Which 3D model site is the biggest? We used a different method to measure them.
When one asks, “which is the biggest”, it depends on your measurement. Sometimes the biggest sites are measured by the number of 3D models present, or perhaps the number of users signed up.
Today we’re doing a different measurement. I’m using the services of SimilarWeb, a site that provides estimated traffic data for websites. It’s not clear to me exactly how they obtain this information, or how accurate it might be, but it does provide a somewhat independent view of these sites.
SimilarWeb estimates the traffic to the site, and then ranks the site among all others — and there are a massive number of websites on the web. They also automatically categorize sites and provide a ranking within those categories. Here’s what I found when looking at the estimated traffic statistics for the major 3D model repositories:
- MakerWorld (Bambu Lab) 15.83M
- Thingiverse (UltiMaker) 14.85M
- Printables (Prusa) 13.83M
- Cults 3D (Independent) 12.35M
- CGTrader (Independent) 4.65M
- MyMiniFactory (Independent) 2.40M
- Creality Cloud (Creality) 1.55M
- MakerOnline (Anycubic) 0.69M
- PinShape (Formlabs) 0.29M
- NexPrint (Elegoo) 0.01M
Let’s take a look at these estimated traffic results, starting from the bottom.
NexPrint is at the bottom with almost no views for a simple reason: they just launched the service and hardly anyone knows about it yet.
PinShape was once a major site, but after being rescued by Formlabs, they haven’t made much noise and are apparently rarely used.
MakerOnline is also a relatively recent site, and therefore, they should appear a bit lower in traffic stats. However, they seem quite a bit lower than some of their competitors.
Similarly, Creality Cloud’s stats show the site much lower than I would have imagined. Creality apparently sells the most 3D printers of all the companies, so you’d think the site would be busier. According to SimilarWeb, they are lower than some independent sites. This might be a glitch in SimilarWeb’s methods, but even so, it is likely they have less traffic than the leaders.
MyMiniFactory is doing extremely well since their pivot into gaming figurines. The site has attracted an enormous number of designers, and that is reflected in their stats.
CGTrader shows up with very decent traffic, and that’s likely because they hold a lot of high-quality 3D models, often with CAD files attached.
Then we get into the high-traffic sites. Cults appears to be the highest-trafficked site that is not attached to a 3D printer manufacturer. The site has a huge number of 3D models, many of which are now monetized. This attracts designers, which again drives content and traffic.
Printables is a mainstay as they provide an excellent interface and have over a million 3D models. It is a popular service, and that shows in their traffic stats.
Thingiverse is the original printable 3D model repository, having been launched in 2009 with MakerBot’s first equipment. As such, it has accumulated over seven million 3D models. However, the interface isn’t as clean as the others, the site had been mostly abandoned by developers for years and only recently cleaned up. This allowed competitors to catch up in many ways.
At the top, we have Bambu Lab’s MakerWorld. The site gains traffic due to the huge number of machines sold, and apparently, unlike Creality Cloud, the Bambu Lab operators seem to be using MakerWorld. It also helps that the site has an aggressive monetization system that encourages activity.
These numbers are all estimates from SimilarWeb, but the point here is the relative positions of each in terms of traffic. Clearly, some of the sites are well used, while others are not. It also seems that the newcomers may have a hard time catching up.
