14 DAY TRIAL // The desktop 3D printing market is evolving very fast, and each month brings with it several new 3D printers. That's a good thing, since most printers on the market, particularly the cheaper ones, aren't all that great or, at least, not as great as they could be.
3D Hubs, a 3D printing community, is keeping track of thousands of printers around the world, so it has a rough idea of what models are popular.
The site is now publishing monthly reports on the market share of various types of printers. Stratasys 3D printers are the most popular, though that's thanks to the company's acquisition of MakerBot.
The most popular models are MakerBot's Replicator, the original model as well as the 2 and 2x models. All in all, 352 of the over 1,600 printers 3D Hubs tracks, 25.5 percent of them, are made by Stratasys.
But various versions of the open source RepRap 3D printer make up the second largest category, 303 printers or 21.9 percent. The RepRap printers are also the second most popular single model for October.
The third most popular manufacturer is Ultimaker with 254 printers, or 18.4 percent of the market. However, the Ultimaker 1 is the single most popular printer on 3D Hubs, with 247 models listed.
Finally, the only big manufacturer to get any significant market share is 3D Systems, maker of the Cube and Project 3D printers, with 10.8 percent of the market.
The numbers are slanted somewhat by the fact that 3D hubs is particularly popular in Europe, where it launched first. This accounts for Ultimaker's huge popularity. The printer sold in great numbers in Europe, compared to other continents.
But the numbers should still provide an idea of the popularity of various makers around the world and, perhaps more importantly, how that popularity changes over time.
