--- title: "SpeakCAD vs SketchUp Free: push-pull surfaces for buildings, or solids that print" description: "SketchUp Free is a browser modeller built for architecture; its exports are surfaces, not always solids. SpeakCAD makes watertight parts in millimetres on a phone. Compare printability, dimensions and phones." canonical: https://speakcad.com/vs/sketchup-free published: 2026-09-03 updated: 2026-10-04 publisher: SpeakCAD --- # SpeakCAD vs SketchUp Free: push-pull surfaces for buildings, or solids that print > SketchUp Free is a browser modeller built for architecture; its exports are surfaces, not always solids. SpeakCAD makes watertight parts in millimetres on a phone. Compare printability, dimensions and phones. SketchUp Free runs in the browser, is free for personal use and is a pleasure for sketching a room, a deck or a piece of furniture with push-pull. 3D printing is where it fights you: a SketchUp model is a set of faces, and the STL is only printable when every group is a closed solid; faces smaller than about 1 mm are refused, so small parts are modelled at 10x or 100x and scaled down; there is no fillet tool; and it does not run on a phone. SpeakCAD is built from the other end: every part is a solid by construction, every size is a millimetre you type, and the file is sliced for your printer. | | SpeakCAD | SketchUp Free | |---|---|---| | Scope | Functional 3D-printed parts: hand tools plus AI | Architecture, interiors, woodworking; general surface modelling | | Where it runs | Browser on any phone, tablet or computer; nothing to install | Browser on a computer (the free web version); iPad on paid plans | | On a phone | Full editor laid out for a thumb | No; a mobile viewer only | | Watertight for printing | Always: solids compiled from a program, manifold by construction | Only when a group shows as Solid Group; open faces and stray edges break the export | | Small parts | Any size in millimetres | Faces under about 1 mm are refused; model at 10x or 100x and scale down (the Dave method) | | Dimensions | Exact millimetres you type; linked, so a later change follows | Typed lengths while drawing; weak dimension control afterwards | | Fillets | Round tool on the corners of a part (pockets you cut by hand get their own corner radius); a single edge is an AI request | No fillet tool (extensions, or Follow Me by hand) | | AI | Designs the part or the change from plain words; keeps your hand edits | None | | Output | STL, 3MF, G-code sliced for your printer | STL from the file menu on the free web version; more formats on paid plans | | Sliced G-code | Yes, for 380+ printers: included in Pro and Unlimited, +5 credits per slice otherwise | No: open the STL in your slicer and check it is solid | | Test the fit before a long print | Fit Check: free 5-minute test slice of the fit, then your printer's calibration is applied to every model | No: reprint, or cut a test piece yourself | | Free to try | Hand tools (hole, cut, add, rounded corners, measure) and the STL or 3MF they make, with a free account; live demo (3 AI edits of a real part, no account); 650+ ready-made library models open in a free account and resize in the viewer; AI requests, downloads of AI work and G-code use credits | SketchUp Free: free for personal use in the browser | | Price | Maker $7.99/mo (60 credits); Pro $14.99/mo; Unlimited $39.99/mo | Free; Go $10.75 a month billed annually for iPad and web (check their site) | ## Surfaces or solids SketchUp models surfaces: you draw faces and push-pull them, and a box is six faces that happen to meet. A slicer needs a closed solid, so SketchUp users learn the rituals: check for Solid Group in Entity Info, run Solid Inspector, hunt stray edges and reversed faces, and scale the whole model up because faces under about 1 mm are refused. For a house that never matters; for a 20 mm clip it is most of the work. SpeakCAD parts are solids from the first second, computed from a program with named millimetre sizes. A hole is a hole, a tab is a tab, and the mesh is manifold without a repair step. ## Where SketchUp Free wins - **Architecture, rooms, furniture, decks**: push-pull on a plan is fast and intuitive, and the 3D Warehouse has the chairs and doors. - **Free in the browser for personal use**, with STL export in the file menu. - **Freeform geometry**: anything you can draw as faces, which a solid modeller for printed parts does not try to do. ## Where SpeakCAD wins - **It prints.** Watertight by construction, no Solid Inspector, no 100x scaling trick. - **Millimetres that stay linked**, with six hand tools on the face you tap and an AI for the rest. - **The phone.** The whole editor in Safari or Chrome; SketchUp Free needs a computer. - **G-code sliced for 380+ printers**, and Fit Check to calibrate clearances to yours. ## Verdict Keep SketchUp Free for buildings, rooms and furniture. Use SpeakCAD when the thing has to come out of a 3D printer and fit something: it is a solid in millimetres from the start, on a phone, with the file sliced for your printer. ## Sources - [SketchUp for 3D printing (how-to-sketchup): solids, the 1 mm face limit, STL export on the free web version](https://how-to-sketchup.com/sketchup-3d-printing) - [SketchUp plans and pricing](https://sketchup.trimble.com/en/plans-and-pricing) ## About SpeakCAD SpeakCAD is the easiest way to design a part with real dimensions on your phone: shape it with simple tools or describe it to the AI, and download a print-ready STL, 3MF or G-code sliced for your printer. SpeakCAD works inside ChatGPT and Claude as a plugin (an MCP server): ask the assistant for a part with its measurements and SpeakCAD's own CAD AI designs it, shows it in 3D in the chat and hands over a print-ready STL, 3MF or G-code sliced for your printer. - Live demo, no account: https://speakcad.com/demo - In ChatGPT, Claude and other MCP clients: https://speakcad.com/chatgpt-plugin, https://speakcad.com/claude-connector, https://speakcad.com/mcp-server - Pricing: https://speakcad.com/pricing - FAQ: https://speakcad.com/faq - Site index for AI assistants: https://speakcad.com/llms.txt