Anycubic Kobra S1 vs Kobra 3 vs Kobra X: Which to Buy

Q: Which Anycubic Kobra should I get for ABS and ASA?

Only the Kobra S1. It's the only enclosed CoreXY in the line: polycarbonate panels, a 320 °C hotend, a 120 °C bed and a carbon filter. The Kobra 3 and Kobra X are open bedslingers, so ABS and ASA will warp on them.

Q: How is the Kobra X's ACE GEN2 different from ACE Pro?

ACE Pro is an external 4-spool box with drying, feeding the nozzle down a long tube. ACE GEN2 is built into the toolhead: the filament path to the nozzle is much shorter, so each color change wastes 40–50% less plastic. Older ACE Pro modules are not compatible with the Kobra X.

Q: How many colors do these printers handle?

The Kobra S1 and Kobra 3 print 4 colors with one ACE Pro box and up to 8 with two. The Kobra X prints 4 colors out of the box and expands to 19 with external ACE 2 Pro units.

Q: Do all of them really print at 600 mm/s?

600 mm/s is the spec-sheet maximum, not a real working speed. The recommended speed is 300 mm/s, and clean PLA printing usually happens at 200–300 mm/s, PETG slower. In practice all three are comparable.

Q: Is there a lot of waste in multicolor?

Yes — any single-nozzle multicolor purges on every color change. On the ACE Pro the waste is especially large (a Benchy can drag along 180+ g of purge). The Kobra X's ACE GEN2 reduces the losses but doesn't remove them entirely.

Q: Which Kobra is the cheapest?

The Kobra 3 — about $329 for the base version. The Kobra S1 and Kobra X are around $349 each. Combo kits with the ACE Pro box cost more than the base by the price of the box itself.

Anycubic Kobra S1: enclosed body with a clear door and top-mounted screen

Anycubic Kobra 3: open bedslinger with external ACE Pro box

Anycubic Kobra X: spools on top, ACE GEN2 on the toolhead and a multicolor print

The Anycubic Kobra S1, Kobra 3 and Kobra X are three very different 3D printers sharing one name: an enclosed 250×250×250 mm CoreXY with a 320 °C hotend (S1), an open 250×250×260 mm bedslinger with an external ACE Pro multicolor box (Kobra 3), and an open 260×260×260 mm bedslinger with ACE GEN2 multicolor built into the toolhead (Kobra X). All three print up to 600 mm/s and cost roughly $329–349, but they're built for different jobs.

The Short Answer

Printing ABS, ASA, nylon or polycarbonate and want an enclosure? Get the Kobra S1 — it's the only enclosed CoreXY of the three. Want the cheapest multicolor with filament drying? The Kobra 3. Want multicolor with the least waste, up to 19 colors and quieter operation? The Kobra X with its new ACE GEN2 system.

Engineering plastics and an enclosure → Anycubic Kobra S1 (320 °C hotend, 120 °C bed, carbon filter)
Cheapest multicolor → Anycubic Kobra 3 (~$329, the external ACE Pro box dries spools while printing)
Multicolor with the least waste → Anycubic Kobra X (ACE GEN2 in the toolhead, −40–50% purge, up to 19 colors)

Three Printers Under One Kobra Name

The Kobra S1 launched in 2025 as Anycubic's first CoreXY. It's an enclosed printer with polycarbonate panels, a 320 °C hotend, a 120 °C bed and rear exhaust through a carbon filter — a machine that handles ABS, ASA, nylon and polycarbonate. We covered it in detail in our Kobra S1 review.

The Kobra 3 arrived back in 2024 — an open bedslinger (the bed moves on the Y axis), essentially the first affordable answer to the Bambu Lab A1 with multicolor. The Kobra X is a fresh 2025 bedslinger: same open layout, but multicolor moved from an external box straight into the toolhead. Both mostly print PLA, PETG and flexible TPU: without an enclosure, ABS and ASA warp badly (why it warps and how to fix it).

Spec Comparison

Spec	Kobra S1	Kobra 3	Kobra X
Motion	CoreXY, enclosed	Bedslinger, open	Bedslinger, open
Build volume	250×250×250 mm	250×250×260 mm	260×260×260 mm
Max speed	600 mm/s	600 mm/s	600 mm/s
Recommended speed	300 mm/s	300 mm/s	300 mm/s
Acceleration	20,000 mm/s²	—	20,000 mm/s²
Max hotend	320 °C	300 °C	300 °C
Max bed	120 °C	110 °C	110 °C
Extruder	Direct drive	Direct drive	Direct drive
Multicolor	ACE Pro (external), 4–8 colors	ACE Pro (external), 4–8 colors	ACE GEN2 (toolhead), 4–19 colors
Enclosure	Yes	No	No
Carbon filter	Yes	No	No
Noise	46 dB (44 quiet)	—	48 dB (45 quiet)
Release year	2025	2024	2025
Price (Anycubic official)	~$349	~$329	~$349

Multicolor: The Key Difference

All three print multiple colors with a single nozzle, but they do it differently — and that's the key decision point. The Kobra S1 and Kobra 3 use an external ACE Pro box: a separate 4-spool unit with built-in drying (dual 200 W heaters up to 55 °C) that dries filament while you print. Two boxes give you up to 8 colors. The downside — the box eats desk space, and filament travels to the nozzle down a long tube.

The Kobra X goes further: the ACE GEN2 system is built into the toolhead itself. Four spools sit on holders up top, and filament runs through four PTFE tubes straight into ports on the toolhead. The filament path to the nozzle is much shorter than through an external box, so each color change wastes noticeably less plastic. Anycubic claims a 40–50% waste reduction and twice the color-change speed; you can expand to 19 colors with external ACE 2 Pro units (older ACE Pro units are not compatible).

Anycubic Kobra 3 with a translucent external ACE Pro box holding 4 spools

Anycubic Kobra X with the ACE GEN2 module mounted right on the toolhead

The numbers say it all. On the ACE Pro, purge waste is huge: in VoxelMatters' test a 10.9 g Benchy dragged along 183 g of purge — 17 times the weight of the model itself — and a one-hour print stretched to nine hours because of color swaps. On the Kobra X with ACE GEN2, a 4-color castle (776 transitions) printed in 13 h 10 m versus 23 h 08 m on a Bambu Lab A1 — nearly 10 hours faster (FauxHammer test).

Single-nozzle multicolor on any of these machines always means purging on every color change. The more colors and transitions, the more plastic goes to waste and the longer the print. The Kobra X's ACE GEN2 cuts the losses but doesn't eliminate them.

Enclosure and Materials

Here the Kobra S1 stands alone. Its enclosure keeps heat in and, together with the 320 °C hotend and 120 °C bed, lets it print ABS, ASA, PET, nylon (PA), polycarbonate (PC), PP and HIPS — materials that warp and crack on an open frame. A built-in carbon filter cuts some of the smell when printing ABS/ASA indoors. There's no active chamber heating; it's passive, warmed by the bed, but that's enough for home use.

The Kobra 3 and Kobra X are open machines — their comfort zone is PLA, PETG and flexible TPU. Both hotends technically reach 300 °C, but without an enclosure you won't reliably print ABS or ASA. If you mainly want colorful models, toys and functional PLA/PETG parts, an open frame is plenty; if you need tough, heat-resistant parts, there's only one choice — the S1.

Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo: enclosed printer with an ACE Pro box on top and a multicolor print inside — The Kobra S1 in Combo form: enclosed body plus an ACE Pro box on top for multicolor

Speed and Print Quality

On paper all three top out at 600 mm/s, and the S1 and Kobra X are rated for 20,000 mm/s² acceleration. In practice 600 mm/s is a marketing peak — real, clean speeds are lower. In testing the Kobra S1 printed regular PLA at 200 mm/s, HyperPLA at 300, ABS at 200 and PETG at 150–180 mm/s. The S1's CoreXY is slightly more stable under hard accelerations than the bedslingers' moving bed, but on everyday models the quality gap between the three is small — all lay down a clean first layer (here's a first-layer guide if you need it) and tidy walls.

Noise

The Kobra S1 is the quietest on paper: 46 dB in normal mode and 44 dB in quiet mode, and its enclosure muffles the sound on top of that. The Kobra X stays below 48 dB and drops to 45 dB in silent mode thanks to active noise reduction on the motor drivers. The open Kobra 3, with no muffling shell, feels louder than both, though Anycubic doesn't publish an exact figure for it.

Software and Ecosystem

All three run through Anycubic's own Anycubic Slicer Next — essentially OrcaSlicer with cloud and Anycubic remote management bolted on. Reviewers praise the responsive 4.3" touchscreen but knock the early beta slicer for lacking fine purge controls. The ecosystem's shared downside is proprietary parts: non-standard nozzles, sealed electronics on the S1, and the Kobra X's new ACE GEN2 modules that aren't compatible with older ACE Pro units. These printers are harder to repair and mod than open Klipper bedslingers.

Price

The price spread is small: officially the Kobra 3 runs about $329, and the Kobra S1 and Kobra X about $349 for the base versions, with Combo kits (including the ACE Pro box) costing more. You're not really paying "for speed" — you're paying for the build: an enclosure and high temperatures on the S1, or more economical multicolor on the X. Check the cards below for current prices and availability.

Verdict: Which Kobra to Buy

The short version: these three barely compete with each other — each covers a different job.

Anycubic Kobra S1 — if you need engineering plastics (ABS, ASA, PA, PC), an enclosure and the highest temperatures. The only CoreXY of the three, the quietest, with a carbon filter.
Anycubic Kobra 3 — if you want the cheapest way into multicolor and don't mind the desk space for the external ACE Pro drying box. A proven 2024 model.
Anycubic Kobra X — if multicolor is the priority: less waste, up to 19 colors, quiet operation and the toolhead-integrated ACE GEN2. The best pick for colorful PLA/PETG printing.