Comparison
Gaussian splatting vs Matterport, fairly compared.
We capture splats for a living, so caveat noted. But the comparison below is the one we'd give an agency director thinking about which format to standardise on. Both formats have a place. Here's where each wins.
| Feature | Gaussian splat | Matterport |
|---|---|---|
| Visual realism | Photoreal — captures actual light and depth | Mesh + photo wallpaper. Functional, not realistic |
| Buyer movement | Free walk in any direction | Snap-to-position between fixed scan points |
| Floor plans | Re-rendered as a £75 add-on, vector format | Auto-generated, RICS-grade, included |
| Mobile playback | 60fps on any device released since 2022 | Stutters on older phones, demanding on data |
| Reflective surfaces | Captured properly, including glass and gloss | Often broken or smeared in the mesh |
| Outdoor capture | Drone splat handles plot, garden, roof | Outdoor support is limited, weather-dependent |
| Hosting cost | 12 months included, no per-view fee | Annual platform fee per active tour, often £80–£200 |
| Source files | You own the splat data forever | Tied to the Matterport platform |
| Capture time | 90 minutes for a typical three-bed | 60 minutes for a typical three-bed |
| Delivery time | 24–48 hours, includes overnight training | Same-day to next-day |
| Per-listing cost (UK) | £345–£495 typical | £250–£500 typical, plus hosting |
Where Matterport still wins
A fair list, no spin.
Matterport's auto-generated, RICS-grade floor plans are still the cleanest workflow in the market for any agency that needs dimensioned plans as a primary deliverable. If your sales process puts the floor plan front and centre, Matterport is the right answer.
The platform's portal integrations are mature. Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket and most agency CRMs treat Matterport as a first-class citizen. Splat URLs embed cleanly through the same iframe field, but Matterport has more years of partnership work behind it.
Cameras, equipment, certified photographers — the supply side is bigger. If you're outside our 30-mile coverage area and want a 3D tour today, Matterport has a denser local network than splat studios do.
Where splats win
The shortlist.
Anything where the tour itself is the marketing asset. Premium stock, period properties, anything where the visual experience needs to do real work. Splats hold buyer attention two to three times longer than Matterport in our viewer analytics.
Properties where the surroundings matter. Drone splat capture brings the plot, garden and roofline into the same walkable space. Matterport doesn't have an equivalent outdoor capture pipeline.
Cost predictability. No per-view fees, no hosting renewals, no platform fees on top of the capture cost. Easier to budget at branch level.
Migration questions
Switching is simpler than you think.
- If we already use Matterport, can we swap to splats easily?
- Yes. The portal field that holds the Matterport URL is the same field that holds a splat URL. You replace one with the other. Past tours don't need to be migrated — they keep working until you choose to retire them.
- Do we lose floor plans if we switch?
- You lose the auto-generated Matterport floor plan. We re-render a vector floor plan from the splat capture as a £75 add-on. For most agencies that's comparable to or cheaper than the Matterport floor plan workflow.
- Will buyers notice the difference?
- Yes. View time per tour roughly doubles when buyers move from Matterport-style to splat tours. The "feels like being there" comment shows up in vendor feedback within the first month.
- Is splatting reliable enough for a national agency to standardise on?
- For UK use in 2026, yes. Zillow, CoStar and Realtor.com all standardised on splats in 2025. The format is mature, the studios are reliable, the workflow is predictable.
Ready to see what a splat looks like next to your last Matterport tour?
Send a comparable address from your archive. We capture, process and hand back the result. Walk both side-by-side and decide for yourself.