[hereonout2]

There's a much higher barrier to entry with CNC. I have a cheapo CNC - few hundred dollars - and really have only ever made one practical usable "thing" on it.

It's so slow and needs much trial and error to get a decent cut, I feel a more expensive machine would be much more versatile but cost 10x for the machine and consumables as you say.

With the similarly priced 3d printer I feel like I've actually saved a lot of money and hassle printing things. I can quickly download a model and print a perfectly useable "thing" in no time, often with no mistakes. Prusa slicer and a larger $5 nozzle has made things even better, even though I have an off brand 6 year old printer.

Lots of hobbies can get expensive though, especially when high quality tools are involved. I'd actually argue 3d printing is an exception to that.

Decent power tools and consumables rack up and don't even look at the price of hand tools from the likes of Lie Nielsen.