Meshroom vs WebODM

Meshroom is a free, node-based visual programming toolbox for creating and running data-processing pipelines. Its AliceVision plugin combines photogrammetry, camera tracking, HDR panorama, lidar meshing, raw image conversion and color calibration workflows. Users connect operations visually to set dependencies, data flow and execution order. Pipelines can run locally or on distributed systems, including local and remote computation in one project. The meshroom_batch command-line interface and JSON pipeline definitions support automated, reproducible execution. Meshroom reuses cached intermediate results and invalidates affected downstream nodes when attributes change. Built-in viewers display logs, images, 3D data and node outputs. Dynamically loaded plugins can run in separate virtual environments, while Meshroom Hub offers domain-specific plugins for computer vision, AI and other tasks. Prebuilt desktop releases are available for Linux and Windows; macOS requires manual packaging. The software is linked to the Mozilla Public License 2.0. Its listed plan costs nothing.

WebODM turns aerial images into georeferenced maps, point clouds, digital elevation models, textured 3D models, and Gaussian splats. It accepts photos or videos from any drone, including JPG, TIFF, video files, and multispectral imagery, and can run on a user's computer while offline. Exports include GeoTIFF, PNG, LAS/LAZ, OBJ, and OGC 3D Tiles. Mapping tools cover measurements, plant-health indexes, ground-control points, elevation contours, rolling-shutter correction, and sharing links. WebODM uses ODX, a free, open-source photogrammetry engine that developers can run from the command line or integrate into software. It can also connect to processing nodes that speak the NodeODX API. The API uses token authentication through the /api/token-auth/ endpoint, with tokens expiring after six hours by default. Model-level and row-level permissions govern whether users can view, add, edit, or delete objects. WebODM is free to install and use locally; optional cloud plans are listed at $24 a month billed yearly for Starter, $35 a month billed yearly for Pro, and $99 a month billed yearly for Business. Minimum requirements are 8 GB RAM and 20 GB disk space; larger datasets have higher recommended requirements.