How much of it is a remix

About one Printables model in 7 is a remix, a model made by changing someone else's. In our sample that's 99,461 models, 14.7% of the total. On MakerWorld it's 2.5%, or 8,162 models.

Each site marks remixes its own way, so don't make much of the gap between them. Within each site, the pattern is clear: remixing is a habit of particular categories, and on Printables it peaked a few years ago.

We studied 1,004,137 public models from MakerWorld and Printables, two of the biggest sites for sharing 3D printing files: 327,759 from MakerWorld and 676,378 from Printables. Every number here describes those models, not every model ever posted.

Remixes by year

Remixes were 4.5% of new Printables uploads in 2019. By 2023 they were 18.1%. Since then the share has slid every year, to 17.1% in 2024, 15.8% in 2025 and 12.8% so far in 2026.

A few originals draw a crowd. Dummy 13 - version 1.0! has 503 remixes in our sample, and Rugged Box (Parametric) has 470. Those are big numbers, but they're rare. Of the original Printables models we studied, 3.3% have at least one remix among the models we studied.

Which categories get remixed

In our Printables sample, 29.0% of models in 3D Printers are remixes. Next come Gadgets at 17.7% and Healthcare at 16.0%. At the other end, World & Scans sits at 5.3% and Tabletop Miniatures at 7.0%.

MakerWorld's most remixed category in our sample is the same one. 3D Printer leads at 6.3%, then Tools at 3.6%. Generative 3D Model is last at 0.8%.

Our guess at why: a fan duct, a spool holder or a mount has to fit someone else's machine, so people take a working part and change it to fit theirs. A scan of a statue or a sculpted miniature doesn't need adjusting. It just gets printed.

If you post in 3D Printers, expect remixes, and pick your license with that in mind.