GrabCAD

Stratasys’s community of engineers, at grabcad.com: a free library of millions of CAD models, from single parts to whole machines, mostly shared as STEP files beside their CAD system’s own. Its models, their file lists and anyone’s likes are anyone’s to read; downloading a file takes a signed-in user.

At a glance
Sign-in	Your own GrabCAD sign-in, per user, for the files
Thingport Grab	Recommended — it sends your sign-in as you visit grabcad.com
FlareSolverr	Not used
Imports	Models; anyone’s likes, synced too; categories mapped from its own

How it works

GrabCAD’s library is a web app over a JSON API of its own, which is what Thingport reads: a model’s details, its gallery, and its files folder by folder. Only a file’s download link needs your sign-in.

Models. Paste a model link (https://grabcad.com/library/<name>) in Thingport, or import it from the model page with Grab. Most of GrabCAD’s models are CAD parts, often the same part as STEP, IGES, Parasolid and in the format of the CAD system it was drawn in. Thingport imports what a slicer opens — STEP, STL, 3MF — and the zips its models list as one of those formats; OBJ files, and zips of a CAD system’s own files, only when nothing else brought a model. A model shared only in CAD systems’ own formats (.SLDPRT, .ipt, .x_t, …) has nothing Thingport can import.
Categories. A model can be in several of GrabCAD’s categories, which it lists alphabetically; the broad ones (3D printing, Educational, Miscellaneous, Just for fun) count last when Thingport files it.
Likes. Someone’s likes are their profile’s Likes tab, https://grabcad.com/<member>/likes, anyone’s to read. Import them, or sync them so new likes come in as they’re added. The import dialog lists the first 600.
Browse tab. With your sign-in, the sync dialog lists your own likes. GrabCAD’s community has no collections.
Trending. The dashboard’s panel shows its library’s Popular models in the 3D printing category with STL files.

Per-user (Configuration → Providers → GrabCAD). GrabCAD keeps you signed in with one cookie, _grabcad_session. It has no “remember me”: a sign-in lasts two days from its last use, Thingport’s imports included, so one that sits unused for longer has to be sent again.

Easiest: Thingport Grab

With Thingport Grab allowed on GrabCAD, opening grabcad.com while you’re signed in connects your account, and sends a new sign-in whenever yours changes there. Visiting the site now and then keeps it alive.

Manual: copy it from your browser

Sign in at grabcad.com.
Open DevTools (F12, or Cmd+Option+I on macOS).
Chrome/Edge: Application tab > Cookies > https://grabcad.com. Firefox: Storage tab > Cookies.
Copy the value of _grabcad_session. (The Cookie request header of any signed-in request to grabcad.com works too.)
Right-click GrabCAD in Configuration → Providers, choose Connect and paste it.

Compare with other providers

Provider	Sign-in	Thingport Grab	FlareSolverr	Collections	Likes	Sync	Print profiles
GrabCADThis page	Yours, for the files	Recommended	Not needed	No	Yes	Yes	No
MakerWorld	Your cookie	Recommended	Optional	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Printables	None	Optional¹	Recommended	Yes	Yes¹	Yes	No
Thingiverse	Admin’s App Token	Optional	Recommended	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
MyMiniFactory	Admin’s API key, yours for paid	Optional	Recommended	Yes	No	Yes	No
Snapmaker Space	Yours, for a day	Recommended²	Not needed	Bookmarks	Yes	Yes	Yes
MakerOnline	Yours, for likes only	Required	Not needed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Creality Cloud	Yours, for a week	Recommended	Not needed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
NexPrint	Yours	Recommended	Not needed	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Thangs	Yours, renewed for a year	Recommended	Optional	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Cults3D	Your API key + browser sign-in	Recommended³	Not needed	Printlists	Yes	Yes	No
eufyMake	Yours, for likes only	Recommended	Not needed	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pinshape	Yours, for the files	Recommended	Not needed	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
OwlCAD	None	Recommended⁴	Not needed	No	No	No	No
Toymakr3D	Yours, for the files	Recommended	Not needed	No	Yes⁵	Yes	No
Makerables	Yours, for saved projects only	Recommended	Not needed	Saved	No	Yes	No
CGTrader	Yours, for the files	Recommended⁶	Recommended	Wishlist	Yes⁶	Yes	No
Meshy	Yours; Pro for community models	Recommended	Not needed	Yes	No	Yes	No
PIXUP	Yours, for the files	Recommended	Not needed	Collections, wishlists	Yes	Yes	No
Fab365	Yours, for the files	Recommended	Not needed	No	Yes⁷	Yes	No
3DExport	Yours, for the files	Recommended	Not needed	Bookmark collections	No	Yes	No
QIDI Maker	Yours, for your collections and likes	Recommended	Not needed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
VoxelShare	Yours, for your collections and likes	Recommended	Not needed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Your private Printables collections and your likes are read by Grab, while you’re on Printables.
Snapmaker’s sign-in lasts a day and only Grab renews it; without Grab you paste a new one every day.
Cults3D’s files need your browser’s Cloudflare clearance, and Thingport on the same IP address as that browser.
A gallery item that is a CAD project, rather than a library part, has no stored mesh: OwlCAD’s editor builds its file, so Thingport Grab exports it on owlcad.com.
Toymakr3D hands a model’s files to signed-in users only, the free ones included, and shows your likes to you alone.
CGTrader shows your likes and wishlist to you alone, and its downloads sit behind AWS’s bot check, which Thingport passes with Grab’s token from your browser or FlareSolverr’s own.
Fab365 hands a model’s files to signed-in members only, the free ones included, and shows your favourites to you alone.

Known problems

Open bug reports about GrabCAD in Thingport, on GitHub.

No known problems with GrabCAD.

Report a problem with GrabCAD

Notes from users

Tips, workarounds and news about GrabCAD from people who use it. Something broken in Thingport? See Known problems.