Cults3D takes 20% — Proofly takes 0%
Cults3D charges creators a flat 20% commission on every sale. That means for every $10 model you sell, $2 goes to the platform before you see a cent. At 100 sales per month, that's $200/month — $2,400/year — going to the platform instead of you.
Proofly takes 0% from sellers. The platform earns through a small flat fee paid by the buyer — not a percentage cut from your earnings. Whether you sell one model or ten thousand, your take-home is always 100% of your listing price.
Revenue calculator — enter your numbers
| Platform | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Cults3D (you keep 80%) | $800 | $9,600 |
| Proofly (0% — you keep 100%) | $1,000 | $12,000 |
| You keep more on Proofly | +$200/mo | +$2,400/yr |
0% seller commission — permanently. Buyer pays a flat ~$1 fee, not a % of your price.
No 3D viewer on Cults3D — buyers download blind
Cults3D product pages display static renders and photos uploaded by the creator. There is no interactive WebGL viewer — buyers cannot rotate the model, inspect topology, check watertightness, or verify scale before purchasing. For 3D print files, this creates real uncertainty: does the model need supports? What's the actual detail level? How complex is the mesh?
Proofly embeds a full in-browser WebGL 3D viewer on every listing. Buyers rotate, zoom, and inspect the actual mesh geometry before buying. This transparency reduces buyer hesitation and increases conversion — especially for detailed miniatures, architectural models, and functional prints where geometry matters.
HiddenMark™ — per-buyer watermarking Cults3D doesn't have
Cults3D has no per-buyer file fingerprinting. Every download is a plain STL or ZIP file. If your model shows up in a "free STL" Discord channel or a piracy repo, you have no technical way to identify which buyer leaked it — only slow, manual DMCA requests to hosts that may not respond.
Proofly's HiddenMark system embeds a unique steganographic code per buyer into every downloaded mesh — directly in the vertex geometry, not in metadata that gets stripped by slicers and re-exporters. Each code is unique to the specific buyer and purchase date.
When a file surfaces on a piracy site, upload it to proofly.store/hiddenmark and identify exactly which buyer it came from — in seconds. No other major 3D print marketplace offers equivalent per-buyer forensic tracing.
🔐 HiddenMark™
Every Proofly paid download gets a unique watermark embedded in the mesh geometry. Automatic on every sale. No setup required. Cults3D files have no equivalent protection.
How HiddenMark works →Cults3D specializes in 3D print — Proofly supports every 3D format
Cults3D is primarily a 3D printing community — most buyers are looking for print-ready STL files. If you also create GLB assets for real-time visualization, OBJ for cross-software workflows, or FBX for game engines, Cults3D is not the right audience.
Proofly supports STL, GLB, OBJ, 3MF, FBX, GLTF, and ZIP packages — all with the same WebGL viewer and HiddenMark fingerprinting on paid downloads. Buyers can filter by format. If you produce multiple file types, one platform handles everything.
Use both — they reach different buyer communities
Proofly doesn't require exclusivity, and neither does Cults3D. You can list the same models on both platforms. Cults3D brings its existing community of 3D printing hobbyists; Proofly adds an alternative audience with a better buyer experience (3D viewer) and better creator earnings (0% commission).
Many creators use the Cults3D free tier for community visibility while routing paid downloads through Proofly to avoid the 20% cut. The two platforms are complementary — you keep both audiences and earn more per sale on Proofly.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage does Cults3D take from sales?
Cults3D takes 20% per sale. At $10/model × 100 sales/month, that's $200/month going to Cults3D instead of you. Proofly takes 0% from sellers — the buyer pays a flat fee instead. You keep 100% of your listing price.
Is Proofly a good alternative to Cults3D for selling STL files?
Yes. Proofly supports STL, OBJ, GLB, 3MF, FBX, and ZIP — same formats as Cults3D, plus more. Key wins: 0% seller commission, in-browser 3D viewer, HiddenMark per-buyer watermarking. No exclusivity required — list on both simultaneously.
Does Cults3D protect 3D files from piracy?
Cults3D has no per-buyer watermarking or fingerprinting. Proofly's HiddenMark embeds a unique steganographic code per buyer in the mesh geometry. If your file leaks, upload it to proofly.store/hiddenmark to identify the source buyer instantly.
Can buyers preview 3D models on Cults3D before buying?
Cults3D shows static renders — no interactive 3D viewer. Proofly includes a full in-browser WebGL viewer on every listing so buyers can rotate and inspect the mesh before buying.
Can I sell on both Cults3D and Proofly at the same time?
Yes. No exclusivity required on either platform. Many creators list on Cults3D for the existing community while also listing on Proofly for 0% commission and the 3D viewer advantage. You reach both audiences simultaneously.
0% commission — you keep every cent
Upload STL, GLB, OBJ, 3MF in 2 minutes. Full in-browser viewer, HiddenMark protection, and 0% seller fees — no exclusivity required.
Start selling on Proofly →