How we compare
Sendspec vs marketplaces and agents.
Honest comparison against the three services most hardware founders evaluate alongside us: Xometry, Cavela, and CNC24. Where they're genuinely better, we say so. Our positioning only holds if it's true.
| Sendspec | Xometry | Cavela | CNC24 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input format accepted | Sketch, photo, CAD, or a paragraph. Messy is fine — we translate it into a spec. | CAD file required (STEP/STL/IGES). No input, no quote. | Specifications, blueprints, images, diagrams. Messy OK. | CAD preferred; RFP form accepts some narrative. |
| Who does the work | One accountable operator (Benjamin) end-to-end. Same person on every call. | Marketplace algorithm + manufacturer partners. No single owner. | AI agents negotiate with factories automatically. | Platform-mediated; procurement team routes your RFQ. |
| Pricing model | €2,500 / €7,500 fixed tiers. Manufacturing is billed by factory directly — no markup. | Instant quote with embedded 15–30% markup on manufacturer price. | Subscription + usage; pricing not public. | Marketplace pricing, per-RFQ quoted; markup embedded. |
| Legal / invoicing entity | Berlin-based, Germany-registered. EU B2B reverse-charge VAT. One contract, EU jurisdiction. | Delaware (US) corp; EU customers invoiced via Xometry Europe GmbH. | Delaware (US) corp. US-law contract. | Berlin-based GmbH. EU jurisdiction. Multi-factory orchestration. |
| Pre-CAD / discovery phase | Feasibility tier specifically built for this. Written assessment before you spend on tooling. | Not supported. Upload CAD or you can't use the platform. | Agent-driven ideation; quality depends on the agent's interpretation. | Available but not the core flow. |
| Best at | Low-volume, novel, or messy-scoped hardware. Regulated or niche verticals. EU-legal structure. | Clean-spec CNC, injection, sheet metal at moderate-to-high volume. Fast quotes. | Commodity sourcing with clear specs; automated factory outreach at scale. | DACH-localized precision-parts procurement with AI-assisted matching. |
| Worst at | Commodity CNC at high volume. If you have clean CAD and just want an instant quote, Xometry is faster. | Messy inputs, judgment calls, regulated parts, low-volume prototyping. | EU-specific legal / invoicing / VAT structure; accountability when an agent misreads intent. | Pre-CAD discovery; judgment on which process even applies. |
Competitor descriptions drawn from their public product pages and 2024–2025 industry reporting. Sendspec has no affiliation with Xometry, Cavela, or CNC24.
Who should pick who
Pick Xometry if:
You have clean CAD files, you want an instant price, and you're running a moderate-to-high-volume part through a standard process. The algorithm is faster than any human, including us.
Pick Cavela if:
You're US-based, you're comfortable with AI agents handling factory outreach, and the legal jurisdiction and VAT structure doesn't matter for your business. Cavela sources globally at scale in a way a solo operator can't match.
Pick CNC24 if:
Your part is a precision-machined metal component, you want AI-assisted factory matching within the DACH supplier base, and you have a team that can manage the RFQ process. They have Series A capital and a deep DACH network.
Pick Sendspec if:
You don't have CAD yet. Or your project is novel, low-volume, regulated, or sits in the pre-production discovery phase where you need judgment before you commit to tooling. Or you want one accountable person — with a German invoice and EU jurisdiction — as the throat to grab when something goes wrong. That's the shape of work we're built for.
If Sendspec is the right fit
Start with the Feasibility tier. A week, €2,500, a written read on whether your idea is manufacturable and where. That's the cheapest way to find out if we're the right operator before either of us commits further.