--- title: KetchUp – Open-source SketchUp alternative built with... description: KetchUp is a free, open-source 3D modeling app for woodworking and furniture design. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, or in a desktop browser with WebGPU or... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ketchup-open-source-sketchup-alternative-built-with-rust-and-webgpu-lquqfnjed twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: KetchUp – Open-source SketchUp alternative built with Rust and WebGPU | daily.dev og:description: KetchUp is a free, open-source 3D modeling app for woodworking and furniture design. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, or in a desktop browser with WebGPU or... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ketchup-open-source-sketchup-alternative-built-with-rust-and-webgpu-lquqfnjed og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/lqUqFnJed.png og:image:alt: KetchUp – Open-source SketchUp alternative built with Rust and WebGPU og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # KetchUp – Open-source SketchUp alternative built with Rust and WebGPU **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 3 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary KetchUp is a free, open-source 3D modeling app for woodworking and furniture design. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, or in a desktop browser with WebGPU or WebGL2 support. You sketch lines and shapes, use Push/Pull to add thickness, and snap to geometry with exact dimensions. Projects autosave locally in the browser and can be downloaded as portable .ketchup files. It can import SketchUp (.skp) geometry and export Wavefront OBJ files, though SketchUp textures and scenes aren't supported. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Is there a free open-source alternative to SketchUp for designing furniture? KetchUp is a free, open-source 3D modeling app built for woodworking and furniture design. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, or directly in a desktop browser with WebGPU or WebGL2 support, requires no account, and can import existing SketchUp (.skp) geometry or export models as Wavefront OBJ files for other workflows. _Woodworkers comparing CAD tools can find open-source furniture design options like this on daily.dev._ ### Does KetchUp save my 3D models to the cloud? No, KetchUp has no cloud storage or account system. It autosaves work locally in the browser on the device being used, and clearing browser data can remove that autosaved work. Users must manually use File → Save to download a portable .ketchup project file to keep permanently. _Anyone evaluating browser-based design tools can track local-first storage trade-offs on daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 41 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-11-09). **TL;DR:** Reaction is largely appreciative of the project itself (nice name, impressive Rust/WebGPU UI), but much of the discussion veers into a broader debate about whether AI-driven, personally-built tools are making traditional apps like this less necessary, alongside some concrete UX nitpicks and a trademark-naming jab. **Sentiment:** 40% positive · 45% mixed · 15% skeptical **The case for** - The browser-based Rust UI feels impressively fast and polished, even for text rendering. - Several found the name charming and the project a welcome open-source successor to a once-free, now-degraded SketchUp. - Some appreciated it as a straightforward, intuitive alternative for simple modeling needs like 3D printing enclosures. **The pushback** - Forcing users to name an object every time they draw a rectangle is seen as a bad default that breaks SketchUp's signature ease of use. - Push/pull behavior reportedly doesn't match expectations set by SketchUp. - The name 'KetchUp' was flagged as a likely trademark infringement risk akin to Mikerowsoft vs Microsoft. - One commenter said they're uninterested if the tool involves LLMs, questioning that aspect of its build. - OBJ/STL-only export is seen as limiting for building/CAD-style use cases rather than just mesh work. **By community** - hackernews (mixed): Genuine enthusiasm for the project is mixed with a long tangential debate about AI-built personal tools, plus some pointed UX and naming criticisms. **Hottest debate:** Whether it's now better to have AI agents build bespoke, throwaway tools on demand rather than learning or maintaining full-featured apps like this one. **Open questions** - Will export support expand beyond OBJ/STL to formats more useful for building/CAD workflows? - Could the naming draw a trademark challenge similar to past parody-name cases? **Highlights** > >every time I draw a rectangle it asks me to name the object; yeah this seems insane. The push/pull also doesn't work the way I expect it to. Sketchups main selling point was how easy it was to use and pick up > — [pippy360 on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50418939) > Great work! Feedback: every time I draw a rectangle it asks me to name the object; seems like the wrong default behavior. > — [yboris on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50418852) > That name is really close to ask to be sued... remember the Mikerowsoft vs Microsoft. > — [xlayn on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50418793) > I have several personal tools I’ve built and maintained. It’s always more work than it looks. You can get to mostly usable tools quickly if your request isn’t too difficult, but every time I use them I run into another thing that needs to be fixed, changed, clarified, or cleaned up. It’s fun at first, but over time you realize you’re spending more time building the tools than using the tools to build the thing you originally wanted to work on. I think personal software is best for highly specific tools or for things you need to use repeatedly for a very long time. For something like a SketchUp competitor, I wouldn’t want to try to maintain my own. The number of edge cases and features is bigger than you imagine up front, and the vibecoded version that might appear a few hours after your prompt is going to be very far from the version you want to use. > — [Aurornis on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50419683) > I absolutely love sketchup, and seeing it passed between various developers and never improved while gradually getting less and less free was very sad. it was awesome when owned by google and totally free. super happy to see a spiritual successor! > — [jitl on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50419890) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50418176) · 159 points · 41 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Browser-based 3D Editor Covers The Basics While Staying Local](https://daily.dev/posts/browser-based-3d-editor-covers-the-basics-while-staying-local-qvzhw9rsf) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [FreeCAD: Your own 3D parametric modeler](https://daily.dev/posts/freecad-your-own-3d-parametric-modeler-gvgldjh6m) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Download & Use IKEA Models In 3D Software](https://daily.dev/posts/download-use-ikea-models-in-3d-software-e5kmw007v) · 80 LEVEL · 56 upvotes · 4 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#3d](https://daily.dev/tags/3d), [#webgpu](https://daily.dev/tags/webgpu) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ketchup-open-source-sketchup-alternative-built-with-rust-and-webgpu-lquqfnjed) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"KetchUp – Open-source SketchUp alternative built with Rust and WebGPU","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ketchup-open-source-sketchup-alternative-built-with-rust-and-webgpu-lquqfnjed","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ketchup-open-source-sketchup-alternative-built-with-rust-and-webgpu-lquqfnjed"},"datePublished":"2026-11-09T00:11:28.048Z","dateModified":"2026-11-09T01:42:27.422Z","description":"KetchUp is a free, open-source 3D modeling app for woodworking and furniture design. 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