Comparison

3D Print Commander vs Spool

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

3D Print Commander

This app helps 3D printing enthusiasts manage their filament materials, track usage, and log calibration and drying parameters. It offers Apple Watch and Shortcuts integration for enhanced control and efficiency.

Highlights
  • Effortless filament organization
  • Precise material usage tracking
  • Easy calibration parameters logging
  • Detailed filament drying log
  • Apple Watch support
  • Shortcuts integration
Features
Read full description

At 3D Print Commander, we've crafted the ultimate tool for managing your 3D printer filament materials with ease and efficiency. Whether you're a hobbyist or a professional, our app empowers you to gain complete control over your materials, optimizing and streamlining your workflow every step of the way. Here's how we make a difference: - **Effortless Filament Management**: Our intuitive system lets you organize and categorize your entire filament library seamlessly. Store essential details such as color, type, and weight in one easily accessible spot, simplifying your material management. - **Precise Material Usage Tracking**: Never be caught off guard in the middle of a project. With our precise tracking, you can monitor your filament consumption and keep a close eye on your inventory levels, ensuring you're always prepared. - **Easy Calibration Parameters Tracking**: Stabilize and enhance the quality of your prints by recording and recalling essential calibration settings like temperature and speed, allowing you to achieve consistent results effortlessly. - **Detailed Filament Drying Log**: Maintain the integrity and reliability of your prints by keeping a comprehensive log of your filament drying processes. Record drying times and conditions accurately to ensure top-tier print quality. - **Apple Watch Support**: Access vital information quickly and easily right from your wrist, ensuring that you stay informed and in control on-the-go. - **Shortcuts Integration**: Seamlessly integrate with the Shortcuts App to harness the power of Siri and Apple Intelligence, making your experience even more straightforward and efficient. Stay connected across all your Apple devices with iCloud syncing, ensuring your data is always up-to-date and accessible. Simplify your 3D printing process with 3D Print Commander, where control and creativity come together effortlessly.

About

Spool

Manage your 3D printing filament inventory with detailed tracking of materials, costs, and stock levels. Log print details, monitor printer maintenance, and gain insights into your printing habits. Integrates with Bambu Lab printers for automatic data logging.

Highlights
  • Filament spool tracking
  • Cost and weight logging
  • Low-stock warnings
  • Print logging and analysis
  • Bambu Lab printer integration
  • Printer maintenance schedules
  • NFC/QR code spool tagging
Features
Read full description

You have 40 spools. You're about to start a 12-hour print. How much PETG do you actually have? Spool is precision filament inventory for 3D printing enthusiasts. Track what you have, what things cost, and what's running low. Built by a maker who got tired of guessing. TRACK YOUR COLLECTION Lightning-fast spool entry with auto-fill from screenshots and product URLs. Material, brand, colour, weight, cost, purchase date, storage. Real remaining-weight tracking down to the gram. Low-stock warnings before you find out mid-print. THE HUB Tap the centre tab and a glass command centre opens over any screen. Every major action (add spool, log print, scan SpoolTag, analytics, printers) is two taps away. PRINT LOG & PRINT STORY Every print captures 24 process fields. 20 decoded automatically from your Bambu data: nozzle, layer height, infill, walls, speeds, temperatures, plate, adhesion, supports. Rate every print with 11 failure types, down to the exact layer. Tap any print and a full-screen story opens: costs, telemetry, spool gauges, and every previous attempt side by side. 19 insight cards surface temperature sweet spots, speed ceilings, drying impact, personal bests, and failure patterns. BAMBU LAB INTEGRATION Bambu printers log prints automatically via Bambu Cloud. Free for everyone, no manual entry. AMS multi-material tracked correctly. Smart spool matching learns and auto-selects on future imports. CATEGORIES 17 built-in, unlimited custom. Spool suggests one for every print and learns every override. Category Insights show success rates, costs, and trends so you see which kinds of prints are worth your filament. PRINTER MAINTENANCE Schedules from manufacturer guides for Bambu Lab, Prusa, Creality, Anycubic, Elegoo, Artillery, Flashforge, Sovol, AnkerMake, Qidi Tech, RatRig, and Voron. A live health score per printer. Overdue tasks turn red. Complete one and watch it climb. SPOOLTAG Tap your iPhone to an NFC-tagged spool and everything opens instantly. QR codes work from any camera app. Scan, log print, spool pre-selected. Label Studio designs and prints labels to Dymo, Brother, sticker sheets, or A4. AR Inventory overlays live data above every tagged spool, with Searchlight filtering by brand, material, colour, or status. ANALYTICS & INTELLIGENCE Five dashboards: Pulse, Economics, Energy, Material, and Hardware. Add your electricity rate once and every print shows its true cost, materials and energy combined, to the penny. Nozzle breakdowns, plate comparisons, quality-weighted grades, and variant-aware palettes for matte and silk filaments. WORKSHOP MANAGEMENT Six storage types (shelf, dryer, AMS, box, airtight case, vacuum bag) with humidity and seal date tracking. Shopping list and batch management for multi-packs. START FREE 20 spools, 2 printers, 4 storage locations. 30 days of analytics. Bambu Cloud sync, SpoolTag, AR Inventory, Print Story, Categories, and Printer Maintenance included. No card required. Live counters show where you stand against your limits. GO PRO, £4.99/month or £49.99/year Unlimited spools, printers, and storage. Lifetime analytics. CSV import. Label Studio with thermal exports and sticker sheets. Print Queue for batch production. Plus: full cross-print insight tray, category customisation, maintenance notifications, Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, and Live Activities. The annual plan works out at £4.16/month and pays for itself in the waste it helps you avoid. SPOOL PACKS Not ready to subscribe? A one-time Spool Pack permanently adds 10 slots to your free account. SUBSCRIPTION & PURCHASE INFO Spool offers a one-time Spool Pack and two auto-renewing subscriptions: Spool Pro Monthly and Yearly. Payment charged to iTunes Account at confirmation. Auto-renews unless cancelled 24 hours before the period ends. Manage in Account Settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://lance-studio.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

3D Print Commander4 screens
Spool4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: 3D Print Commander at none against Spool's 3. 3D Print Commander also leads on device support (5 vs 2). Spool's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Spool sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. 3D Print Commander asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for 3D Print Commander against 5.0 for Spool. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

3D Print Commander ships an update every 5 weeks, Spool every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and July 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
3D Print Commander versus Spool: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter3D Print CommanderSpool
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings14 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS27.026.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB76 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVolker SchmittLucas Melo

Customer experience

3D Print Commander

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Spool

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

3D Print Commander

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Spool

Subscriptions2
  • Spool Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Spool Pro Yearly$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • +10 Spool Capacity$0.99

Questions

Is 3D Print Commander free?
3D Print Commander is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Spool free?
Spool is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, 3D Print Commander or Spool?
3D Print Commander and Spool are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 4 ratings respectively.
Do 3D Print Commander or Spool have ads?
3D Print Commander shows ads; Spool does not.
Which is updated more often, 3D Print Commander or Spool?
3D Print Commander ships an update every 5 weeks, and Spool every 2 weeks. Most recently, 3D Print Commander was updated on September 16, 2026 and Spool on July 24, 2026.

Other comparisons