Is ZBrush or Zoo better?

Neither clearly leads. ZBrush starts at On request and Zoo at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, ZBrush or Zoo?

Zoo has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for ZBrush and Free for Zoo.

Does ZBrush or Zoo run on more platforms?

ZBrush runs on Windows, macOS, iPadOS. Zoo runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, API.

Can I use Zoo for free?

Yes. Zoo has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ZBrush starts at On request.

What is ZBrush best used for?

ZBrush is most often used for digital character and creature sculpting, high-polygon organic form design, texture painting and polypaint work, game asset creation and 3d modelling. Of those, digital character and creature sculpting and high-polygon organic form design are not what Zoo is typically brought in for.

What can ZBrush do that Zoo cannot?

ZBrush covers Digital sculpting, Dynamesh, ZRemesher, PolyPaint. Zoo covers KCL scripting, Design Studio, Design API, Zookeeper agent.

CAD · head to head

ZBrush vs Zoo

ZBrush

CAD

Industry standard for digital sculpting

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Zoo

CAD

Cloud CAD with a scripting language and a geometry engine exposed as an API

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Zoo has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: ZBrush subscription model required; no perpetual licence option available; Zoo the geometry engine runs entirely in Zoo's cloud and there is no offline mode, so an aircraft, a customer site with no guest wifi or an outage stops modelling work completely.
They diverge on capability: ZBrush covers Digital sculpting, Zoo covers KCL scripting.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ZBrush and Zoo actually diverge.

Attributes where ZBrush and Zoo differ
Attribute	ZBrush	Zoo
Starting price	On request	Free
Pricing model	subscription	Per user per month
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Windows, macOS, iPadOS	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, API
Founded	1986	Unknown

Identical on both: 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 ZBrush

Digital sculpting
Dynamesh
ZRemesher
PolyPaint
Live Boolean
Sculptris Pro
UV Master
High polygon handling

Only in Zoo

KCL scripting
Design Studio
Design API
Zookeeper agent
Format conversion
Open source client

What people use each for

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

ZBrush

Digital character and creature sculptingnot Zoo
High-polygon organic form designnot Zoo
Texture painting and PolyPaint worknot Zoo
Game asset creation and 3D modellingnot Zoo

Zoo

A hardware startup that wants part models reviewed in pull requests alongside firmwarenot ZBrush
A software team generating thousands of parametric part variants programmatically rather than by handnot ZBrush
A SaaS product that needs to render and convert customer CAD files without licensing a geometry kernelnot ZBrush
An engineer who models occasional brackets and enclosures and does not want a four figure annual seatnot ZBrush

Where each one falls short

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

ZBrush

Subscription model required; no perpetual licence option available
iPad version requires separate subscription to ZBrush for iPad

Zoo

The geometry engine runs entirely in Zoo's cloud and there is no offline mode, so an aircraft, a customer site with no guest wifi or an outage stops modelling work completely.
STEP and SLDPRT import are still labelled experimental, which means the most common way of receiving a supplier or customer model is the least reliable path into the tool.
Drawing production, GD&T and tolerance annotation are far behind SolidWorks, Creo and NX, so most users still need a second package to release a manufacturing drawing.
Zookeeper is billed in reasoning minutes rather than per seat, so a team cannot forecast next month's bill from headcount the way it can with conventional CAD subscriptions.
The open source label applies only to the Design Studio client; the kernel that does the modelling is closed and hosted, so forking the repository does not give you a product you can run yourself.

Pricing, plan by plan

ZBrush

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the ZBrush review.

Zoo

Free

FreeFree
- Design Studio access
- About 20 minutes of Zookeeper reasoning per month
- Around $10 of API calls included
Plus$20/month
- Roughly 400 Zookeeper minutes per month
- Pay as you go beyond the allowance
- Design Studio and API access
Pro$99/month
- Unlimited Zookeeper reasoning
- Higher API allowance
- Priority support

Which should you pick?

Choose ZBrush if

You need digital sculpting.
You work on Windows, macOS, iPadOS.
You also want dynamesh.

ZBrush review

Choose Zoo if

You need kcl scripting.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, API.
You also want design studio.

Zoo review

Questions people ask

Is ZBrush or Zoo better?: Neither clearly leads. ZBrush starts at On request and Zoo at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ZBrush or Zoo?: Zoo has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for ZBrush and Free for Zoo.
Does ZBrush or Zoo run on more platforms?: ZBrush runs on Windows, macOS, iPadOS. Zoo runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, API.
Can I use Zoo for free?: Yes. Zoo has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ZBrush starts at On request.
What is ZBrush best used for?: ZBrush is most often used for digital character and creature sculpting, high-polygon organic form design, texture painting and polypaint work, game asset creation and 3d modelling. Of those, digital character and creature sculpting and high-polygon organic form design are not what Zoo is typically brought in for.
What can ZBrush do that Zoo cannot?: ZBrush covers Digital sculpting, Dynamesh, ZRemesher, PolyPaint. Zoo covers KCL scripting, Design Studio, Design API, Zookeeper agent.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ZBrush: What is included in a ZBrush subscription?

Every ZBrush subscription includes ZBrush on desktop, iPad, and Windows on Arm devices with premium features, rendering with Redshift, ZBrush Classroom, and Cineversity training.

Source

Zoo: Is Zoo the same company as KittyCAD?

Yes. KittyCAD renamed itself Zoo; the GitHub organisation is still KittyCAD and the scripting language KCL keeps the old initials.

ZBrush: Is there a free trial available?

Yes. Download the Maxon App to start your 14-day free trial. Every trial includes ZBrush and the full Maxon One suite.

Source

Zoo: Can I use Zoo without an internet connection?

No. The geometry engine is a cloud service, so Design Studio needs a live connection to model anything.

ZBrush: Can I use ZBrush on multiple devices?

ZBrush licensing is dual platform, so you can run on desktop and iPad simultaneously or switch between them at any time.

Source

Zoo: Is Design Studio free?

There is a genuine free tier with a small monthly allowance of AI reasoning and API calls. Paid plans start at $20 per month.

Zoo: Can I replace SolidWorks with Zoo?

Not for drawing release, large assemblies or GD&T. Teams typically use Zoo for programmatic part generation and keep an established package for production documentation.

ZBrush vs Zoo

ZBrush

Zoo

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in ZBrush

Only in Zoo

What people use each for

ZBrush

Zoo

Where each one falls short

ZBrush

Zoo

Pricing, plan by plan

ZBrush

Zoo

Which should you pick?

Choose ZBrush if

Choose Zoo if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on ZBrush

More on Zoo

Keep looking

Other head to heads