Protype Hub and OctoEverywhere, compared

How each one reaches your printer

OctoEverywhere is a cloud service, and describes itself as one. A plugin on your printer holds a connection open to their servers, and your browser or phone reaches the printer through them. Nothing is configured on your router, and how much you can pull through that connection depends on your plan: webcam streams are capped at twenty seconds on the free tier, and file transfers at twenty megabytes.

Protype Hub establishes a WireGuard tunnel instead. The printer and your device each connect outward to Protype's server, and traffic between them runs through that tunnel. There is no port forwarding, no public IP and no dynamic DNS on either approach — the difference is what the path is made of, and that ours does not meter webcam time or file size by plan.

Enrolling differs too: Protype Hub adds a printer by serial number and a one-time code rather than by address, so a machine that changes IP does not need re-adding.

Which devices you can use

OctoEverywhere runs in any browser, and has iOS and Android apps. On their free tier the apps are listed as unavailable — their pricing page shows app remote access as a paid perk.

Protype Hub is an application rather than a web interface, on five platforms: macOS 12 and later, Windows and Linux on x86-64, iOS 15.1 and later on iPhone and iPad, and Android 7.0 and later. All five are free to download today, and the desktop clients share one interface.

• OctoEverywhere: any browser, plus iOS and Android apps on a paid plan
• Protype Hub: native clients on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android

What happens to your files

Neither product slices for you. Both send a file you sliced yourself to the printer you chose.

The difference is where the file goes on the way. OctoEverywhere's uploads pass through their service and are subject to a size limit that depends on your plan. Protype Hub has no cloud slicer and no cloud queue: the file goes down the tunnel to your machine, and there is no per-plan size limit on it.

When more than one person touches the printer

OctoEverywhere offers shared connections — you can hand someone access to a printer.

Protype Hub enforces roles on the machine itself. Owner, admin, operator and viewer are checked by the proxy running on the printer before a request reaches Moonraker, not only in the app, and privileged actions are written to a log on the printer. An operator can start and watch jobs without being able to rewrite the configuration.

What OctoEverywhere does that Protype Hub does not

It works with far more machines. OctoEverywhere supports OctoPrint as well as Klipper, and lists Bambu Lab, Creality K1 and K2, ELEGOO Centauri Carbon and PrusaLink among the printers it connects to. Protype Hub speaks Moonraker, so it reaches Klipper machines and nothing else.

It detects failing prints with a model, and includes that on the free tier. Protype Hub does not do this at all — there is no failure detection in the shipping apps, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise.

It is a web interface, so a machine you have not installed anything on can still open it. Protype Hub needs its application installed.

It has been running for years with a large user base, and publishes its numbers. We are newer, and have fewer.

Where Protype Hub is the awkward one

An account is required, including for a printer on your own network. Signing in comes before the printer list appears, even on a LAN. Removing that for local-only use is in progress and this page will say so when it ships.

The hub is required for enrolment and access control, and the shipping clients have no setting for pointing at a different one. The hub software can be hosted on your own Linux server, but that is a deployment conversation rather than a checkbox.

Frequently asked questions

Can I run both at once?

Yes. They attach to a Klipper machine by different routes and do not conflict — an OctoEverywhere plugin and the Protype Hub proxy can sit on the same printer. If you are evaluating, running both for a week is the honest way to choose.

Does Protype Hub work on a printer Protype did not make?

Yes, on any Klipper machine reachable over Moonraker — Voron, Qidi, Rat Rig, one you built. A few panels read a machine profile that only exists for our own printers, and where there is none the app hides the panel rather than showing a control that does nothing.

Which one should I pick?

If you run OctoPrint, a Bambu Lab or a Creality K-series machine, Protype Hub cannot help you and OctoEverywhere can. If you want print-failure detection today, the same applies. If you run Klipper, want native apps on every platform you own, or need roles enforced on the printer rather than in an app, that is what Protype Hub is for.