Overview of the Best 3D Marketplaces
A 3D printing marketplace is an online platform where you can buy, sell or share digital 3D printable files. The most widely used 3D printable file formats are stl, wrl and vrml. There are 3D printing marketplaces that offer file sharing free of charge, there are also 3D printing marketplaces that have a built in e-commerce capability. Often, a 3D printing marketplace website offers the possibility for a 3D designer to have his or her own shop-in-shop where the designer can upload suitable files and sell them via the 3D marketplace website (or give them away for free). The 3D printing marketplace provides server resources, infrastructure and a guarantee of safe settlement for payments.
Some of the marketplaces also offer additional services such as 3D printing on demand. For an overview of the best 3D printing services, visit our 3D Printing Services page.
Turbosquid
This is maybe the biggest marketplace out there. Turbosquid has an impressive list of high profile clients. As a buyer you can find practically anything you need via this platform. As a seller, it is difficult to set yourself apart on Turbosquid. This will require a lot of active marketing and a lot of talent. The upside is the massive user base of Turbosquid. Ones you stand out here, you can have a very good business via this platform.
GrabCAD
When you are looking for free models, GrabCAD is place to go. This is the biggest free models repository. You can connect wit over 3 million members. They have the largest community of designers, engineers and manufacturers to access their library of CAD models and tutorials. It can be hard to find “ready to print models” on this site.
Shapeways
Besides their large presence in the 3D printing services industry, Shapeways also offers the possibility for modelers to upload their work and sell physical copies of their 3D models. Their service focuses primarily on designers’ stores and makes it easy to open a store. All models have to be printed at Shapeways.
Sculpteo
This is a company from France that primarily focusses on 3D printing services. But, Sculpteo also offer an excellent marketplace for designers to sell their products. Having a similar business model as Shapeways, their marketplace is a lot less crowded. This can be seen as an advantage for those of you who wish to sell your models.
3DExport
With one of the most user friendly designs, 3DExport is a great marketplace for your 3D models, 3D printings and VR. They have +140,000 members and a great offer of 3D Models, 3D Print Models, CG Textures, 3D Cars and Free 3D Models.
Sketchfab
This is a great marketplace with over 600,000 models. The best feature of Sketchfab is that you can embed Sketchfab designs into any website comparable to how you would embed a Youtube video. Besides that, the models are also ready for viewing in Augmented Reality applications and Virtual Reality headsets. You can upload an unlimited amount of models from your browser or software.
Cults3D
Cults is a marketplace that connects designers and people who want to 3D print some objects. Cults is dedicated to all owners of 3D printers who wish to download premium and original 3D models. It is a social network that brings together all the fans of the 3D printing world, so that they can interact with each other. Cults also stands for generosity. Thanks to Promotions category, all 3D printing aficionados can find coupon codes to buy 3D printers, filaments, 3D scanners and many other accessories at the best prices.
CGTrader
CGTrader is a 3D Model Marketplace for computer graphics and 3D printing, backed by a great Designer Community. 3D Artists and Designers share and sell their models, and their customers can choose from a wide collection of high-quality 3D models.
MyMiniFactory
MyMiniFactory is one of the largest curated 3D object download platform that gives its users free access to thousands of 3D printable files created by talented 3D Designers from around the world.
Like some other 3D file platforms, MyMiniFactory aims for every object to be test printed by an internal team, meaning that every object is guaranteed 3D printable.
Thingiverse
Thingiverse is owned by Makerbot and is a Design community for discovering, making, and sharing 3D printable things. As the world’s largest 3D printing community, they encouraged to create and remix 3D things, no matter their technical expertise or previous experience.
Pinshape
Pinshape is a 3D Printing Community Marketplace with a talented, friendly, and creative group of community members that are Designing, Engineering, and Making quality 3D Object Models to Share, Buy or Sell.
Their amazing Community members upload and share their designs within the curated marketplace for you to download and print, all around the World.
Browse Pinshape’s 3D Marketplace Categories of 3D Designs and Object Models or use Pinshape’s fast and clean search engine to find the Trending & New Designs, 3D Objects, and Prints, for cool things to make.
The Maker Community is ever growing at Pinshape and they also give an opportunity to 3D Designers and Makers to Feature their work, get valuable feedback, learn from Community Members, and interact in a friendly knowledgeable environment.
Yeggi
Yeggi is a Search Engine for 3D Printable Files. It collects and aggregates 3D Models to print coming from 3D printing repositories or marketplaces such as Pinshape, Thingiverse, and MyMiniFactory. Their aim is to give the best results to find 3D Models on the Internet.