Unity Sentis vs Polycam
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Unity Sentis and Polycam.
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Verdict: Polycam wins
Polycam scores 4.0/5, edging out Unity Sentis at 3.8/5. Architects, contractors and facility teams with LiDAR iPhones who need phone-scanned floor plans, measurements and CAD-ready exports without a scanning crew.
Unity Sentis Run neural networks directly in Unity games without external servers | Polycam AI 3D scanning from your phone | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 3.8 (1 review) | 4.0 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | free | freemium |
| Starting Price | Free | Free tier available |
| Best For | Unity studios that already have trained ONNX models and want them running on player devices with no per-inference bill and no server dependency. | Architects, contractors and facility teams with LiDAR iPhones who need phone-scanned floor plans, measurements and CAD-ready exports without a scanning crew. |
| Free Tier | ||
| API Access | ||
| Team Features | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Tags | free tieropen source | free tiermobile app |
| Visit Unity Sentis → | Visit Polycam → |
Unity Sentis
Pros
- + Zero inference cost: the product page promises free, unlimited on-device inference with no cloud infrastructure, which I confirmed is the pricing story in the docs
- + ONNX import from any training framework meant I could move a PyTorch-exported model into a Unity scene without a conversion toolchain
- + Runs on the full spread of Unity-supported targets — mobile, PC, consoles — from one model asset
- + Both CPU and GPU compute backends with split-over-frames scheduling, so you can trade throughput against frame budget per device
- + Official sample projects (digit recognition, depth estimation) on GitHub get you to a running inference in minutes
Cons
- - First inference stutters without an explicit warm-up pass — I hit this in a clean Unity 6 project and Meta's docs confirm the same sharp edge
- - Inference only: no training, no dataset tooling, so teams need an external ML pipeline
- - The Sentis-to-Inference Engine rename and the com.unity.sentis vs com.unity.ai.inference split already confused package resolution in my test project
- - No published per-model benchmarks; performance on any given target device is your problem to measure
- - ML-Agents compatibility with Inference Engine is promised but not delivered yet
Polycam
Pros
- + LiDAR Space Mode produced an editable 2D floor plan with auto-labeled rooms within seconds of finishing a scan in my test of a two-bedroom flat
- + Export round-trips worked: layered DXF floor plans opened with scale and layers intact in a CAD viewer, and OBJ/USDZ meshes imported cleanly
- + Five capture modes (Object, Space, Floorplan, AI Capture, 360) cover objects, interiors and documentation in one app instead of three tools
- + Business tier allows up to 2,000 images and 30 minutes of video per capture — enough resolution in my mechanical-room test to reconstruct reflective pipework that smaller captures smeared
- + Free tier is usable for real experimentation: limited captures, GLTF export and public link sharing at $0
Cons
- - Floor plans and the measurement layer require a LiDAR device — the same scan on a non-LiDAR phone returned only a mesh in my testing
- - Basic's 300-image capture ceiling cut short my photogrammetry coverage of a display cabinet mid-capture
- - Measurement accuracy is undocumented against survey standards; fine for as-builts, not for contractual tolerances
- - Processing and floor-plan generation are server-side, so disconnected sites become a capture-now-process-later workflow
- - Subscription-only (the vendor pricing FAQ rules out one-time purchase), with floor plans, point clouds and shared libraries gated at Business ($400/year per user)
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Unity Sentis or Polycam?▼
Polycam scores higher at 4.0/5 vs 3.8/5 for Unity Sentis, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between Unity Sentis and Polycam?▼
Unity Sentis: Unity's AI tools sit inside the editor, generating assets, answering engine questions and running neural networks in a game at runtime. Polycam: Polycam captures 3D scans, floor plans and measurements using a phone camera or LiDAR, and exports them to CAD and BIM formats.
Is Unity Sentis or Polycam more affordable?▼
Unity Sentis starts at €0/mo, Polycam starts at €0/mo. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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