Reality Capture alternative for Mac and survey teams that need maps, volumes and seats
DroneMapping is a cloud drone mapping platform for survey firms and contractors that outgrew RealityCapture, now called RealityScan. It does the survey part of the job without a Windows workstation or an NVIDIA card: upload geotagged drone photos from a Mac, a PC or an iPad and get an orthomosaic, surface and terrain models, contours, volumes and a GCP accuracy report, with a map link your client opens in any browser. Team is $249 a month with 10 seats, and every price is on the pricing page.
net volume
net volume
Side by side
RealityScan vs DroneMapping, cost, hardware and survey outputs
The RealityScan column uses Epic Games' license page and system requirements as checked in October 2026, in USD. Our column is the published DroneMapping plan list.
| What you compare | RealityScan (formerly RealityCapture) | DroneMapping |
|---|---|---|
| Price for a company over $1M revenue | $1,250 per seat per year, custom terms above 25 seats | Starter $99 per month, Team $249, Business $599, seats included |
| Price under $1M revenue | $0, all features, community support | Same plans for everyone |
| Who can work on a job | One person per paid seat, on one workstation | 3 seats on Starter, 10 on Team, 25 on Business |
| Hardware | Windows PC, NVIDIA GPU with CUDA 3.5 or higher (6.1 or higher recommended), 16 GB RAM minimum | Any computer or tablet with a current browser |
| Mac support | No desktop app for macOS, the Linux build is command line only | Works in Safari or Chrome on any Mac |
| Orthomosaic, DSM and DTM | Yes, DTM through ground classification | Yes, on every plan |
| Ground control and checkpoints | Yes | GCPs and checkpoints with an RMSE report in X, Y and Z on Team |
| Contours | Yes, exported to files | DXF and SHP contours on Team |
| Stockpile volumes and cut and fill | Not built in, most firms report quantities in Civil 3D or a GIS | Volumes on every plan, stockpile PDFs and cut and fill on Team |
| Client delivery | Files you export and send | View links on every plan, no seat or login needed |
| LiDAR and laser scan fusion, heritage-grade meshes | Yes, a core strength | No LiDAR, mesh on Team for site context only |
| Trial | 30 days | Interactive demo in the browser, no account |
RealityScan is a fast reconstruction engine you install and run yourself. DroneMapping sells survey processing, measuring and client sharing as one subscription that the whole office can use.
Worked example
What a 3-person survey team pays for RealityScan and for DroneMapping over 3 years
Take a US survey firm with about $3 million in revenue. Two technicians process drone flights, a project surveyor checks surfaces and signs off contours, and contractors want stockpile and cut and fill numbers every month. They fly around 4,000 images a month.
| Cost over 3 years | RealityScan, 3 seats | DroneMapping Team |
|---|---|---|
| Software | $11,250 ($3,750 a year) | $4,464 on yearly billing ($1,488 a year) |
| Workstations | Three Windows PCs with NVIDIA GPUs, bought and kept current by you | None, processing runs in the cloud |
| Mac users in the office | Need a Windows machine or a remote GPU box | Work in the browser |
| Quantities for contractors | Export the DTM, then build volumes in CAD or GIS | Volume reports and cut and fill against the design in the app |
| People who can open the result | Seat holders, plus whoever you send files to | 10 seats plus unlimited view links |
| Known total | $11,250 before hardware | $4,464 |
The honest read: if your company is under $1 million in revenue, RealityScan costs nothing and you should price it against the workstation alone. Above the threshold, each seat costs $1,250 a year before the PC, and a cloud plan with seats included usually comes out lower once two or more people touch every job.
On a Mac
A Reality Capture alternative for Mac offices
RealityScan has no macOS desktop app, and model and texture creation need an NVIDIA card with CUDA, which no current Mac has. Many US engineering and survey offices run on MacBooks, so the usual workaround is a Windows tower in the corner or a rented cloud GPU machine reached by remote desktop. Both add cost and a second place for files to live.
DroneMapping runs in the browser. Upload a flight from a MacBook Air, process it on our servers, and measure the result on the same laptop or on an iPad in the truck. Nothing is installed, so there are no drivers, no GPU checks and no license keys to move when someone gets a new machine.
- Upload geotagged JPEGs from Finder, a card reader or a shared drive
- Mark ground control targets and read the checkpoint report in the browser
- Export GeoTIFF, DXF, SHP and LAS or LAZ for Civil 3D, Carlson or a GIS on any machine
See the full photogrammetry software for Mac page for the Mac workflow step by step.
Honest fit
When RealityScan is still the better choice
RealityScan is one of the fastest reconstruction engines on the market, and some firms should keep it:
- Your company made less than $1 million in the past 12 months, so the license is free.
- You build high-detail meshes for bridges, facades, heritage sites or visual work, not mainly maps and surfaces.
- You combine drone photos with terrestrial laser scans in one project.
- You already own a strong Windows workstation and have a technician who knows the tool.
- Your data cannot leave your own network.
If your deliverables are orthomosaics, terrain models, contours and quantities, and more than one person needs them, a cloud survey platform removes the workstation and the per-seat math.
Why teams switch
Why survey firms look for a Reality Capture alternative
The reasons are rarely about reconstruction speed. They are about everything around it.
- The revenue line: once a firm crosses $1 million, every user becomes a $1,250 yearly seat.
- The workstation: each seat needs a Windows PC with a current NVIDIA card, and that card ages fast.
- Survey workflow: RealityScan grew out of visual effects and heritage capture, so volumes, cut and fill and client reports happen in other software.
- Client access: contractors and owners want a link they can open on a phone, not a zip of GeoTIFFs.
- Mixed offices: the project manager on a Mac cannot open the project without a Windows machine.
Switching
How to move from RealityScan to DroneMapping
You do not import RealityScan project files. You reprocess from the original photos, which you already keep.
- Pick a site you know: a flight where you have a RealityScan DTM, a checked elevation or a stockpile volume.
- Export your control: save the GCP and checkpoint coordinates as a CSV in the same coordinate system.
- Upload and compare: drag the photos into the browser, load the control file, mark the targets and compare checkpoint RMSE with your RealityScan numbers.
- Run both for a month: keep your existing seats until the numbers match, then move client jobs over.
Try it on a real surface
Measure a surface before you create an account
The demo loads a sample stockpile yard, an earthworks pad and a field. Toggle contours, draw a volume and read an elevation profile in the browser, on a Mac or a PC, with no signup.
Pricing
What a Reality Capture alternative costs per month
Starter is $99 per month or $588 per year: orthomosaic, DSM and DTM, measurements and volumes, view links, 3 seats and 3,000 processed images a month. Team is $249 per month or $1,488 per year and adds the 3D textured model, the dense point cloud as LAS or LAZ, GCP and checkpoint reports, DXF and SHP contours, stockpile PDFs and cut and fill, with 10 seats and 15,000 images. Business is $599 per month or $3,588 per year for 50,000 images, 25 seats, multispectral indices, the progress timeline and the API.
Questions
Reality Capture alternative FAQ
Yes. For drone survey work, the closest swaps are Agisoft Metashape Professional ($3,499 once per computer), PIX4Dmapper ($3,990 a year) and cloud platforms. DroneMapping is a cloud option for survey and construction teams: orthomosaics, DTMs, contours, volumes and cut and fill in the browser, with 10 seats on Team for $249 a month and no workstation to buy.
No. RealityScan, the new name for RealityCapture, runs on Windows, and Epic offers a Linux build only for command-line use. Model and texture steps need an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA, which Macs do not have. Mac users run it on a Windows PC or a remote GPU machine, or use a browser-based processor instead.
Yes, for some users. Epic's license is free for individuals, students, schools and companies with less than $1 million in revenue over the past 12 months, including commercial work. Companies above that pay $1,250 per seat per year, and more than 25 seats are quoted on custom terms.
It depends on the deliverable. For high-detail meshes and laser scan fusion, RealityScan is hard to beat. For survey deliverables, a tool with built-in GCP reports, contours, volume reports and client links saves more time. DroneMapping Team includes all of those, and PIX4Dmapper or Metashape suit firms that want another desktop engine.
Yes, it produces accurate orthophotos, DSMs and DTMs from drone photos and supports ground control points. The gaps for survey firms are around the engine: no built-in stockpile or cut and fill reports, no client viewer, Windows only, and a paid seat per user once revenue passes $1 million.
Metashape Professional is $3,499 once per node-locked computer, PIX4Dmapper is $3,990 a year per license, and both need a workstation. DroneMapping starts at $99 a month or $588 a year with 3 seats, and Team is $249 a month or $1,488 a year with 10 seats and survey outputs.
Related pages
More on choosing photogrammetry software
- Reality Capture pricing with the $1 million threshold and a 3-year team cost
- Photogrammetry software for Mac with nothing to install
- Agisoft Metashape alternative compared plan by plan
- Pix4D alternative for PIX4Dmapper and PIX4Dcloud users
- Drone survey software with GCPs, checkpoints and contours
- Cut and fill software against the design grade or last week's flight
- Best drone mapping software buyer's guide with a trial checklist
Process your next flight without a Windows workstation
Upload a flight you already processed in RealityScan and compare the checkpoint error side by side.