Complete Edition
A million 3D models, told as a book
200 pages and 94 charts on MakerWorld and Printables: who posts what, what gets printed, and where the downloads go. Written as chapters you read.
The free report and this one
The free report
$0
- Every headline finding, one per page
- One chart and one sentence on each
- 82 pages, free for the Sunday email
- Best for finding out what's in the data
The Complete Edition
$10
- Expanded chapters, with more charts and deeper breakdowns of each finding
- A second part with new angles the free report doesn't have
- An opening essay and a closing chapter
- 200 pages
- $10, once, with a 30-day refund
Not sure? Start with the free one. If it makes you want more, this is the more. If it doesn't, you've lost nothing.
What's inside
An essay at the front, two parts, and a closing chapter. Under each chapter in Part One is the line from the free report that it grows out of.
- §
Opening essay
An essay before the first chart: what we counted, and what a random slice of public listings can and can't tell you.
Part OneThe Story in Full
Nine chapters. Each starts with a question and stays with it.
- 01
The Shape of a Million Models
Line every model up by downloads and the picture is lopsided. This chapter shows how lopsided it is on each site, and where an ordinary upload lands next to the few that take most of the attention.
In the free reportThe top 1% of models get 44.9% of MakerWorld downloads and 34.8% of Printables downloads.
- 02
Anatomy of a Listing
Title, photos, description, print profile. What a listing is made of, and which parts go with more downloads when you compare a creator's models with their own similar ones.
In the free reportMakerWorld models with a print profile are linked to 384% more downloads than models without one, the biggest gap of any listing feature in our sample.
- 03
The Clock and the Calendar
Does the day you post matter? The hour? The month? Mostly no. A model's age counts for far more, and where the calendar does matter, it's the holidays.
In the free reportMedian downloads per day stay between 0.053 and 0.058 on MakerWorld and 0.058 and 0.061 on Printables, whatever day a model is published.
Christmas titles peak in November on MakerWorld, at 103 per 1,000 new models, and in December on Printables, at 53 per 1,000.
- 04
What Actually Gets Printed
A download is an intention. A logged print is something that came off a bed. This chapter follows the prints: which printers, how long a job takes, how much plastic it adds up to.
In the free reportThe X1 Carbon fell from 43.1% of new MakerWorld print profiles in 2023 Q4 to 5.8% so far in 2026 Q4, while the A1 rose from 1.1% to 25.9%.
50.3% of logged prints on the MakerWorld models we studied take under two hours, and 6.5% take 12 hours or more.
- 05
What a Million People Make
The most common title in our sample is a single word. The chapter goes through what people model again and again, and the categories that get more than their share of the downloads.
In the free report"Vase" is the most common title among the models we studied, ignoring case, used by 168 MakerWorld models and 331 Printables models.
Toys & Games is 10.0% of MakerWorld uploads but gets 17.4% of its downloads, while Art is 13.0% of uploads and gets 7.2%.
- 06
The People Behind the Files
Behind every listing is a person, and their profile says a lot. How much a following goes with, what a subscription, a badge or a staff pick goes with, and what happens when one creator posts on both sites.
In the free reportOn Printables, creators with more than 20 published models are 5.2% of creators and get 53.7% of all downloads on creators' profiles.
Creators with 1,000+ followers made 21.0% of MakerWorld models and got 52.3% of its downloads. Within Printables, the same shares are 3.7% and 17.0%.
- 07
Likes, Stars and Boosts
The ways people say thanks on each site, and how much each one tells you. A star rating, for one, separates fewer models than you'd expect.
In the free reportMakerWorld print profiles average 4.84 stars, and only 1.2% of those with five or more ratings average under 4.
The top 1% of MakerWorld models we studied hold 52.7% of their boosts, and 61.1% of models have none.
- 08
Who Owns a Print
Licenses, exclusives, and the line between sharing a file and keeping it. The licenses most people choose changed fast, and the chapter follows the change.
In the free reportThe Standard Digital File License or a variant went from 19.9% of new MakerWorld uploads in 2023 to 66.4% so far in 2026, and on Printables the license went from 1.2% to 8.1%.
Models marked exclusive went from 6.7% of new MakerWorld uploads in 2023 to 28.1% so far in 2026.
- 09
Printables, the Long Memory
Printables goes back further in our data, and its record shows older habits: which printers people sliced for, how remixing rose and fell.
In the free reportRemixes went from 4.5% of new Printables uploads in 2019 to 18.1% in 2023, then fell to 12.8% so far in 2026.
The MK3 went from 88.5% of new Printables G-code uploads in 2019 to 20.4% so far in 2026, and the CORE One rose to 34.4%.
Part TwoNew Perspectives
Three new ways into the same data.
- +
The two sites, over time
How MakerWorld caught up with Printables, how creators went from posting to one site to posting to both within a day, and how the models themselves changed along the way.
- +
Creators with hits and flops
What a hit looks like next to the other ninety-nine, whether a creator's next model gets the same luck, and what a flop still has coming.
- +
Objects and culture
Holidays, fandoms, colors and grams: what people chose to make, and what the pile of it says about the hobby.
LastClosing chapter
- §
The last chapter pulls the book together, and says what a maker or a creator can sensibly do with it.
Get my copy, $1030-day refund. Instant download.
Who it's for
If you print, this is the book about the files you've been downloading. How common a plain Vase is, what a normal print looks like, which printers took over.
If you post models on MakerWorld or Printables, it's a long look at what a normal listing has, what goes with more downloads, and what doesn't seem to matter.
It's not a how-to. It won't hand you a recipe for a hit, and where the data can only show that two things go together, the book says that and stops. If all you want is the findings, the free report has them and costs nothing.
About the numbers
The sample is 1,004,137 public listings as of November 2026, 327,759 from MakerWorld and 676,378 from Printables. Every most, top or record is worded as true among the models we studied, and where the data can only show that two things go together, the book says "goes with", not "causes".
Filamentors is a small site of 3D printing guides written by people who print. More about us.
Questions
Is this a new report, or the free one with more pages?
The free report gives each finding one page: a chart and a sentence. The Complete Edition is written as a book. Part One tells the story around those findings, chapter by chapter, and Part Two adds new analysis that isn't in the free report.
What do I get?
One PDF (200 pages, 3 MB), laid out on US letter pages. You can print it.
How do I get it?
The download link appears on the confirmation page as soon as you've paid, and we email the same link to the address you paid with. It works for 30 days. If you lose it, ask for a fresh one on this page, below the questions.
What if I don't like it?
Email [email protected] within 30 days of buying and we'll refund you. No questions asked.
Where does the data come from?
Public listing pages on MakerWorld and Printables. Nothing private: only what any visitor can see on a public page, and no sales or earnings. Printables hides the downloads on paid models, so those are left out of every download figure.
Can I share it?
It's yours to read, keep and print. Please don't repost the file. If you want to quote a number or a chart, go ahead and link back, and send people who want a copy to the free report.
Will there be tax on the $10?
The price is $10. Depending on where you live, sales tax or VAT may be added at checkout, and checkout shows the total before you pay.
Why charge for it when the first one was free?
The free report is the findings. This is the writing: turning findings into chapters. Ten dollars covers that and keeps the free report free.
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