Comparison
A 3DBinPacking alternative with a free tier, not a trial clock
3DBinPacking is a capable packing engine with a mature API, and if you are running tens of thousands of calls a month it is priced for that. What it does not have is a free tier — after fourteen days, the cheapest plan is $39 a month. This page is for people who want to keep using a load planner after the trial ends without starting a subscription.
Ten calculations a month, free, no card — and you can run one before signing in.
Side by side
| Feature | 3DPACK.ING | 3DBinPacking |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 10 calculations a month, forever, no card | None — 14-day trial only |
| Entry price | $0, then $29/mo Pro | From $39/mo (Extra Small, 1,000 calculations) |
| Card required to try | Not required | Not required |
| Plain-English input | Yes | No |
| Interactive 3D plan | Yes, on the free tier | Yes |
| Cheaper at high API volume | No — $29 Pro covers 200 API calls, $99 Team covers 2,000 | Yes — 1,000 calculations at $39/mo, rising to 2,000,000 at $2,999/mo |
| Excel import/export | Pro | Yes |
| One-off credits | 25 calculations for $9, never expire | No |
Rows where they win are marked as such. Every figure here comes from each product’s own published pages and is checkable in two clicks.
Why people look
The trial ends. Fourteen days is enough to evaluate a tool and not enough to use one occasionally — and load planning is an occasional job for most people who do it. Someone quoting two containers a month is not going to hold a $39 subscription for it, so they stop using the tool rather than buy it.
The second reason is the way the work starts. 3DBinPacking wants structured input: dimensions, quantities and constraints, as fields. That is right for a system calling an API and slow for a person with an email in front of them that says “24 pallets, 120×100×150, about 400 kilos each, can’t be tipped”. Typing that sentence is our whole input method.
The third is the shape of the first visit. Their calculator sits behind a signup, and every call to action on the page is to start a free trial. You cannot see it work before you give them an address.
Where 3DBinPacking is the better choice
If you are integrating packing into your own software at volume, they are priced better than we are and it is not close. Their $39 plan covers a thousand calculations; our $29 Pro covers two hundred API calls, and Team at $99 covers two thousand. Cross somewhere around a thousand calls a month and their per-request pricing wins outright. They have also been doing this longer, and their API has more years of production behind it than ours. If the API is the product for you, evaluate them seriously.
Moving over
There is nothing to migrate and nothing to install. Open the planner, paste or type the load, and you have a plan. If the items already live in a spreadsheet, Excel import on Pro takes the sheet as it is.
- Nothing to install
- Excel import on Pro
- Share a plan as a link
Try it here, without signing in
The planner below is the real one. Describe a load or edit the example, and you get the same 3D plan the paid tiers produce.
Questions
Is 3DPACK.ING actually free, or free for a while?
Free, with no clock. Ten calculations every month, no card, and it does not expire. Paid plans start at $29 when you need more.
Can I import the spreadsheet I already use?
Yes, on Pro — Excel import, and export back to Excel or PDF.
Do you have an API like theirs?
Yes. One endpoint that takes a plain-English description and returns the containers and a link to the 3D result. See the API docs.
What is the catch on the free tier?
One container per calculation. Multi-container optimisation, fill mode and Excel are Pro.
Comparing something else?
- packVol alternativeWindows desktop software — but it works offline, and we do not
- EasyCargo alternativeTen-day trial, registration first — but a deeper product with a longer track record
- Cargo-Planner alternativeBroader equipment library than ours, including air ULDs and out-of-gauge cargo
See your own load
Paste a box list and the first plan takes about a minute.
Open the plannerCompared on 15 August 2026 against publicly published pricing and product pages. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.