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Daz 3D vs LightWave 3D

Daz 3D

daz3d.com

LightWave 3D

lightwave3d.com

Side by side

FigureDaz 3DLightWave 3D
Price from$5.75/mo£450/mo
Free planYes—
Free trial—Yes
Open source——
WebYes—
WindowsYesYes
macOSYesYes
API—Yes
Plans published510
Spec score · 3D modeling software9.1 (#10)8.6 (#29)
Spec score · 3D Character Animation Software8.9 (#4)8.6 (#11)
DocumentationThe documentation center separates tutorial-oriented user guides from a reference guide covering product features and technical details.Documentation includes online 2025 and 2020 manuals plus a downloadable 3,600-plus-page 2020 manual PDF.
Free planYesNo
HeadquartersLinkedIn lists Daz 3D headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.England, UK
IntegrationsThe official site lists Bridges for Blender, Maya, Unreal, Unity, 3ds Max and Cinema 4D, and a Roblox exporter.The Unreal Engine Bridge transfers objects, instances, textures, animations, camera moves, and lights in real time.
Rating on CapterraThe opened Capterra review page displayed individual Daz Studio reviews and scores, but did not expose a product-wide rating and review count in the accessible page content.3.8 out of 5 from 4 reviews
Rating on G24.2 out of 5 from 14 reviews; the displayed seller profile includes reviews for Hexagon, so the total should not be treated as Daz Studio-specific.3.9 out of 5 from 29 reviews
RenderingDaz Studio includes NVIDIA Iray rendering and supports physically based lighting and materials, according to its product page.LightWave 2025 includes RiPR, a GPU-assisted preview display mode, and Octane Render uses the 2024.1 API.
SupportThe Daz help center provides system requirement and installation help articles and a route to submit support requests.The documentation directs users to support, bug-report and feature-request email addresses and community forums.

Plans

Daz 3D

  • Daz+$69 a year
  • Daz Premier$199 a year
  • Daz BaseFree
  • Daz+$8.99 a month
  • Daz Premier$18.98 a month

Daz 3D pricing →

LightWave 3D

  • New LightWave 2025 Licence£795 a month
  • LightWave 2025 Upgrade - LightWave 2024 users£450 a month
  • LightWave 2025 Upgrade - LightWave 2023 or earlier users£550 a month
  • 30-day trialFree
  • LightWave 2025 Upgrade — LightWave 2024 users£450, paid once
  • LightWave 2026 upgrade from 2025£450, paid once
  • LightWave 2025 Upgrade — LightWave 2023 or earlier users£550, paid once
  • LightWave 2026 upgrade from 2024 or earlier£550, paid once
  • LightWave 2025 licence£795, paid once
  • New LightWave 2026 licence£795, paid once

LightWave 3D pricing →

In their own words

Daz 3D

Daz Studio is 3D software for creating characters, scenes, images, and animation, available for macOS, Windows, and the web. Its Genesis creator supports rigged figures, mix-and-match clothing and hair, and morphing between figure shapes. The Daz store contains tens of thousands of premade models and assets, including environments, props, wearables, textures, shaders, lighting, and animation kits. Daz identifies Genesis 9 as its latest figure platform and describes it as enabling billions of combinations. For movement and rendering, Daz Studio uses dForce for cloth and hair simulation with the NVIDIA Iray render engine; the maker also describes a Filament-enabled viewport and render engine for real-time rendering and animation. Bridges transfer content to Blender, Unreal, Unity, Cinema 4D, Maya, and 3ds Max. Daz cautions that its Blender bridge may not be compatible with the latest Daz Studio version. Daz Base is free and includes Daz Studio, Starter Essentials content, free monthly Legacy content, and cross-platform exporters. Daz+ costs $69 a year, while Daz Premier costs $199 a year and includes Premier tools and content while membership is active.

Visit daz3d.com

LightWave 3D

LightWave 3D has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.

Visit lightwave3d.com