["Business Strategy and the Environment, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nAdditive manufacturing (AM) adoption provides numerous benefits, including decentralised production, design flexibility, mass customisation, reduced material waste and lightweight designs. However, AM investment decisions are complex and challenging for manufacturers, and limited knowledge exists about the holistic assessment of relevant costs and benefits. Without comprehensive assessment frameworks, firms are reluctant to invest and lack confidence in AM as a feasible long‐term strategy. This paper uses a systematic literature review to examine the AM cost–benefit analysis and sustainability assessment methods published between 2015 and 2025. It finds that early cost models primarily addressed direct costs but have since evolved to include hidden costs, process‐specific characteristics and life cycle considerations. Activity‐based costing, mixed‐method approaches and CAD/CAM integrations have improved cost accuracy, yet gaps persist in addressing sustainability costs and benefits and capturing holistic sustainability indicators. Therefore, this review identifies critical gaps in AM sustainability assessment and proposes important future research directions, including sustainability factor integration into cost–benefit models, empirical validation using real‐world data and deeper investigations into manufacturing industry dynamics. At its core, the study emphasises the urgent need for comprehensive frameworks that integrate environmental, social, economic and operational factors into assessment models and proposes a novel framework for sustainable, strategic AM adoption.\n"]