AJA System Test vs Blender
AJA System Test
aja.com
Blender
blender.orgSide by side
| Figure | AJA System Test | Blender |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · PC Benchmark Software | 8.6 (#5) | 8.8 (#3) |
| Spec score · PC benchmark tools | 8.0 (#32) | 8.1 (#28) |
| Founded | 1993 | 2002 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Headquarters | Grass Valley, California, United States | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Intended users | AJA describes the tool as useful for production and postproduction workflows that need drive bandwidth sufficient for their demands. | Blender says it is well suited to individuals and small studios that benefit from a unified pipeline and responsive development process. |
| Platforms | The product page links to Mac and Windows downloads and identifies them as standalone System Test Lite v16.0 versions. | The download page lists builds for Windows, Windows ARM, macOS Apple Silicon, and Linux, as well as Steam and source code downloads. |
| Support | AJA says technical support is available free of charge to answer questions or help resolve issues. | Support resources include an online manual, developer documentation, Python API reference, tutorials, community forums, and enterprise support for Blender LTS releases through Canonical. |
Plans
In their own words
AJA System Test
AJA System Test evaluates drive performance so users can estimate whether a drive system can record and play back different resolutions and codecs. It measures read and write speed and overall throughput, including on network mapped drives. In its graphical interface, users select a test type, drive, video size, frame rate, file size, and connected video device. Results can appear in MB/sec or FPS with graphs. The report generator produces text results that users can copy into spreadsheets or other software, and result exports include text report, PDF, and SPX formats. Custom test profiles are supported. Workload areas also include PCIe bandwidth, AJA-device DMA, and combined disk and device I/O; PCIe bandwidth testing is part of the full version included in AJA Desktop Software downloads. The standalone Apple Store and Windows versions are listed as AJA System Test Lite v16.0 at free. The software runs on macOS and Windows, and AJA offers a download path that does not require signing up.
Blender
Blender is a free, open-source desktop suite for 3D creation on Linux, macOS and Windows. It covers modeling, sculpting, UV editing, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, video editing and game asset creation. Modeling tools include modifiers, UV unwrapping and mesh editing; sculpting includes 20 brush types, multi-resolution work, dynamic topology and mirrored sculpting. Animation features include rigging, a pose editor, non-linear animation and forward and inverse kinematics. Users can draw in 2D in a 3D viewport and combine 2D and 3D work. The built-in Cycles renderer supports CPU and GPU rendering, real-time viewport previews, PBR shaders, HDR lighting and VR rendering. Blender also includes camera and object tracking with masking and live scene previews. Advanced users can customize the application and build tools or add-ons through its Python API. Blender is licensed under the GNU GPL and owned by its contributors. It can run without installation or an internet connection, including from a USB stick or desktop folder.