8th Wall vs Augment

8th Wall provides tools for building 3D experiences and WebAR for web browsers or self-hosted projects. Its XR Engine includes World Effects, Absolute Scale, Image Targets, Face Effects, and Sky Effects, and is designed to work with A-Frame, Three.js, Babylon.js, and PlayCanvas. 8th Wall Desktop is an XR game engine with a visual editor; downloads are available for Apple Silicon Mac, Intel Mac, and Windows x64. Projects can be deployed and hosted wherever a developer needs. The Free plan costs nothing, with no login required. The engine binary is closed source, cannot be modified or reverse engineered, and is subject to a limited-use license; other listed tools and example projects use MIT licenses. The distributed binary omits Niantic Spatial VPS, Lightship Maps, and Hand Tracking. Native export is coming soon, and export through the retired hosted platform is no longer available. Projects exported before February 28, 2026 can be moved to local or self-hosted use. Hosted projects are scheduled to remain live through February 28, 2027, when hosting is due to be decommissioned.

Augment creates real-time 3D product views at real-world scale for e-commerce and in-person selling. Its AR Viewer supports ARKit and ARCore, works as a standalone app or inside a customer app, and synchronizes offline for use without connectivity. The web 3D Viewer embeds in webpages, supports modern browsers, and also works in mobile apps. A JavaScript Web SDK adds web-based 3D and AR visualization while checking integration keys against authorized domains. The 3D Vault organizes uploaded models with private or public settings; stored models cannot be downloaded. Supported files include OBJ, Collada, KML, 3ds, PLY, and STL, with uploads up to one million polygons and textures of any size. Teams manages users, teams, model and place access, and usage analytics. Small Business costs $42 a month, billed PUPM, with a four-user minimum; a 14-day trial is available.