The Best Transparent & Clear PLA Filaments

If you know anything about 3D printing, you’re definitely familiar with PLA filament. But how much do you really know? PLA is, in principle, transparent, but there are a bunch of different factors that can get in the way of a clear appearance, including degradation, which can leave a yellow hue, or crystallization, which gives a more “frosted” look.

There are a few things manufacturers can do to the PLA itself to improve the inherent transparency of the filament. For example, small changes to its chemical structure using certain polymerization strategies can make PLA less prone to crystallization without actually altering the chemical composition. On the other hand, your print settings can also affect how transparent your 3D printer filament appears in the final printed product, especially temperature.In this article, we’ll present some of the best clear PLA filament offerings out there. For each one, we’ll discuss what makes the brand clearly great! But first, let’s look at how we narrowed down the list, and at the end of the article, check out the best ways to print with transparent filament.

Considerations

Transparent filaments allow us to mimic a glass or acrylic finish while maintaining the resistance and ease of use of plastic. This makes this type of filament interesting, but it’s important to choose the right brand to obtain the best results.

The best filaments out there feature a great level of transparency and ease of printability, so that we don’t encounter headaches when using them. For this reason, we’ve based our selection on three criteria to ensure we cover the top transparent options out there:

• Rating and community feedback: No manufacturer claim has value if the community doesn’t agree that the quality of the filament is great. Because of this, we’ve chosen only the brands that have a rating of at least 4 stars, averaged from the different retailers where they’re available.

• Transparency: Since we’re talking about transparent filaments, transparency is a key factor when selecting the best brands. To ensure that a company meets this requirement, we’ve evaluated examples of 3D prints shared by fellow makers. Predictably, the level of transparency will vary between the brands and specific settings used, but it’s important that the material isn’t opaque.

• Printability: By doing a deep dive into customers’ reviews, we can establish how easy it is to reach a great result with a particular spool. Furthermore, if any specific printing setting is suggested or if users report a problem, we’ll point it out.

Next, let’s jump into the list! Note that we organized the brands by price, from cheapest to most expensive.

Elegoo

While Elegoo got started in the world of 3D printing with resin printers, their move into FDM with the Neptune series of printers has been well received. Now, their PLA filament has also been met with good reviews for being a low-cost but reliable option. And that’s not the only filament they offer.

With an impressive 0.2-mm tolerance, many users reported successful prints right off the bat with this filament. However, some also stated that drying the filament was needed for best results. Although shared images from users working with this filament indicate a tendency for prints to come out cloudy, this does make a great option for printing LED diffusers.

• Color: Clear

• Sizes: 1.75 mm (1 kg)

• Price per kg: ~$14

Eryone

Next, Eryone is a company that makes and sells its own line of 3D printers and filaments. Eryone offers a clear PLA filament that it states was specially designed to prevent nozzle jams and filament tangles.

The company claims to have tested its filament on a few different brands of 3D printers. Based on the images provided, their filament looks to be very transparent.

Eryone’s PLA can brag a 4.4-star rating at Amazon with over 11,660 reviews! Customers are clearly happy with this filament. In particular, Justin Reina highlighted that it features excellent color and finish, as well as great printability. Britt T agreed with this feedback, stating that the material prints well and it’s clear.

• Colors: Natural

• Sizes: 1.75 mm (1 kg)

• Price per kg: ~$19

MatterHackers

MatterHackers is an online seller of 3D printing supplies from brands like LulzBot, Creality, and UltiMaker. MatterHackers also offers its own line of filaments, including translucent PLAs as a part of both the Build and Pro series.