What people are uploading more of

MakerWorld is still growing fast. In the models we studied, January to October 2026 brought 50% more new uploads than the same months of 2025. January to October 2025 had been up 139% on the same months of 2024, and counting all twelve months, 2025 was up 109% on 2024. Printables grew too, by 5%. That's close to flat.

So the bigger question for anyone uploading is what all those new models are. Some kinds are taking a larger slice of every month's uploads. Others are shrinking, even while the raw count goes up.

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.

The monthly count

Each site's chart runs on its own scale, so look at the shape and ignore the height. MakerWorld's line keeps climbing. October 2026 had 72% more new models than October 2025. On Printables the same comparison is +8%, and the line mostly repeats the same yearly wave: busy in winter, quieter in summer.

Categories

Miniatures went from 1.6% of new MakerWorld uploads in 2023 to 7.3% so far in 2026. Printables shows the same move: Tabletop Miniatures rose from 1.4% to 5.8%. Toys & Games climbed on both sites, from 6.4% to 11.5% on MakerWorld and from 7.8% to 12.9% on Printables.

The printer category went the other way. It's 3D Printer on MakerWorld and 3D Printers on Printables, and on both sites it holds printer parts and upgrades along with test models. MakerWorld's 3D Printer category was 13.8% of new uploads in 2023 and is 6.2% now. On Printables, 3D Printers fell from 15.9% to 9.4%. The count still grows on MakerWorld. The share shrinks.

One category rose and then slipped. MakerWorld's Generative 3D Model category was 0.04% of 2023 uploads, reached 6.8% in 2024 and is 4.5% so far in 2026.

Words in the title

Flexi models are gaining, with a dip or two on the way. On MakerWorld, flexi titles went from 2.8 per 1,000 new uploads in the second half of 2023 to 7.0 in the first half of 2026. On Printables they went from 0.5 to 3.5 over a longer stretch, starting in the first half of 2022.

Gridfinity looks like it's past its peak. On Printables it topped out at 15.8 per 1,000 in the second half of 2024 and is down to 11.2. MakerWorld peaked at 12.4 in the first half of 2025 and sits at 10.0. Benchy had one strange half year: in the first half of 2025 it jumped to 7.6 per 1,000 on Printables and 5.6 on MakerWorld, then fell straight back.

Titles in Chinese, Japanese and Korean

In 2023, 1.7% of new MakerWorld titles were written in Chinese, Japanese or Korean script. By 2024 it was 8.5%, and it's 10.3% so far in 2026.

If you post in 3D Printer or 3D Printers, you're a shrinking slice of what's new on both sites. Make miniatures or toys and you'll find more company in the new uploads every month.