FilamentFacts

Flexible

What is the best flexible filament, and how do I print TPU?

First in this ranking: Prusament TPU 95A.

Ranked filaments

RankFilamentMaterialNozzleBedPrice / kgDatasheetRetailer
1Prusament TPU 95ANamed 95A. Listed nozzle 220–240 °C and bed 55–75 °C. Shore is in the product name; the record does not add a separate shore field.TPU
220–240
55–75
Not listedNot listedNot configured
2Polymaker Polyflex TPUPolymaker TPU with a listed nozzle of 210–240 °C and bed of 30–60 °C. The record does not state a shore hardness.TPU
210–240
30–60
Not listedNot listedNot configured
3SUNLU 95A High Speed TPUSUNLU 95A with a listed nozzle of 210–240 °C. The high-speed name is not a measured speed in this catalog.TPU
210–240
30–60
Not listedNot listedNot configured
4NinjaTek Cheetah TPUNinjaTek is one of the brands named for this question. This record lists 210–240 °C and does not list shore hardness, so it is not labeled 95A here.TPU
210–240
30–60
Not listedNot listedNot configured

When to use which material

Use TPU at 95A when the part has to bend. PLA and PETG are the wrong family. The older flexible-part guide ranks the same job from the catalog’s named 95A and 90A rows. This page adds the print settings from this question’s consensus.

Polymaker, Overture, SUNLU, and NinjaTek are the brands named. Overture TPU exists and lists 210–240 °C. It is not in the ranked table because its drying figure is a material default. NinjaTek is in the table as Cheetah, with shore hardness left blank.

Temperatures and settings

Direct drive, 20–40 mm/s, minimal retraction, dry filament. Nozzle and bed in the table are the catalog ranges, mostly 210–240 °C. Prusament’s bed is hotter, 55–75 °C. None of these rows list a print speed, so 20–40 mm/s stays a community number. Dry using the drying guide. Community TPU drying is 50–55 °C.

Failure modes

A Bowden tube plus a soft TPU is the classic jam. Bambu Lab TPU 85A lists shore 85A, which is the softer-than-90A case. A wet spool clicks and under-extrudes. Too much retraction bunches TPU at the extruder gear. Slow down before you raise temperature.

Caveats

Softer than 90A is a Bowden problem, not a reason to avoid 95A on direct drive. This catalog does not list shore hardness on NinjaFlex or Cheetah, so those spools are not described as 85A here. The Prusament TPU 95A versus eSUN TPU-95A comparison is two 95A rows. Siraya Tech Flex 85A versus Bambu TPU 85A is the soft pair.

Where this sits in the catalog

Prusa MK4S lists direct drive. Bambu Lab P1S lists direct drive and an AMS, which is the wrong path for ordinary TPU. See which filaments belong in the AMS. Settings for Prusament TPU 95A on the MK4S are at that printer and filament.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • 95A is a specific entry point, not an unlabeled flexible spool.
  • The brands the community names, Polymaker, Overture, SUNLU, and NinjaTek, all have TPU records here.

Cons

  • Overture TPU’s drying maximum of 70 °C is a material default in this import, not a temperature copied from that spool’s sheet. It is not ranked for that reason.
  • NinjaFlex and Cheetah do not list shore hardness, so this page will not call either of them 95A or softer than 90A.

Printer considerations

Printer limits

What the community says

The consensus is that TPU 95A is the easy entry flexible filament. Print it slowly, 20–40 mm/s on direct drive, with minimal retraction, and dry the filament. The brands named are Polymaker, Overture, SUNLU, and NinjaTek. The caveat is that filament softer than 90A struggles on Bowden printers.

Sources & notes

Accessed 14 October 2026.

Answer JSON · Markdown

Related questions

Questions

Does the table show 20–40 mm/s?

No. Print speed is empty on these records. 20–40 mm/s is the community figure for direct drive, not a catalog cell.

Can I put TPU in the Bambu AMS?

Ordinary TPU is what the AMS consensus says to keep out. Bambu sells a separate TPU for AMS spool. That is covered on the AMS page, and its nozzle range is not listed.