Comparison

Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra vs Anycubic Photon Mono M5s: Which Should You Buy? (2026)

By the Daniel Bohannon team · 2026-07-25

The badges make this look like a resolution contest, and it isn't. The Anycubic Photon Mono M5s advertises 12K and the Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra advertises 9K, but those numbers count pixels across very different screens. Divide pixels by screen size and the Mars 5 Ultra lands on the finer pixel of the two. The real choice is a small printer with tighter pixels against a larger printer that fits far more on the plate, and that choice quietly decides how much you spend on wash-and-cure gear afterward.

The pixel math, plainly

The Mars 5 Ultra uses a 7-inch mono LCD at 8,520 × 4,320, which works out to roughly 18-micron pixels, square in both axes. Build area is about 153 × 78 mm, 165 mm tall.

The M5s uses a 10.1-inch panel at 11,520 × 5,120: more total pixels, spread wider, landing near 19 × 24 microns and noticeably non-square. Build area is about 218 × 123 mm, 200 mm tall.

The M5s spends its pixel budget on area rather than fineness, and its plate covers a little over twice the footprint. Printing one 28mm miniature, the Mars 5 Ultra has a small but real advantage on paper for the finest surface detail. Printing a tray of twenty, the M5s does it in a single run where the Mars needs two or three.

Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra — detail first, footprint second

This is the machine for someone whose output is small and precise: tabletop minis, busts, jewelry masters, chess pieces. Square 18-micron pixels mean detail doesn't shift depending on how a part is rotated on the plate. It ships with a leveling-free plate and an onboard camera, which Elegoo pairs with AI-assisted failure detection intended to flag a print that's going wrong and stop it. It fits on a desk rather than a bench.

The honest drawbacks: the plate is genuinely small, so batch work means more cycles and wide models have to be split and pinned. Automated failure detection is also a safety net rather than a guarantee, so it doesn't remove the habit of checking on long prints.

Anycubic Photon Mono M5s — throughput and less fiddling

The M5s answers a different question: how many parts per session. Its self-leveling plate removes the step beginners most often get wrong, and the larger envelope means a full warband, terrain pieces, or one tall display model in a single run. For anyone printing for a gaming group or selling minis, that's the deciding feature.

Drawbacks worth knowing. The footprint is larger and the vat holds more resin, so a failed print wastes more of it. The LCD is a consumable on any resin printer, and a 10.1-inch panel costs more to replace than a 7-inch one. Non-square pixels also mean fine texture can render slightly differently along one axis.

The pairing cost nobody quotes

A resin print isn't finished when it leaves the plate. It has to be washed in alcohol and UV-cured, and the station's chamber has to physically fit the print. Mars 5 Ultra output fits standard-size wash-and-cure stations comfortably, and those run roughly $70–110. The largest M5s prints can outgrow a standard chamber, mostly on width rather than height, which means either an oversized station at a higher price or washing big parts by hand in a tub. Check the chamber dimensions against the plate size before you buy, and budget for the station alongside the printer.

Then add consumables to both: resin, nitrile gloves, isopropyl alcohol, replacement FEP or nFEP vat film, and screen protectors. Neither machine stops costing money at $250.

The part the marketing skips

Resin is a messier hobby than filament, and that isn't a nitpick. Uncured resin is a skin irritant and sensitivity builds with exposure, so gloves are mandatory every session, not most sessions. It smells, so it needs real ventilation: a window and a fan at minimum, not a closed bedroom. Failed prints leave hardened debris in the vat that must be filtered out before it cracks a screen. None of this is difficult, but all of it is a routine you have to keep.

Skip both if

Skip both if what you print is functional: brackets, jigs, enclosures, replacement parts. Resin parts are more brittle than PLA or PETG, both build volumes are small by FDM standards, and a filament printer at the same price serves you better with none of the protective gear. Skip both as well if the printer has to live in a room you sleep in.

Bottom line

Buy the Mars 5 Ultra ($220–280) if you print one exquisite thing at a time, want the finer square pixel, have limited desk space, and would rather not overbuy on a wash-and-cure station. Buy the Photon Mono M5s ($240–300) if you print in batches, want the bigger plate and self-leveling, and accept paying more for the machine and the larger gear it implies. Neither is a bad printer. Buying either without gloves, ventilation, and a curing plan is the only real mistake here.