PolyWorks|Modeler vs Rhino 3D
PolyWorks|Modeler
polyworks.comRhino 3D
rhino3d.comSide by side
| Figure | PolyWorks|Modeler | Rhino 3D |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $95/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 14 |
| Spec score · 3D modeling software | 7.8 (#97) | 9.5 (#1) |
| Animation tools | No | Yes |
| Founded | 1994 | 1980 |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Headquarters | Quebec City, Canada | The company lists its Seattle, Washington office at 146 N Canal Street, Suite 320. |
| Parametric modeling | Yes | Yes |
| Platform access | desktop | desktop |
| 3D print export | Yes | Yes |
| Render engine | none | both |
| Support | Both listed packages include one year of support and maintenance, with email and telephone technical support and access to the MyPolyWorks online hub. | Support resources include forums, telephone, email, live chat, tutorials, training classes and community sites, with support included in purchase price. |
Plans
Rhino 3D
- Commercial — Rhino 8 single concurrent user$995 a month
- Commercial — Rhino 8, 10 concurrent users$9,950 a month
- Commercial — Rhino 8, 50 concurrent users$49,750 a month
- Commercial upgrade — Rhino 8 single concurrent user$595 a month
- Student or faculty — Rhino 8 single user$195 a month
- Student or faculty upgrade — Rhino 8 single user$95 a month
- School — Rhino 8, 30-user lab$975 a month
- EvaluationFree
- Rhino 8 EvaluationFree
- Rhino 8 Educational Single User$195, paid once
In their own words
PolyWorks|Modeler
PolyWorks|Modeler is Windows desktop software that extracts CAD entities from polygonal models of digitized parts. It creates polygonal models from point clouds in real time and repairs geometry by filling holes, smoothing surfaces, cleaning boundaries, recovering sharp edges, and making surfaces watertight. Editing includes boundary extrusion, surface offsetting, fillet reconstruction, and Boolean operations with CAD models. A NURBS workflow combines interactive curve creation with automatic surfacing to produce editable CAD-friendly models. Users can create constrained parametric 2D sketches with arcs, lines, circles, and splines, then use listed import add-ins for CATIA V5-6, NX, Creo, Inventor, and SolidWorks. Supported polygonal formats include POL, PQK, JT, Nastran NAS, OBJ, PLY, STL, and VRML 2.0; CAD formats include IGES and STEP. NURBS surfaces export to IGES, JT, and STEP, while sketches export to PWSF or IGES. Windows 10 Pro or 11 Pro 64-bit is required, with an x64 quad-core CPU, 8 GB RAM, and a professional OpenGL card with 1 GB memory. Pricing is on request; a free demo is available by request.
Rhino 3D
Rhino 3D is desktop software for Windows and macOS with listed capabilities for parametric modeling, animation, rendering, and 3D print export. The commercial Rhino 8 single concurrent-user license is listed at $995 a month, billed as a permanent license that does not expire. Licenses for 10 and 50 concurrent users are listed at $9,950 a month and $49,750 a month, respectively, also as permanent licenses. Student or faculty and school options are listed, with educational-status or school-licensing requirements. Commercial and student or faculty upgrade options are available, though evaluation versions cannot be upgraded. A free evaluation license costs nothing and lasts 90 days; saving and plugins stop working after that period. The listing describes Rhino 3D as paid while also indicating a free plan and free trial. Its maker is listed as founded in 1980 and based in Seattle, Washington, USA.