Planters are more than pots for your plants: They’re decor! Read on for 20 3D-printed planter designs to keep your plants thriving.
As a plastic-based manufacturing technology, 3D printing isn’t generally considered to mix well with the Earth, literally or figuratively. But the most popular 3D printing material is in fact recyclable and biodegradable (in the right conditions), and there are multiple ways that 3D printing is making production processes more eco-friendly.
3D printed planters are a great example of using the innovative technology we know and love as a way to bring more nature into your home. There’s a wide variety of planters and pots that you can print, and below, we’ve listed our favorites.
If you see the perfect addition to your plant collection but don’t have the time (or a large enough build space) to print it yourself, try Craftcloud by All3DP. With professional suppliers around the world ready to print your perfect pot and deliver it to your door, you’ll be rehoming your plants in no time.
So now, let’s dig into the list. Happy planting!
FANDOMS
First up, we have some planters celebrating the best in movies and games. From low-poly Pokémon to an incredibly realistic Groot, planters are a fun way to show your pop culture allegiance!
Super Mario Question Block
Super Mario is one of the most beloved video games series out there, and the games’ mystery blocks can bring fun surprises. The planter is pretty simple in its design, comprising a hollowed-out box with the signature pixelated question marks around its sides. The model was designed for dual-extrusion printing, as seen in the image above, but a single-extrusion version for the model is also available.
Standard print settings should be fine for this one: One maker mentioned that they used a 0.2-mm layer height along with a 15% infill density, with no supports nor raft needed for the print.
- Who designed it? flowalistik
- How printable/popular is it? This Mario-themed planter box has 24 recorded Makes, 2 Remixes, and over 64,000 downloads! So many people have successfully printed this model, and you can too!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
TIE Fighter
This Star Wars-inspired TIE fighter planter was designed in Tinkercad. The design was based on another TIE Fighter model, but the maker adjusted it to fit small plants.
The creator of this design recommends printing with supports because of the overhangs on the central piece, and they used a 20% infill. Post-processing and especially painting this print will make it look even better!
- Who designed it? dauntlessliger
- How printable/popular is it? This TIE Fighter planter has 1 recorded Make, 1 Remix, and over 2,300 downloads.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Baby Groot
It turns out Baby Groot makes for an especially popular planter. We can see why! The designer has added a lot of detail to this Groot model, making this planter look just like the character, especially after post-processing.
The designer printed this planter with supports activated and a 0.29-mm layer height. Another maker posted their impressive print using a 0.12-mm layer height and 25% infill. Depending on how small you print it, there might not be much room for soil, but air plants will always be an option!
- Who designed it? JuliaTruchsess
- How printable/popular is it? Everybody loves Baby Groot, as seen by the 397 Makes, 8 Remixes, and over 276,000 downloads.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Low-Poly Bulbasaur
Like Pokémon? This Bulbasaur planter uses a low-poly design, which is a type of model whose “detail” is expressed by geometric polygons. Low-poly models look most impressive when printed cleanly, as seen in the image above.
The designer recommends printing this model with a scale of 2.5-2.8 to work with small plants, using 3 walls and a 10% infill. If you want to expand your Pokémon planter collection, why not print an Oddish, too!
- Who designed it? Hitsman
- How printable/popular is it? This Bulbasaur planter has 389 Makes, 17 Remixes, and almost 138,000 downloads. People love a Pokémon!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Minion
This planter design is in the shape of a Minion character, as seen in the Despicable Me and Minions movies. Specifically, this is Clark from the short film “Cro Minion”, dressed in animal skin to match the film’s Stone Age setting. The top of the design is hollowed-out to allow you to put a plant in Clark’s head.
One community maker posted a stunningly painted print of this Minion planter and listed that they used a 0.2-mm layer height with a 15% infill density.
- Who designed it? yoyo-31
- How printable/popular is it? This prehistoric planter has 3 community prints, over 43,000 views, with more than 6,400 downloads! You should easily be able to print his model like so many others have done!
- Where to find it? Cults
ANIMALS
Keeping your plants in animal-themed pots will hopefully give them the appearance of being alive, even if you forget to water them for a while.
Turtle
This turtle planter is just that: a cute turtle meant to house small indoor plants. The maker also offers a version of this design with drainage features, which you can locate based on the file names.
If you do choose the draining option, just remember to put your turtle on a tray, or somewhere you don’t mind getting wet! And if you’re looking for more ideas, this designer has 20 or so other planter designs that are worth checking out.
- Who designed it? Tango Five Creations
- How printable/popular is it? This turtle planter has more than 4,500 views and over 100 likes on MyMiniFactory, and there are 2 community prints on PrusaPrinters.
- Where to find it? PrusaPrinters, MyMiniFactory
Air Jellyfish
Tired of always hiding your plant pots underneath your plants? This planter is upside down to hold an air plant to look like a jellyfish’s tentacles! To get that effect, the creator of this design recommends using a Tillandsia plant.
There are three sizes to choose from, or the original can be scaled. The designer printed the model on a Solidoodle 3 and states that supports aren’t needed for this print. Another maker suggests printing with a 0.1-mm layer height and 2 perimeters.
- Who designed it? Bee3dgifts
- How printable/popular is it? This inverted planter has 12 recorded Makes, 1 Remix, and nearly 5,000 downloads. It should be a straightforward print, so you’ll be suspending your air jellyfish in no time.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Whale
This planter is in the shape of a cute little whale that has an oval-shaped hole for placing small plants. The entire model only measures 100 x 120 x 105 mm, but the creator notes that you can scale it up to suit your needs. Just note that there are no drainage holes, so you’ll want to be careful about what kinds of plants you use this for.
The designer of this planter listed that they printed the whale design with a 0.4-mm diameter nozzle, using a 0.3-mm layer height. Without scaling, the print should take around 4 hours to finish and consume about 120 grams of filament, but this could be reduced with a lower infill density.
- Who designed it? Tango Five Creations
- How printable/popular is it? This whale planter model has 1 community print and almost 1,000 views on PrusaPrinters.
- Where to find it? PrusaPrinters, MyMiniFactory
Leggy
This stretches the definition of “animal”, but Leggy is a fun planter with some human-looking legs sticking out. As the designer states, this planter could get up and walk away at any time, but it needs some light and water first!
The designer classifies the print as easy for its complexity, so you should have no trouble. A community maker posted a great print and stated that they used PLA.
- Who designed it? Cubico
- How printable/popular is it? The Leggy planter has over 1,600 likes, and several makers have shared their prints in different colors.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
OBJECTS
There’s something intriguing about a plant growing where it doesn’t belong. In this section, we’ve got planters that represent inanimate objects, from buildings, to paint cans, to even a Ferris wheel!
Castle
This castle planter can hold five mini plants, one on each guard tower and one in the center. The planter was designed in Tinkercad and is pretty tall, so you can grow plants with long roots.
The designer suggests printing this model with a 15-35% infill with 5 shells for thickness. No brim or raft is needed because the model has a nice wide base of its own.
- Who designed it? AlexTStudios
- How printable/popular is it? This castle planter design has over 600 likes as well as over 1,800 downloads.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory, Instructables, Tinkercad
Paint Can
This paint can planter design is split into a few pieces, including the bucket, paint spill, and handle, all designed in Tinkercad. This enables you to achieve a multicolor print with a single-extrusion printer.
The maker states that it’s an easy print but recommends printing slowly for the tall paint spill part, which is printed upside-down. Try printing the paint ring in different colors and change it out with the seasons!
- Who designed it? Clockspring
- How printable/popular is it? This paint can planter has over 13,000 views as well as over 1,200 downloads.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Humidifier
This is another castle-inspired design that adds the option to add a humidifier to keep plants (and the surrounding air) hydrated. This project uses a lot of hardware in addition to the printed parts, including a humidifier PCB, a fan, and more. Check out the project page for instructions on how to make this planter.
If you choose not to add the humidifier, you could use the central tower to add a sixth plant instead!
- Who designed it? GhostSpitshadow
- How printable/popular is it? More than 30 people have liked this humidifier planter, and it’s been viewed over 2,100 times.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Truck
This truck planter is another fun little plant house, where the plant grows through the roof and out the windows. This planter is split up into two pieces: the base of the truck and the top. If you’re growing a taller plant, you may not want to print the top as it might restrict your plant’s growth.
The designer notes that this model’s print time was a little over three and a half hours. Print a few in different sizes and colors for your own organic convoy!
- Who designed it? LetsCreate3D
- How printable/popular is it? This truck planter has over 2,700 views and has been downloaded by more than 200 users.
- Where to find it? Cults
Cityscape
This planter surrounds your plant with a whole city circle to keep it company even when you forget to water it. Not much information was provided for this model, but the maker points out that this planter is great for growing moss, as seen in the image above.
The designer listed the model as support-free, and it should be fairly straightforward to print. Keep in mind that plants that require a large amount of contained soil to grow roots might not be the best choice for this design.
- Who designed it? Pepe3D
- How printable/popular is it? This city-shaped planter has 80 likes and almost 300 downloads.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Ferris Wheel
This Ferris wheel planter is a little more complex than some of the other options on the list as it involves multiple components and it also moves. As this wheel has six carts, you can store up to six plants on this design, and they can even spin just like a real Ferris wheel. The planter’s ten pieces can be assembled using the designer’s instructions, provided on the project page.
The creator of this design recommends that you print the pieces for the Ferris wheel in a “medium quality”, so a 0.2-mm layer height should probably suffice. They also mention that they printed the pieces with a 30% infill density and with no raft. As shown in the photos above, it works standing up or hanging down!
- Who designed it? AlexTStudios
- How printable/popular is it? This Ferris wheel planter design has 228 downloads with over 4,000 views on MyMiniFactory.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory, Instructables, Tinkercad
DECORATIVE
Plantygon
The Plantygon is a modular, geometric, and stackable planter set that you can print to hold small plants and succulents without them being overshadowed by the planter’s frame. This model was designed in Fusion 360 and has been updated to improve drainage functionality.
There are a few versions to choose from, depending on how you’d like your Plantygons to look and how you plan to combine them. The designer printed theirs with a 0.15-mm layer height on an Ultimaker 2+. They recommend printing with an 18% infill, and supports are optional.
- Who designed it? Printfutura
- How printable/popular is it? The Plantygon model has 87 recorded Makes, 13 Remixes, and over 260,000 downloads. So many others have successfully printed this planter; you can too!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Voronoi
This planter was designed as a Voronoi structure, which is a mathematical construction of a partition of a plane. The model has been updated to optimize slicing and printing. The maker states that the planter is ideal for small plants and works well as a desk organizer, too.
One maker posted a successful model and listed that they used a 0.3-mm layer height to print in PLA. They also used a 10% infill with supports activated and kept the model at its original scale.
- Who designed it? O3D
- How printable/popular is it? This Voronoi planter has 2 Remixes and over 23,000 downloads. Nine users have recorded successful Makes of this planter, so you should be able to print it too!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Modular Wall Mount
Need a planter for your wall? This modular planter can be mounted right onto your wall with the corresponding 3D printed cleat. The pots are easy to remove, so you can print a few and rearrange them according to your mood!
The printing settings aren’t anything out of the ordinary: One maker suggested printing with a 0.2-mm layer height, 20% infill, and no supports or raft.
- Who made it? 3DBROOKLYN
- How printable/popular is it? This planter design has 44 Makes, 6 Remixes, and over 30,000 downloads.
- Where to get it? Thingiverse
Self-Watering
Don’t have time to water your plant, or do you forget and then overcompensate when you remember? This planter waters the plant it contains and only uses two 3D printable parts to work. The only thing you need to do after printing is to post-process and assemble the planter, and there are instructions on the project page for how to do so. (Though you’ll still need to remember to refill the water!)
The creator of this design used a 0.3-mm layer height and a 10% infill to print the pieces. The designer also recommends printing the pieces in PLA as the model was optimized for this material. Printing the two parts in contrasting colors looks great!
- Who designed it? parallelgoods
- How printable/popular is it? More than 630 Thingiverse users have uploaded their Makes of this self-watering planter, making it the most-printed item on this list!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Bonsai
This planter is designed to resemble the unique shape of the base of a Bonsai tree, without the years of work to achieve it! This plant-shaped planter was designed in 3ds Max, and the designer provided both the basic hollow design as well as a vase mode-compatible option.
According to the designer, you may have to scale the model up in your slicer due to exporting issues from 3ds Max. As for print settings, one recorded Maker shared a Bonsai planter they printed using a 0.16-mm layer height and a 20% infill density with no raft or supports.
- Who designed it? gCreate
- How printable/popular is it? This Bonsai tree planter has 112 recorded Makes, 7 Remixes, and over 71,000 downloads!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse