Prusa Research (often referred to as just Prusa) is a Czech company that produces

3D printer 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

s, and was the world's second largest 3D printer manufacturer in 2020. It was founded in 2012 by Josef Průša, a developer in the

RepRap RepRap (a contraction of ''replicating rapid prototyper'') is a project to develop low-cost 3D printers that can print most of their own components. As open designs, all of the designs produced by the project are released under a free software l ...

project which has a strong emphasis on

open-source hardware Open-source hardware (OSH, OSHW) consists of physical artifact (software development), artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by th ...

. In the past, all printers produced by the company were

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

– their

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

plans were fully available online and anyone could use them, for example to improve an existing printer. Some examples are the

Prusa i3 The Prusa i3 is a family of fused filament fabrication 3D printers, manufactured by Czech company Prusa Research under the trademarked name Original Prusa i3. Part of the RepRap project, Prusa i3 printers were called the most used 3D printer in ...

, Prusa Mini and Prusa XL. As of 2023, the company started partially abandoning this open-source concept due to competition from others (including their open-source software being used by competitor Bambu Lab), and in 2024 launched their second

CoreXY CoreXY is a technique used to move the printhead of a 3D printer or the toolhead in CNC machines in the horizontal plane. The advantage of this technique is that the two motors used to perform the movement in the horizontal plane are stationary and ...

printer Prusa Core One which is no longer fully open-source.

Hardware

Prusa Research currently as of 2025 offers the FDM printers Prusa MK4S, Prusa XL, Prusa MINI+, and Prusa CORE One. The MK4S and MINI+ use a traditional cartesian design; the CORE One and the XL uses

kinematics. In addition to these, Prusa Research also offers the Prusa SL1S SLA printer. With Trilab, the company is further developing the Prusa PRO product line. This includes the Prusa Pro HT90 and Prusa Pro SLX printer models. Accessories for the printers can be purchased in the form of the Enclosure, the Prusa CW1S washing and curing station for SLA printing, and the MMU3 multimaterial upgrade. The company offers upgrades for almost all of its printers - for example, you can upgrade the Prusa i3 MK3S+ to the Prusa MK4.

Original Prusa Trademark

Due to the open source nature of products based on the Prusa designs, Prusa trademarked the name Original Prusa to differentiate from Prusa Research's open source products. Current products not denoted with the Original Prusa name are not completely open source.

Software

Prusa Research also develops its own software.

PrusaSlicer

Prusa Research software products includes the open-source PrusaSlicer (GNU Affero General Public License v3.0), based on Alessandro Ranellucci's

Slic3r Slic3r is free software 3D slicing engine for 3D printers. It generates G-code from 3D CAD files (STL or OBJ). Once finished, an appropriate G-code file for the production of the 3D modeled part, or object is sent to the 3D printer for the ma ...

, a well-known 3D model preparation program that is no longer being updated with new features and settings. In PrusaSlicer, profiles can be created for any 3D printer on the market, meaning that one does not need to own a Prusa printer to use the program.

Prusa EasyPrint

Prusa EasyPrint is a lightweight web-based tool for online slicing 3D models. It processes models in the cloud using the PrusaSlicer, making 3D printing easily accessible from any device. It offers basic model manipulation and print settings, specifically designed for ease of use by beginners and professionals.

Prusa Connect

Prusa launched Prusa Connect. An online management system for printers and print farms. It allows to control the machine and send printjobs and files remotely. The predecessor of PrusaConnect is PrusaLink which was a LAN only based system. As of 2025 you can connect the Prusa Core One, MK4 and higher, Prusa MINI, Prusa XL, Prusa HT90, Prusa CW1S and with the help of a

Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi ( ) is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in collaboration with Broadcom Inc., Broadcom. To commercialize the product and support its growing demand, the ...

even the older models such as the MK2 and derivatives and the MK3 lineup. The Prusa Connect also works in collaboration with the app.

Prusa App

Along with the introduction of the Prusa MK4S series, Prusa also released its native mobile app for monitoring and basic control of its PrusaConnect connected printers. It is also used for initial printer setup and belt maintenance. The app also features Printables integration and the ability to print models directly from a mobile phone with the newly introduced EasyPrint feature.

Printables

Printables.com is an online library of 3D models developed by Prusa, where users can share their models, alterations to other models, called Remixes, and publish their printed results under the author's original model. It thus competes directly with platforms such as MakerWorld from Bambu Lab or

Thingiverse Thingiverse is a website dedicated to the sharing of user-created digital design files. Providing primarily free, open-source hardware designs licensed under the GNU General Public License or Creative Commons licenses, the site allows contributor ...

. The EasyPrint feature is now available for Prusa printers, enabling cloud slicing for printing from mobile devices or less powerful computers.{{Cite web , last=Průša , first=Josef , date=2022-03-30 , title=PrusaPrinters.org is now Printables.com - The Ultimate Database of 3D Models for Everyone! , url=https://blog.prusa3d.com/prusaprinters-org-is-now-printables-com-ultimate-database-of-3d-models-for-everyone_66880/ , access-date=2025-03-31 , website=Original Prusa 3D Printers , language=en-US

References

Companies established in 2012 Companies of the Czech Republic 3D printer companies