Pinterest is a very well-known social media network. Based on the power of images, it’s preferred by many artists and crafters, or simply people that believe in the motto, “a picture speaks a 1,000 words.”

Pinterest’s relation with 3D character models takes a slightly different path: Although there are many characters to choose from, it acts as a massive “display board” rather than an online database.

If you like a specific character, you’ll have to visit the contributor’s link and follow the instructions there on how to obtain it. That’s why, very often, the displayed character models have a link to the creator’s webpage or article.

The cost of each model depends on its creator (there are some occasions where models are free of cost). It offers a keyword-based search system through which specific keywords can help spot the desired model.

• Pricing: Varies, usually low
• File types: STL, OBJ, Maya, Blender, among others
• Selection: Diverse
• Ease of use: Easy and friendly
• Community opinion: Popular

Sketchfab is an online platform and marketplace to publish, share, and discover 3D models (static or animated) as well as models used in virtual and augmented reality environments. All models are sorted into various categories, which makes it easier to find them.

Thanks to its integrated support for the WebGL (and WebVR) protocols, it’s possible to view a model in its 3D environment, move extensively around it, turn on and off textures or finishings, and even examine the model’s wireframe. Each model comes in one or more popular 3D file formats. The models are rated and can be either downloaded freely or purchased.

Most of the models are suitable to 3D print as well. One can benefit from the community portals and from the comments that sometimes provide extra information or requests to the creators.

• Pricing: Varies, with some free models
• File types: OBJ, FBX, Blender, among others
• Selection: Massive
• Ease of use: Easy and friendly
• Community opinion: Popular

TurboSquid offers a huge capacity of high-quality 3D character models designed by professionals, including rigged and animated models. There are also “Real-Time” models, which TurboSquid defines as GPU-friendly models ready for use in video games.

Naturally, the catalog narrows down when you tick the “Free” checkbox, but there are over 3,400 character models available for download free of charge. And despite being free, for the most part, they’re well designed and realistic. Their categorization is adequate and handy as well.

• Pricing: Varies, with some free models
• File types: STL, OBJ, 3DS, Blender, among others
• Selection: Massive
• Ease of use: Easy and friendly
• Community opinion: Very positive

CGTrader is a 3D model marketplace and community where users can post or find jobs and sell their 3D models. Some designers share their work free of charge.

The search system is sleek and efficient, as it uses categories and filters in order to find a specific model. Moreover, the online support team is always there to help you find what you’re looking for.

There are over 6,300 free 3D character models available, with good variety and quality.

• Pricing: Varies, usually low, with a separate free section
• File types: STL, 3DS, Rhino, Blender, among others
• Selection: Diverse
• Ease of use: Easy and friendly
• Community opinion: Very positive

Based in India, Free3D is yet another website offering 3D models. But unlike others, you don’t have to specifically search for free models — they’re all free! Paid models exist, but they’re on a different page, so all you’ll get are free 3D models, unless you ask otherwise.

The models tagged “3D Printable” are easier to print, or so the designer thinks. It’s best if you don’t print right away and check if the model has any anomalies or needs supports.

There are over 6,300 free 3D character models in various styles ready for download with a single click. All in all, it has a very informative user interface, and everything seems nice and tidy.

• Pricing: Free, with a separate paid section
• File types: STL, OBJ, FBX, Maya, among others
• Selection: Good
• Ease of use: Excellent
• Community opinion: Very positive

Daz3D is an online marketplace for objects created by using the free 3D design and rendering software Daz Studio. Most of the creations on display aren’t free, but there’s a special freebie section, which is updated weekly and includes some high-quality models.

All models are categorized according to their intended use or basic feature, and there are character models intended for specific genres, including clothes and animation. A secondary filtering system can sort them according to artist or genre.

The general quality is very high and photo-realistic. All models are accompanied by their licensing and technical details, as well as an extensive gallery. Each animated model can show the available motions in a short preview video.

• Pricing: Varies, with a few free models
• File types: Daz Studio, 3DS, Maya, Poser
• Selection: Diverse
• Ease of use: Good
• Community opinion: Positive

CadNav is a CAD library offering 3D materials, textures, and models for free. This library isn’t as vast as others, but they’re all for free, and there isn’t even a premium section.

The “Human & Character” category contains thousands of models of varying quality, available in different file formats and design styles. There’s also a “Game Characters” category where models suitable for video games are arranged.

• Pricing: Free
• File types: STL, OBJ, MAX, FBX, among others
• Selection: Adequate
• Ease of use: Easy
• Community opinion: Positive

Renderosity is a platform dedicated to 3D art in general, therefore it contains a lot of different sections. The main sections are a model marketplace, a community with forums and tutorials, as well as sections related to gaming and merchant resources. The marketplace includes items such as objects, animals, characters, props, and scenes.

All of the items are divided into free (freebies) and paid categories, of which the paid section is (obviously) larger. The marketplace is well structured because each model contains a lot of information regarding the way it was made, what it offers, customer reviews, its licensing details, and related items or artwork.

With all of that, it’s easy to spot similar or relevant objects, in case you missed the very efficient search system. All models can be filtered by the software they were created in (very useful!), by genre, by gender, by vendor, and by category. The overall quality of models that can be found is high.

• Pricing: Varies, usually low
• File types: STL, OBJ, SVG, Blender, among others
• Selection: Good
• Ease of use: Easy
• Community opinion: Positive

Mixamo is an online repository for free static and animated 3D character models. It’s now part of the Adobe family, although it has been around as early as 2008.

As opposed to other sites, its collection isn’t very large but is of high quality. The majority of the models are animated. Each character is configurable, and they can be downloaded ready to be used in creative projects (for example films, videos, and games). It supports FBX and DAE file formats.

Mixamo is also known for offering a rigging service.

• Pricing: Free (with Adobe ID)
• File types: FBX, DAE
• Selection: Limited
• Ease of use: Easy
• Community opinion: Positive

Archive3D is an online repository of free 3D models, classified in several categories. It’s based on the contributions of its users, who are able to specify what their models can be used for.

The variety of available file formats is rather limited, but the collection of 3D objects is huge. There are about 240 character models, the majority of which are posing. There are no sci-fi or gaming characters.

What is not very convenient is that the descriptions of the models are rather simplistic (for example, there are many models with the title “man”) and the available technical and design information, apart from the file format, is very limited.

However, it’s worth exploring the repository because it has many basic elements that could help build a 3D scene, for instance.

• Pricing: Free
• File types: Mainly 3DS and GSM
• Selection: Large
• Ease of use: Adequate
• Community opinion: Rather positive

3DExport is a marketplace for anything 3D, and a member of the “Export” marketplace family. Its siblings are PSDExport and WPExport, which specialize in other computer designs.

With 3DExport, designers put up their works for the customers to see and purchase. There are over 700 free character models. The overall “look and feel” is neat and easy to navigate.

• Pricing: Varies, usually low, with some free models
• File types: OBJ, FBX, 3DS, among others
• Selection: Diverse
• Ease of use: Friendly
• Community opinion: Positive

Clara.io is basically a cloud-based modeling development environment, offering tools in order to create 3D objects in a web browser (much like Tinkercad).

It hosts a large collection of 3D objects, and the “People” category is also quite populated. There are plenty of different styles, but sometimes it’s not very easy to spot the one that you’re looking for because of the absence of a sophisticated search feature.

However, the site provides basic statistics on each model and all links (in case the specific model has been derived from another one). It’s possible both to download the models and to edit them online. The best part is that all models are free!

• Pricing: Free for models, subscriptions for services
• File types: STL, OBJ, FBX, web3d, among others
• Selection: Diverse
• Ease of use: Easy and friendly
• Community opinion: Positive

Blend Swap aims to be a platform for artists who create with Blender, where they can demonstrate and share their work.

Although its collections are growing, it may be tricky to find a suitable character model, as the search system isn’t very powerful. Nevertheless, one can find some nice characters, mostly themed for sci-fi and gaming. Each model provides its licensing details, some basic statistics, and some technical information.

The platform operates on a subscription basis. All models are free, but there’s a limitation on the number of permitted downloads depending on the type of subscription that the user has. It’s possible to search models according to the version of Blender, and apart from characters, many other categories are available to choose from.

• Pricing: Free for models, subscriptions for services
• File types: Blender
• Selection: Adequate
• Ease of use: Friendly
• Community opinion: Rather positive

Open3DModel is a collection of free 3D models coming from various sources. It does not require any registration or subscription but uses advertisements to generate income.

All models are indexed by their genre and their file format. Their character section shows a bit more than 8,800 models of varying style and quality. The information provided with each model is rather limited and basic but still useful.

The absence of any user rating or review system is somewhat annoying, and the only realistic option to determine the quality is to download each file, as the preview link normally shows an image of low resolution from which details cannot be observed.

• Pricing: Free
• File types: GSM, OBJ, DXF, 3DS, among others
• Selection: Diverse
• Ease of use: Relatively easy
• Community opinion: Rather positive

All3DFree is a website based in Malaysia, offering 3D models for free. The website has rather minimalist looks and might not be as pretty as the others (and there are plenty of ads), but the content is mostly pretty great.

The character models are limited in number, and there’s a notable lack of rigged models, but the design quality of the available models is satisfying. There are about 100 free 3D character models, ready for download.

• Pricing: Free
• File types: OBJ, 3DS, among others
• Selection: Limited
• Ease of use: Friendly
• Community opinion: Rather positive

Do you remember the last time you posed? Renderpeople is an online marketplace of 3D models of real people in different poses.

With over 4,000 available models, its model base is divided into three main categories: posed people, rigged, and animated. There’s also the possibility to search through them using specific criteria. It has a few free samples from each category and supports several file formats.

It emphasizes value for money towards its users, therefore all models come with several features that graphic designers will like.

• Pricing: Varies, with a few free models
• File types: FBX, OBJ, Maya, Unity, among others
• Selection: Adequate
• Ease of use: Easy and friendly
• Community opinion: Rather positive