Best for
Best for creators, 3D printing users and game artists who need real objects captured as usable 3D models from a phone.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
AI 3D Modeling Comparison
KIRI Engine vs. Meshy
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for creators and game developers who want a versatile all-round 3D generator.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | KIRI Engine | Meshy |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free tier; Pro from $17.99 / month Pro is $17.99 billed monthly or $79.99 per year. The free Basic plan includes unlimited scans and unlimited exports. | Free tier; paid from ~$16 to ~$20 / month Output from the free tier is CC BY 4.0 and needs attribution. |
| Free trial | Free Basic plan with unlimited scans and exports | Free tier |
| Output | 3D models and Gaussian splats of real objects and scenes, from photos or iOS LiDAR | Textured 3D models (text- and image-to-3D) |
| API | Yes, a 3D scanning API billed per call in credits | Yes, a REST API at api.meshy.ai with an OpenAPI 3.1 specification, plus an official MCP server |
| What it makes | 3D models and Gaussian splats of real objects and scenes, captured from phone photos, iOS LiDAR or the web app | Textured 3D models from text or images, with multi-view generation |
| Detail and topology | High-poly meshes with millions of vertices, dynamic decimation for polygon reduction, and quad-mesh retopology with unwrapped UVs on Pro | Clean topology options and Low Poly Mode |
| Rigging and textures | PBR materials with normal maps and textures up to 8K, plus automatic rig generation, both on the Pro plan | Auto-rigging and PBR textures |
| Speed | Processing runs on KIRI's servers and takes from a few minutes for a quick scan to 20 to 30 minutes for an intensive one, depending on how many photos or how much video went up. A shared global queue sits in front of that, and Pro adds priority queueing | Most jobs finish in under a minute on the current model, and Smart Topology takes about ten seconds |
| Export and pipeline fit | OBJ, FBX, STL, GLB, GLTF, USDZ, PLY and XYZ from Photo Scan and Featureless Object Scan; OBJ and USDZ from LiDAR Scan; PLY natively for Gaussian splats, with mesh export on Pro | GLB, FBX, OBJ, STL, USDZ and 3MF, with bridge plugins for Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, Maya, 3ds Max, ZBrush, NVIDIA Omniverse and Roblox |
| Commercial use | The scans you create and export belong to you, on the free plan as well as on Pro. KIRI notes separately that a scan of a proprietary object may still be covered by someone else's copyright, so the rights in the subject are a different question from the rights in the file | Paid tiers; free output is CC BY 4.0 and needs attribution |
| MCP-ready | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Email helpdesk, Community forum | more entries Email helpdesk, Chat, Community forum |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Not stated | Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, Maya, 3ds Max, ZBrush, NVIDIA Omniverse, Roblox, Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer |
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Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price KIRI Engine Free tier; Pro from $17.99 / month Meshy Free tier; paid from ~$16 to ~$20 / month
- Free trial KIRI Engine Free Basic plan with unlimited scans and exports Meshy Free tier
- Company size KIRI Engine Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Meshy Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Support KIRI Engine Email helpdesk, Community forum Meshy Email helpdesk, Chat, Community forum
- MCP-ready KIRI Engine No Meshy Yes
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
KIRI Engine
Strengths
- Free plan includes unlimited scans and unlimited exports rather than paywalling export formats
- Featureless Object Scan handles reflective, transparent and untextured objects that photogrammetry misses
- Runs on iPhone, Android and in the browser, so a LiDAR device is not required
Limitations
- PBR materials, quad-mesh retopology and auto rig generation are Pro only
- LiDAR Scan needs a LiDAR-equipped iOS device and exports only OBJ and USDZ
- The free plan caps a scan at 150 photos and 2 GB
Meshy
Strengths
- Best all-round quality and features
- Large ecosystem with plugins and API
- Clean topology options and Low Poly Mode
Limitations
- Credit-based costs
- Hero assets still need cleanup
- Free output requires attribution (CC BY 4.0)
Plans
Pricing
KIRI Engine
- Basic $0 Unlimited 3D scans and unlimited exports. Photo Scan and LiDAR Scan, in-app cropping and texturing, high-poly export, dynamic decimation and access to the web platform. Up to 150 photos and 2 GB per scan.
- Pro $17.99 Per month, or $79.99 per year. Adds Featureless Object Scan, mesh-inclusive 3DGS, PBR materials, quad-mesh retopology and auto rig generation. Up to 500 photos and 5 GB per scan, with queue priority.
Meshy
- Free $0 Output is CC BY 4.0 and needs attribution.
- Not stated From ~$16 to ~$20 Per month.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
KIRI Engine
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
Meshy
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Before sending, the author has to confirm three things: that they have used the product themselves, that they work neither for the vendor nor for a competitor, and that nobody is paying them for the review. We also ask whether the vendor invited them to write it. That answer is required, either answer is accepted, and it stays with the review.
Every review is read by a person before it appears. An email address is required and is confirmed: we send a link to it, and a review does not reach us until the author opens that link, so a review has a sender who was reachable at least once rather than being anonymous. Where what somebody writes needs backing, we ask them for evidence that they used the product, and a review that does not get it is not published. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.
What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on their own declaration, on whatever we ask them for, and on the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.
A vendor cannot buy a review, and cannot have one removed or changed because they dislike it. We remove or edit a review only if it breaks our rules or the law, for example a false statement of fact. Paid placement has no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
KIRI Engine https://www.kiriengine.app · checked against the official source on 2026-09-07
Meshy https://www.meshy.ai · no check date recorded yet
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.