Hero Patterns vs Poly Haven

Hero Patterns is a web collection of repeatable SVG background patterns for web projects. Select a pattern and adjust its foreground color, background color, and foreground opacity before using it. The selected design can be downloaded as an unstyled SVG, or you can copy generated CSS rules for applying it as a background. The assets are procedural, and the site links to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license with commercial use listed as its scope. Hero Patterns has a free plan costing free, and the site says the collection will always be free. There is no free trial. Steve Schoger says he draws and maintains the collection and describes himself as a UI designer and illustrator from Kitchener, Ontario. He says updates will continue and directs visitors to Twitter and Dribbble for update news. Those channels are mentioned for updates, while no support channel or third-party integration is stated. The About section also links to Zondicons, described as free premium SVG icons for digital products.

Poly Haven is a curated public library of HDRIs, textures, and 3D models for visual effects artists and game designers. Its assets use a CC0 license and can be used commercially. The library describes its HDRIs as 16k+ resolution and unclipped, and its photoscanned seamless PBR textures as at least 8k. The public collection costs nothing, with no paywall or signup required. A Blender add-on brings assets into the software's asset browser and provides organized catalogs, resolution switching, automatic texture scaling, and one-click displacement setup. Poly Haven also offers an API whose default endpoints are free for personal, academic, and commercial use without login or an API key. Live API users must provide clear attribution and a unique User-Agent header. The organization says its assets are made by humans, avoiding generative AI and overreliance on procedural methods. Optional paid offerings include Vault access for $3 a month, a Blender add-on via Patreon for $5 a month, or an identical add-on via Superhive for $49, paid once.