FlowQ is the cloud print-farm software from Infinity Flow 3D, a US company best known for its 3D-printing automation hardware (the S1 Plus automatic filament loader, filament cutters and ejection kits). FlowQ grew out of running their own farm, and it shows: it's a tidy, genuinely multi-brand cloud dashboard for queueing prints, auto-restarting jobs and tracking filament. If you already slice on your desktop and mostly want a shared queue tied to their filament hardware, it's a smart, affordable little platform, and we mean that.
But "manage a queue" and "run a print farm" aren't the same job. A farm has to prepare its own files, catch failures before they waste a night, track filament, service machines, and stay affordable as it grows, ideally without buying anyone's hardware. That's the ground SimplyPrint has been built on since 2020, across every major printer brand. Here's a fair, sourced side-by-side.
FlowQ is a young (its own docs date to late 2025), US-built cloud tool from a hardware company. Its real strength is the surrounding Infinity Flow hardware, the S1+ automatic filament loader, filament cutters and a Bed Swap ejection kit, paired with a simple, low-cost queue + automation layer. For a small, cost-sensitive farm that already slices on the desktop and wants an integrated hardware-plus-software stack from one vendor, it's a genuine option.
SimplyPrint is a farm-grade management platform that's been running print farms since 2020. On top of the queue and continuous printing, it ships what FlowQ leaves to other tools: a full interactive cloud slicer with 5 engines, AI failure detection and AI bed-check, software filament inventory with NFC and label printing (no proprietary hardware required), a maintenance system, native iOS/Android apps, multi-user teams with SSO, and an Education plan, all today. It runs 600+ printer models across 130+ brands (including OctoPrint, Marlin-over-USB and Duet, which FlowQ doesn't list), is EU-based with EU data residency, and scales with volume discounts and Fair Billing. 2 printers are free forever.
FlowQ is a capable, genuinely multi-brand queue and automation layer, credit where it's due. But a working farm needs more than a queue: a way to prepare files, catch failures before they waste a print, keep filament accurate and service machines. FlowQ leaves most of that to your desktop slicer, your own eyes, or its hardware. SimplyPrint builds it in.
FlowQ is genuinely inexpensive and its free tier looks generous. The catch is how the cheap tiers throttle a real farm, and what's missing as you grow. Here's the honest math.
Figures compare SimplyPrint's Pro and Print Farm plans against FlowQ's published tiers as of June 2026; check each provider's current pricing page for exact numbers.
We respect what Infinity Flow built. They came at this from the hardware side, and that's a genuine strength SimplyPrint simply doesn't have:
Nothing is black-and-white, and there are always pros and cons to consider when choosing a 3D printing cloud solution!
And we're not here to simply tell you, that SimplyPrint is the best - we want you to make an informed decision, and of course there are pros of using FlowQ as well!
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|---|---|---|
| General | ||
| Has free plan | ||
| Free printers | 3 | 2 |
| Free cloud storage | 1GB | |
| Usage based cost | ||
| Unlimited printing | Unlimited tier only | |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Tiered + per-printer add-on | Flat plan + per-printer |
| Price per printer | $3-4/printer, flat (no volume discount) | From $4 to ~$3/mo at scale |
| Annual billing discount | ~17% | 15-20% |
| Fair Billing (only pay for printers & seats you use) ? | ||
| Volume pricing (per-printer cost drops at scale) ? | ||
| Supports all printers | 60+ models; no OctoPrint/Duet | |
| Features | ||
| Remote access | ||
| Filament management | Requires S1+ hardware | |
| Filament NFC tags (read & write) | ||
| Filament label printing (Dymo / Zebra) | ||
| Knows your printer | ||
| Cloud files | ||
| Print queue | ||
| Livestream | ||
| Gcode analysis | ||
| A.I failure detection | ||
| AI Bed Check (is the bed clear?) | ||
| AutoPrint / continuous printing | Needs external ejection | |
| Maintenance & servicing system | ||
| Custom fields | ||
| Staggered Start (for power draw) | ||
| Print job history | ||
| Print remotely | ||
| Built-in slicer | ||
| Multi-printer friendly | ||
| Multi-print | ||
| Multi-stream | ||
| Statistics | ||
| API | ||
| Slicer smart-rotation | ||
| Smart filament change | ||
| Bed level helper | ||
| Organization | ||
| Multiple users | ||
| User groups / ranks | ||
| User permissions | ||
| School plan | ||
| Shared files & folders | ||
| Shared slicer profiles | ||
| Hub | ||
| Custom domains | ||
| SSO (single sign-on) | ||
| Notifications | ||
| Email notifications | ||
| Push (mobile / app) notifications | ||
| SMS / text message notifications | ||
| Apps | ||
| Android app | ||
| iOS app | ||
| "PWA" (installable web-application) | ||
| Security & privacy | ||
| Account 2-factor authentication | ||
| Privacy-minded analytics & data-gathering ? | ||
| Support | ||
| Live-chat support | ||
| Phone support | ||
| Email support | ||
| Firmware & gateway support | ||
| 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 | ||
| OEM | ||
| Partner program (reseller / distributor) | ||
| Affiliate program | ||
| On-prem / self-hosting ? | Contact us | |
| Selling & custom products | ||
| Automated Etsy / Shopify order-to-print ? | Via Zapier/Make | Closed beta: coming soon |
| Compare | See pricing | See pricing |
Contact us if you think we made a mistake in our comparison!
We made SimplyPrint due to the fact, that nothing else on the market quite fit our needs. We wanted a platform that was easy to use, but still had all the features we needed. We wanted a feature-rich platform, intuitive and easy to use, with a great user experience and actual innovation within the 3D print management software space.
In summary, we - humble and unbiased as we are 😉 - believe that the SimplyPrint platform is a great FlowQ alternative!
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