Top 10 3D Model Databases: The Best Sites To Download 3D Models For 3D Printing
If you intend to 3D print a model, that doesn’t mean you always have to start designing from scratch. There are tons of websites out there that offer (both free and premium) 3D models to download. We took a look at 10 of the best and most popular 3D model databases and compared them for price, quality, selection, and printability.
1. Cults 3D
Cults offers its users the perfect range of 3D models — from maker-inspired 3D files all the way to high-quality professional designs. Cults checks each 3D design for printability and organizes them into different groups such as fashion, art, jewelry, home, architecture, or gadgets. The mix of a visual interface, a well-arranged database, and a focus on smart, useful, and beautiful designs makes browsing through their website a lot of fun. While many models come for free, others come at very affordable prices.
Cults facts:
Focus on 3D printing: Yes
Price: Free and payable
Target: Hobbyists and designers
2. Pinshape
Pinshape offers its visitors the opportunity to browse through a great selection of free and payable STL files from 70,000+ makers and designers. Finding great 3D printable models on the website is child’s play: both the visual representation and logical organization of the website are top-notch.
Pinshape facts:
Focus on 3D printing: Yes
Price: Free and payable
Target: Hobbyists and designers
3. Thingiverse
Thingiverse is probably one of the biggest and most popular databases. It has a very active maker community behind it and offers free-to-use STL files only. You don’t even need to open an account in order to download a 3D model from their site.
Thingiverse facts:
Focus on 3D printing: Yes
Price: Free
Target: Makers
4. GrabCAD
GrabCAD is different than the databases we have looked at so far. Firstly, GrabCad provides you with technical, engineering, and scale models only. Secondly, it lets you filter its database based on the 3D modeling software that the designs were created in. It’s the place to be for anyone looking for more than 5 million technical 3D files. However, take into account that this website is not intended for 3D printing.
GrabCAD is all about downloading technical 3D models
GrabCAD facts:
Focus on 3D printing: No
Price: Free
Target: Professionals interested in technical/engineering parts
5. 3D Warehouse
The 3D Warehouse simply screams ‘geometrical.’ Whether you are looking for architecture, product design, or scale models, 3D Warehouse offers anything that was created with the popular 3D modeling software SketchUp.
3D Warehouse facts:
Focus on 3D printing: No
Price: Free
Target: Professionals interested in geometrical/architectural models
6. CGTrader
CGTrader offers a dedicated database for 3D printable objects. We noticed that there are many printable jewelry designs in particular on this website. While many models are downloadable for free, others come at affordable prices.
CGTrader facts:
Focus on 3D printing: No, but 3D printing database available
Price: Free and payable
Target: Hobbyists and designers
7. TurboSquid
TurboSquid is the place to be for downloading the most stunning 3D designs. It doesn’t get any more high-end and professional than this. The problems: the designs are great visually but are not optimized for 3D printing. There is also no filtering option for finding 3D printable models. Furthermore, all models on TurboSquid are premium (payable) files. Quality comes at a price.
TurboSquid facts:
Focus on 3D printing: No
Price: Premium
Target: Professional designers and 3D artists
8. 3DExport
3DExport is somewhat similar to TurboSquid: this is also a database that focuses on the visual aspects and offers amazing premium 3D models. In addition to this, 3DExport offers its users a filter for finding 3D printable models only.
3DExport facts:
Focus on 3D printing: No, but 3D printing category available
Price: Premium
Target: Professional designers and 3D artists
9. Printables
Printables is a community site for 3D printer users that offers thousands of free printable 3D models. Browse through many category options for functional, stylish, and fun models that are ready to print. Printables offers a great filtering system so you can find exactly what you’re looking for.
Printables facts:
Focus on 3D printing: Yes
Price: Free
Target: Hobbyists and designers
10. Yeggi
Last but not least we want to mention Yeggi, a search engine for 3D printable models. Yeggi scans all the databases mentioned above, and many more, for 3D printable files. So if you want to search the ‘Google’ of 3D models, this might be the right website for you.
Of course, we cannot mention each and every 3D model database out there, but we think that these 10 sites are great places to get your first stunning 3D models.
And by the way: After downloading (and maybe editing) a file, feel free to upload the 3D model to our website and let us print it in 100+ materials and finishes on industrial 3D printers. It’s the easiest way to get a high-quality 3D print.
