Needle vs. 8th Wall vs. A-Frame
See how Needle, 8th Wall, and A-Frame compare across key features and capabilities for usage on the web and creating XR experiences for designers, developers and teams.
View all platform comparisons Web-first runtime integrated with Unity and Blender plugins, complemented by Needle Cloud for optimization and hosting. Needle |  A commercial platform specializing in high-quality, markerless WebAR experiences, featuring a cloud editor and advanced tracking capabilities. 8th Wall |  An open-source web framework for building VR/AR experiences using a familiar HTML-based entity-component system built on top of three.js. A-Frame | |
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Core Platform & Workflow | |||
| Solution Type | 3D Engine Cloud Platform Optimization Tool Web Component Needle Solution Type:
3d-engine, cloud-platform, authoring-tool, optimization-tool, web-component A comprehensive suite including a runtime engine, cloud services for optimization/hosting, authoring via Unity/Blender plugins, and embeddable web component output. | Cloud Platform 3D Engine 8th Wall Solution Type:
cloud-platform, authoring-tool, 3d-engine A comprehensive platform providing AR tracking engine, cloud-based IDE (Cloud Editor, Niantic Studio), hosting, and specialized AR features. | Framework Web Component A-Frame Solution Type:
Framework, web-component A framework that allows creating 3D/VR/AR scenes using custom HTML tags (web components) built upon three.js. |
| Made for the web | Needle Made for the web:
Yes Built from the ground up for the web, focusing on fast loading, efficient rendering, and cross-platform web deployment. | 8th Wall Made for the web:
Yes Specifically optimized for delivering AR experiences through mobile web browsers. | A-Frame Made for the web:
Yes Aims to make WebXR development accessible and performant on the web. |
| Typical Workflows | Unity Editor Blender Editor Code HTML Asset Upload Needle Typical Workflows:
Unity Editor, Blender Editor, Code, HTML, Asset Upload Primary workflow involves using Unity or Blender as the authoring environment, exporting scenes and logic. Custom scripts (TypeScript/JavaScript) extend functionality. | Web Editor Code 8th Wall Typical Workflows:
Web Editor, Code Development occurs in the Cloud Editor or Niantic Studio using JavaScript, HTML, CSS, often integrating with libraries like A-Frame or three.js. | HTML Code A-Frame Typical Workflows:
HTML, Code Scenes are built primarily using HTML-like tags, with custom logic implemented in JavaScript components. |
| Use with Unity | Needle Use with Unity:
Yes Deep integration with Unity Editor via dedicated plugin, allowing export of scenes, C# scripts (transpiled), materials (Shader Graph), animations, and components. | 8th Wall Use with Unity:
No Focuses on web technologies with a custom editor. | A-Frame Use with Unity:
No Not related to Unity workflow. |
| Use with Blender | Needle Use with Blender:
Yes Integration with Blender via addon, supporting export of scenes, materials, animations, and custom logic nodes. | 8th Wall Use with Blender:
No Imports standard 3D asset formats like glTF. | A-Frame Use with Blender:
No Consumes glTF assets exported from Blender. |
| Interactivity Building Blocks | Needle Interactivity Building Blocks:
Yes Includes a rich set of components for common interactions, animations, and UI elements. | 8th Wall Interactivity Building Blocks:
Yes Provides AR-specific components for common interactions and UI elements in WebAR experiences. | A-Frame Interactivity Building Blocks:
Yes Comprehensive component system with many built-in and community components for interactions, effects, and behaviors. |
| Extensible with Coding | Needle Extensible with Coding:
Yes Uses TypeScript with full IDE support in both Unity and standalone projects. | 8th Wall Extensible with Coding:
Yes JavaScript API for creating AR experiences, with integration for Three.js, A-Frame, or Babylon.js. | A-Frame Extensible with Coding:
Yes Can create custom components and systems using JavaScript, or use the entity-component declarative HTML approach. |
Engine Capabilities | |||
| Physically-Based Rendering | Needle Physically-Based Rendering:
Yes Supports Physically Based Rendering (PBR), custom shaders (via Unity Shader Graph export), lighting, and post-processing effects. | Limited 8th Wall Physically-Based Rendering:
Limited Rendering quality depends on the capabilities of the integrated engine. The Studio material model does not support all common PBR features. | Good A-Frame Physically-Based Rendering:
Good Leverages three.js rendering features like PBR materials, environments, and shadows, accessible via components. |
| Component System | Needle Component System:
Yes Leverages the component-based architecture of Unity/Blender, extended with custom web-specific components. | 8th Wall Component System:
Yes Depends on the integrated rendering framework (e.g., A-Frame uses ECS). | A-Frame Component System:
Yes Based on a highly extensible Entity-Component-System architecture. |
| Built-in Networking | Needle Built-in Networking:
Yes Built-in real-time networking for multiplayer and collaborative applications. | 8th Wall Built-in Networking:
No Networking needs to be implemented using external libraries or services. | A-Frame Built-in Networking:
No Networking requires external components like `networked-aframe`. |
| Timelines and Sequencing | Needle Timelines and Sequencing:
Yes Supports timeline-based sequencing, complex animations, animator state machines, blending, and more. | 8th Wall Timelines and Sequencing:
No No built-in timeline or sequencing system, relies on manual animation code or framework features. | Limited A-Frame Timelines and Sequencing:
Limited Basic animation component with support for keyframes, but no comprehensive timeline system. |
| Animation Controls | Needle Animation Controls:
Yes Supports complex animations authored in Unity (Animator, Timeline) or Blender and exports them for the web. | 8th Wall Animation Controls:
Yes Animation capabilities depend on the chosen rendering engine. | Limited A-Frame Animation Controls:
Limited Includes a built-in animation component and leverages three.js animations. |
| Animated Materials | Needle Animated Materials:
Yes Supports material animations, shader graph, and procedural material effects. | Via Framework 8th Wall Animated Materials:
Via Framework Depends on the underlying framework used (Three.js, A-Frame, etc.). | A-Frame Animated Materials:
Yes Supports animated textures and shader-based material effects through components. |
| Audio Playback | Needle Audio Playback:
Yes Supports spatial audio configured via Unity/Blender components. | 8th Wall Audio Playback:
Yes Audio capabilities depend on the chosen rendering engine. | A-Frame Audio Playback:
Yes Supports positional audio through dedicated components. |
| Video Playback | Needle Video Playback:
Yes Supports video textures and playback controlled via components. | 8th Wall Video Playback:
Yes Supports video textures through integrated rendering engines. | A-Frame Video Playback:
Yes Supports using videos as textures through the asset management system. |
| Physics Integration | Needle Physics Integration:
Yes Integrates with physics engines, configured via Unity/Blender components. | 8th Wall Physics Integration:
Yes Physics capabilities depend on the chosen rendering engine. | A-Frame Physics Integration:
Yes Physics is added through community components like `aframe-physics-system`. |
| glTF 3D Support | Excellent Needle glTF 3D Support:
Excellent Uses glTF as its core runtime format and supports import of various formats (FBX, USD, VRM etc.) which are converted. | 8th Wall glTF 3D Support:
Yes Supports loading glTF assets. | A-Frame glTF 3D Support:
Yes Strong support for loading and interacting with glTF models. |
| Custom User Interfaces | Needle Custom User Interfaces:
Yes Facilitates creation of UI using standard HTML/CSS and frontend frameworks, integrated with the 3D scene. | Limited 8th Wall Custom User Interfaces:
Limited UI is typically created using HTML/CSS overlays or the UI system of the chosen rendering engine. | Limited A-Frame Custom User Interfaces:
Limited UI can be created using 3D components (e.g., `aframe-gui`), HTML overlays, or community libraries. |
Web Integration & Deployment | |||
| Web Component | Needle Web Component:
Yes Exports projects as standard web components (<needle-engine> tag) for easy embedding into any HTML page or web application. | 8th Wall Web Component:
No Experiences are typically loaded via the 8th Wall JS library. | A-Frame Web Component:
Yes Its core abstraction relies on custom HTML elements (web components). |
| PWA Support | Needle PWA Support:
Yes Being web-native, Needle Engine projects can be easily included in Progressive Web Apps for offline capabilities and installation. | 8th Wall PWA Support:
No WebAR experiences created with 8th Wall can be integrated into Progressive Web Apps. | A-Frame PWA Support:
No Can be used within Progressive Web Apps but provides no specific PWA features itself. |
| HTML/CSS Integration | Excellent Needle HTML/CSS Integration:
Excellent Designed to seamlessly integrate with HTML, CSS, and frontend frameworks (React, Vue, Svelte etc.), allowing blending of 2D UI and 3D content. | 8th Wall HTML/CSS Integration:
Yes Allows overlaying HTML/CSS elements for UI. | Good A-Frame HTML/CSS Integration:
Good Designed to be embedded within standard HTML pages. |
| Host Anywhere | Needle Host Anywhere:
Yes The core runtime can be self-hosted on any static server. Needle Cloud features (optimization, hosting, analytics) require the cloud service. | 8th Wall Host Anywhere:
No Requires the 8th Wall platform for tracking and hosting. | A-Frame Host Anywhere:
Yes Deployable on static web servers. |
| Asset Hosting | Needle Asset Hosting:
Yes Needle Cloud provides managed hosting and CDN delivery for optimized assets. | A-Frame Asset Hosting:
No Requires external hosting for assets. | |
| App Hosting | Needle App Hosting:
Yes Needle Cloud provides managed hosting and CDN delivery for optimized applications. | Required 8th Wall App Hosting:
Required Using the 8th Wall platform requires hosting on 8th Wall's servers. | A-Frame App Hosting:
No Requires external hosting for the application files. |
Performance & Optimization | |||
| Engine Size | Medium Needle Engine Size:
Medium Optimized runtime aims for minimal footprint, size depends on included features. | Medium 8th Wall Engine Size:
Medium Includes sophisticated AR tracking libraries. | Small/Medium A-Frame Engine Size:
Small/Medium Includes three.js plus the A-Frame framework layer and components. |
| Loading Performance | Excellent Needle Loading Performance:
Excellent Rapid development cycles and fast loading times through optimized runtime and asset handling. | Moderate 8th Wall Loading Performance:
Moderate Loading time depends on experience complexity and network conditions. | Fast/Moderate A-Frame Loading Performance:
Fast/Moderate Generally good loading performance, depends on included components and assets. |
| Runtime Performance | Excellent Needle Runtime Performance:
Excellent Designed for efficient rendering performance across desktop, mobile, and XR devices. | Good 8th Wall Runtime Performance:
Good Offers robust and performant AR tracking, overall performance also depends on rendering complexity. | Good A-Frame Runtime Performance:
Good Offers good performance, though the abstraction layer might introduce minor overhead compared to raw three.js for complex scenes. |
| Smart Asset Optimization | Excellent Needle Smart Asset Optimization:
Excellent Needle Cloud provides significant automated optimization: LOD generation, mesh optimization, extensive texture compression (Basis Universal, WebP, JPG, PNG) and resizing options. | 8th Wall Smart Asset Optimization:
No The platform handles some processing, but optimization relies on preparing assets beforehand. | A-Frame Smart Asset Optimization:
No Relies on users providing optimized assets (e.g., glTF with Draco/Basis). |
| Mesh and Texture LODs | Excellent Needle Mesh and Texture LODs:
Excellent Supports automatic mesh simplification, level-of-detail generation and automatic texture compression with multiple quality levels. | 8th Wall Mesh and Texture LODs:
No Relies on optimization being done before asset upload; no dynamic LOD system. | Via Components A-Frame Mesh and Texture LODs:
Via Components Not built-in, but available through community components or manual implementation. |
XR Support (AR/VR/Spatial) | |||
| VR Support (WebXR) | Needle VR Support (WebXR):
Yes Supports VR headsets via the WebXR standard. | 8th Wall VR Support (WebXR):
No Primary focus is WebAR. | A-Frame VR Support (WebXR):
Yes One of the primary goals of A-Frame is to simplify WebVR development. |
| AR Support (WebXR) | Needle AR Support (WebXR):
Yes Supports markerless WebAR on compatible Android devices via the WebXR standard. | 8th Wall AR Support (WebXR):
Yes Provides markerless AR for Android, but requires additional camera permissions and uses more CPU and GPU resources. | A-Frame AR Support (WebXR):
Yes Supports AR via WebXR on compatible Android devices. |
| AR Support (iOS) | Needle AR Support (iOS):
Yes Supports interactive markerless WebAR on iOS devices via WebXR. | 8th Wall AR Support (iOS):
Yes Provides markerless AR for iOS, but requires additional camera permissions and uses more CPU and GPU resources. | A-Frame AR Support (iOS):
No Requires external libraries. |
| AR Support (visionOS) | Needle AR Support (visionOS):
Yes Explicit support for creating spatial computing experiences deployable on visionOS. | 8th Wall AR Support (visionOS):
No Focus is on mobile WebAR. | A-Frame AR Support (visionOS):
No Requires external libraries. |
| AR Tracking Types | Surface Image Needle AR Tracking Types:
Surface, Image Supports World Tracking via the WebXR standard on compatible devices. Image tracking is supported on iOS AR but requires a device-specific flag for Android AR. | Surface Image Face VPS 8th Wall AR Tracking Types:
Surface, Image, Face, VPS Offers a comprehensive suite of advanced AR tracking capabilities, including location-based VPS. | Surface A-Frame AR Tracking Types:
Surface Supports World Tracking via WebXR. |
Ecosystem & Support | |||
| Official Support Availability | Needle Official Support Availability:
Yes Dedicated support available for licensed users. | 8th Wall Official Support Availability:
Yes Support available through paid plans. | A-Frame Official Support Availability:
No Support is community-driven. |
| Learning Resources | Needle Learning Resources:
Yes Extensive documentation, tutorials, live samples, and active community support. | Good 8th Wall Learning Resources:
Good Offers project library, documentation, and tutorials. | Excellent A-Frame Learning Resources:
Excellent Extensive documentation, examples, a large registry of community components, and active community channels. |
| License | Commercial Needle License:
Commercial Commercial license required for full features and deployment. Free evaluation available. | Commercial | Open Source |