FAQ
Questions, answered
The short, honest versions. If something is missing, ask us directly: we read everything.
Is the pricing engine really free?
Yes. Every estimator (all twelve maker crafts), the trade bid builder, and the digital break-even view run on a free account, with no time limit, and /try runs live demos with no account at all. The engine is the mission, and gating it would feel gross. Paid tiers only unlock the surfaces that need history to be useful. A free account saves up to 10 products.
What do Maker Pro and Shop/Business add?
Maker Pro ($9/mo or $90/yr): unlimited saved products, the Hobbyist and Seller dashboards, the jobs queue and log, the learned failure rate, per-shop pricing, project totals, inventory, and the Insights advisor. Shop/Business ($24/mo or $240/yr): everything in Pro plus the contract side: printable proposals, the bid pipeline, saved trade rates, invoices, clients, and expense tracking with a real P&L. Founders Lifetime ($299 once) is the Business band, forever. Live prices are always on /pricing.
Do you store my G-code or design files?
No. A dropped G-code or SVG is read for the numbers the estimate needs (weight, print time, dimensions, geometry) and only those numbers are saved with a product. The file itself is never stored. The laser logo tracer goes further: it runs entirely in your browser, so the image never leaves your machine.
Where do the preset numbers come from?
Researched 2026 US street prices, cited line by line on /sources. They are starting points, not gospel: your saved machines, materials, and fee profiles override them everywhere, and /tune walks through dialing each number to your shop.
How does the learned failure rate work?
Every logged job feeds it. Once a product has 5 or more logged outcomes (done and failed both count), its observed failure rate replaces the flat buffer from your assumption set, so a model you have dialed in prices tighter than a brand-new one. The buffer is honest until the data is better.
Can I price in my own currency?
Yes. You enter costs in your currency and the engine never converts behind your back. A display-only switcher can show your catalog and estimates in another currency using a dated, public rate table, clearly marked approximate. The US-first presets are honest about being US figures; tune them to your market.
Which marketplaces and fees does it know?
Prebaked profiles for Etsy, Amazon Handmade, and eBay, plus Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Shopify Payments, all editable. The fee math applies the percentage to the item and the shipping line, the way the platforms actually charge, and the back-solve makes sure your margin survives the fees instead of being eaten by them.
Is my data locked in?
No. Your catalog exports to CSV, your whole account exports to JSON (every table, owner-scoped), and Settings has a delete-account button that removes everything, permanently. Your numbers are yours.
Is there an app?
Yes, the installable kind: /download puts Anvil on your desktop or phone with its own window and icon. No app store, installs in seconds, signs into the same workbench.
How does Anvil handle sales tax?
Engine prices are pre-tax on purpose. On marketplaces (Etsy, Amazon, eBay), US marketplace facilitator laws mean the platform collects and remits sales tax on top of your listed price, so it never touches your math. For direct sales, where you are the collector, add a sales tax line yourself: a rate on a quote, a bid proposal, or an invoice itemizes it on the printed document. Recording a sale from a tax-inclusive register total? Tell the capture the rate and it strips the tax, so saved sale prices stay pre-tax, and the expenses page reports what you collected by quarter for remittance season. The P&L counts pre-tax revenue (collected tax is the state's money, not income), the expense tracker has a Taxes category for the payments you actually make, and the P&L shows an editable set-aside estimate for self-employment and income tax. None of this is tax advice; an accountant knows your real rates.
Who builds this?
Three makers at Them 3D Print Guys who needed honest pricing for their own prints and kept going. /about has the story, and /contribute is how you help us keep the numbers honest.
Still curious?
The whole pricing method is published line by line, and the per craft pages each carry their own FAQ.