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

Print TPU 95A. On a direct drive, the community pace is 20–40 mm/s with little retraction and a dry spool. Softer than 90A struggles on a Bowden extruder.

## When to use which material

Use [TPU](/material/tpu) at 95A when the part has to bend. PLA and PETG are the wrong family. The older [flexible-part guide](/answers/flexible) 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](/brand/overture/tpu) exists and lists 210–240 °C. It is not in the ranked table because its drying figure is a material default. [NinjaTek](/brand/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](/answers/drying). Community TPU drying is 50–55 °C.

## Failure modes

A Bowden tube plus a soft TPU is the classic jam. [Bambu Lab TPU 85A](/brand/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](/compare/prusament-tpu-95a-vs-esun-3d-tpu-95a) comparison is two 95A rows. [Siraya Tech Flex 85A versus Bambu TPU 85A](/compare/siraya-tech-flex-tpu-85a-vs-bambu-lab-tpu-85a) is the soft pair.

## Where this sits in the catalog

[Prusa MK4S](/printer/prusa-mk4s) lists direct drive. [Bambu Lab P1S](/printer/bambu-lab-p1s) lists direct drive and an AMS, which is the wrong path for ordinary TPU. See [which filaments belong in the AMS](/answers/ams). Settings for Prusament TPU 95A on the MK4S are at [that printer and filament](/printer/prusa-mk4s/prusament/tpu-95a).

Updated 2026-10-14. Sources accessed 2026-10-14. Use case: Flexible.

## Ranked filaments

| Rank | Filament | Nozzle | Bed | Price per kg |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Prusament TPU 95A | 220–240 °C | 55–75 °C | — |
| 2 | Polymaker Polyflex TPU | 210–240 °C | 30–60 °C | — |
| 3 | SUNLU 95A High Speed TPU | 210–240 °C | 30–60 °C | — |
| 4 | NinjaTek Cheetah TPU | 210–240 °C | 30–60 °C | — |

## 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

- [Bambu Lab TPU 90A technical data sheet](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0645/5876/0155/files/Bambu_TPU_90A_Technical_Data_Sheet_582bf8f6-1f0a-474c-aeda-9e72af3689dc.pdf) (datasheet)
- [Bambu Lab TPU 85A technical data sheet](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0645/5876/0155/files/Bambu_TPU_85A_Technical_Data_Sheet_a7233668-497b-487f-af8a-3adb49fafaa1.pdf?v=1741314674) (datasheet)
- [Community source, r/3Dprinting 11tjhyg](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/11tjhyg/) (reddit)
- [Community source, r/3Dprinting 105sfr7](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/105sfr7/) (reddit)
- [Community source, r/3Dprinting 1vjous3](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/1vjous3/) (reddit)
- [Community source, r/BambuLab 183ovch](https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/183ovch/) (reddit)
- [Community source, r/FixMyPrint 1526ay2](https://www.reddit.com/r/FixMyPrint/comments/1526ay2/) (reddit)

HTML: https://filamentfacts.com/answers/flex