Why Fabdose
Manufacturability tools compared — where does your CAD live during analysis?
When a product designer reviews STP/STEP files for manufacturability, the biggest difference between tools is where the file is processed. Fabdose keeps it on your computer. Most alternatives upload it to the cloud.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Fabdose | Cloud Manufacturability SaaS | Quote services |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where your CAD is processed | On your computer (local) | Vendor server | Vendor server |
| Internal NDA / security review | Not required | Required | Required (separate contract) |
| Time to first result | < 1 min (local analysis) | 30s ~ several minutes (upload + queue) | 1 ~ 3 business days |
| Free tier | 5 analyses forever, no card | Trial → $40~200/mo | $80~500 per quote |
| Lock-in | None (local rules keep working after cancel) | Access ends with subscription | Vendor-specific quote (non-portable) |
| Report language | Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese (designer vocabulary) | Mostly English (engineer vocabulary) | Vendor-specific (shop-floor terms) |
Honest limits
Fabdose doesn't catch every manufacturability issue. It's a heuristic, rules-based pre-check. It does not replace supplier review at quoting time — it lets designers filter out the obvious rejection reasons *before* requesting a quote.
Ten processes available today (plastics 6 — injection / extrusion / blow molding / thermoforming / compression / plastic 3D printing; metals 4 — CNC machining / sheet metal / die casting / metal 3D printing). Expanding to 14 fully-supported processes.