Markforged Eigervs
Ultimaker Cura
Ultimaker Cura: If you want a free slicer that works across many printer brands rather than one vendor
Markforged Eiger
Free cloud print preparation for Markforged printers, because the money is in the hardware
As of 31 August 2026, Markforged Eiger is free to use. Markforged print preparation and fleet management software, included at no charge with every Markforged printer and unusable with anyone else machines. Softwr lists it under Manufacturing. Markforged Eiger is made by Markforged Holding Corporation, available on Web, Windows, macOS, Cloud.
Overview
What Markforged Eiger does
Eiger is the software layer for Markforged composite and metal 3D printers. It slices parts, places continuous carbon fibre, Kevlar or fibreglass reinforcement inside the print, manages material inventory, queues jobs across a fleet of printers and keeps a part library with print history. It runs in a browser and pushes jobs to networked machines, so a distributed team can print to a shared printer without moving files by hand. The distinguishing feature is continuous fibre routing. Markforged printers lay reinforcing fibre along load paths inside an otherwise conventional plastic print, and Eiger is where you decide how many fibre layers go where. No third-party slicer can do this, which is precisely the point: the software is free because it exists to make the printer worth buying. A Markforged industrial machine is a five- to six-figure purchase, and Eiger is a component of it rather than a product with its own price. That framing matters for anyone evaluating Eiger as software. You cannot buy it, you cannot use it with a Bambu or Ultimaker machine, and you cannot take your fibre-routed part files anywhere else. Buyers are manufacturing engineering and tooling departments who need strong printed jigs, fixtures and end-use parts. The trade-off is total vendor lock-in on a cloud service, which is why Eiger Offline exists as a paid per-machine subscription for defence and other sites that cannot send geometry to a vendor cloud.
What people use it for
- A tooling department printing carbon fibre reinforced jigs and fixtures strong enough to replace machined aluminium
- A defence contractor needing air-gapped print preparation because part geometry cannot leave the site, which requires Eiger Offline
- A manufacturing engineering group running several Markforged machines across sites from one queue and part library
- A maintenance team producing reinforced replacement brackets on demand rather than holding spares
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Markforged Eiger.
- Eiger only drives Markforged printers, so the free software is a lock-in mechanism; the moment you want a different machine none of your prepared parts or fibre routing transfers.
- The standard product is cloud only, meaning part geometry is uploaded to a vendor service, which is unacceptable for many defence and aerospace sites and forces them onto the paid Eiger Offline subscription per machine.
- Eiger Offline pricing is not published and is charged per machine, so a shop with several printers pays repeatedly for software the cloud users receive free.
- Slicing control is deliberately simplified compared with open slicers, and experienced operators regularly find they cannot reach a parameter they want without contacting support.
- Markforged has been through financial pressure and consolidation in the additive sector, and because the software is inseparable from the hardware, a change of ownership or product line pruning would strand the fleet rather than just the tool.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Markforged Eiger
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- Markforged EigervsPrusaSlicer
PrusaSlicer: If you need open source slicing with full parameter control
- Markforged EigervsFusion 360
Fusion 360: If you need the design tool and can prepare builds in whatever slicer your printer requires
Pricing
What Markforged Eiger costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Eiger Basic
On request
- Included at no additional charge with every Markforged printer
- No per-user or per-printer software fee
- Cloud print preparation and fleet management
- Requires a Markforged printer, which is the actual purchase
Eiger Offline
On request
- Air-gapped installation for secure and classified environments
- Sold per machine on subscription
- Quarterly feature and material updates
- Priced on application
Capabilities
Features
Continuous fibre routing
Placement of carbon fibre, Kevlar and fibreglass reinforcement layer by layer
Cloud slicing
Browser-based print preparation with no local install
Fleet management
Job queueing and status across multiple networked Markforged printers
Part library
Central store of prepared parts with version and print history
Material tracking
Spool inventory and consumption tracking per job
Simulation add-on
Optional part performance prediction before printing
Eiger Offline
Air-gapped desktop version sold per machine on subscription
Access control
Organisation, team and per-user permissions on parts and printers
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much does Eiger cost?
Nothing, if you own a Markforged printer. It is included with every machine with no per-user or per-printer software fee. Eiger Offline is a separate paid per-machine subscription.
Can I use Eiger with a non-Markforged printer?
No. It only prepares and drives Markforged machines.
Is my part geometry uploaded to the cloud?
Yes, in the standard product. Sites that cannot allow that need Eiger Offline.
Where is the actual cost then?
In the printers and the proprietary filament and continuous fibre spools, which are the recurring spend.
Keep looking
Where to go from Markforged Eiger
- Markforged Eiger alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Markforged Eiger pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Markforged Eiger badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Manufacturing softwareThe full category
- Best Manufacturing softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Manufacturing software for
Compare Markforged Eiger with
- Fusion 360
- GrabCAD Print
- Formlabs PreForm
- Simplify3D
- Materialise Magics
- Oqton
- Dyndrite
- Xometry
- Protolabs
- 3YOURMIND
- AMFG
- PROGNOST Systems
- Propel
- ProShop ERP
- PTC Windchill
- Autodesk Netfabb
- Protolabs
- Prodsmart
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Markforged Eiger, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Markforged Eiger
Markforged Eiger alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Markforged Eiger pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Markforged Eiger
Put it head to head with anything we hold
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