Photogrammetry Software for Mac: 2026 Buyer's Guide

Photogrammetry software for Mac: the short version

If you search for photogrammetry software for Mac, many well-known names turn out to be Windows-only or to need an NVIDIA graphics card. Apple Silicon Macs can still do real 3D capture work, as long as you choose tools that actually support them.

This guide sorts the options by two questions that matter more than feature lists:

• Where does the processing happen? On your Mac, in a browser, on your phone, or on a company's servers.
• What do you get out? A polygon mesh you can measure, print and edit, or a Gaussian splat that looks like the real scene but has no solid surface.

Platform and pricing details below were checked on each vendor's own website or documentation in October 2026. Prices and plans change, so confirm before you buy.

Apple Object Capture: built into macOS

Apple's RealityKit includes Object Capture, a photogrammetry engine available on macOS 12 and later, and on iOS and iPadOS 17 and later. You give it a set of well-lit photos taken from many angles and it produces a 3D model, saved as a USDZ file or as an OBJ with its texture maps. Processing happens on your own device.

It is a developer framework rather than a finished app. Apple publishes sample code, including a small macOS command-line app, and other developers have built apps on top of it. Apple's guided capture sample for iPhone and iPad needs a device with a LiDAR Scanner. Object Capture is aimed mainly at objects, and its output is a mesh, not a Gaussian splat. Its capture guidance is useful with any tool: it asks for 70% or more overlap between neighboring photos and warns against reflective, transparent or very plain objects.

Agisoft Metashape: the established desktop option

Agisoft Metashape is a professional photogrammetry application with installers for Windows, macOS and Linux. It processes everything locally. The Standard Edition builds dense point clouds and textured 3D models; the Professional Edition adds survey features such as georeferencing with ground control points, digital elevation models, orthomosaics, and tools to measure distances, areas and volumes.

Licensing is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription: Agisoft states that its license is not time-limited, and it includes 12 months of email support. On Agisoft's online store in October 2026, a node-locked Standard Edition license was listed at US$179 and Professional at US$3,499. Educational licenses are offered separately, and you can try the software in demo mode or with a 30-day trial.

Agisoft's system requirements list Apple M1 and M2 processors in its basic configuration and note that the maximum project size is mostly limited by available memory, so a Mac with more unified memory handles larger photo sets.

Free and open-source tools on macOS

Several free tools run on a Mac, mostly aimed at technical users.

• COLMAP: the widely used open-source structure-from-motion tool, under the new BSD license. Mac users can install it with Homebrew. Its documentation notes that without a CUDA-capable (NVIDIA) GPU you can use everything except dense reconstruction, so on a Mac it is mainly useful for camera positions and sparse point clouds rather than finished meshes.
• Brush: an open-source Gaussian splatting engine by Arthur Brussee, licensed under Apache 2.0. It uses WebGPU-compatible technology, runs on macOS, Windows and Linux with AMD, NVIDIA or Intel GPUs, and publishes an Apple Silicon build. It trains splats from COLMAP or Nerfstudio-format data, so you need camera positions first.
• SuperSplat: PlayCanvas's free, open-source (MIT) Gaussian splat editor. It runs in the browser, including Safari 26 or later, and nothing is uploaded unless you choose to publish. It cleans, crops and exports existing splats (for example as PLY, compressed PLY or a standalone HTML viewer); it does not create splats from photos.
• Meshroom (AliceVision): popular free photogrammetry software, but its official release downloads are for Windows and Linux only. There is no official macOS build, so it is not a practical pick for most Mac users.

Phone and cloud apps

If you would rather capture with your phone, these apps are common. Several process captures on remote servers, so check that you are comfortable uploading your photos.

• Polycam: iOS, Android and web. Its free plan has limited captures, Gaussian splats and glTF mesh export; paid subscriptions, billed monthly or yearly, add unlimited captures and more mesh export formats. Its web tool makes splats from 20 to 200 uploaded photos or an MP4. The pricing page lists no one-time license.
• KIRI Engine: iOS, Android and web. The free Basic plan covers photo scans of up to 150 photos with unlimited exports; the Pro subscription adds features such as featureless object scanning, mesh-inclusive 3DGS scans, PBR materials and quad meshes. KIRI's pricing page explains that it pays for servers to process users' scans.
• Scaniverse (Niantic Spatial): iOS, Android and web. Niantic describes Gaussian splats and meshes processed on the device. Its current plans run on monthly processing credits, with a free tier and paid tiers, while the classic Scaniverse experience keeps free on-device processing. Exports include SPZ, PLY and FBX.
• RealityScan Mobile (Epic Games): free on iOS and Android. Epic's launch announcement described the app assembling models with cloud processing, and finished models can be shared to Sketchfab or exported.

Not available on Mac: Postshot and RealityScan desktop

Two frequently recommended tools do not run on macOS.

• Jawset Postshot creates Gaussian splats from photos or video and processes everything locally, but its system requirements are Windows 10 or later and an NVIDIA GPU with compute capability 7.5 or higher, such as a GeForce RTX 2060.
• RealityScan, Epic's desktop photogrammetry application, lists Windows and Linux system requirements with an NVIDIA GPU. It is free for individuals and companies under US$1 million in annual revenue; above that, Epic charges US$1,250 per seat per year.

On a Mac, using either means a separate Windows or Linux PC.

Mesh or Gaussian splat: choose your output first

Decide what you need before you pick software.

A polygon mesh is the standard for 3D printing, CAD work, game collisions and editing in Blender. If that is your goal, look at mesh tools such as Agisoft Metashape, apps built on Apple Object Capture, or phone apps with mesh export.

A Gaussian splat represents the scene as millions of small, semi-transparent colored blobs fitted to your photos. It tends to look more like the real place, including foliage, fine detail and highlights that shift as you move. But it has no solid surface, so it cannot be 3D printed or used for physics without conversion, and it needs a splat-aware viewer. It suits walkthroughs, product spins, web showcases and orbit videos.

How to choose a Mac photogrammetry tool

Weigh four practical points.

• Mac support: confirm the vendor offers a macOS version and check whether key steps need an NVIDIA GPU. Many do.
• Output: mesh for measuring, printing and game assets; Gaussian splat for realistic viewing.
• Privacy: if your photos show client spaces, unreleased products or private homes, prefer tools that process locally rather than uploading.
• Cost model: subscriptions suit regular professional use; if you scan occasionally, free tools, one-time licenses or one-time purchases may cost less over time.

Local Gaussian splatting on Mac with SplatLoom

If you want Gaussian splats on your Mac without a terminal or a subscription, SplatLoom is a desktop app for Mac (Apple Silicon, macOS 15 or later) and Windows 10/11 x64. It turns overlapping JPG or PNG photos, or an MP4 or MOV video, into a 3D Gaussian splatting scene entirely on your computer, with no upload, no account and no cloud processing.

Pick photos or a video, click Generate, then view and clean up the scene with box or sphere crop, rectangle select, one-click spike cleanup and undo/redo. Exports are a Gaussian PLY, a PNG still, a 12-second 1080p MP4 orbit video, and a self-contained offline HTML viewer. It bundles COLMAP for camera positions, Brush for splat training on your local GPU and PlayCanvas for the viewer, so there is no Python or command line. In our test, a 13 to 20 second smartphone video was processed end to end in about 9 to 14 minutes on an Apple M5 Pro MacBook.

SplatLoom is a US$19.90 one-time purchase covering the Mac and Windows installers, with no subscription or credits, and a 7-day refund if it does not run on your computer. Know its limits: it does not export meshes, it is not a CAD or measurement tool, results depend on capture coverage, and its Windows GPU support is newer than its Mac support.