Needle vs. Unity WebGL vs. Spline

See how Needle, Unity WebGL, and Spline 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
The WebGL export target for the Unity game engine allows deployment of Unity projects to web browsers using WebGL and WASM.
Unity WebGL
A web-based, real-time collaborative 3D design tool focused on creating interactive web experiences without requiring coding knowledge. Exports self-contained web packages or specific formats.
Spline
Core Platform & Workflow
Solution Type
3D Engine
Cloud Platform
Authoring Tool
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.
3D Engine
Authoring Tool
Unity WebGL
Solution Type: 3d-engine, authoring-tool
Allows exporting projects built with the Unity Editor to run in browsers via WebGL/Wasm.
3D Engine
Cloud Platform
Authoring Tool
Web Component
Spline
Solution Type: 3d-engine, cloud-platform, authoring-tool, web-component
An online platform for 3D design and animation, with direct export options for web integration.
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.
Unity WebGL
Made for the web: No
Unity is a desktop- and mobile-first engine. It has a WebGL export option, but it's not from its core designed for the web. Often requires significant manual optimization for web performance and load times.
Spline
Made for the web: Yes
Focuses on creating optimized interactive experiences specifically for the web, with tools to analyze and improve performance.
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.
Standalone Editor
Code
Unity WebGL
Typical Workflows: Standalone Editor, Code
Projects are developed using the Unity Editor with C# scripting and visual tools.
Web Editor
Spline
Typical Workflows: Web Editor
Primarily a visual design tool where scenes and interactions are built using a graphical interface. Logic is handled through an event/state system.
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.
Unity WebGL
Use with Unity: Yes
This IS the Unity workflow, targeting WebGL output.
Spline
Use with Unity: No
Exports glTF/USDZ which can be imported into Unity, but there is no direct integration or specific workflow.
Use with Blender
Needle
Use with Blender: Yes
Integration with Blender via addon, supporting export of scenes, materials, animations, and custom logic nodes.
Unity WebGL
Use with Blender: No
No direct integration; assets are imported in standard formats (FBX, glTF).
Spline
Use with Blender: No
Can import formats like glTF (often exported from Blender) and export glTF, but no direct integration.
Interactivity Building Blocks
Needle
Interactivity Building Blocks: Yes
Includes a rich set of components for common interactions, animations, and UI elements.
Unity WebGL
Interactivity Building Blocks: Yes
Full Unity component system available, but WebGL export has limitations with certain features.
Spline
Interactivity Building Blocks: Yes
Visual design tool with built-in interactive components for common behaviors like drag, hover, click interactions.
Extensible with Coding
Needle
Extensible with Coding: Yes
Uses TypeScript with full IDE support in both Unity and standalone projects.
Unity WebGL
Extensible with Coding: Yes
Uses C# scripts with IL2CPP compilation to WebAssembly, with some limitations compared to native builds.
Limited
Spline
Extensible with Coding: Limited
Visual event system allows for creating interactive behaviors without coding. Limited JavaScript API for exported scenes.
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.
Unity WebGL
Physically-Based Rendering: Yes
Supports URP and HDRP rendering pipelines, but with significant limitations and performance caveats compared to native platforms.
Good
Spline
Physically-Based Rendering: Good
Supports PBR materials through a layer-based system, lighting (directional, spot, point), shadows, and post-processing effects.
Component System
Needle
Component System: Yes
Leverages the component-based architecture of Unity/Blender, extended with custom web-specific components.
Unity WebGL
Component System: Yes
Uses Unity's core GameObject-Component architecture.
Spline
Component System: Yes
Features a 'Component' system allowing reuse of objects and their properties, aiding in creating design systems within Spline, but differs from traditional ECS architectures.
Built-in Networking
Needle
Built-in Networking: Yes
Built-in real-time networking for multiplayer and collaborative applications.
Unity WebGL
Built-in Networking: Yes
Supports Unity's networking solutions (Netcode), but web deployment involves specific considerations (e.g., WebSocket transport).
Spline
Built-in Networking: No
Supports real-time collaboration within the editor but does not provide features for runtime networking or multiplayer experiences in exported applications.
Timelines and Sequencing
Needle
Timelines and Sequencing: Yes
Supports timeline-based sequencing, complex animations, animator state machines, blending, and more.
Unity WebGL
Timelines and Sequencing: Yes
Unity Timeline and Animation systems are supported in WebGL export.
Spline
Timelines and Sequencing: Yes
Includes timeline-based animation system for keyframe animation and sequencing.
Animation Controls
Needle
Animation Controls: Yes
Supports complex animations authored in Unity (Animator, Timeline) or Blender and exports them for the web.
Unity WebGL
Animation Controls: Yes
Supports Unity's animation systems (Mecanim, Timeline).
Spline
Animation Controls: Yes
Supports keyframe animation, state-based transitions, and interactive events to trigger animations.
Animated Materials
Needle
Animated Materials: Yes
Supports material animations, shader graph, and procedural material effects.
Unity WebGL
Animated Materials: Yes
Materials are integrated into the animation system.
Spline
Animated Materials: Yes
Supports material animation through the timeline system and visual animation tools.
Audio Playback
Needle
Audio Playback: Yes
Supports spatial audio configured via Unity/Blender components.
Unity WebGL
Audio Playback: Yes
Includes Unity's built-in audio engine.
Spline
Audio Playback: Yes
Supports adding sounds to scenes, including positional audio and background music.
Video Playback
Needle
Video Playback: Yes
Supports video textures and playback controlled via components.
Unity WebGL
Video Playback: Yes
Supports video playback via the VideoPlayer component, but performance can be a concern on WebGL.
Spline
Video Playback: Yes
Supports using videos as textures on 3D models.
Physics Integration
Needle
Physics Integration: Yes
Integrates with physics engines, configured via Unity/Blender components.
Unity WebGL
Physics Integration: Yes
Includes Unity's built-in physics engines (PhysX/Box2D).
Spline
Physics Integration: Yes
Includes built-in physics simulation capabilities for creating dynamic interactions.
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.
Limited
Unity WebGL
glTF 3D Support: Limited
Requires installing the UnityGLTF package for glTF import/export.
Spline
glTF 3D Support: Yes
Can import and export models in glTF format for interoperability with other tools.
Custom User Interfaces
Needle
Custom User Interfaces: Yes
Facilitates creation of UI using standard HTML/CSS and frontend frameworks, integrated with the 3D scene.
Unity WebGL
Custom User Interfaces: Yes
Includes Unity UI (UGUI) and UI Toolkit, though these are not specifically optimized for web use cases.
Limited
Spline
Custom User Interfaces: Limited
UI elements are typically created using 3D text and objects within the scene itself; no dedicated 2D canvas UI system.
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.
Unity WebGL
Web Component: No
Builds are typically embedded using an iframe or custom JavaScript loader, not as a standard web component.
Spline
Web Component: Yes
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.
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.
Limited
Unity WebGL
PWA Support: Limited
Can be packaged as a PWA from a template, but requires careful handling of caching and large build sizes.
Spline
PWA Support: No
Spline exports can be included within a PWA, but Spline itself doesn't provide specific features for PWA development.
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.
Difficult
Unity WebGL
HTML/CSS Integration: Difficult
Communication between the Unity Wasm instance and the surrounding HTML page requires specific JavaScript bridging.
Good
Spline
HTML/CSS Integration: Good
Designed to be easily embedded into HTML pages using generated code snippets (iframe or JavaScript).
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.
Limited
Unity WebGL
Host Anywhere: Limited
Requires hosting for the large build output files (Wasm, data, JS). Servers need specific configuration (compression, headers, wasm).
Spline
Host Anywhere: Yes
Exports are self-contained web packages deployable on static servers. Spline also offers hosting for public URL embeds.
Asset Hosting
Needle
Asset Hosting: Yes
Needle Cloud provides managed hosting and CDN delivery for optimized assets.
Unity WebGL
Asset Hosting: No
Requires external hosting for the build files and any dynamically loaded assets.
Spline
Asset Hosting: Yes
Spline hosts scenes shared via Public URLs. Exported code/files can be self-hosted.
App Hosting
Needle
App Hosting: Yes
Needle Cloud provides managed hosting and CDN delivery for optimized applications.
Limited
Unity WebGL
App Hosting: Limited
Provides the gaming-focussed Unity Play service, which allow for public hosting of embedded iframes, without much control over design or usage.
Spline
App Hosting: Yes
Scenes can be hosted directly on Spline's servers.
Performance & Optimization
Engine Size
Medium
Needle
Engine Size: Medium
Optimized runtime aims for minimal footprint, size depends on included features.
Large
Unity WebGL
Engine Size: Large
Core engine compiled to Wasm results in a large base download size.
Medium/Large (includes runtime)
Spline
Engine Size: Medium/Large (includes runtime)
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.
Loading Performance
Excellent
Needle
Loading Performance: Excellent
Rapid development cycles and fast loading times through optimized runtime and asset handling.
Slow
Unity WebGL
Loading Performance: Slow
Often suffers from long initial load times due to large Wasm and data files.
Moderate
Spline
Loading Performance: Moderate
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.
Runtime Performance
Excellent
Needle
Runtime Performance: Excellent
Designed for efficient rendering performance across desktop, mobile, and XR devices.
Variable
Unity WebGL
Runtime Performance: Variable
Can achieve good performance with heavy optimization, but often less performant than native builds or web-first engines, especially on mobile.
Good (scene dependent)
Spline
Runtime Performance: Good (scene dependent)
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.
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.
Limited
Unity WebGL
Smart Asset Optimization: Limited
No automatic generation of mesh LODs and other web-specific optimization techniques. Unity provides automatic compression tools: texture compression (ASTC, DXT, ETC).
Limited (Internal)
Spline
Smart Asset Optimization: Limited (Internal)
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.
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.
Unity WebGL
Mesh and Texture LODs: No
While Unity supports LODGroups, there is no automatic simplification or LOD generation.
Spline
Mesh and Texture LODs: No
Focuses on optimization but does not have a dynamic LOD system.
XR Support (AR/VR/Spatial)
VR Support (WebXR)
Needle
VR Support (WebXR): Yes
Supports VR headsets via the WebXR standard.
Unity WebGL
VR Support (WebXR): No
Unity WebGL does not support WebXR at this point.
Spline
VR Support (WebXR): No
Does not directly export WebVR experiences. Requires exporting models (e.g., glTF) and using a VR-capable framework.
AR Support (WebXR)
Needle
AR Support (WebXR): Yes
Supports markerless WebAR on compatible Android devices via the WebXR standard.
Unity WebGL
AR Support (WebXR): No
Unity's AR Foundation does not support the WebGL build target.
Spline
AR Support (WebXR): No
Does not directly export WebAR experiences. Exports USDZ for AR Quick Look on iOS, but full WebAR requires external frameworks.
AR Support (iOS)
Needle
AR Support (iOS): Yes
Supports interactive markerless WebAR on iOS devices via WebXR.
Unity WebGL
AR Support (iOS): No
Unity's AR Foundation does not support the WebGL build target.
Limited
Spline
AR Support (iOS): Limited
USDZ files compatible with AR Quick Look on iOS can be exported from the web app. Also provides native Swift embeds for iOS apps.
AR Support (visionOS)
Needle
AR Support (visionOS): Yes
Explicit support for creating spatial computing experiences deployable on visionOS.
Unity WebGL
AR Support (visionOS): No
Not supported via the WebGL build target. Native visionOS support exists.
Limited
Spline
AR Support (visionOS): Limited
USDZ files compatible with AR Quick Look on iOS can be exported from the web app. Also provides native Swift embeds for iOS apps.
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.
Unity WebGL
AR Tracking Types: No
No built-in AR tracking capabilities in WebGL builds.
Surface
Spline
AR Tracking Types: Surface
Primarily through USDZ export for object placement in AR Quick Look.
Ecosystem & Support
Official Support Availability
Needle
Official Support Availability: Yes
Dedicated support available for licensed users.
Unity WebGL
Official Support Availability: Yes
Paid support options available with Pro/Enterprise plans.
Spline
Official Support Availability: Yes
Official support channels are typically available for paid subscribers, while community support is available for all users via Discord.
Learning Resources
Needle
Learning Resources: Yes
Extensive documentation, tutorials, live samples, and active community support.
Excellent
Unity WebGL
Learning Resources: Excellent
Abundant learning resources including Unity Learn, tutorials, and community content.
Good
Spline
Learning Resources: Good
Offers official documentation, tutorials (text and video), a library of templates/examples, and an active community forum/Discord server.
License
Commercial
Needle
License: Commercial
Commercial license required for full features and deployment. Free evaluation available.
Commercial
Unity WebGL
License: Commercial
Uses standard Unity licensing (Free, Plus, Pro, Enterprise tiers based on revenue/funding).
Commercial
Spline
License: Commercial
Spline is a proprietary tool with free and paid subscription tiers offering different feature sets and usage limits.

FAQ – frequently asked questions

Needle Cloud arrow_upward

Needle Engine arrow_upward

Usecases arrow_upward

Licensing and Compliance arrow_upward

Company Roadmap FAQ Compare Solutions Report Problem

Send us a message

Send a message to the Needle team. Please describe any feedback you have, if you encountered any problem on the website or send us a feature request. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Contact

Send us a message

Send a message to the Needle team. Please describe any feedback you have, if you encountered any problem on the website or send us a feature request. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Imprint