What happened to the Sketchfab Marketplace — and why creators are leaving FAB
Sketchfab started as a 3D model viewer and gradually built a marketplace where creators could sell STL, GLB, OBJ, and FBX files. The viewer — which lets buyers interactively spin, zoom, and inspect a model before purchasing — was genuinely good, and Sketchfab became the reference platform for sharing 3D work online.
In 2021, Epic Games acquired Sketchfab. Then in late 2024, Epic merged the Sketchfab Marketplace, the Unreal Engine Marketplace, ArtStation Marketplace, and Quixel into a single platform called FAB. Sellers who had built their presence on Sketchfab's store were migrated to FAB — with a new URL, a new interface, and the same 12% revenue share that now applies to the entire FAB ecosystem.
The free 3D viewer and model-sharing features of Sketchfab continue to run at sketchfab.com, but the paid marketplace is gone — it is now FAB. For creators who relied on the Sketchfab Store for income, this means adapting to Epic's priorities: a game-studio-first catalog, Unreal Engine integration, and a 12% platform fee that was not there when they first signed up.
Commission comparison: FAB's 12% vs Proofly's 0%
FAB's revenue share is 88% to the creator and 12% to Epic. This is a single tier — there are no bonus levels, no exclusivity tracks, and no thresholds to climb. It is better than TurboSquid's 40% Flex payout or CGTrader's new-seller 60%, but it is still a 12-cent tax on every dollar you earn.
| Platform | Creator payout | Platform cut | Exclusivity? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sketchfab Store (now FAB) | 88% | 12% | No |
| TurboSquid Flex | 40% | 60% | No |
| CGTrader (new seller) | 60% | 40% | No |
| Cults3D | 80% | 20% | No |
| Proofly — any amount | 100% | 0% | Never |
Proofly's model is different by design: creators set a price and keep 100% of it. Buyers pay a flat ~$1 service fee on top of that — this covers payment processing and platform operations without touching the creator's earnings. No commission tier, no exclusivity, no threshold to unlock.
Earnings comparison — $15 model, 100 sales
FAB is a game-studio tool — not a creator-first marketplace
FAB is built around Epic's ecosystem: Unreal Engine plugins, MetaHuman assets, Quixel megascans, and a catalog optimized for game pipelines. The search and browse interface is designed for game developers buying packs — not for 3D printing enthusiasts, miniature collectors, prop designers, or individual artists selling STL files.
Creators who made their living on Sketchfab selling STL files for 3D printing or OBJ/GLB models for general use find that FAB's audience is largely oriented toward Unreal Engine users. If your work is not game-engine–ready or does not fit a studio pipeline, FAB's discovery and search algorithms are not optimized to surface it to buyers.
Proofly is built specifically for the 3D model creator economy: STL, GLB, OBJ, FBX, 3MF, and ZIP bundles — the file types individual designers and small studios actually use. The marketplace search surfaces models to buyers who are printing, designing, or using individual assets — not necessarily deploying a game.
3D viewer: Sketchfab's legacy vs Proofly's native viewer
Sketchfab's 3D viewer was its defining feature — the reason millions of creators used it just to share work online, even before the marketplace existed. FAB inherited the viewer technology but the standalone Sketchfab viewer continues separately at sketchfab.com for free model sharing.
Proofly built a native WebGL viewer that does not depend on Sketchfab, Three.js iframes, or any external embed. It renders the actual file — the same file the buyer downloads — directly in the browser. There is no separate "upload to viewer" step and no mismatch between the preview and the purchase.
| Viewer feature | Sketchfab | FAB | Proofly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive 3D preview (orbit/zoom/pan) | ✓ | Limited | ✓ |
| Renders actual downloaded file | Separate upload | Partial | ✓ Always |
| PBR materials (GLB/GLTF) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Wireframe / clay / X-ray display modes | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Polygon count display | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Bounding box dimensions (mm / cm / in) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Watertight / manifold check badge | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| 2-point distance measure tool | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Explode view (multi-part models) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Animation playback with speed control | ✓ | Basic | ✓ |
| FPS monitor + auto performance mode | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Screenshot / PNG download from viewer | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
Sketchfab's viewer excels at real-time rendering and material preview — it was built purely for that purpose. Proofly's viewer adds the analysis tools that matter for buyers making a purchase decision: exact dimensions for 3D printing, watertight status before slicing, and per-part explode view for assembly models.
Piracy protection: the gap that Sketchfab and FAB cannot close
Sketchfab's free hosting model means that public models are viewable — and in many cases downloadable — without purchasing. The Sketchfab Store tried to gate downloads behind payment, but the files themselves carried no buyer identity. If a buyer reshared your file, every copy was byte-for-byte identical and there was no way to trace the leak back to a specific purchase.
FAB inherited this architecture. Every buyer of the same model receives the same file. If a $30 model appears on a piracy forum the day after release, you know it was leaked by one of the first buyers — but you have no way to know which one.
Proofly's HiddenMark™ system embeds a unique fingerprint in the mesh geometry of every download — invisible to the eye but detectable algorithmically. The fingerprint is per-buyer: two customers who buy the same model receive geometrically distinct files. If either file appears somewhere it should not, you upload it to proofly.store/hiddenmark and immediately see which purchase and buyer it came from.
How HiddenMark™ works
- Buyer purchases your model on Proofly
- Before delivery, HiddenMark™ encodes a unique buyer ID into the mesh geometry — not metadata, not the filename, the actual vertices
- The buyer receives a file that looks and prints identically — the watermark is geometrically imperceptible
- If the file leaks, you upload the pirated copy to proofly.store/hiddenmark
- HiddenMark™ reads the embedded fingerprint and returns the purchase record: buyer name, date, order ID
No other major 3D marketplace — Sketchfab, FAB, TurboSquid, CGTrader, Cults3D — offers per-buyer mesh fingerprinting. HiddenMark™ is exclusive to Proofly.
Full feature comparison: Sketchfab / FAB vs Proofly
| Feature | Sketchfab / FAB | Proofly |
|---|---|---|
| Commission (marketplace sales) | 12% (FAB) | 0% |
| Creator payout | 88% | 100% |
| Buyer fee (transparent) | None (cut hidden in commission) | ~$1 flat, visible |
| Exclusivity required | No | No |
| Native WebGL 3D viewer | Sketchfab only (FAB: limited) | ✓ Built-in |
| Per-buyer piracy fingerprint | ✗ | ✓ HiddenMark™ |
| STL / 3D-print file support | Yes (sketchfab); FAB: limited | ✓ First-class |
| GLB / GLTF (PBR materials) | ✓ | ✓ |
| OBJ / FBX / 3MF / ZIP | OBJ/FBX yes; 3MF/ZIP partial | ✓ All supported |
| Creator analytics (funnel, geography) | Basic (FAB) | ✓ Full dashboard |
| A/B thumbnail testing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Paid visibility boosts | ✗ | ✓ |
| Founding Creator status (first 100) | ✗ | ✓ Permanent badge |
Creator analytics: what FAB doesn't tell you
FAB provides basic sales data — how many units sold, total revenue, payout history. It does not tell you how many people viewed your listing without buying, where buyers are located, which thumbnail drives more clicks, or what percentage of visitors convert to purchases.
Proofly's creator dashboard includes:
- →Conversion funnel: views → item opens → purchases, with per-model drop-off percentages
- →Buyer geography: map + bar chart of which countries your buyers come from
- →Signals: automatic alerts — "this model has high views but 0 purchases — try a lower price or a new thumbnail"
- →A/B thumbnail testing: run two cover images simultaneously, the dashboard shows which one has higher click-through rate
- →Boost ROI: for each paid visibility boost — how many additional views and purchases it generated
- →Category benchmark: how your models perform vs the category average
This is the data that actually allows you to improve — not just track — your sales performance.
Who should switch from Sketchfab / FAB to Proofly?
3D printing designers
STL creators who need buyers to see exact dimensions, watertight status, and print-ready specs before buying. FAB's catalog is game-engine–focused; Proofly's buyer base actively searches for 3D-printable files.
Creators worried about piracy
If your models have appeared on free-sharing sites after being sold on Sketchfab or elsewhere, HiddenMark™'s per-buyer fingerprinting gives you a forensic trail that no other platform offers.
Volume sellers losing 12% to FAB
At $500/month in FAB sales, you are giving Epic $60 you could keep. At $2,000/month, that is $240. Cross-listing on Proofly costs nothing and captures that margin on every sale that comes through.
5-step migration: from Sketchfab / FAB to Proofly
- 1
Export your models from FAB
Download your original files from FAB's seller portal. FAB allows sellers to download their own listings — you own your files.
- 2
Create a Proofly account
Sign up at proofly.store/auth/register. The first 100 creators get permanent Founding Creator status — a badge that never expires and includes priority search placement.
- 3
Upload your files — AI fills in the details
Drag and drop your STL, GLB, OBJ, FBX, 3MF, or ZIP files. The upload page has one-click AI generation for title, description, tags, and SEO text based on your model — no rewriting from scratch.
- 4
Set your price and publish
Enter the price in USD, EUR, or PLN — the platform converts for buyers automatically. HiddenMark™ is embedded in every download at publish time with no extra steps.
- 5
Keep FAB as a parallel channel
FAB does not require exclusivity. Leave your models up there and add Proofly as a second channel — every sale that comes through Proofly earns you the full 100% instead of 88%.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to the Sketchfab marketplace?▾
Epic Games acquired Sketchfab in 2021 and in late 2024 merged the Sketchfab Marketplace into FAB — Epic's unified asset store that also absorbed the Unreal Engine Marketplace, ArtStation Marketplace, and Quixel. Sellers who listed models on the Sketchfab Store were migrated to FAB. The free model-sharing and 3D viewer at sketchfab.com continues separately.
What commission does FAB take from Sketchfab sellers?▾
FAB takes 12% of every sale — sellers keep 88%. Proofly charges 0% commission. Buyers pay a separate flat ~$1 service fee, which covers processing and platform costs without reducing what the creator receives.
Does Proofly's 3D viewer compare to Sketchfab's?▾
Proofly's viewer renders STL, GLB/GLTF (PBR), OBJ+MTL, FBX, and 3MF natively in the browser without any external embed. Beyond orbit/zoom/pan, it adds features Sketchfab lacks: bounding box dimensions in mm/cm/in, watertight badge, 2-point distance measure, explode view for multi-part models, and an FPS monitor with auto-performance mode. Sketchfab's viewer excels at real-time material rendering; Proofly's viewer adds the analysis tools buyers need for print decisions.
Can I use Proofly and FAB at the same time?▾
Yes. FAB does not require exclusivity for standard listings. Cross-listing the same models on Proofly means every Proofly sale pays you 100% instead of 88% — no additional work, no exclusivity cost.
Is Proofly good for 3D printing STL files?▾
Proofly was built with STL creators in mind. The viewer shows exact dimensions (mm/cm/in), a watertight / manifold check badge, and polygon count — all information 3D-printing buyers need before purchasing. AI topology analysis checks your STL for non-manifold edges and winding consistency at upload time. Print settings (layer height, infill, support) are stored per model and displayed to buyers on the listing page.
What is the Founding Creator program?▾
The first 100 creators to join Proofly receive permanent Founding Creator status: a badge that never expires, priority placement in marketplace search results, and early access to new platform features. Check proofly.store/creators to see how many spots remain.
Start keeping 100% of every sale
Proofly charges 0% commission. Buyers pay a flat ~$1 fee — you keep your full listed price from sale one, with no exclusivity, no tier to climb, and HiddenMark™ piracy tracing on every download.
First 100 creators → Founding Creator status (permanent badge + search priority)