Turning a single 360 video into an explorable 3D Gaussian Splat is one of the most exciting workflows in spatial capture right now — one slow walk-through covers an entire space. But if you actually try to do it for free without owning a GPU, the options narrow fast. Most tools either gate 360 input behind a paid plan, charge from day one, or hand you desktop software that runs on your own hardware.
Here's an honest look at the four tools people compare most — Scaniverse, Splatica, MipMap, and FreeGaussian — focused on one question: what does it really cost to turn 360 footage into a splat?
The short answer
FreeGaussian is the only one of these that's free and runs the compute for you for 360 video — we provide the GPUs, so there's nothing to install, no hardware of your own, and no credit card. The others are each strong, but each has a catch when your input is a 360 camera:
- Scaniverse — superb and free on a phone, but 360-camera splat generation sits behind a paid plan.
- Splatica — excellent, high-fidelity 360 results, but there's no free tier at all.
- MipMap — has a free tier and ingests 360 video natively, but it's desktop software you download and run on your own GPU, and the free tier is capped at under 500 images per task.
And yes — there's plenty of capable open-source software for building a splat yourself (COLMAP, Nerfstudio, Postshot, Brush, and 360-specific tools). But all of it means assembling a pipeline and running it on your own machine. The thing none of them give you is free, hosted compute. That's the line FreeGaussian owns: you bring the footage, we run the GPUs.
At a glance
| FreeGaussian | Scaniverse | Splatica | MipMap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 360 video → splat | Yes | Yes (web upload) | Yes (specialty) | Yes (native .insv) |
| Free for 360? | Yes | No — paid plan only | No free tier | Free tier (≤500 images/task) |
| Install required | No — browser | App + web | No — browser | Yes — download desktop app |
| Where it processes | Cloud | Cloud | Cloud | Your machine |
| Credit card to start | No | — | Yes (from ~$49.95/mo) | — |
| Best fit | Fast, free, embeddable scenes | Free phone capture + industrial/VPS | High-fidelity, sim-ready | Local, data-private, mix devices |
(Third-party pricing and limits change often — verify current plans before relying on this.)
Scaniverse (Niantic Spatial)
Scaniverse is one of the best free tools in the whole space — for phone capture. On a smartphone it processes splats on-device, free, with no subscription, and exports standard PLY. Niantic has since expanded it into a web platform that ingests 360-camera footage (native .insv from Insta360, or stitched equirectangular .mp4 from Ricoh Theta, DJI Osmo 360, GoPro) for large-area reconstruction, with PLY/SPZ/FBX exports and VPS integration.
The catch for 360: 360-camera splat generation is part of the paid platform — the free plan doesn't include it (Plus starts around $20/month). So if your input is a 360 camera, Scaniverse is not a free path.
Splatica
Splatica is purpose-built for 360-to-3DGS and has a high-profile partnership with Insta360 and Antigravity drones. The results are genuinely impressive — clean, high-fidelity, simulation-ready scenes with exports for Unity, Unreal, Isaac Sim and Omniverse, aimed at digital twins and Physical AI training.
The catch: there's no free tier. The cheapest plan (Basic) runs around $49.95/month. If you want top-end fidelity for professional or industrial work and have the budget, it's a serious tool — just not a free one.
MipMap
MipMap is the most interesting "free-ish" entry. It natively imports 360 video (.insv from Insta360 and Osmo 360), lets you mix footage from multiple devices in one project, and processes locally — which means your data never leaves your machine and there are no recurring cloud costs. Reviewers note its free tier is genuinely useful, though the product is still early in development.
The catch: it's MipMap Desktop — a Windows application you download and run on your own hardware, and the free ("free forever") tier is limited to tasks with fewer than 500 images. That's a feature if you want data privacy and no subscriptions, and a barrier if you don't have a capable GPU, don't want to install and manage software, or are working at scale. The 500-image cap matters especially for 360: turning a 360 video into a splat means extracting many perspective frames from the footage, so a full-scene capture can hit that limit quickly. It is not a hosted, open-the-browser-and-go service.
FreeGaussian
This is the gap FreeGaussian fills. Upload a 360 video (or any .mp4, or photos) in your browser, and the cloud handles the compute — no install, no GPU, no credit card. You get an explorable scene you can download or embed anywhere.
Put plainly: among these tools, FreeGaussian is the only way to turn 360 footage into a Gaussian splat for free, entirely in the browser, with nothing to install — Scaniverse charges for 360, Splatica charges from the start, and MipMap requires a downloaded desktop app, your own hardware, and caps the free tier at under 500 images per task.
Upload your 360 video → (Free tier · no install · no credit card.)
Which should you choose?
- You just want a free 360 splat without installing anything: FreeGaussian.
- You want to rely on Niantic's established pipeline and have budget: Scaniverse
- You need maximum fidelity for industrial / simulation work and have budget: Splatica.
- You want to keep data local, avoid subscriptions, and have a capable PC: MipMap (free under 500 images/task; download required).
FAQ
Is there a free way to make a Gaussian splat from 360 video? Yes — FreeGaussian does it free in the browser with no install. Scaniverse supports 360 but only on a paid plan, Splatica has no free tier, and MipMap is free only as a downloaded desktop app (capped at under 500 images per task) that runs on your own machine.
What 360 cameras work?
Insta360 (X-series), Ricoh Theta, DJI Osmo 360, and GoPro Max are all common sources. Most cloud tools accept either the raw 360 file or a stitched equirectangular .mp4.
Do I need a powerful computer? Not for cloud tools like FreeGaussian, Scaniverse, or Splatica — they process on their servers. MipMap processes locally, so a capable GPU helps.
Can I embed the result on my website? Yes — FreeGaussian lets you download the splat or embed the interactive scene directly.
Last verified: June 15, 2026. Competitor pricing, free-tier limits, and 360 support change frequently; details above were accurate at time of writing.