Software · head to head
Mari vs Octane Render
The short version
- 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; Octane Render studio+ is limited to 10 render nodes by default
- They diverge on capability: Mari covers High-resolution painting, Octane Render covers GPU rendering.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Mari and Octane Render actually diverge.
| Attribute | Mari | Octane Render |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 | 2008 |
Identical on both: starting price ($29/month), pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), platforms (Windows, MacOS, Linux), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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
- Nuke
- Katana
Only in Octane Render
- GPU rendering
- Unbiased rendering
- Out-of-core geometry
- AI denoising
- Network rendering
- Blender
- Cinema 4D
- 3ds Max
Both cover
- Maya
- Windows support
- MacOS support
- Linux support
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 Octane Render
- Handling very large multi-UDIM texture sets in a look development pipelinenot Octane Render
Octane Render
- GPU accelerated unbiased rendering from Blender, Cinema 4D, Maya or Houdininot Mari
- Network rendering across multiple GPU nodesnot Mari
- Producing photoreal stills and animation for product and archviz worknot 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
Octane Render
- Studio+ is limited to 10 render nodes by default
- Monthly billing costs 23.95 euro per month against 19.99 euro per month on the yearly plan
- Offline USB dongle support is restricted to annual subscriptions and the dongle costs an extra 49 euro
- The offline dongle must be updated every 4 months and blocks access to cloud features
- There is no free tier, only a demo version
- OctaneRender is GPU only, so hardware compatibility must be tested before purchase
Pricing, plan by plan
Mari
$29/month- Mari$1906/month
- Full features
Octane Render
$29/month- Prime$19.99/month
- 1 GPU
- Studio$39.99/month
- 2 GPUs
Which should you pick?
Choose Mari if
- You need high-resolution painting.
- You work on Windows, MacOS, Linux.
- You also want udim support.
Choose Octane Render if
- You need gpu rendering.
- You work on Windows, MacOS, Linux.
- You also want unbiased rendering.
Questions people ask
- Is Mari or Octane Render better?
- Neither clearly leads. Mari starts at $29/month and Octane Render at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Mari or Octane Render?
- Mari starts at $29/month and Octane Render at $29/month.
- Does Mari or Octane Render run on more platforms?
- Both run on Windows, MacOS, Linux, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- 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 Octane Render is typically brought in for.
- What can Mari do that Octane Render cannot?
- Mari covers High-resolution painting, UDIM support, Procedural layers, Baking. Octane Render covers GPU rendering, Unbiased rendering, Out-of-core geometry, AI denoising. Both handle Maya, Windows support, MacOS support, Linux support.