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. Spline AI
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for web teams building interactive, stylized 3D experiences without a Blender pipeline.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | KIRI Engine | Spline AI |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | lower value Free tier; Hobby from $15 / seat / month Or $12 per seat per month billed yearly. Pro is $30 and Max $70 per seat per month, or $25 and $60 billed yearly. Enterprise is quote-based. |
| Free trial | Free Basic plan with unlimited scans and exports | Free tier, with a watermark on web exports |
| Output | 3D models and Gaussian splats of real objects and scenes, from photos or iOS LiDAR | Interactive 3D scenes, published to the web or exported as GLTF, GLB, STL or USDZ |
| What it makes | 3D models and Gaussian splats of real objects and scenes, captured from phone photos, iOS LiDAR or the web app | Interactive 3D scenes and 2D/3D interfaces for websites, apps and gamified experiences |
| Detail and topology | High-poly meshes with millions of vertices, dynamic decimation for polygon reduction, and quad-mesh retopology with unwrapped UVs on Pro | Generated models carry more detail than hand-built ones, so a scene with several can slow down. Four engines to choose from: Hunyuan3D, Hunyuan 3.1 Pro, Trellis 2 and Meshy |
| Rigging and textures | PBR materials with normal maps and textures up to 8K, plus automatic rig generation, both on the Pro plan | Layer-based material system with a ready-made library, plus FBX import with animation and rig support |
| 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 | Two steps rather than one: a prompt returns a set of image previews, and the mesh is built from whichever preview is picked. The same image can be sent through a second engine without spending extra credits, and switching between the kept results is instant, so comparing costs less than regenerating. An estimated credit cost is shown before each run |
| 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 | GLTF, GLB, STL and USDZ export, plus PNG and JPG images and MP4, WebM or image-sequence video. Publish as a public URL, a Spline Viewer embed, or code for React, Next.js, Webflow, Framer and Wix Studio, with native iOS and Android embeds |
| 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 |
| API | Yes, the KIRI Engine API covers Photo Scan, Featureless Object Scan and 3DGS with mesh, at one credit per call and one dollar per credit, minimum 500 credits, with 10 credits free to start | For driving a scene, not for generating one. The Code API, built on the Spline Runtime, reads and writes scene variables, changes object properties, triggers transitions and listens for events from Vanilla.js, React and Next.js, with equivalents for SwiftUI and Kotlin. A separate Real-time API feature, configured in the editor, lets a published scene call an external endpoint. The desktop app bundles an MCP server that an AI client can call to build and edit scenes; the documentation describes no endpoint for generating a model outside the app |
| MCP-ready | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | more entries Email helpdesk, Community forum | Community forum |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Not stated | React, Next.js, Webflow, Framer, Wix Studio, Swift (iOS), Kotlin (Android) |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
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 Spline AI Free tier; Hobby from $15 / seat / month
- Free trial KIRI Engine Free Basic plan with unlimited scans and exports Spline AI Free tier, with a watermark on web exports
- Company size KIRI Engine Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Spline AI Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Support KIRI Engine Email helpdesk, Community forum Spline AI Community forum
- MCP-ready KIRI Engine No Spline AI 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
Spline AI
Strengths
- AI generation inside a full interactive 3D web editor, not a separate step
- Publishes straight to the web, with code exports for React, Next.js, Webflow and Framer
- Real-time collaboration on the same scene
- Desktop app ships an MCP server, so an AI client can drive the open editor
Limitations
- Web and design focused, not for high-poly game or film assets
- Different workflow from pure generators
- Free tier watermarks web exports
- AI credits come only with a paid plan
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.
Spline AI
- Free $0 Per month. Limited personal files, unlimited file viewers, web exports with watermark.
- Hobby $15 Per seat per month, or $12 billed yearly. Unlimited 3D and 2D files, no watermark on web exports.
- Pro $30 Per seat per month, or $25 billed yearly. Unlimited folders and projects, video export, Apple and Android exports, unlimited variables, APIs and webhooks.
- Max $70 Per seat per month, or $60 billed yearly. 10,000 AI credits per month, 5x more media generation per week.
- Enterprise Custom Billed annually. Custom AI credits, centralized licensing and billing, team privacy, SAML single sign-on, priority support.
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.
Spline AI
- 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
Spline AI https://spline.design · 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.