# SimplyPrint vs Bambuddy

## About Bambuddy

- **Website:** [Bambuddy](https://bambuddy.cool/)

## Overview

Bambuddy is a free, open-source, self-hosted command center for Bambu Lab printers, and it's genuinely impressive. A single developer has built a remarkably complete tool in a short time: live monitoring, a deep searchable print archive, statistics, a maintenance tracker, filament inventory, even optional AI failure detection, all running on your own hardware with nothing in the cloud. If you're an all-Bambu shop that loves to self-host and own every byte, it deserves a serious look, and we mean that.

But running a print farm, or a school's lab, is a different job from running a piece of software. You have to keep it online, secure it, back it up, reach it from outside the building, and trust it'll still be maintained next year. That's the part Bambuddy hands to you, and it's exactly the part SimplyPrint takes off your plate, across every major printer brand, as a managed platform with a company behind it. Here's a fair, side-by-side look at the two, and when SimplyPrint is the better Bambuddy alternative.

## Pros of Bambuddy

Bambuddy has real strengths, and they're worth being honest about:**

- Free & open-source:** AGPL-3.0, no subscription, with full source you can audit, fork and run yourself.
- **Fully local, your data:** runs entirely on your own hardware; nothing touches the cloud, ideal for privacy-first, air-gapped or strict-IT setups.
- **Deep for its age:** a searchable print archive with a 3D viewer, statistics, a maintenance tracker, built-in filament inventory and label printing, OIDC SSO with granular roles, and broad notifications.
- **Homelab-friendly:** a REST API and MCP server, MQTT/Home Assistant, Prometheus/Grafana, smart-plug power automation and PostgreSQL.
- **Easy to install:** Docker, a native Windows installer, or one-line scripts on Linux/macOS and Raspberry Pi.

## Cons of Bambuddy

Where Bambuddy runs into limits for a farm or school that doesn't want to run its own server:**

- Bambu Lab only:** no Prusa, Creality, Klipper, Marlin, Duet or OctoPrint, now or planned.
- **You host, secure and maintain it:** updates, backups, uptime and security are on you, and running it locally doesn't automatically make it more secure.
- **No managed remote access:** reaching the farm off-site needs your own VPN, tunnel or port-forwarding, and there are no native mobile apps (PWA only).
- **Solo-maintained, pre-1.0:** continuity rests on one developer, and there's no DPA, contract, SLA or company accountability (community support; paid "Pro Support" only by emailing the maintainer).
- **AI and NFC are bring-your-own:** AI failure detection relies on a third-party Obico model you self-host, slicing is headless-only (no interactive editor), and NFC needs the optional DIY SpoolBuddy hardware.
- **No education plan, OEM/white-label or partner program.**

## Feature Comparison: SimplyPrint vs Bambuddy

### General

| Feature | Bambuddy | SimplyPrint |
|---------|--------|-------------|
| Has free plan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Max cost | Free (self-hosted) | Free, or from $4/printer/mo |
| Free cloud storage | Local (your disk) | 1GB |
| Usage based cost | ✗ | ✗ |
| Unlimited printing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Supports all printers | Bambu Lab only | ✓ |

### Features

| Feature | Bambuddy | SimplyPrint |
|---------|--------|-------------|
| Remote access | Self-hosted (bring your own VPN/tunnel) | ✓ |
| Filament management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Knows your printer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cloud files | Local files only | ✓ |
| Print queue | ✓ | ✓ |
| Livestream | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gcode analysis | ✓ | ✓ |
| A.I failure detection | Self-hosted Obico (BYO) | ✓ |
| AutoPrint / continuous printing | Queue auto-start; eject via 3rd-party | ✓ |
| Custom fields | ✗ | ✓ |
| Staggered Start (for power draw) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Print job history | ✓ | ✓ |
| Print remotely | Via Proxy Mode + your own tunnel | ✓ |
| Built-in slicer | Headless only (no UI) | ✓ |
| Multi-printer friendly | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-print | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-stream | ✓ | ✓ |
| Statistics | ✓ | ✓ |
| API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Slicer smart-rotation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Smart filament change | ✗ | ✓ |
| Bed level helper | ✗ | ✓ |

### Organizations

| Feature | Bambuddy | SimplyPrint |
|---------|--------|-------------|
| Multiple users | ✓ | ✓ |
| User groups / ranks | ✓ | ✓ |
| User permissions | ✓ | ✓ |
| School plan | ✗ | ✓ |
| Shared files & folders | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared slicer profiles | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hub | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom domains | ✗ | ✓ |
| SSO (single sign-on) | OIDC & LDAP (no SAML) | ✓ |

### Notifications

| Feature | Bambuddy | SimplyPrint |
|---------|--------|-------------|
| Email notifications | ✓ | ✓ |
| Push (mobile / app) notifications | Via ntfy / Pushover / Telegram | ✓ |
| SMS / text message notifications | ✗ | ✓ |

### Apps

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

### Security & Privacy

| Feature | Bambuddy | SimplyPrint |
|---------|--------|-------------|
| Account 2-factor authentication | ✓ | ✓ |
| EU servers | Self-hosted (your server) | ✓ |
| Privacy-minded analytics & data-gathering | ✓ | ✓ |

### Support

| Feature | Bambuddy | SimplyPrint |
|---------|--------|-------------|
| Email support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live-chat support | Community Discord | ✓ |
| Phone support | ✗ | ✓ |

### Firmware & Gateway Support

| Feature | Bambuddy | 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 | Bambuddy | SimplyPrint |
|---------|--------|-------------|
| OEM | ✗ | ✓ |
| Partner program (reseller / distributor) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Affiliate program | ✗ | ✓ |