Laser Cutting Cost Guide — What Drives Price

Machine Rate

Fiber laser shops charge $150–$400/hour depending on power (4kW vs. 15kW), table size, and automation level. Higher-power machines cost more per hour but cut faster — net cost per part is often lower on a 12kW machine than a 6kW machine for thick material. The sweet spot for most job shop work is 6–10kW fiber laser.

Material Cost

Shops buy sheet stock and charge per part based on nested area + markup. Standard mild steel sheet: $0.50–$1.00/lb. Stainless: $2–4/lb. Aluminum: $3–5/lb. Material is typically 30–50% of part cost on thin parts, less on thick parts where machine time dominates. Remnant management varies by shop — some charge for the full sheet, others credit back usable remnants.

Quantity & Setup

First-article programming: $25–$100. Machine setup: 10–15 minutes ($30–$75). These are nearly fixed regardless of quantity. On a 10-piece order, setup is $10/part. On a 1,000-piece order, it's $0.10/part. Laser is one of the most volume-elastic processes — pricing drops steeply from 1 to 100 pieces, then gradually from 100 to 10,000.

Thickness Impact

Doubling material thickness roughly doubles cut time — so part cost scales approximately linearly with thickness (plus the higher material cost of thicker stock). A 0.125" steel bracket might cost $3.00 per part. The same bracket in 0.250" costs $5–6. In 0.500", $10–15. Thickness is the single biggest cost lever you can pull in design.

Assist Gas

Nitrogen assist (for stainless, aluminum, cosmetic edges): higher cost per hour than oxygen. Oxygen assist (for mild steel, speed priority): lower gas cost, faster cutting, slight edge oxide. Shops in nitrogen-heavy markets (food equipment, medical, architectural) price nitrogen into their standard rate. If oxide-free edges aren't required on mild steel, specify oxygen assist to save 10–20%.

Secondary Operations

Laser cutting produces parts that often need deburring ($0.25–$2.00/part), countersinking ($0.50–$1.50/hole), tapping ($0.50–$1.00/hole), or hardware insertion ($0.50–$2.00/fastener). These are manual operations that add up fast. Design to minimize secondaries: use countersink-compatible hole sizes, avoid sharp burr-prone features, and use self-clinching hardware where possible.