Softwr

CAD · head to head

ANSYS Fluent vs RealityScan

ANSYS Fluent logo

ANSYS Fluent

CAD

Computational fluid dynamics solver for turbulence, combustion and multiphase flow

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
RealityScan logo

RealityScan

CAD

The photogrammetry engine formerly called RealityCapture, free below a one million dollar revenue line

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only RealityScan has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: ANSYS Fluent solver seats and HPC packs are licensed separately, and the packs scale by core count, so the cost of running a large case in parallel can exceed the base licence several times over and is the line item that surprises first-time buyers.; RealityScan the free tier is bounded by company revenue rather than by usage, so a business crossing one million US dollars of turnover acquires a per-seat cost overnight for software its workflow now depends on
  • They diverge on capability: ANSYS Fluent covers Turbulence model library, RealityScan covers Photogrammetric reconstruction.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ANSYS Fluent and RealityScan actually diverge.

Attributes where ANSYS Fluent and RealityScan differ
AttributeANSYS FluentRealityScan
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteFree below a revenue threshold, then per seat per year
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, LinuxWindows

Identical on both: 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 ANSYS Fluent

  • Turbulence model library
  • Combustion and reacting flow
  • Multiphase flow
  • Meshing
  • HPC parallel solving
  • Fluent aero and native GPU solver
  • Ansys Workbench integration
  • User-defined functions

Only in RealityScan

  • Photogrammetric reconstruction
  • Laser scan fusion
  • Ground control points
  • Texturing and unwrapping
  • Command line interface
  • Unreal Engine path
  • Component alignment control

What people use each for

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

ANSYS Fluent

  • Certifying an aerospace component where the customer specification names a validated commercial CFD solvernot RealityScan
  • Predicting thermal performance of a data centre or electronics enclosure before committing to a mechanical designnot RealityScan
  • Combustion analysis for a gas turbine or industrial burner where detailed chemistry models are requirednot RealityScan
  • A consultancy that must hand a client an auditable analysis in a tool the client's own engineers can reopennot RealityScan

RealityScan

  • A two-person heritage survey practice under the revenue threshold that can now run professional photogrammetry at no licence costnot ANSYS Fluent
  • A film or games asset team scanning props and environments at very high image counts where processing speed decides the schedulenot ANSYS Fluent
  • A survey firm combining terrestrial laser scans with drone photography and needing both aligned in a single reconstructionnot ANSYS Fluent
  • A construction reality-capture operator producing meshes for Unreal-based client visualisation from the same source imagerynot ANSYS Fluent

Where each one falls short

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

ANSYS Fluent

  • Solver seats and HPC packs are licensed separately, and the packs scale by core count, so the cost of running a large case in parallel can exceed the base licence several times over and is the line item that surprises first-time buyers.
  • Ansys does not publish any pricing, and quotes vary widely by region, industry and negotiating position, so a smaller firm has no way to know whether it is being charged fairly relative to a large account.
  • Synopsys completed its acquisition of Ansys in July 2025 and started shipping combined capabilities in 2026; packaging, bundling and account teams are changing, and buyers on multi-year agreements should expect renewal terms to be renegotiated on a different basis.
  • Getting trustworthy results demands genuine CFD expertise in meshing, turbulence model selection and convergence assessment, so the licence is useless without a specialist, and the specialist is harder to hire than the software is to buy.
  • Licences are typically served from a network licence manager, which means concurrent-use contention inside a busy simulation group; engineers queue for solver tokens, and organisations end up buying spare seats purely to avoid the queue.

RealityScan

  • The free tier is bounded by company revenue rather than by usage, so a business crossing one million US dollars of turnover acquires a per-seat cost overnight for software its workflow now depends on
  • New perpetual licences are no longer sold, so an organisation that deliberately avoided subscription software has no route in; existing perpetual holders keep their version but stop receiving updates unless they accept the current terms
  • It is Windows only and needs an NVIDIA CUDA capable GPU, which excludes macOS studios and makes the real cost of adoption a workstation purchase rather than a licence
  • The rename from RealityCapture to RealityScan in 2025 means tutorials, forum answers and third party pipeline documentation are split across two names and several licensing regimes, and much of it is now wrong about price
  • The interface assumes photogrammetry knowledge; alignment failures, control point placement and reconstruction region setup are not guided, so a team without an experienced operator produces poor models quickly rather than good ones slowly

Pricing, plan by plan

ANSYS Fluent

On request
  • Ansys Fluent$undefined/year
    • Annual lease or paid-up perpetual licence
    • Solver seats licensed separately from HPC parallel packs
    • HPC packs priced by core count and scale multiplicatively

RealityScan

Free
  • Free tierFree
    • For individuals and companies with annual revenue under 1,000,000 USD
    • Full application, no metered input charges
    • Epic account required
  • RealityScan seat$1250/year
    • Required once annual revenue exceeds 1,000,000 USD
    • Per seat, per year
    • Commercial use without output restrictions
  • Unreal Engine subscription$1850/year
    • Per seat per year
    • Includes RealityScan and Twinmotion
    • For teams that also need Unreal Engine for non-game commercial use

Which should you pick?

Choose ANSYS Fluent if

  • You need turbulence model library.
  • You work on Windows, Linux.
  • You also want combustion and reacting flow.
ANSYS Fluent review

Choose RealityScan if

  • You need photogrammetric reconstruction.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want laser scan fusion.
RealityScan review

Questions people ask

Is ANSYS Fluent or RealityScan better?
Neither clearly leads. ANSYS Fluent starts at On request and RealityScan at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ANSYS Fluent or RealityScan?
RealityScan has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for ANSYS Fluent and Free for RealityScan.
Does ANSYS Fluent or RealityScan run on more platforms?
ANSYS Fluent runs on Windows, Linux. RealityScan runs on Windows.
Can I use RealityScan for free?
Yes. RealityScan has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ANSYS Fluent starts at On request.
What is ANSYS Fluent best used for?
ANSYS Fluent is most often used for certifying an aerospace component where the customer specification names a validated commercial cfd solver, predicting thermal performance of a data centre or electronics enclosure before committing to a mechanical design, combustion analysis for a gas turbine or industrial burner where detailed chemistry models are required, a consultancy that must hand a client an auditable analysis in a tool the client's own engineers can reopen. Of those, certifying an aerospace component where the customer specification names a validated commercial cfd solver and predicting thermal performance of a data centre or electronics enclosure before committing to a mechanical design are not what RealityScan is typically brought in for.
What can ANSYS Fluent do that RealityScan cannot?
ANSYS Fluent covers Turbulence model library, Combustion and reacting flow, Multiphase flow, Meshing. RealityScan covers Photogrammetric reconstruction, Laser scan fusion, Ground control points, Texturing and unwrapping.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ANSYS Fluent: How much does Fluent cost?

Ansys does not publish pricing. Expect an annual lease per solver seat plus separately licensed HPC packs for parallel cores, with the total for a serious capability running into six figures a year.

RealityScan: Is RealityCapture still called that?

No. Epic rebranded it to RealityScan with version 2.0 in 2025. It is the same engine and the same team.

ANSYS Fluent: Is Fluent still an Ansys product?

Yes, but Ansys is now part of Synopsys following the acquisition that completed in July 2025, and the two portfolios are being combined.

RealityScan: Who gets it free?

Individuals and companies with annual revenue under one million US dollars. Above that, a seat is 1,250 US dollars per year.

ANSYS Fluent: Can OpenFOAM do the same job?

Numerically it can cover a lot of the same physics at no licence cost, but it lacks the meshing workflow, support and the validation pedigree that certification and customer specifications often require.

RealityScan: Can I still buy a perpetual licence?

Not for new purchases. Existing perpetual licences remain valid for the version owned, with updates only under the current terms.

ANSYS Fluent: Is there a free version?

There is a student edition with cell count limits, suitable for learning but not for production work.

RealityScan: Does the free version restrict output?

No output metering or watermarking; the restriction is on who qualifies, based on company revenue, not on what you export.

Share

Related pages

More on ANSYS Fluent

More on RealityScan

Keep looking

Other head to heads