How we make money.
How Assista3d runs, how money might happen someday, and what we'll never do.
The short version
A maker in every town.
Makers set their own prices, customers pick parts up nearby, and every maker gets a free storefront, an instant-quote link, and a printable QR flyer.
Why we start with makers
A network with no makers helps nobody. Right now the whole job is getting a maker into every town, so everything here is built to make joining easy and worth it, even before your town has traffic.
How we keep it running
By running lean. Assista3d is built and run by one person, on static hosting plus a small database, so monthly costs run less than a couple rolls of filament. The expensive parts of a marketplace (quoting, pricing, dispatch) are software, not staff. No office, no paid ads, and no venture investors who need a return on a deadline. A business with almost no costs can grow patiently.
How we might make money someday
We're not sure yet, and not pretending otherwise. The candidates, none built, none promised:
- Optional paid tools for makers who want more: pro storefront features or business-grade extras. Opt-in, never required to receive jobs.
- Services for business customers with recurring or high-volume orders, priced for businesses.
What we won't do
- Selling maker or customer data. Ever.
- Pay-to-win placement. Dispatch routes by distance and reputation, and money never changes that.
If the model ever changes: announced openly, in advance, never retroactively.
Why this survives where 3D Hubs' model didn't
3D Hubs built this exact idea first, local makers and local pickup, and proved people want it. We say that with respect: right idea, wrong economics, wrong decade. As a venture-funded company it needed fast returns, and small hobbyist jobs couldn't carry a venture-scale business. In October 2018 it pivoted to professional manufacturing partners, and today it thrives inside Protolabs serving industrial customers.
We copied the growth playbook and changed how it's run: no investors, near-zero fixed costs. No funding clock, so we can build the network town by town. Full story on our 3D Hubs comparison page.
If it earns nothing, it cost nothing
A free storefront, an instant-quote link, a printable QR flyer, and jobs routed from your town.
Questions, answered
See how we compare, honestly
Including the parts where the other platform wins.