Start for $0
You do not have to buy anything. Not a chip, not a reader, not a scale, not a Pod. A phone you already own plus free software is the complete ecosystem — inventory, identification, printer telemetry, the lot.
This page exists because almost nobody believes that on first contact, and the reason is worth naming.
Why everyone overestimates the cost
Section titled “Why everyone overestimates the cost”The parts of TigerSystem you can see are the physical ones: a chip, a TigerPOD, a TigerScale, a spool. They photograph well, they sit on a desk, they have a price. So they become “the system” in people’s heads, and the question that follows is always how much does it cost?
But those objects are demonstrators — a sandbox, on purpose, built to show what the protocol makes possible. The system itself is the protocol, the identity, the inventory and the apps: invisible, weightless, and free. What you can see is the smallest part of it, and the only part with a price tag.
What you already own replaces what looks mandatory
Section titled “What you already own replaces what looks mandatory”| What looks mandatory | What you already own | What buying it actually buys |
|---|---|---|
| An NFC chip | nothing at all — a TigerData spool | the spool identifies itself when you set it down |
| An NFC reader | your phone | reading without picking the phone up |
| A TigerScale | your kitchen scale | the weight without typing it |
| A TigerPOD | — | writing a spool’s two chips in one pass |
The right-hand column is the whole point: every purchase automates a gesture. None of them unlocks a capability. There is no feature behind a paywall, because there is no paywall.
No chip at all: TigerData
Section titled “No chip at all: TigerData”The protocol has a fully digital state. A TigerData spool carries the same identity as a chipped one — brand, material, colour, diameter, temperatures, grams remaining — with no chip, no UID, nothing stuck to anything. Your whole inventory can live there.
A digital spool is promotable to a real chip at any time, and nothing is lost in the move. The chip is the comfort, never the prerequisite.
The reader is your phone
Section titled “The reader is your phone”Every recent smartphone has an NFC reader in it. Tiger NFC Connect is free on iOS and Android, and Tiger Studio is free and open source (MIT) on Windows, macOS and Linux. Between them you read chips, write chips, and manage the inventory — without a single dedicated reader on the desk.
The weight, by hand
Section titled “The weight, by hand”Put the spool on the kitchen scale you already have and type in the total weight, reel included. Tiger Studio subtracts the weight of the cardboard or plastic reel itself and keeps only the filament actually left — nothing to calculate, and no taring with an empty spool before you weigh a used one.
The TigerScale removes the typing — set the spool down, it weighs, identifies and syncs on its own. It automates the gesture; it never made the gesture possible.
Your printers, without buying anything
Section titled “Your printers, without buying anything”Connecting a printer costs nothing either. Tiger Studio and the mobile app talk to printers over your own network or through the manufacturer’s cloud, and what each path allows — telemetry, camera, job progress, and what it takes to send orders back to the machine — is documented per brand in compatibility.
If one day you want more
Section titled “If one day you want more”Then everything is still open. The TigerPOD is a free STL you print yourself; the TigerScale is MIT — printed shell, browser-flashed firmware, common parts from any supplier. Build them, modify them, sell them. Nothing is bought from us by obligation.
And if you would rather help anyway, supporting the project lists the ways — including the ones that cost nothing.
Related: One identity, three states, Tiger NFC Connect, Support the project