An online platform for 3D design and animation, with direct export options for web integration.

A platform focused on hosting, discovering, and viewing 3D assets, providing an embeddable viewer.

Focuses on creating optimized interactive experiences specifically for the web, with tools to analyze and improve performance.

The platform automatically processes and optimizes uploaded models for efficient web viewing.

Primarily a visual design tool where scenes and interactions are built using a graphical interface. Logic is handled through an event/state system.

Users upload pre-made models and configure viewer settings (materials, lighting, annotations).

Exports glTF/USDZ which can be imported into Unity, but there is no direct integration or specific workflow.

Consumes assets exported from various sources, including Unity.

Can import formats like glTF (often exported from Blender) and export glTF, but no direct integration.

Offers a Blender addon for direct uploading, and consumes exported formats.

Visual design tool with built-in interactive components for common behaviors like drag, hover, click interactions.

Provides annotation system and basic interaction controls, but not a component system for custom behaviors.

Visual event system allows for creating interactive behaviors without coding. Limited JavaScript API for exported scenes.

Viewer API allows some programmatic control, but not full scripting of custom behaviors inside the viewer.

Supports PBR materials through a layer-based system, lighting (directional, spot, point), shadows, and post-processing effects.

High-quality PBR rendering, customizable lighting, environments, post-processing effects, and material editor within the platform. No script control over rendering order, shadows, and so on. No in-scene lights.

Features a 'Component' system allowing reuse of objects and their properties, aiding in creating design systems within Spline, but differs from traditional ECS architectures.

Internal viewer architecture.

Supports real-time collaboration within the editor but does not provide features for runtime networking or multiplayer experiences in exported applications.

Doesn't support multi-user experiences.

Includes timeline-based animation system for keyframe animation and sequencing.

Can play animations embedded in models but has no sequencing or timeline system.

Supports keyframe animation, state-based transitions, and interactive events to trigger animations.

Plays animations embedded in the uploaded models.

Supports material animation through the timeline system and visual animation tools.

Supports animated textures in uploaded models but no custom material animation creation.

Supports adding sounds to scenes, including positional audio and background music.

Sketchfab used to support embedded audio in the past, but doesn't support it anymore.

Supports using videos as textures on 3D models.

Focuses on static and animated 3D models.

Includes built-in physics simulation capabilities for creating dynamic interactions.

Focuses on asset display, not physics simulation.

Can import and export models in glTF format for interoperability with other tools.

glTF is the preferred format; platform automatically converts many other formats to optimized glTF for viewing.

UI elements are typically created using 3D text and objects within the scene itself; no dedicated 2D canvas UI system.

Provides the standard viewer UI (controls, annotations) with slight customization options.

Exports can be embedded using iframe or Javascript code snippets, including a React component export and a generic web component ('spline-viewer') for better performance with multiple embeds. The authoring tool itself is not web component based.

Provides iframe/oEmbed code for easy embedding, functioning like a web component.

Spline exports can be included within a PWA, but Spline itself doesn't provide specific features for PWA development.

Embeds work in PWAs; viewer can be used within Progressive Web Apps.

Designed to be easily embedded into HTML pages using generated code snippets (iframe or JavaScript).

Can be embedded in other websites, but can't easily combine web UI and the Sketchfab viewer

Exports are self-contained web packages deployable on static servers. Spline also offers hosting for public URL embeds.

Models and viewer are hosted on Sketchfab's platform.

Spline hosts scenes shared via Public URLs. Exported code/files can be self-hosted.

Core function is hosting 3D models which can be accessed via API.

Scenes can be hosted directly on Spline's servers.

Not applicable – does not support full apps.

Exports include the Spline runtime, which can increase the initial download size compared to solutions using shared runtimes or minimal frameworks. Size depends on scene complexity and export settings.

The viewer code needs to be loaded.

Loading times depend heavily on scene complexity, polygon count, texture sizes, and the included runtime. Optimization tools are provided, but complex scenes can experience noticeable load times.

Optimized viewer and asset delivery for quick loading. No GPU compressed formats.

Performance is generally good for well-optimized scenes but can degrade with high polygon counts, complex materials, numerous objects, or intensive interactions, especially on lower-end devices.

Offers good rendering performance for viewing complex models. High memory usage.

Provides tools like polygon reduction guidance, material asset reuse, geometry compression on export, and image quality controls, but lacks explicit support for advanced texture compression formats like Basis Universal or Draco geometry compression visibility.

Performs automatic mesh optimization, texture compression (including Basis Universal), and geometry processing upon upload to ensure performant viewing.

Focuses on optimization but does not have a dynamic LOD system.

Automatically generates texture LODs for viewing of models. Does not create mehs LODs or GPU-compressed textures.

Does not directly export WebVR experiences. Requires exporting models (e.g., glTF) and using a VR-capable framework.

Built-in support for viewing models in VR via WebXR; no interactivity.

Does not directly export WebAR experiences. Exports USDZ for AR Quick Look on iOS, but full WebAR requires external frameworks.

Provides an AR button for viewing on compatible Android devices (WebXR); no interactivity..

USDZ files compatible with AR Quick Look on iOS can be exported from the web app. Also provides native Swift embeds for iOS apps.

Provides an AR button using AR Quick Look on compatible iOS devices; no interactivity.

USDZ files compatible with AR Quick Look on iOS can be exported from the web app. Also provides native Swift embeds for iOS apps.

Only basic USDZ conversion supported, no interactivity.

Primarily through USDZ export for object placement in AR Quick Look.

Supports World Tracking from inside

Official support channels are typically available for paid subscribers, while community support is available for all users via Discord.

Support available, especially for paid plan users.

Offers official documentation, tutorials (text and video), a library of templates/examples, and an active community forum/Discord server.

Help Center, blog, and community forums offer resources.

Spline is a proprietary tool with free and paid subscription tiers offering different feature sets and usage limits.

Offers free and paid subscription tiers. Acquired by Epic Games.