# SimplyPrint vs Bambu Farm Manager

## About Bambu Farm Manager

- **Website:** [Bambu Farm Manager](https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-farm-manager)

## Overview

Bambu Farm Manager is Bambu Lab's own free tool for managing a fleet of Bambu printers. It's a pair of Windows programs (a Server and a Client) that run on your local network, and it's a genuinely useful, free way to watch your Bambu printers and batch-control them, especially if everything lives on one site and you never need to reach it from outside.

But "manage your printers on the LAN" and "run a print farm" aren't the same job. A farm has to keep printing when you're not standing next to it, catch failures, route work automatically, and grow. That's where a free, local, single-brand tool runs into a ceiling, and it's why plenty of all-Bambu farms still pay for SimplyPrint. Here's a fair, side-by-side look.

## Pros of Bambu Farm Manager

Bambu Farm Manager has real strengths, and they're worth being honest about:**

- Free:** free to download and use today, with no per-printer or per-seat fee and no cap on how many Bambu printers you connect.
- **Fully local / cloud-free:** print data and commands stay on your LAN, which is the right answer for air-gapped, regulated or strict-IT-policy setups (some schools and enterprises).
- **Made by Bambu, for Bambu:** deep native integration, batch firmware upgrades, real-time status and bulk control, plus staggered power-on to avoid overloading a circuit.
- **Optional Fleet Hub hardware:** a dedicated LAN device for enterprise integration (up to 50 printers, HTTP API).

## Cons of Bambu Farm Manager

Where Bambu Farm Manager runs into a ceiling for a working farm:**

- Bambu Lab printers only:** no Prusa, Creality, Klipper, Marlin or OctoPrint support, now or planned.
- **Windows-only desktop:** a Server + Client you install on Windows 10+ (macOS and Linux/Docker are on Bambu's roadmap, not released). No browser access, no mobile app.
- **Local network only:** no built-in remote access over the internet - managing the farm off-site means setting up your own VPN.
- **Manual, not automated:** it has a queue, but you pick printers and click Start; no automated dispatch and no continuous (lights-out) printing.
- **No AI detection, slicer, filament inventory or maintenance** in the app, and no SSO or education/classroom features.
- **Operational chores:** a certificate that renews online every 6 months, a 5-server-per-account cap, no data migration between PCs, and bound printers dropping off Bambu Handy.

## Feature Comparison: SimplyPrint vs Bambu Farm Manager

### General

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| Has free plan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Max cost | Free | Free, or from $4/printer/mo |
| Free cloud storage | ✗ | 1GB |
| Usage based cost | ✗ | ✗ |
| Unlimited printing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Supports all printers | Bambu Lab only | ✓ |

### Features

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| Remote access | LAN only (no native remote) | ✓ |
| Filament management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Knows your printer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cloud files | ✗ | ✓ |
| Print queue | ✓ | ✓ |
| Livestream | LAN only | ✓ |
| Gcode analysis | ✗ | ✓ |
| A.I failure detection | ✗ | ✓ |
| AutoPrint / continuous printing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom fields | ✗ | ✓ |
| Staggered Start (for power draw) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Print job history | Live status only | ✓ |
| Print remotely | ✗ | ✓ |
| Built-in slicer | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multi-printer friendly | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-print | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-stream | LAN only | ✓ |
| Statistics | ✗ | ✓ |
| API | ✗ | ✓ |
| Slicer smart-rotation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Smart filament change | ✗ | ✓ |
| Bed level helper | ✗ | ✓ |

### Organizations

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| Multiple users | ✓ | ✓ |
| User groups / ranks | Admin / common users | ✓ |
| User permissions | ✗ | ✓ |
| School plan | ✗ | ✓ |
| Shared files & folders | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared slicer profiles | ✗ | ✓ |
| Hub | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom domains | ✗ | ✓ |
| SSO (single sign-on) | ✗ | ✓ |

### Notifications

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| Email notifications | ✗ | ✓ |
| Push (mobile / app) notifications | ✗ | ✓ |
| SMS / text message notifications | ✗ | ✓ |

### Apps

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| Android app | ✗ | ✓ |
| iOS app | ✗ | ✓ |
| "PWA" (installable web-application) | ✗ | ✓ |

### Security & Privacy

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| Account 2-factor authentication | ✗ | ✓ |
| EU servers | Local only (no cloud) | ✓ |
| Privacy-minded analytics & data-gathering | ✗ | ✓ |

### Support

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| Email support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live-chat support | ✗ | ✓ |
| Phone support | ✗ | ✓ |

### Firmware & Gateway Support

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| OctoPrint install | ✗ | ✓ |
| Native Moonraker support | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mainsail install | ✗ | ✓ |
| Fluidd install | ✗ | ✓ |
| Klipper support | ✗ | ✓ |
| Duet3D integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Direct Prusa support (MK4, XL and up / new main boards) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Direct Bambu Lab printer integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Support for custom integrations | ✗ | ✓ |

### Enterprise & Partners

| Feature | Bambu Farm Manager | SimplyPrint |
|---------|------------------|-------------|
| OEM | ✗ | ✓ |
| Partner program (reseller / distributor) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Affiliate program | ✗ | ✓ |