PLA vs PLA+: What the Plus Actually Buys You

PLA+ costs more than PLA and prints almost the same way, which makes it one of the most confusing upgrades in 3D printing. The short answer: PLA+ is PLA with toughening additives, it is less brittle and holds layers together better, and it is worth the difference for parts that get handled or loaded. Here is what actually changes, and when it does not matter.

What PLA is

PLA is polylactic acid, a thermoplastic made from fermented plant starch rather than petroleum feedstock. It is the default material in desktop 3D printing for good reasons: it melts at a low temperature, barely warps, sticks to almost any build surface, needs no enclosure, and gives the cleanest surface finish of any common filament for the least effort.

Its weaknesses are equally consistent. PLA is stiff but brittle — it resists bending and then cracks rather than deforming. It softens around 55–60°C, which rules out anything that lives in heat. And its layer adhesion, while adequate, is the weak axis of any PLA part under load.

What PLA+ is (and why nobody agrees)

PLA+ is not a standardised material. There is no specification behind the plus sign, no industry body defining it, and no requirement that two brands labelled PLA+ behave the same way. It is a marketing name for PLA that has been compounded with additives — typically impact modifiers, sometimes plasticisers, lubricants or flow aids — to address PLA’s brittleness.

That is worth saying plainly, because it is the single most common source of confusion. When a forum thread concludes that PLA+ means whatever the manufacturer wants it to mean, that is correct. What it does not mean is that the additives do nothing. A properly compounded PLA+ is measurably tougher than the base resin; it simply means you should judge a specific product rather than the category.

In practice, across brands, PLA+ formulations are consistently aimed at the same three things: higher impact resistance, better layer adhesion, and a slightly wider printing window. Some also improve surface gloss or reduce stringing as a side effect of the flow modifiers.

The differences that matter

The honest summary is that PLA+ fixes exactly one of PLA’s two real limitations. It makes parts tougher. It does not make them heat resistant, and no PLA+ on the market does.

Print settings: do you need to change anything?

Mostly no. PLA+ runs on a PLA profile and you will get a usable print on the first attempt. Two small adjustments are worth making if you want the most out of it.

The reason to run PLA+ a little hotter is that the toughening additives pay off properly when the layers fuse well, and that needs heat. Printing PLA+ at the bottom of a PLA temperature range gives you PLA+ pricing with PLA layer strength. Always check the recommended range printed on the spool label, which reflects the specific formulation in your hands.

If you are running a modern high-speed machine, look for a high-flow formulation rather than simply turning the speed up on a standard one — our Ultra PLA+ High Flow is compounded to melt and extrude reliably at the volumetric flow rates those printers ask for.

When to choose which

Choose PLA when

• The part is decorative, display-only or a visual prototype
• You are printing miniatures, terrain, figurines or organisers that sit still
• You want the most prints per dollar — classroom runs, iterating on a design, filling a shelf
• You specifically want maximum rigidity and do not care about impact
• You are learning, and want the most forgiving material there is

Choose PLA+ when

• The part gets picked up, carried, dropped or handled by other people
• It has clips, hinges, snap-fits, threads or thin walls
• It takes any real load — brackets, mounts, tool holders, jigs
• It is going to a customer, a client or a classroom full of students
• You have been breaking PLA parts and do not yet need the heat resistance of PETG

Is PLA+ worth the extra cost in Australia?

At 3DMA the gap is currently $14.95 for Core PLA against $19.95 for Ultra PLA+ High Flow, per one-kilogram spool, in Australian dollars.

The useful way to think about that is per part, not per kilo. A typical desktop print — a phone stand, a wall bracket, a tool holder — lands somewhere around 30 to 60 grams. On a 1 kg spool that is roughly 20 to 30 parts, so the price difference between PLA and PLA+ works out to cents per part. One reprint because a PLA clip snapped costs you more than upgrading the whole spool.

That arithmetic flips for high-volume decorative printing. If you are producing hundreds of small display items where nothing is ever load-bearing, the per-kilo difference is real money and PLA is the right call. For everything that gets used rather than looked at, PLA+ is the cheaper material once you count failures.

Neither one survives a hot car

This is the limitation that catches Australian makers out, so it is worth being specific. PLA and PLA+ both begin to soften around 55–60°C.

RACV testing has found vehicle interiors can exceed 70°C within minutes when the outside temperature is only 30°C, and Kidsafe NSW puts a parked car’s cabin at 30 to 40 degrees hotter than the air outside. A dashboard or a rear parcel shelf in an Australian summer is therefore comfortably past the point where a PLA part sags.

So: no PLA or PLA+ phone mounts, vent clips, cup holder inserts or sunglasses holders for the car. For those parts step up to PETG, or to ASA if the part also lives in direct sun. Nothing about the plus sign changes this.

When you actually need PETG, ABS or ASA instead

If you have outgrown PLA, it is worth checking whether PLA+ is the right next step or whether you need a different material entirely.

The Materials Guide walks through all of these side by side, with the hardware each one needs.

Frequently asked questions

Is PLA+ really better than PLA?

For parts that get handled or loaded, yes — it is tougher, less brittle and bonds layers better. For display pieces it is a marginal upgrade you are paying for without using. And it is no better than PLA in heat, which is the limitation most people actually run into. Better depends entirely on what the part has to survive.

Are PLA and PLA+ the same thing?

No. PLA+ is PLA compounded with toughening additives. But PLA+ is also not a standardised material — there is no specification behind the plus sign, so formulations vary between brands. Judge the product and its published properties rather than the label.

Can I print PLA+ the same as PLA?

Yes, a PLA profile will produce a working print. To get the toughness you paid for, run the nozzle around 10–15°C hotter than you would for PLA and ease the part cooling fan back slightly, so the layers fuse properly. No enclosure, no special nozzle, no hardware changes.

Is PLA the weakest filament?

It is the most brittle of the common materials, which is not the same as the weakest. PLA is actually very stiff and has high tensile strength — it simply fails suddenly instead of deforming first, and it has the lowest heat resistance of anything in a normal filament range. TPU is far weaker in tensile terms but nearly unbreakable in impact. Weak depends on which way you load the part.

Does PLA+ need to be dried?

It benefits from the same sealed storage as PLA and is slightly thirstier because of its additives. If a PLA+ spool has been open for weeks in a humid Australian summer and has started stringing or printing rough, dry it at 45–55°C for four to six hours. Our filament storage guide covers this in detail.

Which should a beginner buy first?

Either works, and neither is a mistake. PLA is the cheapest way to learn and the most forgiving. PLA+ costs a little more and means your early functional prints are less likely to break, which is encouraging when you are starting out. Our first spool guide sets out a buying order.