Prusa XL Gets Price Drop and New Toolheads for 2026

Big News for the XL Platform

Prusa Research has dropped a significant update for the Original Prusa XL, their flagship multi-material toolchanger. The headline news? A price cut of roughly $200 on the assembled 5-toolhead model, plus announcements of exciting new toolheads coming throughout 2026.

The XL remains the largest, fastest, and most capable toolchanger in Prusa's lineup — and it's about to get even more versatile.

Price Drop: Production Efficiencies Passed On

Prusa has refined XL production, allowing them to manufacture the printer more efficiently. They're passing those savings on to customers. The Assembled 5-Toolhead XL is now approximately $200 cheaper than before.

This is notable because the XL has historically commanded a premium price for its toolchanging capabilities. A price drop makes the platform more accessible to serious makers and small businesses.

New Toolheads Coming in 2026

Silicone Printing Toolhead (Q1 2026)

Co-developed with Filament2, this plug-and-play toolhead enables the XL to print liquid materials like heat-resistant silicone. Think custom gaskets, seals, flexible hinges, and durable functional parts — materials that previously required expensive industrial equipment.

The technology uses liquid filament tubes containing the silicone compounds, loaded onto standard spools. A specialised cutter strips away the outer covering, and the toolhead mixes the two-part silicone and extrudes it. The result: desktop silicone printing without complex pressure systems.

Pick and Place Toolhead (Late 2026)

Developed with Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), this toolhead automates the placement of components like magnets, threaded inserts, and bearings during a print.

Instead of pausing your print to manually insert parts, the XL can now do it autonomously. This reduces manual intervention and improves placement accuracy — a genuine time-saver for functional prints.

XL vs INDX: What's the Difference?

Prusa recently introduced the INDX multi-material upgrade for their CORE One+ and CORE One L printers. Both systems handle multiple materials, but they work differently:

The key difference: XL is an active toolchanger where each toolhead is a complete print head with its own hotend. INDX is a passive system using a single active head that switches between tools.

The XL's advantage is flexibility. You can replace toolheads with completely different systems — like the silicone printer or pick and place. INDX is more affordable and supports up to 8 materials, but you're limited to FDM.

Community Mods: Proper Extruder for Soft TPU

Prusa highlighted a community project from Jon Shone (Proper Printing) who replaced all five XL toolheads with his own belt-driven Proper Extruders. This setup excels at printing extremely soft materials like TPU 60A — demonstrating how open the XL platform is to modification.

Should You Buy an XL in 2026?

The XL is now better value than ever with the price drop. If you need:

• Large build volume (360mm cube)
• Multi-material printing with fast toolchanges
• Future expandability (silicone, pick and place, custom toolheads)
• Engineering applications where different nozzle sizes or materials matter

...the XL remains the most capable platform in Prusa's lineup.

If you want affordable multi-material printing and don't need the expandability, the INDX upgrade for CORE One+ might be the better fit. But for those pushing boundaries, the XL is the platform to beat.