Best Cura Settings for PETG: Exact Values, Why They Matter

PETG lands in an awkward spot for slicer profiles. It runs 20–30°C hotter than PLA, strings more aggressively, and bonds to some bed surfaces so firmly that cold-pulling the part can lift the coating. Default Cura PETG profiles are a reasonable starting point but rarely ship tuned for your extruder type, bed surface, or filament brand, and the wider comparison of material profiles for PLA, PETG, ABS and TPU explains why PETG needs its own numbers. The best Cura settings for PETG are a starting range plus a calibration sequence — not a copy-paste answer.

Below are the specific values, why each one matters for PETG specifically, and the order to tune them.

Temperature: nozzle and bed

Nozzle: 230–245°C is where most PETG runs cleanly. The lower bound (230°C) works well for many budget spools at 0.15–0.20mm layer heights and moderate speed. Push toward 240–245°C when you see consistent under-extrusion, poor layer bonding, or matte rather than glossy surfaces. Above 250°C PETG degrades and strings dramatically unless you’re using a high-flow hotend.

Set the first layer 5°C higher than the rest of the print — 235°C first layer, 230°C remaining — to promote adhesion before the part has a thermal mass that holds it down.

Bed: 70–85°C. PETG’s glass transition is around 80°C, so the bed surface needs to be below that while still warm enough to keep the first layer pliable. On PEI spring steel or coated glass, 75°C is a reliable default. Smooth PEI can bond so strongly that releasing the part requires waiting for full cool-down to around 40°C. Textured PEI surfaces (powder-coated) give easier release at 70–75°C bed temp.

Run a temperature tower before locking in your nozzle temp — a 225–250°C tower in 5°C steps takes under an hour and eliminates most stringing and adhesion guesswork. The flow and temperature tower calibration guide covers how to build and read one.

Retraction: the biggest variable between extruder types

PETG needs less retraction than most users dial in, and too much causes heat-creep grinding on direct drive setups.

Extruder type	Retraction distance	Retraction speed
Direct drive	2.5–4 mm	20–25 mm/s
Bowden (short)	5–6 mm	25 mm/s
Bowden (long/cheap)	6–7 mm	20 mm/s

Start at the lower end of each range. PETG is viscous and over-retraction pulls molten material back into the cold zone, causing clogs. If stringing persists after retraction tuning, the problem is usually temperature (too high) or travel speed (too low) rather than retraction distance; the full diagnostic order is in how to fix stringing in Cura.

Combing: Set to “Within Infill” in Cura. This routes travel moves through already-printed infill rather than crossing open air, eliminating a significant fraction of stringing without touching retraction settings at all.

Minimum travel for retraction: Set to 2–3 mm. Below this threshold, retracting for tiny hops creates more problems than it solves.

Print speed and travel

PETG is more forgiving than ABS but significantly slower than PLA in practical terms:

• Print speed: 40–60 mm/s for most geometry
• Outer wall speed: 25–35 mm/s (slower = better surface quality and bonding)
• Infill speed: 50–70 mm/s
• Initial layer speed: 20–25 mm/s
• Travel speed: 120–150 mm/s

Higher travel speed reduces the window during which the nozzle can ooze over open space, which directly cuts stringing. If your printer can execute 150 mm/s travels without triggering layer shifts, use it.

On input-shaping-capable firmware, the above speeds can go higher. Without input shaping, stay under 60 mm/s on perimeters or expect ringing on any corner.

Cooling and fan speed

PETG needs less cooling than PLA and more than ABS — which means the default generic PETG fan profile (100% from layer 2) is usually wrong in both directions.

• Layers 1–3: fan off
• Layers 4–10: 20–30%
• Remaining print: 40–60%

Running full fan from layer 2 weakens interlayer bonding and causes warping at the base. On thin overhangs and bridging, 60–80% fan for those specific features is fine; Cura’s “support cooling” and “bridge fan speed” overrides let you handle this per-feature.

For mechanical parts where Z-strength matters more than cosmetics, keep the fan at 30% throughout the print. For display models or parts where stringing and surface finish matter more, run 60–70% fan after the first 5 layers.

Walls, layer height, and infill

Walls: 3–4 perimeters for structural parts; 2 for display prints. PETG layers bond well but have lower modulus than PLA, so more walls compensate when the part sees bending loads.

Layer height: 0.15–0.20 mm on a 0.4 mm nozzle is the practical range. At 0.20 mm, layer bonding is excellent and print time is manageable. At 0.15 mm, surface quality improves noticeably. Below 0.12 mm, the slow feed rate combined with PETG’s heat sensitivity can cause inconsistent extrusion.

Infill: 20–30% is adequate for most non-structural parts. Gyroid and cubic patterns distribute loads more evenly than grid and are a better default for PETG enclosures and brackets. For flat decorative prints, rectilinear at 15% is fine.

Top/bottom layers: 4–5 top layers at 0.20 mm. PETG’s slight elasticity means thin top surfaces can bow or look wavy; the extra layers compress the issue.

Bed adhesion

PETG does not need ABS-strength bed prep, but it does need the right surface:

• PEI spring steel (textured): best default. No glue, releases at room temperature.
• PEI spring steel (smooth): works, but PETG can bond hard. Apply a thin release layer (glue stick) if parts are hard to remove.
• Borosilicate glass: add a light glue stick layer. PETG directly on bare glass can delaminate the glass coating.
• BuildTak-type surfaces: PETG may bond permanently. Avoid or add release agent.

Use a brim of 8–12mm for tall, narrow parts. PETG has low warping compared to ABS, but taller parts can still detach at the base if the first-layer temperature or Z-offset isn’t dialed in.

Flow rate and linear advance

Dial in flow rate before tuning anything else. Print a single-wall cube (Cura: 0 infill, 1 perimeter) and measure wall width with calipers. If the measured width differs from your line width setting by more than 5%, adjust flow rate (Extrusion Multiplier) in 2% increments until they match.

For printers running Marlin firmware, Linear Advance substantially improves PETG corner quality and reduces ooze. Prusa’s testing found a K-value of 0.08 for a 0.4 mm nozzle printing PETG at 240°C. Add M900 K0.08 to Cura’s machine start G-code to enable it. On Klipper, the equivalent is Pressure Advance; a starting value of 0.05–0.08 is appropriate for PETG, and pressure advance tuning explained covers how the two parameters relate.

How to verify

After applying these settings, print a 3DBenchy at your target speed. Check:

1. Hull seam: clean, no blobs — indicates retraction and combing are working
2. Chimney top: closed, no sagging — indicates cooling is adequate
3. Bow hull: smooth striation, no ringing — indicates speed and input shaping are correct
4. Deck overhang (~45°): clean without curl — indicates temperature and cooling balance

If the hull surface has stringing, increase travel speed or lower nozzle temp by 5°C. If you see layer separation at the bow or chimney, raise nozzle temp or reduce fan speed.

Related reading

To get this profile written out for your exact nozzle size and print goal, under the setting names Cura itself uses, run the slicer settings cheat-sheet generator with Cura and PETG selected. If you are weighing a move off Cura, Cura vs PrusaSlicer maps every setting above to its PrusaSlicer name and flags the two that have no equivalent, while the Cura to OrcaSlicer migration guide does the same for OrcaSlicer. For the calibration order that makes any of these numbers trustworthy, see the flow and temperature calibration guide and the core slicer settings guide.