Key facts
Injection molding cost explained: custom molds from USD 1,500, per-part pricing driven by material, cavitation, cycle time and annual volume - with concrete ranges from our Dongguan factory.
Two numbers matter in injection molding: what the mold costs and what each part costs. Understanding both – and how they trade off – is the key to budgeting your program honestly.
What the Mold Costs
Simple single-cavity tools start around USD 1,500-3,000. Typical multi-cavity production tools run USD 8,000-30,000. Complex unscrewing, two-shot or large automotive tools reach USD 40,000-80,000+. Cost drivers: cavitation, steel grade, part size, mechanisms (threads, sliders), and surface finish requirements.
What Each Part Costs
Per-part price = material weight + machine time (cycle x hourly rate) + share of tooling and overhead. A 20 g PP part in a 16-cavity tool can cost a few cents; a 500 g glass-filled PA66 housing costs several dollars. The biggest levers: shorter cycles through better cooling, more cavities, and thinner walls that cut material.
Rules of Thumb
- Under 1,000 parts total: 3D printing or CNC is usually cheaper than a mold
- 1,000-10,000 parts: rapid tooling in aluminum or P20 wins
- Above 10,000 parts: production tooling amortizes fast – mold cost per part becomes trivial
- Every extra second of cycle time is money: cooling design pays for itself
Get an Exact Number
Send your 3D files, resin and annual volume – our engineers return an itemized quote with mold and per-part pricing within 24 hours. No obligation.
Where the money goes in a typical quote
A mold quote has four cost blocks. Materials and steel stock take 15-25 percent. Machining – CNC milling, EDM, grinding, polishing – is the biggest block at 40-50 percent, and it scales with cavity complexity, not just size. Design and engineering, including flow analysis and DFM, runs 10-15 percent. Fitting, trials and initial samples make up the rest. Piece price then layers resin, cycle time, machine rate, and secondary operations on top of amortized tooling.
Two habits keep quotes comparable. Ask for steel grade and hardness on every line item, because steel swaps are the easiest place to hide cost cuts that shorten tool life. And ask what is NOT included – texturing, gauges, spare inserts and packaging for the tool itself are frequent surprises. The full cost breakdown guide lists each component with typical ranges.