To produce anything from a piece of hardware to a toy, CAD design has become the go-to tool for creating visualizations and products for 3D modeling. Rather than creating these pieces from scratch, it’s often way easier starting from an already built 3D model, and altering the piece to fit the requirements you desire.

Photo by PIRO4D from Pixabay

At Vagon, we handpicked the top databases with free 3D models to download. Check our list below for the best places to get free 3D models for AutoDesk, Maya, 3Ds Max, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Revit and Sketchup.

1. Cults 3D 🔗

Cults 3D provides a wide selection of 3D models for purchasing, selling and creating free 3D models to use. Collections on Cults 3D will give you creative ideas for your 3D models about art, home, architecture, design, jewelry, gadgets, and fashion. Popular collections such as Star Wars, Harry Potter and Pokemon may also be to your liking for the inner fan in you too!

You can also try printing useful objects such as phone holders, separators, and clips. With its demand feature, you can request a custom 3D design from a creator by giving enough details, certain budget, and a deadline.

Target: Designers and hobbyists

Size: 5,000+ Models

Price: Free and payable models

2. Yeggi 🔗

Yeggi is a powerful search engine allowing users to find free 3D models to print, with no sign up. It has both free models and models available for purchase, with the majority of models not requiring any payment to download. With over 2 million different models to choose from, this resource has all of the pieces you need for your next creation.

Target: CAD designers, engineers, and hobbyists

Size: 2M+ Models

Price: Free and payable models

3. Thingiverse 🔗

Thingiverse is not only for free 3D models to print, but also great for involving in various communities for educational and fun projects. You can view different groups such as engineering, board game creators, and Star Wars fans, to view what they are building and get more ideas for your creativity.

You can search for more ideas via search tool and sort results by popularity. You can view the printing results of your pick by others as well.

Target: Makers, engineers, and designers

Size: 9,000+ models

Price: Free

4. Hum3D 🔗

Hum3D works perfectly with 3DS Max, Maya, Blender 3D, Cinema 4D, SketchUp and others. It is a great outsource for free 3D models and objects archive. It saves your time with its skillful artists assuring top quality. If you are searching for an effortless 3D printing process, then hum3d might be the perfect alternative for your purpose.

Target: Design, AR, and visualization

Size: 17,000+ models

Price: Depends on Demand

5. Pinshape 🔗

Pinshape has free and premium STL files created by experienced designers and makers. It also allows to sell and share printable 3D designs for printing.

You can print the objects you download from Pinshape or sell your designs and create your own brand. With its user-friendly interface it allows for an easy experience for everyone.

Target: Makers and CAD engineers

Size: 70,000+ models

Price: Free and Premium

6. GrabCAD 🔗

GrabCAD is a great alternative for engineering, technical and scale models. You can filter and sort the options you want to search for opinions. However this site is not for printing 3D Models, it has a great database for technical models. You can also download free 3D models for 3Ds Max.

Target: CAD Engineers and Makers

Size: 4M + Models

Price: Free

7. 3DExport 🔗

3DExport offers a great selection of 3D models both with premium qualities. Search and filter tool is quite useful to find what you are looking for fast and easily. Even though 3DExport is not for 3D printing, it gives a notable amount of 3D model options to choose from.

Target: Designers and 3D artists

Size: 238,000+ Models

Price: Premium

8. CGTrader 🔗

Last but not least, CGTrader is a great alternative for those who are in favor of free and affordable 3D models. It has a great database with one million different models to choose from, ranging from furniture and architecture to food and automotive. Its simple and clean interface also makes the task of finding your desired piece a lot easier.

Target: Designers and hobbyists

Size: 1M+ models

Price: Free and payable

You can improve your 3D design by checking the 3D design tips.