Best Filament for Bambu Lab Printers in 2026: Tested on a 6-Printer Farm

We run six Bambu Lab printers daily — X1C, X1E, P1S, P2S, A1, and A1 Mini. Three of the A1 Minis are on near-continuous production loops. We’ve burned through dozens of brands across PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, TPU, Nylon, and carbon fiber composites.

This isn’t a list compiled from spec sheets. Every recommendation here comes from real prints, real failures, and real data across hundreds of hours of printing.

Quick Picks: Best Filament by Material

Best Overall PLA: eSUN PLA+ — $18/kg, prints like a dream, excellent color range

Best Budget PLA: SUNLU PLA — $14-16/kg, surprisingly consistent for the price

Best PETG: Overture PETG — $19/kg, low stringing, excellent layer adhesion

Best ABS: eSUN ABS+ — $20/kg, less warping than standard ABS, great for enclosured Bambu printers

Best TPU: Overture TPU 95A — $25/kg, actually feeds through the AMS (slowly)

Best Carbon Fiber: eSUN PA-CF — $45/kg, real engineering filament for structural parts

PLA: The Workhorse

PLA is where 90% of Bambu Lab owners spend their time, so getting this right matters most. Here’s what we’ve tested extensively.

eSUN PLA+ — Our Top Pick ($18/kg)

eSUN PLA+ is what we load when reliability matters. It’s not the cheapest, but in hundreds of prints we’ve had virtually zero issues — no clogs, no stringing problems, no brittle layers.

What makes it work on Bambu hardware:

Consistent diameter tolerance (±0.03mm) means the AMS feeds it cleanly every time
Works perfectly with the generic “Bambu PLA” profile — no custom settings needed
Slightly higher impact resistance than standard PLA thanks to the ”+” formulation
Available in 30+ colors including matte finishes
Spool design fits AMS/AMS Lite without modification

Settings: Use the built-in Bambu PLA profile. No changes needed. 220°C nozzle, 60°C bed.

SUNLU PLA — Best Budget Option ($14-16/kg)

SUNLU PLA is the go-to when you’re burning through material on production runs. At $14-16 per kilogram, it’s hard to beat on price.

The honest take: It’s 90% as good as eSUN PLA+ for about 75% of the price. Where you’ll notice the difference is in occasional diameter inconsistencies that can cause AMS feed errors on very long prints (8+ hours). For shorter prints and single-spool use, it’s excellent.

Settings: Generic PLA profile works. If you notice slight stringing, drop travel speed by 10%.

JAYO PLA — Solid Mid-Range ($16/kg)

JAYO PLA has become a Reddit favorite for good reason. Consistent quality, good color options, and priced between SUNLU and eSUN. Their matte PLA is particularly nice — smooth finish without the shine.

Bambu Lab PLA Basic — The Default ($25/kg)

Bambu’s own filament is genuinely good, but at $25/kg it’s hard to justify for everyday printing when eSUN PLA+ exists at $18. The main advantage is RFID auto-detection in the AMS — but manually selecting a profile takes five seconds.

When Bambu filament IS worth it: Their specialty materials (PLA-CF, Support PLA, PLA Silk) have profiles tuned specifically for their chemistry. The support material in particular separates cleaner than any third-party alternative we’ve tested.

PETG: The Upgrade

PETG is the logical step up from PLA — better heat resistance, better layer adhesion, and more flexibility. It’s also where filament quality starts mattering significantly more because PETG is hygroscopic — it absorbs moisture from the air.

Critical: If you’re printing PETG, you need a filament dryer. Wet PETG stringing is miserable. See our complete filament dryer buyer’s guide for recommendations.

Overture PETG — Our Top Pick ($19/kg)

Overture PETG is the most forgiving PETG we’ve used on Bambu hardware. Low stringing out of the box, excellent bed adhesion on the textured PEI plate, and consistent results across different printers.

Settings: Generic PETG profile, 240°C nozzle, 80°C bed. Clean your plate with IPA before every PETG print.

eSUN PETG — Runner Up ($19/kg)

eSUN PETG performs nearly identically to Overture but with a slightly wider color selection. Prints at 235-245°C with the generic PETG profile.

SUNLU PETG — Budget Option ($16/kg)

SUNLU PETG is fine for non-critical parts. It’s more prone to moisture absorption than Overture or eSUN, which means more mandatory dryer time. But at $16/kg, the price gap is meaningful if you’re going through a lot of material.

ABS & ASA: Enclosed Printers Only

ABS and ASA need an enclosed printer — the X1C, X1E, or P1S with an enclosure. The P2S and A1 are technically open-air printers and you’ll fight warping and delamination.

eSUN ABS+ ($20/kg)

eSUN ABS+ is our standard ABS. The ”+” formula has an anti-warp additive that genuinely makes a difference. On the X1C with the enclosure sealed and the chamber heated, this prints almost as reliably as PLA.

Settings: Generic ABS profile. 240°C nozzle, 100°C bed. Keep the enclosure closed during the entire print.

Bambu Lab ASA — Premium Choice ($28/kg)

If you need outdoor-durable prints (UV resistance is ASA’s main advantage over ABS), Bambu’s own ASA is the path of least resistance. The built-in profile is dialed in perfectly, and the RFID means the AMS knows exactly what it’s working with.

TPU: Flexible Filament

TPU on Bambu printers actually works, which is more than most people expect. The direct drive extruder handles flexible materials surprisingly well.

Overture TPU 95A ($25/kg)

Overture TPU 95A is the most printable flexible filament we’ve found for Bambu hardware. At 95A hardness it’s flexible enough for phone cases, gaskets, and vibration dampeners, but stiff enough that the extruder can push it reliably.

AMS compatibility: TPU technically feeds through the AMS, but slowly and with a higher failure rate. For reliability, use the external spool holder. The direct path from spool to extruder eliminates the tube friction that causes TPU to buckle.

Settings: Generic TPU profile. Slow it down to 30mm/s for the first layer. Don’t try to print TPU fast — 60mm/s max for infill.

Engineering Filaments: Nylon, Carbon Fiber, PC

This is where things get serious — and where a hardened steel nozzle becomes mandatory. Carbon fiber and glass fiber filaments will destroy a brass nozzle in hours. See our accessories guide for nozzle recommendations.

eSUN PA-CF (Nylon + Carbon Fiber) — $45/kg

eSUN PA-CF is what we use for structural drone components. Real carbon fiber reinforcement in a Nylon base — this isn’t decorative. Parts printed in PA-CF survive flight loads, vibration, and thermal cycling.

Requirements:

Hardened steel or hardened stainless nozzle (mandatory)
Enclosed printer with chamber heating (X1C recommended)
Filament dryer — Nylon absorbs moisture aggressively
270-280°C nozzle, 90°C bed

The tradeoff: PA-CF is genuinely difficult to print compared to PLA. But the mechanical properties are in a different league. If you need structural parts that perform under load, this is the material.

Bambu Lab PA6-CF ($40/kg)

Bambu’s own PA6-CF is excellent and has the advantage of a perfectly tuned profile. If you’re new to engineering filaments, starting with Bambu’s version means one less variable to troubleshoot.

Polymaker PC (Polycarbonate) — $35/kg

Polymaker PC is for high-heat applications. If your printed part needs to survive near boiling temperatures or significant mechanical stress, PC is the answer. But it demands an enclosed, heated chamber and very specific bed adhesion preparation.

What About Bambu Lab’s RFID System?

The AMS uses RFID to auto-detect Bambu-branded spools. Third-party filaments don’t have RFID, which means:

You manually select the filament type and color in Bambu Studio
The estimated remaining filament tracking won’t work
Everything else — loading, unloading, multi-material switching — works identically

In practice, the RFID convenience is worth maybe 10 seconds per spool change. It’s nice but nowhere near worth the price premium of using exclusively Bambu filament.

Filament Storage and Drying

How you store filament matters more than which brand you buy. A premium PETG left open in a humid room will print worse than a budget PETG that’s been properly dried and stored.

Minimum storage:

Resealable vacuum bags with silica gel packets
Store in a cool, dry area
Seal immediately after printing

Recommended:

Dedicated filament dryer (we recommend the SUNLU FilaDryer S2 — see our full dryer guide)
Dry PETG, TPU, and Nylon before every print session
PLA can tolerate more humidity but still benefits from drying

Which Brands Work Best with the AMS?

The AMS is picky about spool dimensions and filament diameter consistency. Here’s what feeds reliably across our fleet:

AMS-Reliable brands:

eSUN — Nearly perfect feed rate, consistent diameter
Overture — Very reliable, standard Bambu-compatible spools
JAYO — Good reliability, occasional tight spool winding
Bambu Lab — Obviously, it’s designed for it

AMS-Problematic brands:

Some SUNLU spools wind loosely, causing tangles on long prints
Generic Amazon brands with oversized spools that don’t fit the AMS tray
Any brand with high diameter variance (±0.05mm+) causes feed errors

The Bottom Line

You don’t need to buy Bambu-branded filament. Third-party brands at half the price print just as well for 95% of applications. The keys are:

Buy from established brands — eSUN, Overture, SUNLU, JAYO, Polymaker
Dry your filament — especially PETG, TPU, and anything nylon-based
Use the generic profiles in Bambu Studio — they work with all brands
Get a hardened steel nozzle before printing any filled filaments (CF, GF)

Save your money on filament, invest it in a dryer and hardened nozzles. That combination will improve your print quality more than any premium filament ever will.

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