Polycam Alternatives for Gaussian Splats and Client Tours

Polycam is a strong capture toolkit. If what you actually need is a free splat app, an open-source trainer, or a tour a client can open without a watermark, one of these four fits better.

The short answer

Most people looking for a Polycam alternative want one of three things:

• Free Gaussian splats on a phone. Use Scaniverse. It trains splats on the device and costs nothing.
• Open source. Use Brush to train splats on your own computer, and SuperSplat to clean them up in the browser.
• A tour you can hand to a client. Use Spatial Studio. It turns phone, 360 camera or drone footage into a splat in the cloud, then publishes it as a guided tour with stops, hotspots, embeds and analytics, with no viewer watermark from $12 a month.

If you need meshes, floor plans, LiDAR scans and exports to CAD or game engines in one app, Polycam is still the better tool, and nothing on this list replaces all of it.

Polycam alternatives at a glance

Prices are from each product's own site, checked on 2 November 2026. They change, so check before you buy.

What Polycam costs today

Polycam's Free plan allows 3 AI captures and 10 photogrammetry captures. Basic is $30 a month or $150 a year and unlocks unlimited captures and Gaussian splats. Business is $400 a year per user. Embeds carry a Polycam watermark on every plan except Enterprise, which is $1,200 a year per user with a three-user minimum.

That last point is the one that sends most client-facing teams looking. If the scan is for you, the watermark doesn't matter. If it goes on a listing or a client's website, it does.

Scaniverse: the free option

Scaniverse is a free app for iPhone and Android from Niantic. It captures and trains Gaussian splats on the phone itself, so nothing is uploaded and there is no capture limit. Some older iPhones can't make splats but can still use its LiDAR and photogrammetry modes. You can export splats as SPZ files.

Choose it when you want to try splatting at no cost, or scan objects and small rooms quickly.

It stops at the scan. There are no guided stops, CTAs or visitor analytics, and it doesn't take 360 camera or drone footage. If a Scaniverse splat is good enough, you can import the SPZ into Spatial Studio and build the tour around it.

Brush and SuperSplat: the open-source route

Brush is an open-source Gaussian splat trainer that runs on Mac, Windows and Linux without an NVIDIA GPU. It expects COLMAP or Nerfstudio-format data, so you solve the camera positions yourself before training. That is fine for people who already work that way and a wall for people who don't.

SuperSplat is a free, open-source browser editor from PlayCanvas. It is the quickest way to crop floaters, trim edges and view a splat. It edits splats; it doesn't make them. Our SuperSplat comparison covers where it fits next to a tour platform.

Together they make a capable free pipeline for someone comfortable with the command line. What they don't give you is hosting, a share link a client can open on a phone, or any data on who looked.

Spatial Studio: when the result goes to a client

Spatial Studio is built for the step after the scan. You upload footage, it trains the splat in the cloud, and you publish a tour.

• Inputs: phone video, 360 camera video (original Insta360 and DJI Osmo files work, no export needed), drone and 360 drone footage, photo sets, or a splat you already have as PLY, SPZ, SOG or LCC.
• The tour: an opening view, named stops, hotspots with media, floor plans, measurements and map context.
• Delivery: share links, restricted links and embeds, with no viewer watermark on paid plans.
• Analytics: views, CTA clicks and attention heatmaps you can share with the client.

Plans start at $12 a month for Starter (5 live tours, no watermark), or $39 for Pro with your own logo on the viewer. The Free plan includes the editor and one watermarked tour but no generation credits, so making new splats needs a paid plan.

It is not a LiDAR scanner and it doesn't export meshes, so keep Polycam or another capture app if those are part of the job.

Which one should you pick?

• You want to try splats and pay nothing: Scaniverse.
• You want full control and open source: Brush to train, SuperSplat to clean.
• You sell tours to agents, venues or developers and need a clean link they can share: Spatial Studio.
• You need meshes, floor plans and CAD exports from the same capture: stay on Polycam.

You can also mix them. Capture in Scaniverse or Polycam, then bring the splat into Spatial Studio for the client-facing tour. Test with one real space that has a doorway and a change in light, not a tabletop object. The right tool is the one that gets from that capture to a link the client actually opens.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free alternative to Polycam?

Yes. Scaniverse makes Gaussian splats on your phone for free, and Brush and SuperSplat are free and open source. Polycam itself also has a free tier with a small number of captures.

Is there an open-source Polycam alternative?

For Gaussian splats, Brush trains them and SuperSplat edits them, both open source. Neither covers Polycam's mesh, LiDAR and floor plan tools.

Can I use a Polycam or Scaniverse splat in Spatial Studio?

Yes, if you can export it as a splat file such as PLY or SPZ. Import it, then add stops, hotspots and a share link.

Does Spatial Studio put a watermark on tours?

Only on the Free plan. Starter, Pro and Studio tours have no viewer watermark, and Pro adds your own logo.

Which is better for real estate?

For a quick private scan, any of these work. For a tour that goes on a listing, you want a clean link, guided stops and a way to see who looked. Our real estate virtual tour software comparison covers the wider field.

Related guides

• Scaniverse vs Polycam vs Spatial Studio
• Polycam to Gaussian splat tour workflow
• Phone video to Gaussian splat
• Insta360 Gaussian splatting guide
• Gaussian splatting software compared