Pinshape takes 35% — the highest major-marketplace rate
Pinshape charges creators a 35% commission on every paid model sale — higher than Cults3D (20%), Printables/Prusa (25%), and most other 3D print marketplaces. That means for every $10 model you sell, $3.50 goes to the platform before you see a cent. At 100 sales per month, that's $350/month — $4,200/year — going to Pinshape 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.
📊 Commission math
$10 model × 100 sales/month: Pinshape takes $350, you keep $650.
Same model on Proofly: you keep $1,000. Every month. Every year.
Pinshape is now owned by Formlabs — not independent
Formlabs acquired Pinshape in 2016. Formlabs is a resin 3D printer manufacturer — their business incentive is to drive sales of Form printers and resin, not to maximize revenue for creators or build the best marketplace experience. The platform serves Formlabs' commercial interests first.
This creates a structural bias: Pinshape's community leans heavily toward resin printing, and platform development priorities reflect Formlabs' product roadmap, not creator needs. If you sell FDM print files, game-ready assets, GLB for real-time engines, or OBJ for cross-software workflows, Pinshape is the wrong audience — and its 35% commission is the wrong deal.
No 3D viewer on Pinshape — buyers download blind
Pinshape product pages show static renders and photos uploaded by the seller. 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?
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, functional prints, and multi-part models where geometry matters.
HiddenMark™ — per-buyer watermarking Pinshape doesn't have
Pinshape 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.
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. 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. Pinshape files have no equivalent protection.
How HiddenMark works →Use both — they reach different buyer communities
Proofly doesn't require exclusivity, and neither does Pinshape. You can list the same models on both platforms. Pinshape brings its existing community of resin 3D printing enthusiasts; Proofly adds an alternative audience with a better buyer experience (3D viewer) and dramatically better creator earnings (0% vs 35% commission).
Many creators keep a Pinshape presence for community discovery while routing their paid sales through Proofly to keep the extra 35%. The incremental effort is minimal — you list once and reach two audiences.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage does Pinshape take from sales?
Pinshape takes 35% per sale — the highest rate among major 3D print marketplaces. At $10/model × 100 sales/month, that's $350/month going to Pinshape. Proofly takes 0% — buyer pays a flat fee, you keep 100% of your listing price.
Is Proofly a good alternative to Pinshape for selling STL files?
Yes. Proofly supports STL, OBJ, GLB, 3MF, FBX, and ZIP. Key wins: 0% seller commission (vs Pinshape 35%), in-browser 3D viewer, HiddenMark per-buyer watermarking. No exclusivity required — list on both simultaneously.
Who owns Pinshape now?
Formlabs acquired Pinshape in 2016. Formlabs makes resin 3D printers — the platform's community and product priorities lean toward resin printing and Formlabs hardware. If you sell FDM, GLB, or general-purpose 3D content, Proofly is a better-aligned marketplace.
Does Pinshape protect 3D files from piracy?
Pinshape has no per-buyer watermarking. 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 I sell on both Pinshape and Proofly at the same time?
Yes. No exclusivity required on either platform. Many creators list on Pinshape for the resin printing community while also listing on Proofly for 0% commission and the 3D viewer advantage. You reach both audiences simultaneously.
Stop losing 35% to Pinshape
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 →