How MakerQ handles your data
Last updated October 1, 2026
The short version. You can run MakerQ two ways:
- As a desktop app on Windows or macOS. Your quotes, customers and files live in a database on your own computer. No account is needed to start, and the Free plan does not use any MakerQ server. The only thing it checks online is GitHub, for app updates.
- As MakerQ Cloud at app.makerq.io, the same app in your web browser, run on servers we operate, with every shop's data kept separate from every other shop's.
Both are the same product with the same features. You choose, and you can move from the desktop app to Cloud whenever you like. The copy on your computer stays exactly as it was.
Where your data lives on the desktop app
On your computer. MakerQ keeps your projects, customers, pricing settings and quote history in a database file in the MakerQ data folder, with uploaded 3D files and photos next to it. You can back the folder up like any other files, and paid plans add a settings backup in the app.
- MakerQ works offline. Your shop does not stop if your internet does.
- We cannot see your customers, prices or files. We do not have them.
- If you downgrade or cancel, features above your plan switch off, but your data stays put and the app keeps opening.
- The Free plan needs no account, no card and no sign-in.
What does leave your computer, and when
Here is every feature that talks to a server. The optional ones stay off until you turn them on.
| Feature | Plan | What is sent, and to whom |
|---|---|---|
| App updates | All | The app checks GitHub for a newer version of MakerQ. No shop data is sent. |
| License | Paid plans | License keys are digitally signed and checked on your computer, so they work offline. If you bought your plan online through Stripe, the app looks that purchase up by its activation key when you activate it and every 6 hours after, and remembers the answer so it keeps working through short internet outages. |
| Quote emails from your own account | Starter and up | Sent from your own email account through your own mail provider. They do not pass through MakerQ. |
| Hosted email (optional) | Pro | If you use MakerQ's email sender instead of your own account, the email and the recipient's address go through our mail service, which delivers it with Resend. |
| Email import (optional) | All | MakerQ signs in to your own mailbox to pick up quote requests. It connects directly; nothing passes through MakerQ's servers. |
| Website and Shopify forms (optional) | Pro | Customers submit their request and files to MakerQ's hosted form service, and your app collects them from there. Uploaded files are deleted from our storage as soon as your app has collected them, and the submission is marked as collected. If you turn on the human check, your customer's browser also talks to Cloudflare to confirm they are not a bot. |
| Customer status and approval pages (optional) | Pro | The order's status, price, progress, and any notes, photos and design proofs you choose to share are published to a private link on MakerQ's hosted service, along with messages between you and your customer. Messages are deleted after 30 days, or as soon as you mark the job Completed. When a customer approves a quote or answers a design proof, the time, their IP address and their browser type are saved with that order in your shop, so you can see who approved it and when. |
| Customer artwork uploads (optional) | All | Customers can add artwork files to an open order from their order page or portal. The files are stored with that order in the same place as your other order files: on your own computer for the desktop app, or in your shop's private storage on MakerQ Cloud, opened only through short-lived private links. The upload is tied to the customer's order link, and the customer's IP address is saved with each upload. You can turn this off in Settings. |
| AI triage and quote help (optional) | Pro | The request's details (customer name, project description, quantity, size, material, colour, use, deadline, delivery and notes) are sent to OpenAI to suggest a material, time and price. Your customer's email, phone number and address are never sent. You can switch AI off entirely in Settings. |
| Payment links | Starter and up | Your own payment links (Stripe, PayPal, Square, Shopify or any link you add) go in your quote emails. Customers pay on that provider's site. MakerQ never sees their card details. |
| Network sharing and remote access (optional) | Pro | A second PC or your phone opens the app running on your shop computer, over your own network or through your own Tailscale account. No MakerQ server is involved. |
| Crash logs (optional) | All | Off by default. If you enter an address in Settings, crash logs are emailed to that address. |
| Feedback | All | Only when you send feedback from the app: your message is emailed to us. |
If anything in this table is wrong or missing, that is a bug in this page and we want to hear about it.
How MakerQ Cloud keeps shops separate
MakerQ Cloud runs the same app on Render, in the United States (Oregon). Many shops share the same servers, so the important question is how one shop is kept from seeing another.
- The database enforces it. Every row of data is tagged with the shop it belongs to, and PostgreSQL row-level security only lets a signed-in shop read or write its own rows. Because the database enforces this, not just the app, an app bug cannot on its own expose one shop's data to another.
- Files are private. Photos and 3D files are kept in a private storage bucket. They are never public: the app only hands out a link to a file after checking it belongs to your shop, and every link expires after an hour.
- Accounts. Every account confirms its email address with a code before it works. Your email and password only ever open your own shop, and people you invite only join your shop. Passwords are stored as salted PBKDF2-SHA256 hashes, never as the password itself, and repeated failed sign-in attempts are temporarily blocked.
- Store connections (optional). If you connect your Shopify or Etsy shop, MakerQ Cloud uses the key you give it to read your paid orders every 10 minutes, and copies each order's buyer name, email, phone, shipping address, items, personalisation and notes into your shop as a project. It asks only for permission to read orders and shop details, never to change anything in your store. Your store keys are stored encrypted, are never shown again after you save them, and are left out of settings exports. Disconnecting deletes them.
- Encryption in transit. Everything between your browser and app.makerq.io is encrypted with HTTPS.
- Backups. The Cloud database is backed up continuously, and can be restored to any point in at least the past three days.
- Who can get in. Only the MakerQ team, which today is our founder, has access to the production systems.
What Cloud does not have yet: there is no independent security audit or SOC 2 report. MakerQ is built and run by a small team, and we would rather tell you that than suggest otherwise.
Moving between the desktop app and Cloud
In the desktop app, open Settings and choose MakerQ Cloud. It creates your Cloud shop, copies your projects, customers, uploaded files and settings, and gives you the link to open it. The copy on your computer is left exactly as it was.
Getting your data out of Cloud: you can export your customer list as a CSV file and back up your settings from the app. A one-click export of a whole Cloud shop is not built yet. If you need a full copy, or want your Cloud shop closed and its data deleted, contact us.
Your customers' data
Your customers trust you with their names, emails, addresses and design files. MakerQ is built so that trust does not have to extend to us.
- On the desktop app, customer data stays on your computer unless you turn on one of the hosted features above.
- A customer's status page shows only their own order. It needs no account, and it never shows other orders or other customers.
- We do not sell your data or your customers' data, and we do not use it for advertising. MakerQ makes its money from plan subscriptions.
Plans
- Free, $0: up to 5 active projects, list and Kanban views, the roll calculator with inventory tracking, the Sticker Calculator and the Outline Tracer. No account.
- Starter, $4 a month or $48 a year: unlimited projects, your own material and labour costs, Quick Quote, sending quotes, payment links, invoices, CSV import and export, shop links and settings backup.
- Pro, $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year: everything in Starter, plus AI help, customer status and approval pages, website and Shopify forms, hosted email, network sharing and MakerQ Cloud.
Lifetime licenses are no longer sold. Anyone who already has one keeps every feature they had, including MakerQ Cloud at no extra cost. There are no per-quote fees, and nothing extra for the number of customers or files.
Who builds MakerQ
MakerQ is made by C3D Prints, a 3D print shop. It started as the tool we built to run our own quotes and order queue, and we still run our own orders on it every day.
Questions
If something here is unclear, or you want a question answered before you trust MakerQ with your customer list, contact us. Our privacy policy, terms and refund policy have the formal details.