We Compared Prices From 9 Online CNC Services, Found $800+ Difference

To get a sense of how these services compare for price and delivery, we uploaded the same part, a step motor housing pictured above, and ordered it in the same material, stainless steel 316L, from each provider. Our delivery address was in Chicago, except for the European manufacturers, where our shipping address was Munich.

* Customs and import duties, where applicable, are not typically included in the quote or invoice. Prices are the lowest offered yet for faster delivery, prices are higher.

Some quotes did not arrive via email in time for this publication, but as soon as we receive them, we’ll update this chart.

Craftcloud is a service that helps you find the best manufacturer to CNC your parts and also handles the complete order for you.

Although Craftcloud is relatively new to the CNC machining service market, its manufacturing partners are not. Craftcloud launched its CNC services in 2025 to complement its extensive 3D printing services that have grown in the number of materials and technologies every year since 2016. Through hundreds of partners, many of which also offer both CNC and 3D printing, you can experience the innovation of 3D printing alongside the precision of CNC machining, all with one partner.

Just like with it’s 3D printing services, for CNC machining, Craftcloud offers transparent pricing, no hidden costs, no minimum order value, and a competitive quote upfront. It can guide you toward an optimal outcome for your project, in terms of speed, cost, and quality, regardless of the technology.

Unlike some other manufacturing networks, Craftcloud discloses the prices of each partner, and you choose the one that best fits your criteria. Its global manufacturing network is equipped with the latest CNC machinery.

Choose from plastic, metal, or composite material CNC machining in a wide range of materials.

• CNC capabilities: 3-axis, 4-axis, 5-axis, and right-angle milling
• Range of materials: Nearly 20 metal, plastic, and composite materials (aluminum, steel, titanium, wood, etc.).
• Price quote availability: Instant quote function. No requirement to create an account.
• Delivery: Depends on selected manufacturing place (i.e., the US or abroad), with Expedited, Standard, and Economy options.

Xometry is a U.S.-based manufacturing marketplace, similar to Craftcloud (except that you don’t get to see specifically which manufacturer will produce your part, just their location).

Once you create an account and sign in, you upload your digital files to Xometry’s online Instant Quoting Engine, select the material, and the manufacturing method, and receive a quote in just seconds. Xometry offers a wide range of materials and finishing and, what’s especially important are its manufacturing certifications, including ITAR.

We found it a bit cumbersome to be forced to adjust the automated material choice to select the material and method that we actually wanted. Prices shown in the instant quote are without taxes and shipping, although with some small orders shipping is free.

• CNC capabilities: 3-axis, 4-axis, 5-axis, and right-angle milling, dual-spindle lathes for turning; available finishes include powder coat, milled, bead blast, anodized (Type II or Type III), and custom finishes.
• Range of materials: Over 50 metal, plastic, and composite materials (aluminum, steel, acetal, ABS, garolite, etc.).
• Price quote availability: Instant quote function for registered users.
• Delivery: Depends on selected manufacturing place (i.e., the US or abroad), with Expedited, Standard, and Economy options.

Widely recognized as the world’s first online machine shop, eMachineShop was founded with the objective of making it easy and fast to order parts.

eMachineShop offers a free CAD program that works both online and offline. This program is simple and easy to learn, as it focuses on the machining aspect of drawings and helps produce machining-compatible parts. There’s an instant price quote function built-in with the program in case you’re ready to move to the next step of production after you’re done designing.

The online quoting request is easy to use, although you have to manually enter the measurement for your part in addition to uploading the digital file. The quote isn’t instant; they email it to you later. We received our quote the next day, which noted that ground shipping was free within the U.S.

• CNC capabilities: Milling, turning, waterjet abrasion, laser cutting, wire EDM, and plasma cutting; available finishes include powder coating, anodizing, abrasive blasting, and metal brushing.
• Range of materials: Over 50 materials, including metals (aluminum, brass, titanium) and plastics (acrylic, polypropylene, PVC).
• Price quote availability: Instant quote on eMachineShop CAD; manual quote request available for CAD files (e.g. DXF, STEP, STL) or PDFs.
• Delivery: International delivery (shipping from the US); no guaranteed standard timing, but the quote estimates delivery time.

Fictiv is another marketplace-type service that outsources the actual manufacturing to its network of partners. After you’ve made an account and uploaded your digital file, selected your material, you can select from the quotes. You won’t know who is manufacturing your part, but you can try to avoid tariffs by selecting U.S.A.-based partners.

Fictiv manages everything else, such as quality control, logistics, and ensuring the part is made to your specifications and delivered on time. They are your single point of contact and take responsibility for the final product.

• CNC capabilities: 3-axis and 5-axis milling, standard and live-tooling turning, EDM, and gear hobbing; different surface finishing processes include media blasting, tumbling, and passivation (depending on material).
• Range of materials: Around 10 materials, including metals (aluminum, stainless steel, copper) and plastics (acrylic, nylon, PTFE).
• Price quote availability: Instant quote function for registered users (complex parts may be quoted in up to two hours).
• Delivery: Ships only to the US and Canada, with Fastest, Standard, and Cost-effective options.

If you’re based in Europe, CNC24 is a good bet for manufacturing with CNC machining. Based in Germany, with manufacturing partners in Europe and Asia, the company offers a wide range of manufacturing methods, specializing in, of course, CNC machining.

The quote process is a little more cumbersome than others, requiring you to fill out more fields and forms and provide details, like material and quantity in writing (it’s Germany), before you can get a quote. The quote is not instant. You’ll get an email with the information later (within 48 hours). Our quote came in 24 hours and notes that our parts would be made in China but would stop over in Berlin for a “quality inspection per DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and DIN 1319,” which would account for the 3.5-week-turnaround.

CNC24 offers high-precision CNC milling and CNC turning for parts of varying complexity, from prototypes to large series. To deliver complete parts, CNC24 offers a wide range of surface treatments and finishing options. Furthermore, they provide component assembly services, capable of delivering everything from simple sub-assemblies to fully assembled complex devices.

A standout feature of CNC24 is its approach to quality assurance. It operates its own ISO 9001:2015-certified measuring center in Berlin, where components from their global partners are inspected before being sent to the customer.

• CNC capabilities: 3-axis and 5-axis milling, standard and live-tooling turning, EDM, and gear hobbing; different surface finishing processes include media blasting, tumbling, and passivation (depending on material).
• Range of materials: Around 10 materials, including metals (aluminum, stainless steel, copper) and plastics (acrylic, nylon, PTFE).
• Price quote availability: 48 hours for registered users
• Delivery: Ships only to the US and Canada, with Fastest, Standard, and Cost-effective options.

Protolabs prides itself on having hundreds of mills and lathes in its own factory, and its CNC machining service is designed for both prototyping and low-volume production of end-use components. It says it can better maintain consistent quality and guaranteed lead times with in-house part production, although it does have manufacturing partners as well. In fact, when you request a CNC quote, you can select the in-house production for fast and reliable low-volume prototyping, another option that promises tighter tolerances, more finishes, and inspection reports, or the Protolabs Network offering economic prices at scale.

There was no instant quote for our project. The platform said it would get back to us in a few hours, which it did with the quote above.

While the US-based facilities cater internationally, for Europe, there’s a manufacturing facility in England. There’s also a Japanese manufacturing facility that caters specifically to customers in Asia.

• CNC capabilities: 3-axis and 5-axis indexed milling machines, live tooling lathe machines.
• Range of materials: More than 30 different metal (aluminum, copper, steel alloy) and plastic (ABS, nylon, PTFE) materials.
• Price quote availability: ProtoQuote for registered users, which returns a price quote within three hours.
• Delivery: Determined with price quote.

Weerg is another European online manufacturing service. This Italy-based company is known for its 3D printing, especially with Multi Jet Fusion, but also offers capable CNC machining in-house. Its CNC design guide, which can be helpful, especially for beginners, is a nice addition to the services.

Although the website offers an instant quote, Weerg assigns a technician to their customers, who checks the part files to ensure there are no mistakes with the manufacturing. The machining process itself is also overseen, and quality assurance checks are performed by the technician so that customers get the part as ordered. Weerg also launches promotional offers from time to time with discounts on certain materials.

Note that the lowest price at Weerg came with a 45-day turnaround, but shorter delivery windows were available for a higher price.

• CNC capabilities: 5-axis milling, 5-axis live tool lathes.
• Range of materials: 17 metal (aluminum, copper, brass) and 6 plastic (polyethylene, PTFE, PEEK) materials.
• Price quote availability: Instant quote function after creating an account.
• Delivery: Standard or Express delivery options (customs clearance times can’t be included for shipments outside of the US).

Rapid Direct is a Chinese manufacturer founded around 2009 and operating both self‑owned factories and a global network of partners. It specializes in rapid prototyping, low‑volume and medium‑volume production and holds multiple industry certifications including ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485, ISO 14001:2015, and IATF 16949:2016.

There’s hardly a manufacturing method that this company doesn’t offer, including 3D printing, injection molding, and vacuum casting.

RapidDirect has a clean, easy-to-use interface. An instant quote wasn’t available for our project, but we submitted a quote form and received a price 24 hours later.

• CNC capabilities: Milling, turning, 5-axis machining, wire EDM, die casting; surface finishes include anodizing, electroplating, bead blasting, and more.
• Range of materials: Over 100 materials (metals and plastics) and more than 60 surface finishes.
• Price quote availability: Instant quote after registering or quote by email for certain projects.
• Delivery: Information available with price quote.

The popular PCB manufacturer, China-based PCBWay also offers 3D prints and CNC machining services directly from its website. The company also offers vacuum casting and injection molding, along with options to add metal inserts to the parts, mark prints with serial numbers, or even assemble them.

Uploading our digital file to PCBWay was quick and easy. We were presented with a vast menu of possible options for our part, including whether we wanted inserts or threads, which tolerance (tight or not tight), surface roughness in Ra, part marking (silkscreen, laser engraving), part assembly, finish, and level of inspection.

There’s no instant quote, and the price provided in the portal is noted as a “placeholder”.

• CNC capabilities: Milling, turning, 5-axis machining; surface finishes include anodizing, electroplating, bead blasting, and more.
• Range of materials: Over 100 materials (metals and plastics) and a wide range of surface finishes.
• Price quote availability: Quote via email after registering
• Delivery: Information available with price quote.

In picking machining shops, we took the following into consideration:

• Experience: Choosing a provider who has been in the machining industry longer will save you time and money. A company with more skill and experience will likely satisfy your needs with less hassle, even giving suggestions when they see potential problems. Many of our picks are marketplaces that use a network of seasoned manufacturers.
• Capability: Regardless of time, capability matters a lot. Do they have the complete set of CNC machines (grinding machine, turning machine, milling machine, etc.) needed for your project? Often, you will get better pricing, a quick turnaround time, and high-precision parts when you work with a provider with excellent machining capability.
• Quality control: Quality control is the litmus test of how good the quality will be. The degree of quality control should be at an acceptable or appropriate level.
• Customer service: Communicating with the machining company should be very easy. They should stick to deadlines, listen to your needs, be helpful, and you should enjoy working with them.

Of course, not all of the online CNC services listed here perfectly meet all the qualities listed above, but we have carefully selected those that meet as many as possible, and all of our suggested companies have a proven track record.