Comparison

3D Print Cost vs Spool Buddy

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

Head to head
About

3D Print Cost

This app helps 3D printing enthusiasts and professionals track filament usage, calculate print costs, and manage sales and profits. It provides real-time data on material and energy expenses, inventory alerts, and customer order tracking to optimize workshop operations.

Highlights
  • Real-time cost calculation
  • Material and energy tracking
  • Filament inventory management
  • Sales and profit tracking
  • Customer directory
  • Cross-platform sync
Features
Read full description

Know exactly what your 3D prints cost before setting a price. PrintMate combines a 3D printing cost calculator, filament inventory tracker, and sales manager in one easy-to-use app. Whether you print for fun, sell your creations, or manage multiple printers, keep your workshop organized and make more informed pricing decisions. CALCULATE YOUR 3D PRINTING COSTS Go beyond filament and electricity. Build a detailed cost estimate using your material usage, print duration, printer settings, and additional expenses. • Calculate filament, electricity, and printer wear costs. • Include labor, packaging, delivery, hardware, and custom expenses. • Calculate costs for multiple filaments within a single print. • Create printer profiles with individual power consumption and depreciation settings. • Keep a history of your prints with saved cost breakdowns. PRICE YOUR WORK WITH CONFIDENCE Find a selling price that accounts for your costs and the profit you want to make. • Calculate suggested prices using a target profit margin or markup. • Account for VAT, discounts, and percentage-based fees. • See estimated profit and margin before recording a sale. • Save pricing details for future reference. MANAGE FILAMENT & INVENTORY Manage your filament collection by brand, material, color, and price. Enable inventory tracking to update remaining filament weight when you record a print. • Monitor remaining filament and spot low stock. • Organize materials for single-color and multicolor projects. • Track hardware and packaging supplies. • Manage finished-print inventory alongside your materials. MANAGE CUSTOMERS AND ORDERS Keep the business side of your workshop organized, from the first quote to delivery. • Maintain a customer directory with linked orders and sales. • Track orders through quoted, accepted, printed, and delivered stages. • Monitor payment status and delivery deadlines. • Record quantities, costs, and selling prices. CREATE QUOTES AND INVOICES Turn order details into clear documents for your customers. • Create and share PDF quotes and invoices. • Include your business and customer information. • Keep issued documents available for future reference. TRACK SALES, EXPENSES & PROFIT Understand your revenue, expenses, and profit with sales summaries and detailed breakdowns. • Review performance across different periods. • Identify leading products and customers by revenue or profit. • Record one-time and recurring business expenses. • See where your money goes and which projects earn the most. IMPORT BAMBU LAB PRINT HISTORY Connect your Bambu Lab account to browse available print history and import print details, reducing manual entry. SYNC ACROSS YOUR APPLE DEVICES : Use PrintMate on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with iCloud sync to keep your workshop data available across your devices. PRINTMATE PREMIUM : Get started free with up to 5 filaments, 5 prints, 5 customers, and 5 sales. An optional PrintMate Premium purchase removes these item limits. Download PrintMate and bring your printing costs, inventory, and business records together. ————————— Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Spool Buddy

Effortlessly manage your 3D printing filament inventory. Track brands, colors, and usage with a simple, fast interface. Syncs seamlessly across Apple devices without requiring logins or network calls.

Highlights
  • iCloud syncing
  • No logins or network calls
  • Track brands, colors, and modifiers
  • Search and filter by properties
  • Usage and inventory tracking
  • Optimized for iOS and macOS
Features
Read full description

Filament tracking for 3D printing, without the fuss. Spool Buddy is a simple, fast filament inventory app made for hobbyists who want to know what filament they have, where it is, and how much is left — without accounts, subscriptions, tracking, or complicated setup. Add your filaments, organize them by brand, material, color, location, modifiers, and more. Track usage across one or multiple spools, keep drying logs, attach photos, archive old filament, and export or print your inventory when you need it. Spool Buddy syncs with iCloud, so your filament library stays up to date across iPhone, iPad, and Mac without creating an account. Features include: - Track filament inventory, usage, and remaining amounts - Multi-spool support for filaments - NFC reading and writing - iCloud sync with no logins - Photos for filament entries - Drying logs - Custom brands and materials - Detailed filament information, including colors, polymers, modifiers, fillers, and visual properties - Automatic color names and color family filtering - Support for gradients and complex filament colors - Filter by storage location, brand, color family, modifiers, and polymer - Sort by price, date added, color, brand, and name - Group by brand or material - Usage indicators at a glance - Archive filaments you no longer actively use - Export your inventory to CSV - Print your filament inventory - Optimized for iOS and macOS 26 - Small, fast, and designed to stay out of your way Spool Buddy is completely free to use. There are no subscriptions, no locked features, and no required purchases. In-app purchases are optional tips only, for people who want to support the app’s development. Made by an indie solo developer for people who just want a clean, useful way to manage their filament.

Screenshots

3D Print Cost4 screens
Spool Buddy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: 3D Print Cost at 4.8 against Spool Buddy's 4.3. Spool Buddy's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (100% vs 90%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and in-app purchases 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. 3D Print Cost sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and Spool Buddy sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

3D Print Cost holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 9 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of 3D Print Cost's written reviews are positive against 100% of Spool Buddy's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

3D Print Cost ships an update every 3 weeks, Spool Buddy every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
3D Print Cost versus Spool Buddy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter3D Print CostSpool Buddy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (18 ratings) — better4.3 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings18 — better9
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.618.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEMRE YILDIRIMMartian Code Oy

Customer experience

3D Print Cost

All ratings16 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral6.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%

Spool Buddy

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

9 purchases

3D Print Cost

Subscriptions5
  • Weekly Subscription$0.997 Days
  • Monthly Subscription$0.991 Month
  • Montly Subscription$2.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Yearly Subscription3 Days trial$9.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription$14.991 Year
One-time4
  • Lifetime Offer$14.99
  • PrintMatePromo$19.99
  • Lifetime Subscription$29.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Access$39.99
3 purchases

Spool Buddy

One-time3
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99

Questions

Is 3D Print Cost free?
3D Print Cost is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Spool Buddy free?
Spool Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, 3D Print Cost or Spool Buddy?
3D Print Cost is rated higher. 3D Print Cost averages 4.8 out of 5 from 18 ratings, while Spool Buddy averages 4.3 from 9 ratings.
Do 3D Print Cost or Spool Buddy have ads?
3D Print Cost shows ads; Spool Buddy does not.
Which is updated more often, 3D Print Cost or Spool Buddy?
3D Print Cost ships an update every 3 weeks, and Spool Buddy every 2 weeks. Most recently, 3D Print Cost was updated on October 30, 2026 and Spool Buddy on October 30, 2026.

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