Comparison

Filament vs SpoolTagWriter

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

Head to head
About

Filament

Features
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Take control of your 3D printer filament collection. Filament Tracker is a native app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that gives every spool a unique ID, a home, and a complete history β€” from purchase to retirement. β€” ASK YOUR INVENTORY ANYTHING β€” Type a question β€” like "how many grams of red PLA do I have?" β€” and get an instant answer instead of adding it up yourself. Powered entirely by on-device Apple Intelligence, so nothing leaves your device and no internet connection is required. No Apple Intelligence on your device? Search still works exactly as before. β€” KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE β€” Browse your entire collection filtered by state, brand, type, color family, or location, with live counts on each filter option. Sort by grams remaining to spot low spools at a glance. Every spool shows its true filament color with the hex code alongside it, and tracks its weight, state (New β†’ In Use β†’ Low β†’ Empty β†’ Retired) with an at-a-glance colored stripe, event history, and photos. β€” SMART INTAKE & AUTO-FILL β€” Skip tedious data entry. Paste text from a product page or receiptβ€”or on iPhone and iPad, use your camera to scan text off box and bag labels. On compatible devices, on-device Apple Intelligence parses it to extract the spool's brand, material, color, and net weight instantly. β€” SCAN TO FIND. SCAN TO MOVE. β€” Print a QR code for any spool or location, scannable on iPhone or iPad, or use your iPhone to write and scan custom NFC tags at your workbench. A quick tap or scan instantly identifies what's loaded and where it is. Move a spool to a new location in two quick scans. β€” LOCATIONS THAT FIT YOUR SETUP β€” Organize your collection by dry box, AMS unit, shelf, printer, or any location you define. Locations marked as Connected to Printer automatically count loaded spools as In Use. β€” TRACK EVERY GRAM β€” Log print sessions to keep grams-remaining accurate, or connect a Bluetooth scale to weigh a spool and get its remaining filament instantly β€” set the empty weight once and every future weigh-in subtracts it automatically. Attach photos from your camera, photo library, or Files to any spool or filament record. Track purchase price and source URL per spool, with per-spool currency overrides for international purchases. β€” BUILT-IN FILAMENT REFERENCE β€” Look up print temperatures, drying recommendations, density, and resistance ratings for ~30 filament types β€” from PLA and PETG to specialty materials like PA6-CF, BVOH, and ASA. Tap any entry to filter your spools by that type. β€” ICLOUD SYNC β€” Your inventory syncs silently across all your devices via CloudKit. Works fully offline; changes sync automatically when connectivity returns. Full sync diagnostics and a cache reset are available in Settings. β€” BACKUP & RESTORE β€” Export a complete snapshot β€” spools, filament, locations, event history, photos, and reference data β€” as a portable archive or a plain JSON file for hand-editing. Restore at any time using a safe path that never risks accidental data loss to iCloud. β€” CSV EXPORT & IMPORT β€” Export your full inventory as a 28-column CSV for Numbers, Excel, or any spreadsheet app. Import it back to bulk-update brand, type, color, location, purchase info, and more β€” matched by Spool ID, with missing reference entries created automatically. β€” LIGHT MODE & ACCESSIBILITY β€” The app now follows your device's Light or Dark Mode setting automatically, and every screen supports VoiceOver and Dynamic Type. β€” SEAMLESS MAC COMPANION β€” The app runs natively on Mac with the same data, sync, and features as on iPhone and iPad, including search right from macOS Spotlight. The Mac version additionally supports the TD-1 filament tester β€” capture optical transmission-distance and hex color readings directly via USB and sync them back to your iOS devices automatically. No subscriptions. No account required beyond iCloud β€” your data stays in your own private iCloud database. An optional one-time tip in Settings earns a Supporter badge, never required.

About

SpoolTagWriter

Features
Read full description

SpoolTagWriter lets you read and write NFC tags for 3D printer filament spools from your iPhone. Use it to scan existing spool tags, view the stored filament data, and create new tags with either preset profiles or custom settings. The app is designed to make spool setup faster, cleaner, and easier to manage without digging through raw tag values by hand. Features: - Scan compatible NFC filament tags - View parsed spool data including brand, material, color, diameter, weight, and extruder temperature range - Inspect raw NFC page data for supported tags - Write tags using preset filament profiles - Browse presets by brand, material type, and color - Create custom spool settings for your own filament - Choose custom colors visually or by entering a hex value - Write spool data in a streamlined iPhone-first workflow SpoolTagWriter is built for makers who want a simple way to manage filament tag data and prepare spools for supported 3D printing workflows.

Screenshots

Filament4 screens
SpoolTagWriter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Filament at 3 against SpoolTagWriter's 1. On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Filament versus SpoolTagWriter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFilamentSpoolTagWriter
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightlyβ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac β€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.0 β€” better26.2
Further details β€” not scored
Size25 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid OreolVictor Nava

In-app purchases

None

Filament

No in-app purchases

None

SpoolTagWriter

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Filament free?
Filament is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SpoolTagWriter free?
SpoolTagWriter is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Filament or SpoolTagWriter have ads?
Neither Filament nor SpoolTagWriter shows ads.

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