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 comparisonsWeb-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 | |
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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. | 3D Engine 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 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. | |
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. |