A different kind of manufacturing network
Xometry built an AI-powered black box that takes 39% and owns the customer relationship. We built a transparent capacity network where shops keep their customers and buyers see exactly who's making their parts.
The core difference
Xometry is a marketplace. You upload a CAD file, their algorithm spits out a price, and an anonymous shop somewhere in the world makes your part. You never learn who made it. The shop never learns who ordered it. Xometry takes 35–39% of every transaction and explicitly prohibits contact between buyer and supplier.
Axhera is a capacity network. You search by process, machine type, and tolerance. You see real shops with real machines and real-time capacity status. When we match you with a shop, you build the relationship directly. We facilitate the introduction — you own the account.
| Axhera | Xometry | |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier visibility | Named shops, real machines | Anonymous — you never know who made your part |
| Buyer–shop relationship | Direct. You keep the customer. | Prohibited. No contact, no logos, no business cards. |
| Organized by | Process, machine, tolerance, capacity | CAD file upload → algorithm |
| Pricing model | Transparent — shops set their own rates | AI sets the price, takes 35–39% |
| Machine-level detail | Make, model, max diameter, tolerance, capacity status | Not exposed to buyers |
| Capacity visibility | Real-time: open, limited, booked | No visibility — algorithm routes internally |
| Supplier network | Curated domestic precision shops | 4,400+ global (US, India, Turkey, Europe) |
| Quality accountability | Named shop with visible track record | Anonymous supplier, centralized QC |
| Ideal for | Precision work, tight tolerances, repeat production | Prototypes, commodity parts, price-first buyers |
| Founded by | A shop owner running CNC lathes | Two investors with no manufacturing background |
For shops: keep your customers
The single biggest complaint from Xometry suppliers — across years of machinist forum threads — is this: you're building a customer base for Xometry, not for yourself.
Xometry requires plain boxes, branded tape, no logos, no business cards. If a buyer loves your work, they can't find you. They reorder through Xometry, which may route the next job to a different shop — or to a supplier in India or Turkey who will do it cheaper.
Axhera inverts this. When we match a buyer with your shop, you own that relationship from day one. The buyer knows your name, your machines, your location. If they come back, they come back to you. We're the introduction — not the middleman standing between you and your customer forever.
"I'd rather go out of business than keep pandering to their endless pressure to reduce cost and lead time. I quit taking jobs off the board, and just let machines sit empty. After some lean months, we put in our best year ever."
— Shop owner on Practical Machinist, 2025
For buyers: see what you're getting
Xometry's quoting engine is fast. Upload a file, get a price in seconds. That speed is real, and for commodity prototypes it works fine.
But for precision work — tight tolerances, specific materials, repeat production — you need to know more than a price. You need to know the machine, the process capability, whether the shop has done this kind of work before, and whether they have capacity to run it now.
Axhera shows you all of this. Search by process. See available machines with make, model, max diameter, and tolerance capability. See real-time capacity status. When you submit an RFQ, it goes to shops that actually have the right equipment and the open spindle time — not to whichever shop in the global network will accept the lowest price.
The 39% question
Xometry's marketplace gross margin hit 35.7% in Q3 2025. That means for every $1,000 a buyer pays, the shop receives roughly $640. On top of that, shops report that Xometry's AI frequently prices jobs below material cost — especially for work involving plating, heat treat, or other secondary processes.
This creates a structural problem: the shops doing the best work subsidize the platform's growth, while the algorithm optimizes for cost over quality. The result is increasing quality complaints from buyers and a "race to the bottom" for suppliers.
Axhera doesn't take a cut of every transaction. We're a capacity network, not a payment processor. Shops quote directly and get paid directly. Our model works because shops that get good introductions stay in the network and bring the capability that attracts more buyers.
Process expertise vs. file processing
Xometry's quoting engine analyzes geometry. Axhera is organized by manufacturing process — because experienced procurement engineers don't start with a file upload. They start with a question: who has a wire EDM with a 24×18″ table and ±0.0001″ capability that has capacity in the next two weeks?
Our content library — tolerance guides, material selection resources, design-for-manufacturing references — is written by people who actually run these machines. Every process cluster on the site reflects real shop floor knowledge, not AI-generated filler content.
When Xometry makes sense
We're not pretending Xometry doesn't have strengths. If you need a one-off prototype in aluminum with commercial tolerances and you want a quote in 30 seconds, Xometry's instant quoting is genuinely useful. For commodity parts where price is the only variable, their scale and global supply base is hard to beat.
Axhera is built for a different kind of work: precision production, tight tolerances, specialized processes, and buyers who care about who's making their parts. If the job requires a specific machine capability, a specific material grade, or a relationship with a shop that understands your application — that's where a process-specific capacity network outperforms a black-box marketplace.
Find the right shop for precision work
Search by process, machine, and tolerance — not just price.
Keep your customers. Set your own prices.
Join a network that works for you, not against you.