Stori3D in detail
How it compares with the tools you know, everything in the box, and how your work stays yours.
How it compares
Where Stori3D stands.
Beside the tools most practices already use, and where Stori3D fits next to them.
| Stori3D | SketchUp Pro | Revit | Archicad | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Designing and documenting | ||||
| Parametric walls, doors, windows, roofs, stairs and beams | Yes. Curved walls too; openings follow the arc | No. Generic geometry; walls through add-ons | Yes. Plus families for custom parts | Yes. |
| Plans, sections and sheets from the model | Yes. Title blocks, issued as one PDF | Yes. Through LayOut, on the desktop | Yes. | Yes. |
| Several people editing one model at once | Yes. Live in team projects; your own undo | No. One editor; others watch live | Yes. Worksharing on a central model | Yes. Teamwork, through BIMcloud |
| IFC import and export | Yes. IFC 2x3, 4 and 4x3 in; IFC 4 out | Yes. IFC 2x3 and IFC 4 | Yes. | Yes. |
| Realistic renders built in, without credits | Yes. Path-traced, on your graphics card | Partly. V-Ray in Studio only; AI renders cost credits | Yes. Raytracer built in; cloud renders cost credits | Yes. Cineware built in; AI Visualizer costs credits |
| Showing the client | ||||
| A 3D link the client opens in a browser | Yes. View links, review links and tours | Yes. View link through Trimble Connect | Yes. Shared Views link; expires after 30 days | Yes. BIMx Web, a published snapshot |
| Clients comment in the 3D model with no account | Yes. Guests comment by name, no sign-up | No. Public links are view-only | No. Commenting needs an Autodesk account | No. Needs the BIMx app and an account |
| VR walkthroughs | Yes. In the Quest's browser, from a link | No. Quest viewer withdrawn in 2025 | Partly. Through the included Twinmotion app | Partly. Phone Cardboard VR in BIMx |
| Platform and AI | ||||
| Runs in the browser, nothing to install | Yes. Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox | Partly. Desktop app, with a lighter web version | No. Windows desktop app | No. Desktop app |
| Mac and Windows | Yes. Tablets too, in the browser | Yes. | No. Windows only; Mac through Parallels | Yes. |
| Works with AI agents | Yes. Claude, Codex, Cursor and others, over MCP | Partly. Claude connector makes new models only | Partly. MCP server in technical preview | Partly. MCP in beta, Collaborate and Max only |
Checked on 15 October 2026 against each company's own website. Products change: if something here is out of date, tell us. SketchUp is a trademark of Trimble Inc., Revit of Autodesk, Inc. and Archicad of Graphisoft SE. Stori3D isn't affiliated with them.
Everything in the box
The full feature list.
Highlights: what most people choose Stori3D for.
Modelling
- Straight and curved walls, rooms and areas
- Levels, slabs, and hip or gable roofs over L and T plans
- Stairs with landings or winders, and columns
- Structural grids, beams, ramps and lift shafts
- Parking bays at 90°, 60° or 45°, numbered and counted
- Parametric doors and windows, left or right hand
- Shapes and arcs, push/pull with holes, offset and Follow Me
- Faces and edges: select, move, paint and erase
- Solid tools: union, subtract, trim, intersect, outer shell, split
- Mirror and flip
- Groups and components, glued to walls with their openings
- Lines, freehand and split faces
- Tag folders and the Tag tool
- Move, rotate and scale, typed exactly, with linear and radial arrays
- Select by rectangle or lasso, window or crossing, by tag or finish, and isolate
- 3D snapping to corners, edges, faces and crossings
- SketchUp's mouse, keyboard shortcuts and Measurements box
- Quick, a short toolbar for rooms and paint, or Architect, SketchUp's menus and toolbars
- A Room tool, and painting a whole room in one click
- Parallel and perpendicular inference, and arrow-key and Shift locks
- Your own keyboard shortcuts and toolbar, and axis colours for colour-blind eyes
- Trackpad and touch gestures, pens, and a 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse
- Connection points, as SketchUp's Snaps
- A script console, and overlays drawn by scripts and agents
- Guide lines and points, a protractor, and resizing by a measured length
- Reference photos and elevations standing in 3D
- Snapping, typed lengths, metric and imperial, to the precision you set
- Dimensions, text and 3D lettering in the model
- Terrain from contours, with a sculpting brush
Drawings & data
- Plans, elevations, sections
- Dimensions, notes, leaders and tags on drawings
- Sheets with title blocks, as one PDF set
- Practice title blocks, templates and revision tables
- Views that keep their style, section cut and scale, with vector lines
- Metric and US scales (1/4" = 1'-0")
- Section lines at any angle, hatched cuts
- Hatch patterns, pens and line types per tag
- Labels from element data and your own fields
- Named section planes in 3D, at any angle, kept in scenes
- Wall types with layers, in drawings and IFC
- SVG, DXF with real dimensions, and print to PDF
- Drafting and symbols on sheets, on layers, with offset, trim and fillet
- Spreadsheet tables, CAD title blocks and auto-text on sheets
- Crop boxes and enlarged details on sheets
- DXF, PDF and image underlays to trace
- Room, door and window schedules
- Reports with your own columns, filters and totals
- CSV and Excel export
- Custom properties on any element
- Products from manufacturers' files, with a product schedule
- Tags and renovation phases
- IFC 4 import and export
- IFC classes for anything you model, spaces kept on import
- Clash detection against consultants' models, tracked from run to run and out as BCF
- Laser scans (LAS) by map coordinates, with snapping to their points
- DXF layers in and out as tags
- Map coordinates (EPSG grids) in IFC and DXF
- Models in from IFC, SketchUp (COLLADA), FBX, glTF and OBJ
Visualisation
- Over 120 materials, 200+ models, 18 skies
- A night sky with stars and a moon
- Gaussian splats, and AR set out from the model's origin
- Pen, pencil, marker and charcoal strokes
- Trees, hedges, people and cars for scale
- Your own photo finishes and HDRI skies
- Match Photo to a picture of the site
- Site maps, terrain and sun studies
- One-click solstice shadow sheets
- Sun-hours maps and daylight per room
- A year of daylight: sDA and ASE per room
- Climate from EPW weather files, with design guidance
- Path-traced renders at print size
- Downlights with IES profiles and ceiling panels
- 360° panoramas, fast or path-traced, and panorama tours
- Finish patterns moved, turned and sized with pins
- Sketch, monochrome, clay, hidden-line and X-ray styles
- Present mode with a laser pointer
- Ambient occlusion and profile lines
- Edge colours, depth cue, back edges and sketchy lines
- Fog, watermarks and styles of your own
- Saved views that remember the display, hidden objects and the sky
- Image export: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, SVG and EPS
- Walk mode, VR and AR
- glTF, USDZ, OBJ, STL, PLY and 3D DXF export
Collaboration
- Cloud projects on any device
- Version history
- Files kept with each project
- Live view-only and review links
- Pinned comments and markup, and issues out as BCF
- Walkthrough tour links
- Tour videos (MP4, HD to 4K)
- Teams, roles, live co-editing, presence and following
- Team library in folders, with linked pieces
- Project templates and duplicate projects
Platform
- WebGPU, with WebGL as a fallback
- Works offline on the open project
- Works with your AI tool, over MCP
- A scripting API
- Help from us inside the app
- Light and dark themes
Your work stays yours
Straightforward about your data.
- Open formats out. Take your model with you at any time as IFC, glTF or OBJ, and your drawings as DXF or SVG.
- No ad trackers. Anonymous usage statistics (Google Analytics) help us improve the app and this site. In Europe they're off until you allow them, and anyone can turn them off: in the app under Settings › Privacy, and here under Usage statistics.
- Nothing lost. Every save is versioned, and a copy of the open project stays in your browser, so you can keep working offline.
- You choose what's shared. Links are view-only unless you turn on comments, and you can stop sharing at any time.
- Your AI, your keys. AI agents run in your own AI tool and connect only when you press Connect in the app.
- Free to reuse. Use anything in the library in client work, without credit: the materials, skies and most models are CC0, and the rest are our own Stori3D originals.
Your next client meeting
starts with a link.
- Draw it, or bring it in
- Set the light and the route
- Send the link