Who actually gets the downloads
On MakerWorld, the top 1% of models get 44.9% of all downloads. The model in the middle gets 17.
Filamentors, November 2026
Upload a model to MakerWorld and the most likely outcome is a small number. The median model in our sample has 17 downloads.
That's the middle. The top looks nothing like it, and the top is where most of the downloads end 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.
Downloads by model
Line up every MakerWorld model in our sample by downloads and split off the top 1%. Those 3,277 models hold 44.9% of all the downloads. The top 10% hold 80.6%. The other nine models in ten share what's left, 19.4%.
Printables has the same shape. Counting free models only, since paid ones hide their downloads, its top 1% gets 34.8% of the downloads and its top 10% gets 69.4%.
Chart 1
Download concentration
The top 1% of models get 44.9% of MakerWorld downloads and 34.8% of Printables downloads.
Each bar is 100% of the downloads in our sample
Models with zero downloads
Median downloads per model
Both sites count a download once per person per model, but MakerWorld counts only logged-in users. The medians cover models of any age, so don't read the gap as one site beating the other.
Show the numbers
| Part | Value |
|---|---|
| top 1% of models | 44.9% |
| next 9% of models | 35.7% |
| other 90% of models | 19.4% |
| Part | Value |
|---|---|
| top 1% of models | 34.8% |
| next 9% of models | 34.6% |
| other 90% of models | 30.6% |
| Site | Share |
|---|---|
| MakerWorld | 8.7% |
| Printables, free | 0.8% |
| Site | Downloads |
|---|---|
| MakerWorld | 17 |
| Printables, free | 39 |
Never being downloaded at all is rare. 8.7% of the MakerWorld models we studied have zero downloads, and so do 0.8% of free Printables models. Almost everything gets found by someone. Very little gets found by a lot of people.
Downloads by creator
The same thing happens one level up, with the people behind the models. Printables shows each creator's lifetime downloads on their profile, so there we can estimate it for every creator on the site. Half of all those downloads go to 1.5% of creators, about 3,600 people.
Chart 2
Creator concentration
Half of all downloads on Printables creators' profiles go to 1.5% of creators, about 3,600 people.
The bar is 100% of the lifetime downloads on Printables creators' profiles, estimated for all creators
Show the numbers
| Part | Value |
|---|---|
| top 1% of creators | 44.0% |
| next 9% of creators | 35.6% |
| other 90% of creators | 20.4% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| of these downloads go to the top 0.1% of creators | 19.3% |
The top 0.1% alone gets 19.3%. The creator in the middle, by the same estimate, has 112 lifetime downloads across everything they've posted.
If you upload
Judge a new model against the middle of the pile. A MakerWorld model with 17 downloads sits right at the median, and half of the MakerWorld models we studied have fewer. The models everyone has heard of come from a group of 3,277 out of 327,759.
Want to see where yours sits? Type its numbers into the comparison tool.
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