Other Companies like ShapeWays?

[squadus]

http://www.jeweldistrict.com/

[Pattycakes]

See the thing is that Shapeways is so large so they can have lower prices. On top of this, they have the most experience, so I would imagine that their quality is better than most other companies that are just getting started or only print a few items a day.

[Lil3dprinting]

@Pattycakes Your right and wrong all at the same time. Most commercial printers (like myself) are on par with Shapeways for pricing for parts. Even slightly less as for the most part we don't have setup fees. In all likely hood, Shapeways will beat an independent printer on shipping cost, but your independent will have your part to you in days, not weeks (like SW). As for quality, your way off base here. SW is in essence a sausage factory, pumping out as much as they possibly can. Tolerances are jacked up so parts can be removed without any (little) concern of parts breaking. And as with most companies, the grunt work is done by people making minimum wage. How much they care about your parts is up for speculation. I'll put any sandstone part I print up against a SW part and beat them hands down (even on my worst sleep deprived day). This is without even considering that I can do a mater finish (no build lines and smooth like glass). SW does have a store and several thousand visitors that no independent can touch though.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate SW and love the push they are putting on 3D printing, I just don't consider them "high end printers"

[Davo]

We've worked with the folks at http://thingify.com on some projects.

[Calvin23]

@JohnA136. Thank you for bringing up kraftwurx. I Would just like to add the fact that we have a TON of materials to choose from. Over 50!

[3DPBuser]

Tried SW a few times, seems to take a while to get the parts.

Once you know what you are doing, MakeXYZ seems the best results per dollar.

Like the Sculpteo part-viewer the best.

ProtoExchange.com - seems a bit more engineering-ish.

[Ryter]

My experience with imaterialise has been really good.

To my knowledge they offer more materials than shapeways and the quality of their prints is unmatched. Also, you dont even need an account for seeing their princes: http://i.materialise.com

[curious aardvark]

WOW - just uploaded a model I made for my mates conservatory. Just a decorative end piece. weighs about 5 grams cost me 8 pence each to make with decent filament.
And the cheapest quote from imaterialise is £7.90 !

Oh man am I under charging for my sling bullet moulds.

So what sort of money does 3dhubs charge ?

[car3less]

The same thing I asked myself when I tried to choose one. So I had to read a little about them.

Conclusions:
Shapeways has a large variety of materials and better exposure; seems to be cheap, but slow.
iMaterialise has an even larger variety of materials, better quality for metal printing than shapeways, the order process is much easier and for orders over $99 shipping is free. But the delivery time can last from 5 days to a month and printing prices are higher.
Kraftwurx - same prices as Shapeways or similar. Many materials to choose from.
Sculpteo is very fast - only 3 days delivery term, but shipping is expensive and not so many material choices available.

hope this helps

[car3less]

3dhubs is the cheapest because most of the printers there belong to individuals and very few to companies.