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CAD · head to head

CloudCompare vs Modo

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
Modo logo

Modo

CAD

Creative 3D modeling and rendering

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only CloudCompare has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 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; Modo foundry announced on November 7, 2024 that it is winding down development of Modo after the Modo 17.1 release, with no further feature or maintenance releases anticipated
  • They diverge on capability: CloudCompare covers Cloud to cloud distance, Modo covers Polygon modeling.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CloudCompare and Modo actually diverge.

Attributes where CloudCompare and Modo differ
AttributeCloudCompareModo
Starting priceFree$29/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
FoundedUnknown1996

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 CloudCompare

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

Only in Modo

  • Polygon modeling
  • Subdivision surfaces
  • Sculpting
  • UV tools
  • Procedural modeling
  • Rendering
  • Animation
  • MeshFusion

What people use each for

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

CloudCompare

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

Modo

  • Polygon and subdivision surface modelling for media and entertainment assetsnot CloudCompare
  • Look development and rendering of product and character modelsnot CloudCompare

Where each one falls short

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

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

Modo

  • Foundry announced on November 7, 2024 that it is winding down development of Modo after the Modo 17.1 release, with no further feature or maintenance releases anticipated
  • Support continues only until each customer's current contract term expires
  • Foundry does not guarantee that Modo will keep working on future operating system updates because no patches will be issued, and recommends customers migrate to alternative 3D workflows
  • Perpetual licences keep working but receive no further updates, bug fixes or support
  • The Modo forums closed in December 2024 and downloads, docs and the support knowledgebase were committed only until November 2025

Pricing, plan by plan

CloudCompare

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

Modo

$29/month
  • Indie$599/month
    • Full Modo
    • Revenue limit $100K
  • Modo$1898/month
    • Full commercial license

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Modo if

  • You need polygon modeling.
  • You work on Windows, MacOS, Linux.
  • You also want subdivision surfaces.
Modo review

Questions people ask

Is CloudCompare or Modo better?
Neither clearly leads. CloudCompare starts at Free and Modo at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CloudCompare or Modo?
CloudCompare has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for CloudCompare and $29/month for Modo.
Does CloudCompare or Modo run on more platforms?
CloudCompare runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. Modo runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux.
Can I use CloudCompare for free?
Yes. CloudCompare has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Modo starts at $29/month.
What is CloudCompare best used for?
CloudCompare is most often used for a monitoring engineer comparing quarterly laser scans of a retaining wall to quantify movement without buying a proprietary deformation package, a heritage team registering dozens of terrestrial scans of a building into a single cloud before meshing, a geomorphologist measuring erosion between two drone-derived surfaces of a river bank, a survey technician cleaning and subsampling a scan before delivering it to a client whose software cannot handle the full density. Of those, a monitoring engineer comparing quarterly laser scans of a retaining wall to quantify movement without buying a proprietary deformation package and a heritage team registering dozens of terrestrial scans of a building into a single cloud before meshing are not what Modo is typically brought in for.
What can CloudCompare do that Modo cannot?
CloudCompare covers Cloud to cloud distance, Cloud to mesh distance, Registration, Segmentation and cleaning. Modo covers Polygon modeling, Subdivision surfaces, Sculpting, UV tools.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

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.

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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