Where can you get free 3D files to print?

The best places to download free 3D files are MakerWorld, Printables, Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory, Cults, GrabCAD and Thangs. Finding a model is the easy part. The harder part is knowing it will print cleanly and that you may use it the way you plan to, so this guide covers where to look, how to check a file and what the licence lets you do.

Where can you download free 3D files?

• MakerWorld: Bambu Lab’s library, with print profiles and photos from people who printed each model.
• Printables: Prusa’s library, strong on useful, functional parts.
• Thingiverse: one of the oldest and largest libraries, so you will find almost anything, but quality varies most here.
• MyMiniFactory: known for miniatures and figures, with many paid models beside the free ones.
• Cults: also called Cults3D, a mix of free and paid files, strong for decorative models and cosplay.
• GrabCAD: engineering parts and assemblies, often as STEP files.
• Thangs: one search across many libraries, handy when you cannot remember where you saw a model.

Use specific search terms. For a replacement part, the model number or serial number helps.

How do you tell if a free file will print?

Nobody has checked a free file for you, so check it before you spend plastic on it.

• Look at other people’s prints. Photos and comments from people who printed the model are the best test. Several finished prints beat none.
• Check the format. STL (the standard 3D model file) is the safest and every printer reads it. 3MF can carry colour. STEP is the one to pick if you want the design edited, because STL is a fixed mesh. OBJ can carry colour with a texture.
• Check the units. STL carries no units, so a model can open tiny or huge. If it looks about 25 times too small, it was drawn in inches.
• Look for mesh errors. Holes, flipped faces and overlapping parts can stop a model slicing (being turned into printer instructions), and many slicers warn you when they find them. Older files are the likeliest to have them. Our guide to why a 3D file won’t slice shows how to find and repair each one.

Our guides to common problems with 3D printed models and preparing 3D files for printing go through these checks in more detail.

Can you sell prints of a free file?

Only if the licence allows it, and the licence is on the model’s page. Printing a model for your own use is fine under all the Creative Commons (CC) licences, so the question is what you may do with the print. The ones you will see most often:

• CC0: no restrictions. Sell freely.
• CC BY: sell freely, with credit to the designer and a note of any changes you made.
• CC BY-SA: sell with credit, and share any changes under the same licence.
• CC BY-NC: no commercial use, so selling printed copies is out.

You will also meet ND (no derivatives), which lets you sell the model as it is but not an edited version, and combinations such as CC BY-NC-SA, where the NC still rules out selling. This is a plain-words summary, not legal advice: the licence text on the model’s page is what counts.

Some sites and designers add their own terms, often personal use only, so read the ones on the page you downloaded from. If it is unclear, ask the designer before you order copies to sell. When you send us a file you confirm you have the right to use it (see our terms), so check before you upload.

Want it printed for you?

Upload the file to our instant quote. A person checks every file before it prints, so a mesh error or a wall that is too thin is flagged before the part is made, not after the print.

Upload your file for an instant quote

Can’t find what you need?

If the model you want does not exist, or the free versions are not quite right, our team can design it from a sketch or a photo and take it through to the finished part.

See how we design a part from your sketch or photo