Reality Capture vs Pix4D pricing, hardware and survey outputs for drone survey teams
RealityCapture, renamed RealityScan in 2025, is free for companies under $1 million in yearly revenue and costs $1,250 per seat per year above that. Pix4D charges every company the same: PIX4Dmapper is $3,990 a year for one device at a time, and sharing maps with clients needs a separate PIX4Dcloud plan from $1,290 a year. RealityScan is the faster mesh engine, Pix4D the more complete survey workflow with volumes and quality reports. If three people need to measure the same flight, DroneMapping Team is $1,488 a year with 10 seats and no workstation.
net volume
net volume
Side by side
RealityScan vs Pix4D vs DroneMapping on price, hardware and survey outputs
RealityScan figures come from Epic Games' license page and system requirements. Pix4D figures come from Pix4D's own pricing pages on yearly billing. Both were checked in October 2026 in USD, so confirm them in your own quote.
| What you compare | RealityScan (formerly RealityCapture) | Pix4D | DroneMapping |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price for a firm over $1M revenue | $1,250 per seat per year, custom terms above 25 seats | PIX4Dmapper $3,990 per year, or $399 month to month | Starter $99 per month, Team $249, Business $599 |
| Price for a firm under $1M revenue | $0, all features, community support | Same price as everyone else | Same plans for everyone |
| License model | One named seat per person | Floating, one device at a time | 3 seats on Starter, 10 on Team, 25 on Business |
| Operating system | Windows desktop, Linux build for the command line only | PIX4Dmapper on Windows, PIX4Dmatic also on Apple silicon | Any browser, including Mac and iPad |
| Hardware | NVIDIA GPU with CUDA 3.5 or higher, 6.1 or higher recommended | A strong Windows PC, NVIDIA recommended | None, processing runs on our servers |
| Ground control and checkpoints | Yes | Yes, with a detailed quality report | GCPs and checkpoints with an RMSE report in X, Y and Z on Team |
| Orthomosaic, DSM and DTM | Yes, DTM through ground classification | Yes | Yes, on every plan |
| Stockpile volumes | Not built in, quantities usually go to Civil 3D or a GIS | Volume tool in PIX4Dmapper | Volumes on every plan, stockpile PDFs on Team |
| Cut and fill against design | Not built in | Design overlay and volume comparison on PIX4Dcloud Pro | Cut and fill on Team |
| Client sharing | Export files and host them yourself | PIX4Dcloud Starter $1,290 per year | View links on every plan |
| LiDAR and laser scan fusion | Yes, a core strength | Not in PIX4Dmapper, LiDAR in PIX4Dmatic | Not supported, photos only |
| Trial | 30 days | 15-day desktop trial | Interactive demo in the browser, no account |
The short version: RealityScan builds meshes fastest and costs nothing for a small firm with its own GPU workstation. Pix4D costs more but brings the survey tools, from quality reports to volumes, into one product. DroneMapping drops the workstation and puts seats and client links inside the price.
Worked example
What a 3-person survey team pays for RealityScan, Pix4D and DroneMapping over 3 years
Take a US survey and civil firm with about $3 million in revenue, so RealityScan is paid. Two technicians process drone flights, a project surveyor signs off surfaces and contours, and contractors want stockpile volumes every month. They fly about 4,000 images a month.
| Cost over 3 years | RealityScan, 3 seats | Pix4D | DroneMapping Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processing software | $11,250 ($3,750 a year) | $11,970 for one PIX4Dmapper license, $35,910 for three | $4,464 on yearly billing |
| Sharing results with clients | Your own file hosting | PIX4Dcloud Starter $3,870 | Included |
| Volumes and quantity reports | A separate CAD or GIS seat | In PIX4Dmapper | Included |
| Workstations | One NVIDIA PC per seat, priced by you | One Windows PC per license, priced by you | Not needed |
| Total software before hardware | $11,250 plus quantity software | $15,840 with one shared license, $39,780 with three | $4,464 for the whole team |
Where each one wins, honestly: a firm under $1 million in revenue that already owns a GPU workstation pays nothing for RealityScan, and nothing in this table beats free. A firm that needs terrestrial capture, LiDAR fusion or museum-grade meshes should keep RealityScan too. Pix4D earns its price when one analyst wants deep control over calibration and a quality report clients recognize. DroneMapping wins when two or more people share the work and the client wants volumes and a link, not a folder of GeoTIFFs.
Honest fit
When Reality Capture is the better choice than Pix4D
RealityScan suits firms where speed and model quality matter more than survey paperwork:
- Your company earns under $1 million a year, so every feature is free on the Windows PC you already own.
- You fuse drone photos with terrestrial laser scans or LiDAR, and you need one registered model.
- You deliver detailed textured meshes for inspection, heritage or visualization, where RealityScan is known for its speed.
- You run batch jobs from the command line and want to script processing on a Linux server.
- Your surveyors already do quantities and linework in Civil 3D and only need a clean point cloud and DTM.
The trade is the survey layer. Volumes, cut and fill and client sharing are not built in, and every paid seat needs its own NVIDIA workstation.
Honest fit
When Pix4D is the better choice than Reality Capture
Pix4D suits firms that sell survey deliverables and want them in one tool:
- You need a processing quality report with GCP and checkpoint errors that clients and reviewers already know.
- You measure stockpile volumes inside the photogrammetry software instead of exporting to CAD.
- You process thermal or multispectral imagery, which Pix4D documents in PIX4Dmapper.
- One analyst moves between office machines, and a floating license that runs on one device at a time fits.
- You already budget for PIX4Dcloud to share maps and compare surveys over time.
The trade is cost. PIX4Dmapper is $3,990 a year per device, and client sharing is a second subscription.
The third option
Why survey teams pick DroneMapping over RealityScan and Pix4D
RealityScan and Pix4D are desktop engines. Each ties processing to one strong PC and one person at a time, which is the real limit for a firm of three to ten people.
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01
No workstation: a 4,000 photo flight processes on our servers, and the office PC stays free for CAD.
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02
Seats inside the plan: the pilot, the CAD tech and the project surveyor measure the same surface at once.
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03
Survey outputs on a printed plan: GCP and checkpoint reports in X, Y and Z, DXF and SHP contours, stockpile PDFs and cut and fill are on Team at $249 per month or $124 per month billed yearly.
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04
Client links on every plan: the orthomosaic, surfaces and volumes open in any browser, with an optional expiry date.
What we do not do: we do not process LiDAR or laser scans, and our 3D mesh is for site context, not for heritage-grade models. Keep RealityScan for those jobs and run the photo surveys through us.
Switching
How to test RealityScan, Pix4D and DroneMapping on the same flight
A fair test runs one real flight through each tool with the same control.
- Pick a known site: use a flight with a checked elevation or a surveyed stockpile volume.
- Keep the same control: load one GCP file everywhere and hold two or three points back as checkpoints.
- Compare numbers, not looks: read checkpoint RMSE in X, Y and Z and the stockpile volume, not the mesh screenshots.
- Time the whole job: count processing, export, quantity work in CAD and sending the client a result.
- Price the real team: count everyone who must measure and price three years for that number, including workstations.
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, with no signup.
Pricing
What DroneMapping costs next to RealityScan and Pix4D
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 vs Pix4D FAQ
RealityScan, formerly RealityCapture, is better for fast, detailed meshes and for fusing drone photos with laser scans. Pix4D is better for survey deliverables, with a quality report, built-in volume measurement and a cloud plan for sharing. Both need a Windows workstation with an NVIDIA card for fast processing, and neither includes seats for a whole team.
Yes, for most firms. RealityScan is free under $1 million in yearly revenue and $1,250 per seat per year above it, while PIX4Dmapper costs $3,990 a year per device. For three paid seats over three years that is $11,250 against $11,970 for a single shared PIX4Dmapper license, or $35,910 for three.
RealityScan is free for individuals, students, schools and companies with under $1 million in revenue over the last 12 months. Companies above that line pay $1,250 per seat per year, with custom terms above 25 seats. The free tier includes every feature but only community support.
Not directly. RealityScan builds the point cloud, mesh, orthomosaic and DTM, but it has no built-in volume or cut and fill tool, so most firms compute quantities in Civil 3D or a GIS. PIX4Dmapper includes a volume tool. DroneMapping measures volumes on every plan and adds stockpile PDFs and cut and fill on Team.
RealityScan has no macOS desktop app, and its Linux build runs from the command line only. PIX4Dmapper is Windows only. PIX4Dmatic runs natively on Apple silicon, but its GPU acceleration uses NVIDIA CUDA, so large jobs run slower on a Mac. A browser-based platform such as DroneMapping processes in the cloud and works on any Mac.
Yes, when more than one person needs access. DroneMapping Team costs $1,488 a year with 10 seats, GCP and checkpoint reports, contours, stockpile PDFs and cut and fill, and needs no workstation. Over three years that is $4,464, against $11,250 for three RealityScan seats or $15,840 for PIX4Dmapper plus PIX4Dcloud Starter.
Related pages
More on choosing photogrammetry software
- Reality Capture pricing with the $1M revenue rule and a seat-by-seat cost
- Reality Capture alternative for Mac offices and survey teams
- Pix4D alternative with a Pix4D price breakdown for a 3-person team
- Pix4Dmapper vs PIX4Dmatic pricing if you stay with Pix4D and need to pick a product
- Metashape vs Reality Capture pricing for firms weighing a perpetual license
- Pix4D vs Metashape pricing with a 3-year team cost
- DJI Terra vs Pix4D for DJI Enterprise fleets
- Drone survey software with GCPs, checkpoints and contours
Run your next flight through a third option
Upload a flight you already processed in RealityScan or Pix4D and compare the checkpoint error and the volume side by side.