Comparison
Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra vs Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra: Full Comparison (2026)
| At a glance | Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra | Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | ★★★★⯨ 4.7/5 | ★★★★⯨ 4.6/5 |
| Price | $350-450 | $220-280 |
| Best for | Tabletop sellers and hobbyists batch-printing detailed models. | Tabletop gamers, jewelry makers, and anyone printing display models. |
| Guarantee | Amazon return policy applies | Amazon return policy applies |
| Check Today's Price → | Check Today's Price → |
Elegoo sells these two machines to the same person at different stages of the hobby, and the honest headline is that they're more alike than different. Same brand, same resin workflow, both fast, both with built-in monitoring watching for failed prints. The real gap is the build plate and the price tag: the Saturn 4 Ultra runs $350–450 and can lay down a whole plate of detailed miniatures in one job, while the Mars 5 Ultra runs $220–280 and prints a handful at a time.
That difference matters more than any spec sheet suggests. On a single model, output from either machine will look excellent — this class of resin printer resolves detail that FDM simply can't touch. What the extra Saturn money buys is throughput. What it costs you is everything that scales with plate size: more resin per job, more mess when something fails, more ventilation, and a bigger wash-and-cure setup to match.
The picks
Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra — the batch machine
Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra
Large 12K resin printing with the speed and detail enthusiasts rave about.
$350-450 · Amazon return policy applies
The Saturn line is what people graduate to once they're tired of printing an army four minis at a time. The 4 Ultra pairs a big 12K mono LCD with fast tilt-release printing and AI monitoring, so a full plate of models comes off in one run with sharp detail across the whole build. At 4.7/5 it's the enthusiast favorite for a reason. The catch is that resin problems scale with resin volume: a failed plate on a Saturn wastes more material, the fumes demand serious ventilation, and your existing wash-and-cure station may suddenly be too small for what you're pulling off the plate.
Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra — the sane starting point
Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra
Miniature-grade detail for tabletop, jewelry, and Daniel-style chess sets.
$220-280 · Amazon return policy applies
The Mars 5 Ultra does the same fundamental job in a smaller footprint: fast mono LCD, AI camera monitoring, easy leveling, and detail good enough for minis, chess pieces, and jewelry masters. At 4.6/5 and $220–280 against the Saturn's $350–450, the value-per-detail ratio is hard to argue with. The trade-off is obvious — small build volume means one or two larger models per job — and you still sign up for the full resin routine: gloves, ventilation, and a wash-and-cure cycle after every print.
How to actually choose
Ask one question: how many things do you print at once? If you sell on Etsy, run a painting backlog for a whole tabletop group, or think in terms of squads rather than characters, the Saturn pays for itself in saved print jobs. If you print a mini here, a ring master there, a display piece for the shelf — the Mars does the identical-quality version of that for less money and less mess.
Budget honestly, too. Neither price includes the supporting cast: wash-and-cure station, isopropyl alcohol, nitrile gloves, and somewhere ventilated to run it all. The Saturn's larger plate quietly inflates all of those costs.
Who should skip both
If the post-processing routine sounds miserable to you, it will be — resin means gloves and cleanup every single session, and neither printer changes that. Get a good FDM machine instead and accept softer detail. And don't buy the Saturn "to grow into" if you've never run resin; the Mars is a cheaper place to find out whether you tolerate the workflow at all.
Bottom line
Per-piece quality is a near tie, so buy plate size, not prestige. Mars 5 Ultra for most people entering resin. Saturn 4 Ultra when volume is the actual point. Check both listings above — resin printer prices move around a lot.