Photogrammetry Software

The "many photos in, mesh + texture out" core of 3D scanning. Pairs with Photogrammetry Mobile Apps for the capture side, Mesh Processing for cleanup, and Scan-to-CAD / Reverse Engineering when the mesh needs to become a parametric solid. For drone-specific orthomosaic / DSM workflows see Drone Mapping Photogrammetry. Final assets typically end up in 3D & Spatial Design Tools or on the web via 3D / WebGL.

The big 2024–2026 shift: RealityCapture is now free for individuals and small studios under Epic's licensing, which puts a former $7k/year tool on every hobbyist's desktop.

Free / open source

• ★ Meshroom (AliceVision) — the dominant FOSS photogrammetry app. Node-graph UI, full SfM → MVS → meshing → texturing pipeline, GPU-accelerated. MPL2. Active development, with Gaussian-splatting nodes landing through 2025–2026. The default free pick if you have an NVIDIA GPU.
• ★ COLMAP — the academic standard for Structure-from-Motion and Multi-View Stereo. Used as the front-end of nearly every research paper (and most NeRF / splat trainers — see NeRF & Radiance Fields). BSD. CLI + minimal GUI; rock-solid camera calibration.
• ★ OpenMVG + OpenMVS — modular OSS pipeline; OpenMVG for SfM, OpenMVS for dense MVS / meshing. MPL2 / AGPL. Scriptable, more permissive than Meshroom for custom pipelines.
• MicMac — French IGN's OSS pipeline; metric-grade, used in heritage / surveying / archaeology. CECILL-B. Steep CLI learning curve but rigorous.
• Regard3D — OSS GUI wrapper around OpenMVG; friendlier entry point.
• VisualSFM — free closed-source; effectively sunset (last update 2015) but still works for casual use.
• Theia — research-grade SfM library; MIT.
• MVE (Multi-View Environment) — older OSS pipeline; mostly historical interest now.

Free with caveats (commercial-friendly under conditions)

• ★ RealityCapture (Capturing Reality / Epic Games) — closed source; free for individuals, students, and companies under $1M revenue since 2024. Famous for speed and quality on huge datasets; the de-facto pro tool, now democratised. Windows only, NVIDIA-GPU only. The single biggest news in photogrammetry this decade.
• 3DF Zephyr Free — closed source; free tier limited to 50 photos; paid Lite / Pro / Aerial above that. Good Windows GUI, popular in heritage workflows.
• Agisoft Metashape Standard — closed source, paid ($180); standard tier handles most non-aerial work. Pro tier ($3,500) adds DSM/orthomosaic/multispectral for surveying.

Paid / pro

• Agisoft Metashape Pro — closed source, paid; gold standard for archaeology, cultural heritage, and surveying outside the Pix4D / RealityCapture axis.
• Pix4Dmapper / Pix4Dmatic / Pix4Dfields — paid pro; aerial-mapping focus. See Drone Mapping Photogrammetry.
• Bentley iTwin Capture (formerly ContextCapture) — paid; large-scale reality modeling, common in AEC.
• Autodesk ReCap Pro — paid; reality-capture front end for the Autodesk pipeline.
• DroneDeploy — paid SaaS; drone mapping. See Drone Mapping Photogrammetry.

Mobile-first photogrammetry

For phone-based capture (any phone, optionally LiDAR), see the dedicated Photogrammetry Mobile Apps page covering Polycam, KIRI Engine, Luma AI, Scaniverse, and RealityScan.

Capture tips that matter more than the software

• Diffuse, even lighting — overcast outdoor light is famously kind to photogrammetry. Avoid hard shadows that "stick" to the texture.
• Coverage: 60–80% overlap between adjacent shots, multiple elevations, full circumference.
• Avoid glossy / transparent / featureless surfaces — or apply temporary scan spray. See Scan Capture Accessories.
• Lock exposure / white balance for the whole capture; raw is better than JPEG; prime lens > zoom.
• Scale reference: a coded ChArUco target or known-length object placed in scene, so the resulting mesh has metric scale.

Output formats & next steps

Most apps export OBJ, PLY, FBX, or glTF. For converting / optimizing those, see 3D Format Converters; for cleanup and decimation see Mesh Processing; for scan-to-solid see Scan-to-CAD / Reverse Engineering; for web embeds see 3D / WebGL.

Pick this if…

• Default FOSS, NVIDIA GPU, hobbyist: Meshroom.
• Anything serious now that it's free: RealityCapture (Windows + NVIDIA).
• Reproducible, scriptable, custom pipeline: COLMAP or OpenMVG + OpenMVS.
• Heritage / archaeology / metric rigor: MicMac or Metashape Pro.
• Phone-only capture: see Photogrammetry Mobile Apps.
• Drone aerial / orthomosaic: see Drone Mapping Photogrammetry.
• Want a Gaussian splat instead of a mesh: see Gaussian Splatting.