KeyShot vs RenderMan
KeyShot
keyshot.comRenderMan
renderman.pixar.comSide by side
| Figure | KeyShot | RenderMan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $20.83/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 8 | 3 |
| Spec score · 3D Rendering Software | 8.2 (#10) | 7.8 (#18) |
| Integrations | KeyShot Studio supports native import of 34 3D file formats and offers LiveLinking plugins for design software. | Bridge tools are available for Maya, Houdini, Solaris, Katana, and Blender. |
| Intended users | KeyShot describes Studio as built for physical product teams and lists individual designers, freelancers, small studios, design, engineering, and marketing teams among its audiences. | Pixar describes RenderMan as production rendering software used for feature films, visual effects, and animation. |
| Purpose | KeyShot Studio is 3D visualization software built for product design and CAD data. | RenderMan is Pixar software for rendering visual effects and animation. |
| Support | The pricing page lists critical issue response SLAs of 12 hours for Professional, 4 hours for Business, and 2 hours for Enterprise. | Commercial customers can use Pixar’s customer support forum; non-commercial users receive community support and access to an unofficial Discord. |
Plans
KeyShot
- KeyShot Studio ProfessionalPrice not published
- KeyShot Studio BusinessPrice not published
- KeyShot Studio EnterprisePrice not published
- KeyShot Studio EducationPrice not published
- KeyShot Studio for Education (EDU)$95 a year
- KeyShot Professional$1,299 a year
- KeyShot Business$1,599 a year
- KeyShot EnterprisePriced on request
RenderMan
- Non-Commercial RenderManFree
- Commercial maintenance$250 a year
- Commercial RenderMan$595, paid once
In their own words
KeyShot
KeyShot Studio is 3D visualization software for product design and CAD data. It renders with real-time ray tracing on CPU, GPU, or both, and includes drag-and-drop materials, a procedural material graph, and an HDRI editor for lighting. Local AI tools provide Restyle, Background, Imagine, Transform, and Replace modes. KeyShot supports native import of 34 3D file formats and LiveLinking plugins, including options for Autodesk 3ds Max, Blender, Cinema 4D, and Autodesk Fusion. Its listed outputs and capabilities include image rendering, a product configurator, an interactive 3D viewer, and augmented reality. Plans are listed for individual designers, freelancers, studios, and larger teams, but several plan prices are not shown. KeyShot Professional is $108.25 a year, billed at $108.25 per user per month annually ($1,299.00 per year); KeyShot Business is $133.25 a year, billed at $133.25 per user per month annually ($1,599.00 per year). A 14-day trial is available, but there is no free plan. Linux support is for Network Rendering only. KeyShot Connect lists access controls, single sign-on, guest access, and an audit log; it is in Early Access with a select group of teams.
RenderMan
RenderMan is Pixar’s production rendering software for visual effects and animation, available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its physically based tools include multi-bounce ray-traced global illumination and ray-traced subsurface scattering. RenderMan 27 adds XPU, a hybrid CPU/GPU renderer with multi-GPU support, and a machine-learning denoiser developed with Disney Research and trained on Disney and Pixar data. The Stylized Looks toolset supports approaches such as illustration and anime. Bridge tools connect it with Maya, Houdini, Solaris, Katana, and Blender, while supported standards include Alembic, OpenColorIO, OpenEXR, OpenVDB, OSL, and USD.
RenderMan requires an AVX-capable processor. XPU and the OptiX denoiser also need an Nvidia Pascal-or-newer GPU; XPU requires at least 12 GB of VRAM. Non-commercial use is free but limited to the latest version and excludes Stylized Looks. Commercial licenses are $595 per licence once; maintenance is $250 a year.