine, so quotes come back faster and from more makers.
Is ABS stronger than PETG?
Not in tension, on most published data. ABS wins on impact toughness and heat resistance: it absorbs a sharp knock without cracking and holds shape about 32°C higher, at 0.45 MPa. Be careful comparing tensile figures across brands, because some vendors publish tensile strength at break and others tensile yield. Strength and toughness are different properties, and most broken parts fail on toughness.
Why do fewer makers offer ABS?
ABS shrinks substantially more than PETG as it cools and warps off the bed without an enclosed, heated chamber, and it emits styrene while printing. That rules out any maker running a machine in a bedroom or shared space. On a marketplace you will see fewer bids and longer lead times on ABS jobs than PETG ones.
What is the difference between ABS and ASA for outdoor parts?
ASA is ABS with far better UV stability. ASA deflects at 93°C and ABS at about 100°C at 0.45 MPa, close enough that heat is not the deciding factor, and they print the same way. ABS chalks and yellows after a season of direct sun while ASA holds colour for years. For anything mounted outdoors, pay the roughly $3–8 per kg premium for ASA rather than ordering ABS and repainting it.
Is PETG or ABS better for a car interior part?
ABS or ASA. A 2018 Arizona State University and UC San Diego study of cars parked in Tempe, Arizona measured dashboards averaging 69°C after one hour in the sun, which is right at the 68°C heat deflection temperature published for PETG, and interior trim is what ABS was originally specified for in automotive manufacturing. For a part in the footwell or under a seat, PETG is fine and much easier to source.
Let the Makers Pick the Material
Post what the part has to do and where it lives. Makers bid with a material recommendation attached, so you can compare the reasoning as well as the price, and your payment stays in escrow until you approve photos.