Why there is no plan for hobbyists or students

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21

Sure, but the free version of fusion 360 has been handicapped in the QoL aspect of things to the point where, while usable, is just uncomfortable for the sake of being uncomfortable.

It’s also a buggy mess and sometimes struggles doing some basic things. Yeah, it’s free but it’s not the “amazing software” that it was in the early days when they were giving it away with all the features, to be able to get a foothold in the industry that they needed as a new software.

I feel that Shapr3D lays in this really odd place as far as pricing goes. €300/year (because looking at the almost €50/month otherwise, is absolutely pointless) is a steep price for a hobbyist, but then is arguably cheap for a professional when you look at alternatives; half the price of a Fusion annual license. You get a lot and you’re not limited anywhere as far as the software is concerned as a whole. As someone doing the 14 day trial, it’s painful and even €250 would be nicer, but it’s not unmanageable and if it’s something that you need then it would justify itself I reckon.

Something that seems should possibly be considered is regional pricing to even out the cost to subscribers based on where they are.

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23

Any update on additional subscription plans? I am a hobbyist and 3D print a lot of models created by others. I’d love to learn to create my own models but current pricing is too much for someone just getting started.

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24

Fusion/Solidworks has had a much longer time in the game. The pricing usually comes down to infrastructure costs. The servers around the world are very expensive to keep going where all our work is stored. Everything costwise has doubled in the past 4 yrs to maintain, so I understand the pricing increase

BUT, everyone here does have a point. the hobbyist are the driving force for adoption. the pricing structure is just to high for a weekend warrior.

The biggest draw to people using this app is that it is very easy to understand and use, AND they can go from their iPad to desktop in an instant. That takes a lot of server resources to accomplish.

I think they should have a super basic tier of service… around the $10/per month mark is usually where the line for paying ends for these guys

In this tier, files are only kept local and the types of files that can be saved/opened are drastically reduced. Possibly a LITE version of Shaper3D?

Perhaps only save .shpr / .stl / .dxf / .3ds
and only open .shapr / .stl / .dxf / .svg
(these are the only filetypes that hobbyists can really use)

maybe a +$5 tier for the ability to have drawings and use the filetypes involved with that

then maybe a +$5 tier for using the 3d rendering export to PDF/JPG

You can use it on the tablet or desktop, but you have to manually save the file and then open that saved file on the desktop. No team sharing and no cloud saves.
I wouldn’t cap the amount of projects, nor amount of saves for 10 bucks

It has to usable, but a little trouble, if you need to go back and forth between iPad and desktop.

Im only thinking out loud here for a hobbyist to want to shout it out to the world and get fellow hobbyists to adopt. If you want influencers to market this, it has to have a lower price point.

These apps have a learning curve and you can easily get someone to spend more if they learn and use more things.

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25

Lite version sounds good, with just high res stl, dxf sketch export, shapr backup, 10 project at a time. $120 yearly option but no monthly.

Sketchup is $119 per year, I think $120 for a year is reasonable.

For free version I think you should just unlock the Shapr file format at least so we can backup and continue making thing, that format is locked to Shapr anyways.

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26

As a weekend warrior / hobbiest the file formats I use on a regular basis for export are 3MF, X_T. And SVG. For import I use X_T, and occasionally SVG,and STL

The native formats will always be needed for backups.

I would say the main problem with pricing is the exchange rate … if I get charged (AUD) at the number the Euro is, then shapr will see a big reduction in the amount paid … I have no answer on pricing … sure I’d like it a little cheaper as I get stung on the exchange rate, but I am in the software on a regular basis and have my end-to-end 3D printing process figured out on the iPad.

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27

While looking for a cheaper way to acquire software, I accidentally stumbled upon this discussion. Today, I had my first experience with 3D modeling, aiming to eventually 3D print the model I created. I am a complete beginner in 3D modeling, but I managed to create a simple part within an hour using this software. However, the issue lies in the price of the program—many people have mentioned that it is too expensive for those who will only use it a few times and then not touch it for months or even years. My goal was to design a part and find someone to print it for me, as this is cheaper than buying a pre-made part from other manufacturers. So, I will need the software very rarely, and even buying it for just one month makes it not worthwhile since the total cost will end up being higher than purchasing a pre-made part.

Just my 2 cents.

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29

I’m a hobbyist with a 3D printer as well. I only use CAD occasionally for small household projects, and loved the use of my iPad for CAD while I was eligible for a student license. I found the design experience on Shapr3D far more intuitive and fluid than Fusion 360, and the only reason I use Fusion 360 over Shapr3D is the actually usable free tier that provides full-quality exports to STL/3MF.

The lack of functional iPad environment for Fusion 360 does sting, but I can’t justify the sheer cost of Shapr3D for how little I’d use it, and the forced low quality settings on 3MF exports from Shapr3D were so unusably poor, that even for prototyping, it was completely useless for my use-case.

Honestly, I understand a primary reason for the license costs being what they are is there’s probably a fairly hefty licensing cost component within Siemens Parasolid kernel from which Shapr3D is derived, but when the option is “pay nothing and stay on basic forever while using the competitor’s product” and “getting a slightly lower fee from more people for a single make-or-break feature”, I think it doesn’t make any business sense to not have a tier between Pro and Basic (i.e. Hobbyist).

Perhaps a compromise could be found with the below to safeguard getting some income from those who, like myself, wouldn’t pay US$25 per month (In my case, this is AU$483.59/yr at current exchange rates. Add 10% GST (VAT) and that’s AU$531.95/yr. Yikes.) for something to only be used occasionally for hobbyist purposes:

  1. Disable cloud-enabled storage and collaboration features hosted by Shapr3D - working files must be saved and managed from local device storage or a BYO cloud service (iCloud, OneDrive, Google Drive etc) in the “basic” and “hobbyist” tiers. Real-time sync between devices then becomes a Pro/Enterprise-only feature.
  2. Slightly extend the cap of “x” files active within the App to maybe 5 or 10 for paid tiers
  3. Hobbyist tier License explicitly forbidding commercial use of models created using Shapr3D
  4. Charge US$5 per month monthly for this “Hobbyist” tier, OR structure with an in-app purchase of US$2 per high quality model exported.

At the end of the day, it’s up to the devs to decide; it’s their app, and putting up these walls and restrictions would have a real-world cost in dev time, but hey, I know I’d convert across from free Fusion 360 for full-quality STL/3MF exports alone, so who knows. You can see the metrics of this post, 4,600 views over 2 years. Assuming they were unique, and every single person that saw this post signed up at $5/mo, that would be an extra $23,000 per month net revenue as an absolute best case scenario.

Maybe that’s worth considering at least?

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30

Just figured I’d add my voice in here, although given that we’re at almost 3 years of this thread it doesn’t appear that it’ll make a lick of difference. As someone using CAD software probably 6-8 times a year for personal use, I’d happily pay to support…but I can’t afford $300 a year, plus whatever price increases inevitably get handed out. There’s definitely some sort of economy of scale that I Shapr3D is missing here. Hundreds and hundreds of additional subscribers at $100/year is a heck of a lot more money than $0 because hobbyists and makers can’t afford (not should have to) the commercial Pro version.

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31

It seems (to me) Shapr is not really targeting hobbyists anymore. Let’s face it. The only new features in the last year or two has been for professionals and virtually nothing to make creating easier except for history, and arguably that is for editing creation more so than tools others we have been asking for. It seems performance issues are plaguing the dev teams. Just my 2 cents.

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32

I think you’re totally right, which is sad to see. Seems they would rather forgo the hundreds of hundreds of thousands of dollars (and likely more like millions) they could easily capture annually from the maker/hobbyist market at ~$100/year or $10/month or whatever and just focus on “professionals”. Which is super unfortunate to see. Unless they have a specific licensing cost due per individual user (for parasolid or etc.) then there’s no way they “can’t find any way” to offer a non-commercial hobbyist tier. Given the canned responses in the past I don’t personally buy it.

In any case, I absolutely loooooove the idea of Plasticity and all it’s got going on (I bought a studio license during the first few days of it originally launching) but unfortunately I’m looking for something closer to parametric CAD than Plasticity offers (at least the last time I looked, which admittedly was a while ago). And having recently bought an iPad I just wish there were some better mobile alternatives. Valence3D looks super cool, but even for my basic use cases is missing some super basic items still. Fingers crossed someone will come along someday and force Shapr3D’s hand in actually evaluating and offering service to the maker/hobbyist market.

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33

I think you overestimate their paid customer base. They aren’t Autodesk.

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34

I obviously have no clue what their paid customer base is sure, and I’m sure it’s like most companies in that a lot of people don’t pay.

But I also know this topic has had an incredible number of views compared to virtually every other topic and the same exact sentiment is also literally everywhere you look - YouTube videos, Reddit, random other forums and reviews, etc. Bottom line is regardless of the exact number there are a LOT of people in the hobbyist/maker realm who would throw their money at Shapr3D…but just can’t because of the lack of any swingable price tier.

And [whatever yearly amount that tier would cost] x [a lot of people] = more than $0.

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35

I totally get where folks are coming from—I was in the exact same boat, thinking ‘surely’ a hobbyist plan should be a no-brainer.

But then it hit me: how’s that fair to the folks using the same software to pay their bills? I mean, does the value of a tool really change depending on whether you’re using it to design a rocket part or a really cool bottle opener?

It’s kind of like saying a hammer should cost less if you’re just hanging pictures, but more if you’re building a house. Either way, it’s still the same hammer. In a truly fair marketplace, shouldn’t the price reflect the tool—not the intent?

That said, I’m totally rooting for something more parametric and mobile-friendly. If someone can blend the power of Shapr3D with a lower licensing model, I’ll be the first in line—wallet open, iPad charged.

Until then, I’ll keep paying for Shapr3D.

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36

The indent in licensing is a common occurance, for example take gigabit internet connection from an ISP, the home contract is multiple times cheaper than the business contract.

So I’d say that there is a place for a hobbyist licensing model, as you aren’t making money off the tool. The current pricing seems to steep for home use.

Love to see a pricing model that would makes sense in the hobbist use case

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37

From my perspective, the problem with the tiers is that the free tier is pointless. The models that you can make with the free tier are too low resolution to be useful when 3D printed, so the only reason to use the free tier is to learn the software. However, the next level up is a paid tier that is too expensive for people not deriving an income from using the software, so hobbyists like myself will never be able to justify paying for it.

3D printing is becoming more affordable and accessible to more people, so there are more people who might make a small handful of projects a month, or even a year. There has to be some kind of recognition that there is a gap in the market here that is being underserved.

If there were a tier that allowed me to export high resolution models and didn’t have any limits on the number of models, I would sub to that. I don’t need any of the other pro features as a home user, but aside from exporting to a useable resolution, I sometimes want to edit something I made before and then be able to use the models to print them.

So, to summarize: my “Hobbyist / Home User” tier would only change the export resolution to high resolution STL files, the rest could stay as pro. And either exporting of the Shapr3D projects so I can reopen them later while only be working on 2 at a time, or unlimited projects. I would prefer it to be a one-time fee as I may go months without using it. But I also understand the need for stable income and development costs for new features so an affordable subscription would be fine.

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38

I come here from paying $50 a year for the maker license from solidworks, looking for something similar for mac and the software looks promising and i will try the free tier. The cost is the cloud storage, why not offer a hobbiest/maker license like solidworks that precents the users from making money off the software and skip the cloud storage and collaboration features?

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39

I’ve always found CAD software difficult to use, found this and it’s so easy to get going. Started with the free version, and now I’m thinking, “okay, this is really good, I’ll pay for the full license”, but then I look and can’t afford it.

I’d happily pay $100/year but not $300+VAT. If I look at the features between Free and Pro, there are lots of Pro features I don’t need - all I’m looking for is a single application to run locally.

I don’t need cloud storage. I don’t need any of these things or technical support:

  • Technical drawings for straightforward manufacturing hand-offs
  • Real-time renders with 100+ materials
  • Integrated AR on iPad for instant digital prototyping
  • Secure review links for sharing 3D models, AR preview, and technical drawings

If you published a license that had no cloud capability I’m sure people would buy.

But the fact that this thread has been open for three years and the problem has only got worse, is actually detrimental. Now I’m thinking

a. I can’t use this

b. if I’m going to make a recommendation of CAD software, it won’t be Shapr3D

40

Yup, we’ve been asking for this for years. As a trainer, when I recommend Shapr3D to new users, they are excited for the software, love using the software, but since they cannot print, and I have no way to print the models for them, they abandon the software and go back to a desktop version of something else. The Pro version is out of reach for hobbyists and occasional users.

One of my suggestions was having a system where you could buy credits for prints, kind of like some of the photo sites. Maybe buy 10 credits for $25 USD so you could export a “normal” resolution model that is printable. The exports/prints from the free version are unusable. Why bother?

It has been very frustrating, because I love the program and have a lot of friends and students who would love to use it. I’ve pitched doing an iPad-based CAD class at a local makerspace, but we haven’t gone forward with it because of this exact issue…if a class is $50-60, and they have to purchase one month of the software at $38, it doesn’t make financial sense. These classes are to introduce new users to CAD, and are not to make big bucks.

I’m also a ZBrush trainer, and they can get ZBrush for iPad for $99 a year. I have also taught using Shapr3D to make the base models for ZBrush. My suggestion would be a $99 or $129 annual hobbyist license that allows printable exports of at least one file format. I think $19.99 a month is much more workable and more easily justified for a hobbyist or occasional user.

I have even contacted Shapr3D to ask about getting access to temporary codes for students, but I didn’t hear back. And on the forum, they dig in their heels to defend the pricing, even when many users are telling them that the price of the license is the single most important obstacle to adoption.

I always use this example…when I worked in the University of Texas in the campus Microcenter, we offered Microsoft Office for $325. Nobody bought it. But when we dropped the price of Microsoft Word to $68, EVERY CUSTOMER ADDED IT TO THEIR PURCHASE. It was a no-brainer. If Shapr3D would offer a more affordable, hobbyist/occasional user license, they will end up with more customers who will actually subscribe and they will make as much if not more revenue.

(I have an MBA focused in customer service and customer loyalty…my undergraduate degree is in marketing/advertising…I was also a tech trainer/sales/systems engineer at Apple, so the feedback I’ve given over the years comes from a place of experience in tech sales and marketing.)

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41

I eventually found Plasticity which has a $120 perpetual license, and pretty similar functionality to Shapr3D.

It’s not quite as good because it doesn’t have the same editable history functionality, but the fact that you can export usable models (even the free version is pretty good), means that it’s actually usable as an individual, which Shapr3D is not.

42

I think another level of pricing the NOOB tier.

No Parametric, No Variables, No Visualization just HQ STL exports.

You could even lock it down to how many STL export per month and certain amount can rollover to next month if you choose not to cancel.

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