PrusaSlicer 3.0 Preview Arrives With a New Plugin Marketplace

Prusa Research has released a public preview of PrusaSlicer 3.0, arriving exactly 15 years after the first commit to Slic3r, the original project PrusaSlicer forked from. The update is not a minor facelift. Josef Prusa describes it as the largest set of changes in the software's history.

A rebuilt interface

The top of the screen now holds the main tools. A collapsible scene browser sits on the left. The right panel changes depending on what you select: a bed, an object, or a tool. A View Cube gives camera control. Light and dark themes are both available. Navigation schemes match Tinkercad, Blender, SolidWorks, and Fusion 360.

Users can mark settings as favorites. Those favorites appear directly in the right panel. You no longer need to open the full settings pages for the options you use most often.

Project system and profiles

PrusaSlicer 2.9 introduced multi-bed printing. Version 3.0 rethinks it entirely. Beds are now independent parts of a single project. Each bed can have its own printer and profile. You can move models between beds and slice them in parallel. The old nine-bed limit is gone. Multiple projects can stay open in separate tabs, and the app saves local backups automatically.

The profile system also changes. Printers with multiple tool heads, like the Prusa XL, can now assign different nozzle sizes to each tool. Different print and printer profiles can apply per tool. Profile files have moved from .ini to .yaml. Existing 3MF projects from PrusaSlicer 2.x load normally, with settings matched to the new system.

Plugins and marketplace

Version 3.0 adds a sandboxed Lua-based plugin system. Two plugins ship by default: a flow-rate calibration tower and a temperature calibration tower. The team plans to add a community plugin marketplace with a rating system. Submitted plugins will go through a review process, though users can still install unverified ones.

The plugin API is experimental. Prusa says it may change. Plugins run without disk, external project data, or network access by default. That is a sensible default for user security.

Offline mode and licensing

An offline mode ships without networking libraries. Users can disable individual online services: Prusa Connect, Printables integration, profile update checks. PrusaSlicer 3.x remains under AGPLv3, the same license as 2.x, Slic3rPE, and the original Slic3r.

Version 3.0 is not yet feature-complete compared to 2.9.6. Some functionality will not return until 3.1.0. STL, OBJ, and STEP files import as before. Third-party 3MF files from Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer import as geometry only, without settings. The new version installs alongside 2.x without conflicts, using a separate profile directory.

What this means for the ecosystem

The plugin system and AGPLv3 license are Prusa Research's way of keeping the software open and community-driven. The company wants contributors to stay inside the project instead of drifting to spin-off tools. The pattern is visible across the industry: Snapmaker recently set aside $50,000 for open-source projects supporting its U1 ecosystem. Elegoo launched Nexprint to integrate model sharing with both its own slicer and OrcaSlicer. MyMiniFactory is crowdfunding $500,000 for a fully open-source resin slicer built around auditability.

PrusaSlicer 3.0 is still a preview. If you rely on it for production work, stick with 2.9.6 for now. For users who want to test the new interface and plugin system, the preview is ready to try. Bug reports go through GitHub and the Prusa community forum.