--- title: "How to 3D print from FreeCAD in one click" slug: 3d-print-from-freecad description: How to 3D print from FreeCAD without manual STL export juggling. Send solids straight to the browser with the SimplyPrint addon, slice, and print in one click. target_keyword: 3d print from freecad secondary_keywords: - how to 3d print from freecad - freecad 3d printing - freecad export stl - freecad to stl audience: hobbyists category: tutorials tags: - freecad - integration - slicer - cloud - cad schema: TechArticle last_modified: 2026-06-30 published: 2026-06-30 author: albert readtime: 9 og_image: https://cdn.simplyprint.io/i/landing/articles/3d-print-from-freecad/og.jpg og_image_alt: A parametric solid open in FreeCAD with the SimplyPrint dock panel on the right showing format, mesh quality, and a Send to SimplyPrint button card_image: https://cdn.simplyprint.io/i/static/integrations/freecad/img/01-dock-panel.png card_image_alt: A parametric solid open in FreeCAD with the SimplyPrint dock panel on the right showing export format, mesh quality, and a Send to SimplyPrint button cta_inline: text: Try the SimplyPrint cloud slicer free url: /features/slicer cta_final: text: Get the SimplyPrint FreeCAD addon url: /integrations/freecad related_features: - SlicerFeatureController - OrcaSlicerFeatureController - PrusaSlicerFeatureController related_articles: - 3d-print-from-blender - 3d-print-from-fusion-360 - 3d-print-from-sketchup - what-is-a-3mf-file - browser-based-3d-slicer faq: - q: Can FreeCAD export G-code directly? a: | No. FreeCAD designs solids and meshes, not toolpaths, so it cannot produce printer-ready G-code on its own. To 3D print from FreeCAD you tessellate the solid into a mesh, slice that mesh in a slicer, and the slicer outputs the G-code your printer runs. The SimplyPrint addon collapses that into one click: it sends the model to the SimplyPrint cloud slicer, which slices it with real engines (OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer, BambuStudio, ElegooSlicer, and CrealityPrint) and dispatches the print to a connected printer. There is a FreeCAD Path workbench for CNC milling G-code, but that is for subtractive machining, not FDM 3D printing. - q: What format should I export from FreeCAD for 3D printing? a: | STL is the universal choice and works with every slicer. 3MF is the modern format that preserves real-world units and keeps multiple objects separate, which matters for multi-part or multi-material prints. OBJ carries materials and UVs. The SimplyPrint addon lets you pick STL, 3MF, or OBJ before sending. If in doubt, send 3MF for assemblies and STL for a single part. - q: Is the SimplyPrint FreeCAD addon free? a: | Yes. The FreeCAD addon is free, and sending models to SimplyPrint is free. SimplyPrint's free plan lets you connect a printer and print wirelessly, so the FreeCAD to printer round trip works end-to-end at no cost. Paid plans add multi-user accounts, more storage, larger cloud slicer quota, and print farm features. - q: Does the FreeCAD addon work on Linux, Mac, and Windows? a: | Yes. The addon works wherever FreeCAD runs, which is Windows, macOS, and Linux including native and Flatpak builds. The install steps are the same on every platform because they go through FreeCAD's own Addon Manager, or a manual copy into your user Mod folder. - q: Do I still need a slicer to 3D print from FreeCAD? a: | Yes, but you do not need to install one. FreeCAD makes the geometry; a slicer turns that geometry into G-code. With SimplyPrint the slicer runs in your browser (no desktop install), so when you click Send to SimplyPrint the model lands in a real cloud slicer ready to slice. If you prefer a desktop slicer, you can still export an STL from FreeCAD's Mesh workbench and open it in OrcaSlicer or PrusaSlicer manually. - q: How do I convert a FreeCAD solid to STL? a: | Select the solid, switch to the Mesh workbench, and use Meshes then Create Mesh from Shape to tessellate it into a triangle mesh, then Meshes then Export Mesh to save an STL. Lower the surface and angular deviation for smoother curves. The SimplyPrint addon does this tessellation for you with a quality preset, so you can skip the manual Mesh workbench step entirely. - q: Why does my FreeCAD print come out the wrong size? a: | Almost always a units problem. FreeCAD models in millimeters by default, which is what slicers expect, but an imported STEP or a model built in inches can arrive scaled wrong. Check the bounding box before you slice. The SimplyPrint dock panel shows the real bounding box in millimeters and the volume in cubic centimeters, so you catch a scale mistake before the model ever reaches the slicer. tldr: | FreeCAD cannot make G-code on its own, so to 3D print from FreeCAD you tessellate the solid to a mesh and slice it. The SimplyPrint FreeCAD addon does this in one click: select your solids in the dock panel, pick STL, 3MF, or OBJ, and hit Send to SimplyPrint. The model opens in the browser slicer (OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer, BambuStudio, ElegooSlicer, and CrealityPrint engines), ready to slice and print. expertise_note: | Written based on the SimplyPrint FreeCAD addon that shipped in 2026, FreeCAD's Mesh and Part workbenches, and production use of the SimplyPrint cloud slicer in the browser by hobbyists, schools, and print farms. --- To 3D print from FreeCAD you tessellate your parametric solid into a mesh and slice that mesh into G-code, because FreeCAD designs shapes but does not produce printer toolpaths on its own. The fast way to do this in 2026 is the SimplyPrint FreeCAD addon: select your solids in the SimplyPrint dock panel, choose STL, 3MF, or OBJ, and click **Send to SimplyPrint**. The model opens in the browser slicer with no manual mesh export, no file juggling, and no SD card. That is the short version of how to 3D print from FreeCAD. This guide covers both paths honestly. First the modern one-click flow with the addon, then the legitimate manual export path through FreeCAD's Mesh workbench (with the surface and angular deviation settings that decide your print quality), so you understand what is actually happening under the one click and can fall back to it whenever you want. ## Can FreeCAD 3D print directly, or do you need a slicer? FreeCAD does not 3D print directly, and no CAD program does. FreeCAD builds parametric solids: B-rep shapes defined by edges, faces, and exact dimensions that survive design changes. A 3D printer does not understand a B-rep solid. It runs G-code, a line-by-line list of nozzle moves and extrusion amounts. The job of turning a solid into G-code belongs to a slicer, not to FreeCAD. So the real FreeCAD 3D printing pipeline always has three stages, whether you notice them or not: 1. **Model** the part in FreeCAD as a parametric solid (Part or Part Design workbench) or a mesh (Mesh workbench). 2. **Tessellate** the solid into a triangle mesh (an STL, 3MF, or OBJ) so the slicer has a surface to work with. 3. **Slice** the mesh into G-code with a slicer, then send that G-code to the printer. Most FreeCAD tutorials teach you to do stage 2 and stage 3 by hand: export an STL, open a desktop slicer, slice, save the G-code, then copy it to an SD card or upload it. That works, and we cover it below. But it is several manual steps every time you change a dimension and re-print. The SimplyPrint addon does stages 2 and 3 in one action, with a real cloud slicer doing the slicing. :::callout type=note FreeCAD does have a **Path workbench** that generates G-code, but that is for CNC milling and other subtractive machining, not for FDM 3D printing. For melting plastic layer by layer you still need a 3D printing slicer. ::: ## How to 3D print from FreeCAD in one click The shortest FreeCAD-to-printer workflow is four moves: install the SimplyPrint addon, log in from the dock panel, tick the objects you want, and click **Send to SimplyPrint**. The model lands in your SimplyPrint account in the browser, loaded into the slicer and ready to slice, queue, or print on any connected printer. The addon adds a context-aware **SimplyPrint** dock panel that adapts to whichever workbench you are in. Pick solids in **Part** or **Part Design**, send meshes as-is from the **Mesh** workbench, or push a whole **Assembly** as one file. It also installs a dedicated SimplyPrint workbench with its own toolbar and menu, so the **Send to SimplyPrint** action is one click away from anywhere in FreeCAD. :::image src="https://cdn.simplyprint.io/i/static/integrations/freecad/img/01-dock-panel.png" alt="The SimplyPrint dock panel docked on the right of the FreeCAD window, listing the detected objects, the export format and mesh quality options, the real bounding box and volume, and a Send to SimplyPrint button" caption="The SimplyPrint dock panel in FreeCAD: detected objects, export format, mesh quality, the real bounding box in millimeters, and the Send to SimplyPrint button."::: Compared with the old manual flow, this collapses the export and the slicer-load step into a single click while keeping the slicer settings in the browser where there is room for them. You stay in FreeCAD for the part that FreeCAD is good at (precise parametric modeling) and move to the browser for the part SimplyPrint is good at (slicing and dispatch). :::feature SlicerFeatureController::: ## How to install the SimplyPrint FreeCAD addon There are two ways to install the addon. The Addon Manager is the recommended path because it handles updates for you; the manual zip install is there for offline machines or locked-down setups. ### Option 1: FreeCAD Addon Manager (recommended) 1. In FreeCAD, open **Tools then Addon Manager**. 2. Search for **SimplyPrint** in the list and click **Install**. 3. Restart FreeCAD. The SimplyPrint dock panel and workbench appear. That is the whole install. The Addon Manager is FreeCAD's built-in package installer, so the addon updates the same way any other community addon does. If you have never used it before, FreeCAD's own [Addon Manager documentation](https://wiki.freecad.org/Std_AddonMgr) walks through the interface. ### Option 2: Manual zip install (Windows, macOS, Linux) If your FreeCAD machine cannot reach the Addon Manager (an air-gapped lab, a managed school device, a Flatpak sandbox), install the addon by hand: 1. **Download the zip** from the [SimplyPrint FreeCAD integration page](/integrations/freecad). 2. **Find your user Mod folder.** Open FreeCAD's Python console (**View then Panels then Python console**) and run `App.getUserAppDataDir()`. The addon goes in the `Mod` subfolder of the path it prints. 3. **Extract the zip into that folder** so you end up with a `Mod/SimplyPrint/` directory. 4. **Restart FreeCAD.** The result is identical to the Addon Manager install: the dock panel and workbench appear after the restart. The only difference is that manual installs do not auto-update, so you re-download the zip when a new version ships. :::callout type=tip The first time you open the SimplyPrint dock panel, click **Log In**. A browser tab opens, you approve the request, and the panel remembers you for future sessions. You only do this once per machine. ::: ## Send your first model: pick objects, format, and quality With the addon installed and signed in, open or model something with solids or meshes. The dock panel lists the objects it found, the mesh-quality options for solids, and the real bounding box and volume so you can sanity-check the size before anything leaves FreeCAD. The panel gives you three decisions before you send: - **Which objects.** Tick the solids, meshes, or assemblies you want to print. You can send a multi-object selection as separate files, or push a whole assembly as one file. For big assemblies the upload is chunked so it does not choke on a large model. - **Which format.** STL, 3MF, or OBJ (covered in detail below). - **Which mesh quality.** Low, Medium, or High presets, or fine-tune the surface deviation in millimeters and the angular deviation in degrees. This is the single biggest lever on how smooth your curved surfaces come out. Then click **Send to SimplyPrint**. Your browser opens SimplyPrint with the file loaded, ready to slice, queue, or print on one or more printers. :::cta text="Get the SimplyPrint FreeCAD addon" url="/integrations/freecad"::: ### Which export format should you choose? The format choice changes what the slicer receives, not just the file extension. - **STL** is the universal format. It is a plain triangle mesh with no units metadata, no material info, and everything flattened into one shell. Use it for a single-material, single-object print. It is the most compatible format with every slicer ever made, and the smallest of the three. - **3MF** is the modern format. It preserves real-world units (so a 40 mm part stays 40 mm), keeps each object as its own entity instead of flattening them, and can carry per-object positioning. Use 3MF for multi-part files, assemblies, or anything where you want to assign different filaments to different objects. The cloud slicer treats 3MF as the recommended format for any non-trivial scene. - **OBJ** carries materials and UVs. For a one-material print it is no better than STL, but it is useful when the same file also feeds a rendering or texturing pipeline that cares about materials. If in doubt: STL for one simple part, 3MF for everything else. ## The manual path: how to export STL from FreeCAD yourself You do not have to use the addon. Understanding the manual FreeCAD export STL workflow is worth it, because it is exactly what the addon automates, and because there are times (offline machine, a slicer you want to keep using locally) when you will reach for it. A FreeCAD solid is a perfect mathematical surface. An STL is a triangle approximation of that surface. The whole game in the FreeCAD to STL conversion is controlling how closely the triangles follow the real shape. Here is the flow: 1. **Select the solid** in the tree (a Part or Part Design body). 2. **Switch to the Mesh workbench** from the workbench dropdown. 3. **Tessellate it.** Use **Meshes then Create Mesh from Shape**. A dialog asks for the meshing parameters, and this is the part that decides your print quality. 4. **Tune the deviation.** **Surface deviation** is the maximum distance (in millimeters) a triangle is allowed to sit from the true surface. **Angular deviation** is the maximum angle between adjacent triangles. Lower both for smoother curves; a surface deviation around 0.01 to 0.1 mm is a good FDM range. Too coarse and you get visible faceting on cylinders and fillets; too fine and you get a huge file that slices slowly for no visible benefit at typical layer heights. 5. **Export the mesh.** Select the new mesh, then **Meshes then Export Mesh** and choose STL, 3MF, or OBJ. 6. **Open it in your slicer** (OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer, BambuStudio, or the SimplyPrint browser slicer), slice, and send the G-code to the printer. FreeCAD's own wiki page on [exporting to STL or OBJ](https://wiki.freecad.org/Export_to_STL_or_OBJ) covers the dialog in full detail. The one thing worth repeating: FreeCAD models in **millimeters** by default, which is exactly what every slicer expects, so as long as you have not imported a part built in inches your units will line up. :::callout type=note This is precisely the work the SimplyPrint addon does for you in one click. It picks sensible deviation values from the mesh-quality preset, tessellates the solid, and uploads the result, so for most prints you never open the Mesh workbench at all. The manual path is your fallback, not your default. ::: ## Why slice in the browser instead of a desktop slicer? Once the geometry is out of FreeCAD, something has to slice it. You can use a desktop slicer, or you can slice in the browser. The browser path removes the install-and-maintain overhead and keeps the whole loop on one machine. The SimplyPrint cloud slicer runs the same engines you would install on the desktop: **OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer, BambuStudio, ElegooSlicer, and CrealityPrint**, your choice, running server-side and streamed into the browser. You set layer height, infill, supports, and the rest in a familiar slicer UI, then print to a connected printer or drop the job in your queue. Nothing to download, nothing to keep up to date, and it runs the same on a workshop PC, a laptop, or a locked-down school Chromebook. :::comparison { "left_title": "FreeCAD + SimplyPrint addon", "right_title": "FreeCAD + manual desktop slicer", "rows": [ { "label": "Mesh export", "left": "Automatic (one click)", "right": "Manual via Mesh workbench" }, { "label": "Slicer install", "left": "None (runs in browser)", "right": "Install + update OrcaSlicer/PrusaSlicer" }, { "label": "File transfer to printer", "left": "Wireless from the browser", "right": "SD card / USB / manual upload" }, { "label": "Slicing engines", "left": "OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer, BambuStudio, ElegooSlicer, CrealityPrint", "right": "Whichever one you installed" }, { "label": "Works on a Chromebook", "left": "Yes", "right": "No" }, { "label": "Re-print after a design change", "left": "Edit, send, slice, print", "right": "Edit, export, open, slice, copy, print" } ] } ::: If your job needs something the browser slicer does not expose, you always have the manual export above as a fallback. For the everyday FreeCAD-to-print loop, the browser path is fewer steps and one less program to maintain. ## Does it work with my printer? Yes. SimplyPrint works with any printer you connect to it: 130+ brands and 600+ models, through OctoPrint, Klipper, or a built-in integration. The FreeCAD addon does not care what printer you own; it hands the geometry to SimplyPrint, and SimplyPrint dispatches the sliced job to whatever you have connected (a Bambu Lab printer, a Prusa, a Creality, a Voron, or a Klipper machine). The addon is also platform-agnostic on the FreeCAD side. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, including native and Flatpak builds, because it installs through FreeCAD's own Addon Manager or a copy into your user Mod folder. The same install works for a hobbyist on a laptop, a school running managed Linux machines, and a print farm operator on a workshop PC. :::related slicer,slicer/orcaslicer,slicer/prusaslicer::: ## Where this fits in the bigger picture The point of the SimplyPrint FreeCAD addon is to delete the manual export-and-load step that sits between a parametric solid and a sliced print. Once the model is in your account, the rest of the platform takes over: the [browser slicer](/features/slicer) handles the slice with real OrcaSlicer or PrusaSlicer engines, your file library stores it for the next revision, and the print queue dispatches it to the right printer. After a design change you edit the dimension in FreeCAD, click Send to SimplyPrint, slice, and print again, no SD card in the loop. FreeCAD is the right tool for precise mechanical parts: brackets, enclosures, gears, fixtures, anything where a tenth of a millimeter matters and the design will change. (For organic or sculpted shapes, a mesh tool like Blender fits better, which is why we have a separate guide on [how to 3D print from Blender](/articles/3d-print-from-blender).) Whichever tool you model in, the downstream flow is the same, and the FreeCAD addon is one of several entry points into it. If you want to understand the file in the middle of all this, read [what a 3MF file is](/articles/what-is-a-3mf-file), and for the slicing side, [browser-based 3D slicing](/articles/browser-based-3d-slicer) explains why the slicer lives in a tab instead of an installer. For FreeCAD users specifically, the value is simple: stay parametric in FreeCAD, slice in the browser, and never hand-export an STL again unless you choose to. Open the dock panel, tick your solids, and click Send to SimplyPrint.