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CAD · head to head

3D-Coat vs CloudCompare

3D-Coat logo

3D-Coat

CAD

Digital sculpting for game artists

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
CloudCompare logo

CloudCompare

CAD

Open source point cloud comparison and processing maintained largely by one person in their spare time

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only CloudCompare has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 3D-Coat specific pricing not disclosed on website; CloudCompare the project is administered by its creator in his spare time while he holds a full-time job elsewhere, so an organisation building a monitoring programme on it depends on one person with no obligation to continue
  • They diverge on capability: 3D-Coat covers Voxel sculpting, CloudCompare covers Cloud to cloud distance.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which 3D-Coat and CloudCompare actually diverge.

Attributes where 3D-Coat and CloudCompare differ
Attribute3D-CoatCloudCompare
Starting price$29/monthFree
Pricing modelone-timeOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
Founded2007Unknown

Identical on both: platforms (Windows, MacOS, Linux), user rating (Not yet rated), category (CAD).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in 3D-Coat

  • Voxel sculpting
  • Surface sculpting
  • Retopology
  • UV mapping
  • Texture painting
  • PBR materials
  • Smart materials
  • Baking

Only in CloudCompare

  • Cloud to cloud distance
  • Cloud to mesh distance
  • Registration
  • Segmentation and cleaning
  • Plugin architecture
  • Format support
  • Command line mode

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

3D-Coat

  • Voxel sculpting from a digital clay blocknot CloudCompare
  • Retopology of high-density sculpts into production meshesnot CloudCompare
  • UV mapping and PBR texturingnot CloudCompare
  • Preparing print-ready models for 3D printingnot CloudCompare
  • Node-based material authoring on the GPUnot CloudCompare

CloudCompare

  • A monitoring engineer comparing quarterly laser scans of a retaining wall to quantify movement without buying a proprietary deformation packagenot 3D-Coat
  • A heritage team registering dozens of terrestrial scans of a building into a single cloud before meshingnot 3D-Coat
  • A geomorphologist measuring erosion between two drone-derived surfaces of a river banknot 3D-Coat
  • A survey technician cleaning and subsampling a scan before delivering it to a client whose software cannot handle the full densitynot 3D-Coat

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

3D-Coat

  • Specific pricing not disclosed on website
  • 3DCoatPrint free version limited to 40K triangles on export
  • Requires contacting sales or visiting store for pricing details

CloudCompare

  • The project is administered by its creator in his spare time while he holds a full-time job elsewhere, so an organisation building a monitoring programme on it depends on one person with no obligation to continue
  • There is no commercial support contract from anyone, so a defect that blocks a deliverable is resolved by a GitHub issue and community goodwill rather than by an agreement
  • Processing is single machine and memory bound, so very large aerial lidar collections must be tiled manually and large jobs are limited by the workstation rather than scaled out
  • The interface is unforgiving and organised around the underlying data structures rather than around tasks, so competent surveyors routinely take weeks to become productive
  • Plugins vary widely in maintenance, and several useful ones originated in research projects that have since ended, so a workflow built around a specific plugin can break at the next release

Pricing, plan by plan

3D-Coat

$29/month
  • Amateur$99/month
    • Non-commercial use
  • Professional$379/month
    • Full commercial license
  • Floating$568/month
    • Network licensing

CloudCompare

Free
  • CloudCompareFree
    • GNU General Public Licence
    • No licence fee and no usage limits
    • No commercial support contract exists

Which should you pick?

Choose 3D-Coat if

  • You need voxel sculpting.
  • You work on Windows, MacOS, Linux.
  • You also want surface sculpting.
3D-Coat review

Choose CloudCompare if

  • You need cloud to cloud distance.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want cloud to mesh distance.
CloudCompare review

Questions people ask

Is 3D-Coat or CloudCompare better?
Neither clearly leads. 3D-Coat starts at $29/month and CloudCompare at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, 3D-Coat or CloudCompare?
CloudCompare has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for 3D-Coat and Free for CloudCompare.
Does 3D-Coat or CloudCompare run on more platforms?
3D-Coat runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux. CloudCompare runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Can I use CloudCompare for free?
Yes. CloudCompare has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. 3D-Coat starts at $29/month.
What is 3D-Coat best used for?
3D-Coat is most often used for voxel sculpting from a digital clay block, retopology of high-density sculpts into production meshes, uv mapping and pbr texturing, preparing print-ready models for 3d printing. Of those, voxel sculpting from a digital clay block and retopology of high-density sculpts into production meshes are not what CloudCompare is typically brought in for.
What can 3D-Coat do that CloudCompare cannot?
3D-Coat covers Voxel sculpting, Surface sculpting, Retopology, UV mapping. CloudCompare covers Cloud to cloud distance, Cloud to mesh distance, Registration, Segmentation and cleaning.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

3D-Coat: Is there a free version of 3D Coat?

Yes, 3D Coat offers multiple free options. 3DCoatPrint is a special free version designed for 3D print-ready models, limited to 40K triangles on export. Additionally, a 30-day unlimited trial is available for the full version.

Source
CloudCompare: Who maintains CloudCompare?

Daniel Girardeau-Montaut, its creator, administers it in his own time alongside a full-time engineering job, with contributions from a community of users and research groups.

3D-Coat: What is the 30-day trial period for 3D Coat?

3D Coat provides a 30-day trial with unlimited learning resources. The trial grants full access to all tools needed to create production-ready, fully textured 3D models.

Source
CloudCompare: Can I buy support?

No. There is no vendor and no commercial support offering. Some geospatial consultancies know it well and can be hired, but they are not contracted to support the software itself.

3D-Coat: Does 3D Coat offer specialized versions?

Yes, 3D Coat offers 3DCoatTextura as a specialized version focused on texturing and rendering at a more affordable price than the full 3DCoat version.

Source
CloudCompare: Is it suitable for commercial deliverables?

It is widely used for them. The licence permits it and the algorithms are well regarded. The risk is operational, not legal: no support and no roadmap commitment.

CloudCompare: Can it handle a full aerial lidar survey?

Not in one piece. It is memory bound on a single machine, so large collections need tiling or a dedicated lidar pipeline such as PDAL.

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