Is Mari or Fulcrum better?

Neither clearly leads. Mari starts at Free and Fulcrum at $39/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Mari or Fulcrum?

Mari has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mari and $39/month for Fulcrum.

Does Mari or Fulcrum run on more platforms?

Mari runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux. Fulcrum runs on Web.

Can I use Mari for free?

Yes. Mari has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fulcrum starts at $39/month.

What is Mari best used for?

Mari is most often used for painting textures directly onto high complexity 3d assets for film and games, handling very large multi-udim texture sets in a look development pipeline. Of those, painting textures directly onto high complexity 3d assets for film and games and handling very large multi-udim texture sets in a look development pipeline are not what Fulcrum is typically brought in for.

What can Mari do that Fulcrum cannot?

Mari covers High-resolution painting, UDIM support, Procedural layers, Baking.

CAD · head to head

Mari vs Fulcrum

Mari

CAD

3D painting for film and games

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Fulcrum

Manufacturing

Field operations management for installing, inspecting and maintaining physical work

From: $39/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Mari has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Mari the full annual licence is $1,289 paid annually, and a short term quarterly rental is $949 per quarter; Fulcrum monthly pricing only available for first 12 months; after that, annual commitment required

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mari and Fulcrum actually diverge.

Attributes where Mari and Fulcrum differ
Attribute	Mari	Fulcrum
Starting price	Free	$39/month
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Windows, MacOS, Linux	Web
Category	CAD	Manufacturing
Founded	1996	Unknown

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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 Mari

High-resolution painting
UDIM support
Procedural layers
Baking
Node graph
Color management
Maya
Nuke

Only in Fulcrum

Nothing recorded that Mari does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Mari

Painting textures directly onto high complexity 3D assets for film and gamesnot Fulcrum
Handling very large multi-UDIM texture sets in a look development pipelinenot Fulcrum

Fulcrum

Capturing inspection photos and data completely offlinenot Mari
Collecting field data in areas without cell coveragenot Mari
Tagging asset locations with geospatial coordinatesnot Mari
Automating asset maintenance work order workflowsnot Mari

Where each one falls short

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

Mari

The full annual licence is $1,289 paid annually, and a short term quarterly rental is $949 per quarter
The cheap $299 per year or $35 per month subscription is restricted to a single licence for people working alone or in small companies
Node-locked and floating are separate licence types you must choose between
All listed prices are before applicable taxes
A separate non-commercial licence exists, so commercial use requires a paid tier

Fulcrum

Monthly pricing only available for first 12 months; after that, annual commitment required
Additional storage costs $2.20 USD per month per 20 GB block
Enterprise plan requires minimum of 5 users

Pricing, plan by plan

Mari

Free

Individual Subscription$86/month
- Solo artists or small companies
- $689 per year alternative billing
Team Subscription$null/year
- Node-locked or floating licenses
- Annual payment
Team Rental$949/quarter
- Short-term access
- Node-locked or floating licenses

Fulcrum

$39/month

Professional$43/month
- 100 GB storage
- 10 data shares
- Standard email and in-app support
Elite$39/month
- 500 GB storage
- 50 data shares
- Priority email, in-app, and phone support
Enterprise$null/mo
- Custom pricing
- Unlimited users minimum 5
- Unlimited storage

Which should you pick?

Choose Mari if

You need high-resolution painting.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Windows, MacOS, Linux.
You also want udim support.

Mari review

Choose Fulcrum if

Nothing in the data separates Fulcrum from Mari on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Fulcrum review

Questions people ask

Is Mari or Fulcrum better?: Neither clearly leads. Mari starts at Free and Fulcrum at $39/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mari or Fulcrum?: Mari has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mari and $39/month for Fulcrum.
Does Mari or Fulcrum run on more platforms?: Mari runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux. Fulcrum runs on Web.
Can I use Mari for free?: Yes. Mari has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fulcrum starts at $39/month.
What is Mari best used for?: Mari is most often used for painting textures directly onto high complexity 3d assets for film and games, handling very large multi-udim texture sets in a look development pipeline. Of those, painting textures directly onto high complexity 3d assets for film and games and handling very large multi-udim texture sets in a look development pipeline are not what Fulcrum is typically brought in for.
What can Mari do that Fulcrum cannot?: Mari covers High-resolution painting, UDIM support, Procedural layers, Baking.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Mari: What is Mari's pricing?

Individual Subscription costs $689 per year or $86 per month. Team Subscription costs $1,289 per year. Team Rental costs $949 per quarter for short-term access. Both subscriptions support node-locked or floating licenses.

Source

Fulcrum: How much does Fulcrum cost per user?

Professional and Elite plans cost $43 per month for monthly billing or $55 per user per month when billed annually. Enterprise pricing is custom and requires contacting Fulcrum.

Source

Mari: Does Mari offer a free trial?

Mari offers a free 30-day trial with unrestricted access to help users evaluate the software before purchasing.

Source

Fulcrum: What is Fulcrum's storage limit?

Professional includes 100 GB storage, Elite includes 500 GB storage, and Enterprise includes unlimited storage. Additional storage blocks of 20 GB cost $2.20 USD per month.

Source

Mari: Does Mari offer student pricing?

Yes, Mari offers free or discounted access to all Foundry products for students, as well as free non-commercial licenses for learning and exploration.

Source

Fulcrum: Are there restrictions on monthly billing for Fulcrum?

Monthly pricing is only available during the first 12 months as a Fulcrum customer. After 12 months, the company learns your usage pattern and offers pricing with an annual commitment required.

Source

Mari vs Fulcrum

Mari

Fulcrum

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Mari

Only in Fulcrum

What people use each for

Mari

Fulcrum

Where each one falls short

Mari

Fulcrum

Pricing, plan by plan

Mari

Fulcrum

Which should you pick?

Choose Mari if

Choose Fulcrum if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Mari

More on Fulcrum

Keep looking

Other head to heads