The Best ABS Filament

We have not printed any of these spools. Everything below is what each manufacturer publishes, read carefully — and the most useful finding is that they do not agree with each other. One says an enclosure is required; another says recommended. One publishes a maximum speed more than four times another’s. Those disagreements are the real content of this page.

How we judged these

ABS is the material where published data matters most, because it is the material most likely to fail in ways a beginner cannot diagnose. Four criteria, set before we looked at any spool:

1. Does it publish a chamber temperature? The single most important ABS figure and the one almost nobody prints. Bed and nozzle temperatures are easy; the air around the part is what decides whether it stays on the plate.

2. Is it honest about the requirements? A brand that says “enclosure required” is more use to you than one that says “recommended” and lets you find out.

3. Are the settings complete? Nozzle, bed, speed and a drying procedure. A gap in that list is a gap you fill by guessing.

4. Diameter tolerance. Less critical on ABS than on fine-detail PLA work, but still a real indicator of manufacturing control.

We did not rank on price. All three sit within a couple of dollars of each other and that is not where the decision is.

Before you buy: is ABS actually the material you need?

What ABS is genuinely good at: heat resistance well beyond PLA and PETG, toughness that survives being dropped, and the ability to be smoothed with acetone vapor into a finish no other common filament matches. Tool handles, brackets near a heat source, automotive interior parts, enclosures for electronics that warm up.

What it is bad at: everything about the printing process. It shrinks hard as it cools, which is why the chamber matters. It needs glue on the plate. It smells strongly. And it does none of that better than ASA if the part is going outside — our ABS versus ASA comparison and outdoor filament guide both land on ASA for sun exposure.

The enclosure requirement, and where the brands disagree

This is the part worth reading twice, because the three manufacturers do not say the same thing about the same material.

The speed row is the one to sit with. Elegoo publishes a ceiling of 220 mm/s. Polymaker publishes a range of 30-50 mm/s. These are the same material, and that is a gap of more than four times. We cannot reconcile them and we are not going to pretend otherwise — neither company publishes the test conditions behind its number.

The practical read: treat Polymaker’s 30-50 mm/s as where to start on a first ABS print and Elegoo’s 220 mm/s as what a well-tuned, properly heated enclosed machine might reach. Starting at the top of that range on a first attempt is how you get a warped part and no idea which variable caused it.

The chamber row matters just as much. Elegoo’s 45-60 C is the only published chamber figure we found, and it quietly rules something out: a fabric enclosure tent over an open-frame printer will not reach it. A tent traps whatever heat the bed and hot end give off; it has no heater and Creality publishes no temperature for it. If you are buying ABS on the basis that you will add a tent, that plan does not meet Elegoo’s own stated requirement.

The picks

1. Elegoo ABS — best documented

Elegoo publishes what the others leave out: a 45-60 C chamber temperature, a 240-280 C nozzle range, a 90-100 C bed that it notes depends on your printer and plate type, a speed ceiling under 220 mm/s, a 20 percent RH storage limit and a recommended nozzle of 0.2 mm or larger. It also states two requirements flatly — enclosed printing required, build plate glue required.

That second one is genuinely useful. Plenty of people print their first ABS part on a bare PEI plate, watch a corner lift, and start changing temperatures. Elegoo tells you before you buy that glue is part of the process for this material.

The honest downsides. Glue is an extra consumable and an extra step, and it has to be cleaned off the plate afterwards. The published 220 mm/s sits uncomfortably far from Polymaker’s figure, as covered above. The 45-60 C chamber is not reachable on the cheap tent enclosures many people pair with ABS. It sells mainly through Elegoo’s own store rather than being stocked everywhere. And it publishes no diameter tolerance, which Overture does.

2. Polymaker PolyLite ABS — best for a first ABS print

Polymaker publishes 245-265 C at the nozzle, 90-100 C at the bed, a conservative 30-50 mm/s, and — alone among these three — a drying procedure: 70 C for six hours. Polymaker’s documentation is the best in the filament business generally, and that consistency is why it appears across this site from PLA to PETG to ASA.

Polymaker also markets this specifically as a low-warp, low-odor ABS and lists an enclosure that can trap ambient air and keep it hot under the hardware you need. Both claims point at the same thing: this is the spool aimed at someone printing ABS for the first time.

The 30-50 mm/s range is the reason this is the right first ABS spool even though it is not the best documented overall. Slow printing gives each layer time to bond to the one under it, and layer adhesion is exactly what fails when ABS goes wrong. Starting where the manufacturer says to start is how you learn whether your machine can do ABS at all.

The honest downsides. 30-50 mm/s is genuinely slow on a machine rated to 500, and an ABS part at that speed is a long print. Polymaker publishes no chamber temperature, which is the figure that would tell you whether your enclosure is warm enough. It publishes no diameter tolerance on this product page. And its bed range tops out at 100 C, which on a Bambu P1S means running the plate at its published maximum with no headroom.

3. Overture ABS — tightest tolerance

Overture publishes +/- 0.02 mm diameter accuracy and names the method behind it: a CCD diameter measuring system with closed-loop adaptive manufacturing control. That is more than most brands offer, and Overture applies the same standard across its range, which is why it is our default pick in the brand comparison. It also publishes the widest bed range here at 90-110 C, ships vacuum sealed with desiccant, and has a glossy finish that suits display parts.

The honest downsides, and they are why it is third. Overture calls an enclosed chamber “recommended”. Elegoo calls it required, and Elegoo is closer to the truth — a tall ABS part in open air will curl off the plate regardless of which word the product page uses. It publishes no printing speed at all, which is the figure you most want when stepping up from PLA, and no drying temperature or time, so a spool that has absorbed moisture leaves you guessing. Its nozzle ceiling is the lowest here at 250 C. And a glossy finish shows layer lines and blemishes that a matte surface hides.

What you actually need alongside the spool

A genuinely enclosed printer. Not a tent. Our enclosed printer roundup covers the machines; the Centauri Carbon 2 and the P1S are the two most people end up choosing.

Ventilation. ABS smells strongly, and this is the one material where that is worth planning for rather than tolerating. Our ventilation and filtration page is honest that for PLA you need nothing and for ABS you need something.

Glue, if you follow Elegoo’s guidance. A basic glue stick. This is one of the few cases where the adhesive that bundle sellers push is actually justified — see the bundle guide for when it is not.

Dry storage. Elegoo publishes a 20 percent RH limit. Sealed boxes and desiccant cost very little; a dryer is the month-three purchase. Our storage guide covers the difference.

Settings to start with, and why

Use the manufacturer’s published numbers for the spool you actually bought — they are on this page and they differ. Beyond that, three things matter more than any temperature tweak:

Keep the door shut and the room still. Opening an enclosure mid-print drops the chamber temperature and you will see it as a split in the layers at exactly that height.

Slow the first layer right down and give it a hot bed. Almost every ABS failure starts at the plate.

Turn part cooling down or off. This is the setting that surprises people coming from PLA. PLA wants the fan; ABS cools too fast with it and the layers stop bonding.

The short version

If you do not have an enclosed printer, buy PETG and come back to this page when you do. If the part is going outside, buy ASA. If you have the machine and need the heat resistance: Elegoo ABS for the published requirements, Polymaker for a cautious first print, Overture if consistency of diameter matters most to you and you accept two missing figures.