Is Mari or Tulip better?

Neither clearly leads. Mari starts at Free and Tulip at $100/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Mari or Tulip?

Mari has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mari and $100/month for Tulip.

Does Mari or Tulip run on more platforms?

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

Can I use Mari for free?

Yes. Mari has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Tulip starts at $100/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 Tulip is typically brought in for.

What can Mari do that Tulip cannot?

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

CAD · head to head

Mari vs Tulip

Mari

CAD

3D painting for film and games

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Tulip

Manufacturing

Frontline operations platform for manufacturing

From: $100/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; Tulip minimum 10 interface commitment increases entry cost

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mari and Tulip actually diverge.

Attributes where Mari and Tulip differ
Attribute	Mari	Tulip
Starting price	Free	$100/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 Tulip

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 Tulip
Handling very large multi-UDIM texture sets in a look development pipelinenot Tulip

Tulip

Production floor apps and dashboardsnot Mari
Quality and assembly workflowsnot Mari
Sensor data integrationnot Mari
Regulated industry manufacturingnot Mari
Multi-site operational dashboardsnot 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

Tulip

Minimum 10 interface commitment increases entry cost
Enterprise and Regulated pricing not transparent
Complex per-interface billing model

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

Tulip

$100/month

Essentials$100/month
- Apps, Tulip AI, Tables, Analytics
- Mobile/desktop/touchscreen access
- USB device integrations
Professional$250/month
- All Essentials features
- Advanced edge connectivity
- SSO/SAML/LDAP
Enterprise$null/month
- All Professional features
- Workspaces, app approval workflows
- Custom roles, multilingual apps
Regulated Industries$null/month
- eSignatures (21 CFR Part 11)
- Auditable record history
- Zero data loss protection

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 Tulip if

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

Tulip review

Questions people ask

Is Mari or Tulip better?: Neither clearly leads. Mari starts at Free and Tulip at $100/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mari or Tulip?: Mari has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mari and $100/month for Tulip.
Does Mari or Tulip run on more platforms?: Mari runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux. Tulip runs on Web.
Can I use Mari for free?: Yes. Mari has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Tulip starts at $100/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 Tulip is typically brought in for.
What can Mari do that Tulip 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

Tulip: How is Tulip pricing calculated?

Tulip pricing is based on 'Monthly Active Interfaces (MAI)', the number of devices running Tulip Player applications with activity during at least one day per month. Minimum commitment is 10 interfaces.

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

Tulip: Does Tulip offer a free tier or trial?

No free plan is mentioned on the Tulip pricing page. All pricing tiers require direct contact with sales for quotes and requires a minimum 10 interface commitment.

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

Tulip: What is the difference between Essentials and Professional tiers?

Professional ($250/MAI/month) adds advanced edge connectivity, SSO/SAML/LDAP, 3rd-party HTTP/SQL integrations, custom widgets, and higher AI Action/automation task limits compared to Essentials ($100/MAI/month).

Source

Mari vs Tulip

Mari

Tulip

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Mari

Only in Tulip

What people use each for

Mari

Tulip

Where each one falls short

Mari

Tulip

Pricing, plan by plan

Mari

Tulip

Which should you pick?

Choose Mari if

Choose Tulip if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Mari

More on Tulip

Keep looking

Other head to heads