I've used free the online version since discovering it a year or two back. I am not a professional so the occasional use for a new printables design made it very useful. I'll miss it when it is gone. The paid version, to me at least, is too expensive for my needs Even at the 20 dollars it stands now as it has a discount. It has become something I use maybe once every four months (or longer). More worryingly, I just read the comments about some things missing in the app that were on the free use version. There may be other options added, but it seems odd to take anything at all away from the functionality of the free version? Also, having to create yet another account just to say all this (on top of needing an account now for the replacement free version) sucks. I appreciate the costs of supporting the original must have mounted up. But the cost for the app doesn't make sense to a casual user like myself. It would be like buying photoshop to do a quick lost dog flier/flyer?. I hope you continue with the free option, but I am already looking for an alternative way to do my print model thumbnails in case that option evaporates in the future.
Viewing post in Pretty STL Viewer Desktop comments
Thank you for your interest in our services.
Options reported to be missing will be added back to Pretty STL Viewer early 2026.
Reason they were not: we did not migrate them yet (costly) + we thought they were not necessary.
When the Free STL Viewer is discontinued, we plan to add a desktop version of it accessible retroactively to all supporters/customers for legacy purposes (but without support).
The online version of Pretty STL Viewer is limited but free for now, we plan to keep it this way as long as supporters or other incomes can pay for it.
Maintenance of such a tool is more expensive than it may seem, and we need regular support if we want to be able to improve and maintain it.
We are considering the release of a lite version, limited to original options and for non-commercial use only. Let us know what cost would be acceptable for a casual user like you (you can email us at contact@pretty-stl-viewer.com)