Looking for what 3D Hubs used to be?
3D Hubs had the right idea — local makers, local pickup. The economics under it were wrong for that idea. Ours aren't.
If you're searching for a 3D Hubs alternative, you probably remember the good part: upload a file, and someone in your own town prints it. That network hasn't existed since October 2018. Assista3d is a deliberate rebuild of that idea — on economics designed to let it survive.
What actually happened to 3D Hubs
3D Hubs launched in Amsterdam in 2013 as a community network of local print hubs — hobbyists and small shops taking orders from neighbors. It grew fast, spread to cities worldwide, and proved something important: people want a local maker.
It was also venture-funded, and venture economics need revenue from every order. A commission on a hobbyist's $15 bracket doesn't add up to a venture-scale business, and quality across thousands of unvetted hubs was hard to manage. On October 1, 2018, 3D Hubs removed community hubs from the order flow and pivoted to vetted professional manufacturing partners. It was later renamed Hubs, was acquired by Protolabs in 2021, and today serves professional and industrial customers — a business that works, just a different one.
We'd summarize it as: right idea, wrong economics, wrong decade. No trash talk — they built the blueprint, and we study it gratefully. In 2013 the typical customer was a tech enthusiast without a printer. In 2026 it's a neighbor who needs one bracket, printers are in hundreds of thousands of garages, and shipping has only gotten slower and more expensive — which is the whole argument for local pickup.
Assista3d vs 3D Hubs, honestly
| Assista3d | 3D Hubs (community era) | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | 0%. No cut of any order. | A commission on every order — the revenue model its funding required. |
| Who could join | Any maker with a printer, free. | Any maker with a printer (until October 2018, when community hubs were removed). |
| Who sets prices | The maker. | The maker (community era). |
| Fulfillment | Local pickup. | Local pickup or delivery (community era); shipping-based after the pivot. |
| Quality control | Reputation-weighted dispatch: reliable makers get more jobs, new makers still get a fair trickle. Nobody gets expelled for being a hobbyist. | Largely unmanaged in the community era — one of the stated reasons for the pivot to vetted partners. |
| Where it is now | Early and growing, town by town. | The community network closed October 1, 2018; the company lives on inside Protolabs serving industrial customers. |
History per contemporary coverage (TechCrunch, Fabbaloo, 3D Printing Industry, Sept-Oct 2018) and the company's own announcements. We deliberately don't quote their old commission percentages — the point isn't the number, it's that the model needed one and ours doesn't.
Where 3D Hubs genuinely wins
- If what you actually need today is certified industrial parts at scale, the company 3D Hubs became — part of Protolabs — serves that well.
- As a community, 3D Hubs at its peak had something we're still earning: coverage in nearly every city. We're honest that we're rebuilding that footprint town by town.
Where Assista3d wins
- 0% platform fee — the structural difference. We don't need a slice of your $15 bracket to survive, so hobbyist-sized orders are viable forever.
- No investors to repay. Assista3d runs lean enough that patience is affordable.
- Quality is managed with reputation-weighted dispatch and reprint recourse instead of expelling hobbyists.
- Makers keep their own brand: a storefront, QR flyer, and instant-quote link that work even before your town has traffic.
Who should use which
Use 3D Hubs if…
- Buyers needing certified, industrial-grade parts at volume — that's Protolabs' world now, and it's good at it.
Use Assista3d if…
- Makers who loved what 3D Hubs was and want that network to exist again — with economics that don't require killing it.
- Customers who want a part printed by someone in their own town.
Your town is probably still open
A free storefront, your prices, local pickup, and a 0% platform fee — today and for years to come. Here's exactly how we plan to keep it that way.