MeshLab vs ZBrush
MeshLab
meshlab.net
ZBrush
maxon.netSide by side
| Figure | MeshLab | ZBrush |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 7 |
| Spec score · 3D modeling software | 8.9 (#14) | 9.3 (#2) |
| Founded | 2005 | 1986 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Headquarters | Pisa, Italy | Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany |
| Notable news | The Visual Computing Lab announced a new PhD course on geometric computing for design and optimization on 20 March 2026. | Maxon announced on January 11, 2022 that it completed its acquisition of Pixologic, ZBrush's former developer. |
| Rating on Apple App Store | 3.7 out of 5 from 45 ratings | 4.1 out of 5 from 247 ratings. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.4 out of 5 from 24 reviews | 4.7 out of 5 from 104 reviews. |
| Support | Official support points users to YouTube tutorials, Stack Overflow for usage questions and GitHub for reproducible bugs. | Maxon provides a support center with knowledge-base articles, ticket support, installers, requirements, release notes, training and community forums. |
| What it does | MeshLab processes and edits large, unstructured triangular meshes from 3D scanning and related workflows. | ZBrush is a digital sculpting, modeling and painting application built around virtual-clay workflows. |
Plans
ZBrush
- ZBrush for iPad Free PlanFree
- ZBrush for iPad SubscriptionPrice not published
- ZBrush for iPad SubscriptionPriced on request
- ZBrush DesktopPrice not published
- ZBrush DesktopPriced on request
- ZBrush for iPad$33.25 a month
- ZBrush$399 a year
In their own words
MeshLab
MeshLab is a free desktop system for processing and editing 3D triangular meshes, including unstructured models produced by 3D scanning. Its tools cover editing, cleaning, repair, inspection, rendering, texturing, and conversion. The site describes using it to process raw data from 3D digitization and prepare models for 3D printing. MeshLab supports PTX point-cloud and range-map files, and listed export formats include PLY, STL, OBJ, OFF, WRL, and DXF. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux and is distributed under the GPL 3.0 license. PyMeshLab provides a Python interface for loading and saving meshes and applying MeshLab filters; the VCG code can be used in a standalone, large-scale automated processing pipeline. The listed MeshLab 2025.07 release is dated September 9, 2025, and includes ARM64 support on Linux and macOS plus 3MF support. The site points usage questions to Stack Overflow and bug reports to GitHub, with video learning resources for basics, features, scanning workflows, and mesh cleaning.
ZBrush
ZBrush is a 3D sculpting and modeling application with desktop and iPad offerings. Its listed tools include sculpting, parametric modeling, animation, rendering and 3D print export. Desktop is listed for Windows and macOS, while a separate supported-platform list also includes Linux. The desktop plan includes ZBrush for iPad and advanced sculpting, modeling, rendering and export tools. Rendering is described as hybrid, with GPU and animation rendering and denoising. Listed workload areas include CPU and GPU rendering, ray tracing, shader execution and geometry processing. Other listed capabilities include rotoscoping, 3D camera tracking, custom test profiles and CLI or automation support. The listed result export formats are none documented, and results are not saved as a file. Headquarters are listed as both Bad Homburg vor der Höhe and Friedrichsdorf, Germany; the maker is listed as founded in 1986.