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Maps · head to head

Cesium ion vs RealityScan

Cesium ion logo

Cesium ion

Maps

Hosted 3D geospatial tiling and streaming, metered by storage, streaming and gigapixels

From
Free
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

  • Each has a real cost: Cesium ion streaming is metered in gigabytes a month, so a public-facing application's cost is driven by visitor traffic you do not control, and a successful launch can blow through a tier immediately.; 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: Cesium ion covers 3D Tiles tiling, RealityScan covers Photogrammetric reconstruction.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cesium ion and RealityScan actually diverge.

Attributes where Cesium ion and RealityScan differ
AttributeCesium ionRealityScan
Pricing modelPer month by storage, streaming and gigapixelsFree below a revenue threshold, then per seat per year
PlatformsWeb, CloudWindows
CategoryMapsCAD

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Cesium ion

  • 3D Tiles tiling
  • Global terrain and imagery
  • Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles
  • Cloud reality modelling
  • Streaming delivery
  • Access tokens
  • Geocoding
  • Self-hosted option

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.

Cesium ion

  • A survey firm delivering a photogrammetry mesh to a client as a browser link rather than a 40 GB downloadnot RealityScan
  • A simulation team streaming global terrain and imagery into an Unreal Engine environmentnot RealityScan
  • An urban planning department publishing a city model that planners can inspect without desktop GIS softwarenot RealityScan
  • A software product embedding 3D geospatial views and needing hosted tiling rather than building a tilernot RealityScan

RealityScan

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

Where each one falls short

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

Cesium ion

  • Streaming is metered in gigabytes a month, so a public-facing application's cost is driven by visitor traffic you do not control, and a successful launch can blow through a tier immediately.
  • Reality modelling is billed in gigapixels a month, an unfamiliar unit that makes it hard to estimate in advance how many drone flights a plan will actually cover.
  • The free Community tier is restricted to non-commercial or open use, so a consultancy sharing a model with a paying client does not qualify regardless of how small the dataset is.
  • Team accounts cost substantially more than individual ones at the same quota, $524 against $149 on Commercial, so adding a second colleague is a large step rather than an incremental seat charge.
  • Self-hosting is available only under a custom enterprise agreement, which leaves organisations with data residency or air-gap requirements out of the published tiers entirely.

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

Cesium ion

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • 5 GB storage
    • 15 GB per month streaming
    • 20 gigapixels per month reality modelling
  • Commercial$149/month
    • 50 GB storage
    • 150 GB per month streaming
    • 40 gigapixels per month reality modelling
  • Premium$499/month
    • 250 GB storage
    • 500 GB per month streaming
    • 100 gigapixels per month reality modelling
  • Custom$undefined/year
    • Negotiated quotas
    • Self-hosted deployment in your own environment
    • Enterprise support

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 Cesium ion if

  • You need 3d tiles tiling.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud.
  • You also want global terrain and imagery.
Cesium ion 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 Cesium ion or RealityScan better?
Neither clearly leads. Cesium ion starts at Free and RealityScan at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cesium ion or RealityScan?
Cesium ion starts at Free and RealityScan at Free.
Does Cesium ion or RealityScan run on more platforms?
Cesium ion runs on Web, Cloud. RealityScan runs on Windows.
Can I use Cesium ion for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Cesium ion best used for?
Cesium ion is most often used for a survey firm delivering a photogrammetry mesh to a client as a browser link rather than a 40 gb download, a simulation team streaming global terrain and imagery into an unreal engine environment, an urban planning department publishing a city model that planners can inspect without desktop gis software, a software product embedding 3d geospatial views and needing hosted tiling rather than building a tiler. Of those, a survey firm delivering a photogrammetry mesh to a client as a browser link rather than a 40 gb download and a simulation team streaming global terrain and imagery into an unreal engine environment are not what RealityScan is typically brought in for.
What can Cesium ion do that RealityScan cannot?
Cesium ion covers 3D Tiles tiling, Global terrain and imagery, Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles, Cloud reality modelling. RealityScan covers Photogrammetric reconstruction, Laser scan fusion, Ground control points, Texturing and unwrapping.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cesium ion: How is Cesium ion priced?

By several meters at once: storage in gigabytes, streaming in gigabytes per month, and reality modelling in gigapixels per month. Commercial starts at $149 a month for an individual.

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.

Cesium ion: Is the free tier usable commercially?

No. Community is for non-commercial or open use. Commercial work needs a paid plan.

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.

Cesium ion: Can I run ion on my own infrastructure?

Only under a custom enterprise agreement negotiated with Cesium.

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.

Cesium ion: Do I need Cesium ion to use CesiumJS?

No. CesiumJS is open source and free. ion provides hosted tiling, base layers and streaming that you would otherwise have to build.

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.

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