Printforge vs SimplyPrint: Printer Management vs Business Management

SimplyPrint is one of the most popular cloud platforms for managing 3D printers remotely. If you've looked into fleet management for a print farm, you've probably seen it. But SimplyPrint and Printforge do fundamentally different things — understanding the difference will save you from choosing the wrong tool.

What SimplyPrint Does

SimplyPrint is a cloud-based 3D printer fleet management platform. It lets you remotely control, monitor, and queue jobs across multiple printers. Key features include a cloud slicer (PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, BambuStudio), AI-powered print failure detection, filament spool tracking, print cost estimates, and batch printing across multiple machines. It connects to printers via OctoPrint or Klipper.

Think of it as a remote control panel for your printers — start prints, watch them via webcam, get alerts on failures, and queue jobs.

What Printforge Does

Printforge is a business management platform for 3D printing operations. It handles the business side: cost calculation, professional quoting with PDFs, invoicing, client CRM, job tracking, material inventory, supplier management, and integrations with Shopify, Xero, and cloud storage.

Think of it as the office behind your print farm — everything from the moment a customer enquires to the moment they pay.

Key Differences

Printer Control vs Business Control

SimplyPrint controls your printers. It starts prints, monitors them, detects failures, and manages queues. It doesn't know anything about your customers, quotes, invoices, or business finances.

Printforge manages your business. It tracks what you're printing, for whom, at what cost, and whether they've paid. It doesn't directly control your printers — that's what your slicer or SimplyPrint does.

Quoting and Invoicing

SimplyPrint has basic cost calculation (material + time) but no quoting system, no PDF generation, no invoice creation, and no way to email quotes to customers.

Printforge has a full cost calculator (material, machine, labour, overhead with waste factors), professional PDF quotes with your logo and branding, invoicing with TAX INVOICE headers, GST, and ABN, and one-click email delivery to clients.

Client Management

SimplyPrint has no CRM. It tracks printers and print jobs, not customers.

Printforge has a full client database with tags, payment terms, interaction timeline (calls, emails, meetings), customer upload links for receiving files, and auto-creation from Shopify orders.

Inventory

SimplyPrint tracks filament spools and usage per printer. It knows how much filament is left on each spool.

Printforge tracks materials (filament, resin), consumables (nozzles, build plates, sandpaper), and suppliers. It includes stock alerts, reorder thresholds, and supplier management with part numbers and costs. It doesn't track spool-level usage per printer — it tracks business-level inventory and costs.

Pricing

SimplyPrint's free tier covers 2 printers with 1 GB storage. Paid plans start around $5/month for 3 printers, scaling up for larger farms.

Printforge's Hobby tier is free forever (20 quotes, 20 printers, 5 materials, 10 clients). Paid plans range from $12/month to $49/month for full Scale features.

Data Control

SimplyPrint is cloud-only. Your printer data, print history, and spool tracking all live on their servers.

Printforge gives you full ownership of your business data — export everything, back up to Google Drive or OneDrive, no lock-in.

Do You Need Both?

Honestly — possibly yes. They're complementary tools, not competitors. SimplyPrint handles the physical side (printer control, monitoring, failure detection), while Printforge handles the business side (quoting, invoicing, client management, job tracking, inventory).

A typical workflow might look like: customer sends a file via Printforge upload link → you create a quote in Printforge → customer accepts → you create a job in Printforge → you start the print via SimplyPrint → SimplyPrint monitors the print → you mark the job complete in Printforge → you send an invoice via Printforge → customer pays.

When to Choose SimplyPrint

• You need remote printer control and monitoring
• You want AI failure detection and automated alerts
• You need a cloud slicer for your fleet
• You use OctoPrint or Klipper-based printers

When to Choose Printforge

• You need to quote customers professionally
• You need invoicing and payment tracking
• You need client management and CRM
• You need job tracking across your operation
• You need material and consumable inventory
• You sell on Shopify or use Xero for accounting

The Bottom Line

SimplyPrint is a printer management tool. Printforge is a business management tool. If you just need to monitor and control printers remotely, SimplyPrint is excellent at that. If you need to run the business around those printers — quoting, invoicing, tracking, and managing clients — that's what Printforge does. Many print farms will benefit from using both.