Thangs.com is a free 3D model search engine and repository — most creators on the platform earn $0 per download. Thangs Shop exists but offers limited traffic, opaque commission terms, and no per-buyer piracy protection. If you want to sell 3D models at a price you set and keep every cent, Proofly charges 0% commission — the buyer pays a flat ~$1 service fee, you keep 100%.
Published 21 July 2026 · 12-minute read
| Feature | Thangs | Proofly |
|---|---|---|
| Creator commission | Unknown / 20–30% (Shop) | 0% — keep 100% |
| Free model earnings | $0 per download | You set any price |
| Buyer fee | None (free models) | ~$1 flat service fee |
| 3D viewer depth | Basic orbit/zoom | Full WebGL: 6 display modes, measure, explode, FPS |
| Per-buyer piracy tracing | None | HiddenMark™ mesh fingerprint on every purchase |
| Creator analytics | Download count only | Views, conversion rate, revenue, funnel |
| Payout method | Limited / unclear | Stripe Connect, no hold |
| Primary audience | Free model browsers | Buyers with purchase intent |
| Geometric search | Yes (shape similarity) | Tag + keyword + category search |
| STL/3MF/GLB/OBJ support | STL, some others | STL, GLB, OBJ, FBX, 3MF, BLEND, ZIP |
| Exclusivity required | No | No |
| Founding Creator programme | No | Yes (first 500 free lifetime) |
Thangs.com launched in 2019 as a product of Physna Inc., an AI company focused on 3D geometric analysis. The platform's headline feature is geometric search — finding 3D models by shape similarity rather than text keywords alone. By 2022 it had accumulated millions of models and tens of thousands of registered users.
The vast majority of content on Thangs is free to download. The platform earns revenue through Thangs+ subscriptions (higher download limits, faster access), enterprise licensing of its geometry-search technology, and advertising. Creator monetization was added later through Thangs Shop — a section where creators can list models for sale — but it remains a secondary feature rather than the core product.
The net result for creators: if you upload a free model to Thangs you gain exposure, but you earn nothing. If you list a paid model through Thangs Shop, you compete for visibility against millions of free alternatives on the same platform, and the commission structure is not publicly documented.
Free repositories like Thangs operate on a fundamentally different economic model from paid marketplaces. The value exchange is: creator provides free content → platform attracts traffic → platform monetises that traffic through ads and subscriptions → creator gets exposure. There is no per-download payment, no tipping mechanism, and no way to gate content behind a price on the same free-listing URL.
Free model — zero revenue
Every download of a free Thangs model costs the creator $0.00 in commission and earns them $0.00 in revenue. Exposure is real but does not pay server costs, print material costs, or creative time.
Thangs Shop — unclear terms
Thangs Shop allows paid listings, but the commission rate is not published on the Thangs website. Community feedback suggests rates in the 20–30% range, but you are committing your work to unclear terms.
Platform monetises your work
Thangs+ subscriptions sell premium download access to the library of models you uploaded for free. The platform earns a recurring subscription fee; you earn nothing from those transactions.
Discoverability problem
Paid models on Thangs Shop compete directly against millions of free alternatives on the same platform. A buyer who can download a similar model for free has little incentive to pay, regardless of your model's quality.
Using an estimated 25% Thangs Shop commission (mid-point of reported range) vs Proofly's published 0% seller commission. Proofly buyer pays a flat ~$1 service fee; that fee goes to the platform, not deducted from your payout.
| Price | Sales | Thangs (~25% cut) | Proofly (0% cut) | You keep extra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5 | 100 | $375 | $500 | +$125 |
| $10 | 100 | $750 | $1,000 | +$250 |
| $15 | 100 | $1,125 | $1,500 | +$375 |
| $10 | 500 | $3,750 | $5,000 | +$1,250 |
| $20 | 500 | $7,500 | $10,000 | +$2,500 |
| $50 | 200 | $7,500 | $10,000 | +$2,500 |
* Thangs commission rate is estimated at 25% (not officially published). Proofly 0% is the published, contractual rate. Buyer's ~$1 fee on Proofly is separate and does not reduce your payout.
Thangs
Proofly
The STL and GLB piracy problem is severe: models routinely appear on Discord piracy servers, Telegram groups, and reuploaded to Thangs itself within days of a sale. Without per-buyer tracing, you have no actionable information. With HiddenMark™ on Proofly, every leak is traceable to the exact purchase, giving you the data needed for a DMCA takedown or direct dispute resolution.
Thangs does have a 3D viewer — this is one of its strengths as a free browser. But there is a critical difference between a viewer built for casual browsing and one built for purchase decisions.
| Viewer feature | Thangs | Proofly |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit / zoom / pan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Display modes (wireframe, clay, X-ray, normals) | Basic | 6 modes: Solid, Wireframe, Wireframe Only, Clay, X-Ray, Normals |
| Polygon count display | — | ✓ Live counter |
| Bounding box dimensions | — | ✓ X / Y / Z with mm/cm/in switcher |
| Distance measurement tool | — | ✓ Click A→B, result in current unit |
| Manifold / watertight check | — | ✓ Inline badge in viewer |
| Explode view for multi-part models | — | ✓ One-click part separation |
| Animation playback (GLB/FBX) | — | ✓ Play/pause/scrub/speed control |
| Screenshot download | — | ✓ PNG |
| Fullscreen + mobile auto-fullscreen | — | ✓ |
| FPS monitor + auto quality mode | — | ✓ Amber/red at <25fps, auto-adjusts |
| Embed widget (iframe) | — | ✓ Copy iframe code |
When a buyer can check manifold status, measure exact dimensions, and orbit in X-ray mode before purchasing, they buy with confidence. Reduced buyer hesitation directly increases conversion rate and reduces refund requests.
Thangs is the right choice when…
Proofly is the right choice when…
You don't have to choose one. Many creators use Thangs for free-model top-of-funnel traffic and Proofly for paid sales. A common setup:
Create your Proofly account
Sign up free at proofly.store. No application, no gating — your account is live immediately. Connect Stripe for payouts (takes ~3 minutes).
Upload your first model
Drag in your STL, GLB, OBJ, FBX, 3MF, or ZIP pack. The AI topology check runs automatically in the background. The 3D viewer goes live the moment processing finishes.
Set your price
Enter any price. You keep 100% — only the buyer pays a flat ~$1 service fee on checkout. There is no minimum price and no listing fee.
Enable HiddenMark
Toggle HiddenMark™ on in the model settings. Every paid download from that point forward gets a unique geometric fingerprint embedded invisibly in the mesh.
Cross-link from Thangs
Keep your existing free Thangs models. Add a line to each description linking to the paid version on Proofly. Free downloads drive awareness; Proofly captures the intent-to-pay audience.
| Feature | Thangs | Proofly |
|---|---|---|
| Platform type | Free repository + search engine | Paid creator marketplace |
| Creator commission | 0% (free); ~25% (paid, unconfirmed) | 0% — always |
| Buyer fee | None (free models) | ~$1 flat service fee |
| Free model hosting | ✓ Core feature | ✓ List at $0 price |
| Paid model marketplace | ✓ Thangs Shop (low traffic) | ✓ Primary feature |
| Geometric / shape search | ✓ Proprietary AI | ✗ (keyword + tag + category) |
| STL upload | ✓ | ✓ |
| GLB / GLTF upload | ✓ | ✓ |
| OBJ / FBX / 3MF upload | Partial | ✓ |
| BLEND upload | ✗ | ✓ |
| ZIP multi-file pack | ✗ | ✓ |
| In-browser 3D viewer | Basic orbit/zoom | Full 6-mode WebGL viewer |
| Mesh analytics in viewer | — | Polygon count, bbox, manifold, measure |
| Per-buyer piracy tracing | ✗ | ✓ HiddenMark™ |
| DMCA certificate | ✗ | ✓ Per purchase |
| Creator analytics | Download count | Views, conversion, revenue, funnel |
| Payout method | Limited / unclear | Stripe Connect |
| Exclusivity requirement | No | No |
| AI model check | ✗ | ✓ Topology, watertight, polygon analysis |
| Embed widget (iframe) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Founding Creator plan | ✗ | ✓ First 500 creators — free lifetime |
Thangs.com is primarily a free 3D model repository — uploading free models earns creators $0 per download. Thangs does offer Thangs Shop for paid listings, but it has limited discoverability and opaque commission terms. For transparent, consistent earnings at 0% commission, Proofly is the better option.
Thangs.com is a 3D model search engine and hosting platform. Its primary feature is geometric (shape-similarity) search. Unlike dedicated marketplaces such as Proofly, Thangs was built around free content aggregation. The platform earns revenue from subscriptions and enterprise search licensing — creator monetisation is secondary.
No. Thangs has no per-buyer fingerprinting for paid downloads. If a buyer reshares your file, there is no traceable identifier. Proofly embeds a unique HiddenMark™ code into every paid download — invisible to the eye, readable by the verify API in seconds.
Thangs has a basic 3D preview for browsing. Proofly's viewer adds 6 display modes, real-time polygon count, bounding-box dimensions with unit switcher, a distance measurement tool, manifold check, explode view for multi-part models, animation scrubbing, and a screenshot button — everything a buyer needs to make a confident purchase decision.
Yes. A common strategy: post a free teaser or single-part version to Thangs for discovery, and list the full or premium version on Proofly with a price. Proofly has no exclusivity requirement. HiddenMark™ on every Proofly purchase means redistribution of your paid file is traceable even if a free version exists elsewhere.
Thangs does not publish a commission rate for Thangs Shop. Community reports suggest 20–30%. On Proofly the commission is 0% — sellers keep 100%, buyers pay a separate flat ~$1 service fee.
The main reasons: (1) Monetisation — Thangs is free-first; Proofly is creator-earns-first at 0%. (2) Piracy protection — Thangs has none; Proofly applies HiddenMark™ per purchase. (3) Buyer experience — full WebGL viewer with mesh analytics. (4) Analytics — views, conversion rate, revenue funnel vs download count only. (5) Transparent payout via Stripe Connect.
Upload your first 3D model to Proofly in 2 minutes. Set any price, keep 100% — only the buyer pays a flat ~$1 fee. HiddenMark™ piracy protection and a full WebGL viewer are included on every listing.
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