Virtual Tour Software Compared: DIY Platforms vs a Built Tour
The kinds of virtual tour software and what each is for: cloud platforms you subscribe to, Matterport, Google Street View, desktop builders such as Pano2VR and 3DVista, and a professionally built tour you own outright. What each costs over time, who controls the branding, and how to choose.
"Virtual tour software" covers four different things, and the choice between them matters more than which brand you pick inside each. This is a plain comparison from people who use most of them, with the one question that decides it at the end.
1. Cloud platforms you subscribe to
Upload panoramas, link them in a browser, add hotspots, publish to a link or an embed. Kuula, CloudPano, Lapentor and their many rivals. Quick to learn, cheap to start, and the tour lives on their servers for as long as you pay. Branding is usually a logo and a colour; the player, the navigation and the accessibility are theirs. The right choice for an agent or a small business making its own tours of modest spaces.
2. Matterport
A platform and a camera system together. The scan produces a measured 3D model, a dollhouse view and floor plans, hosted on Matterport's cloud for a fee per scan. Branding is limited and the player is Matterport's, but nothing else gives you measurements in an afternoon. Our Matterport service starts from £350 per scan with hosting at £60 a year; the complete guide covers the platform.
3. Google Street View
Not software you buy: a place your tour lives. Panoramas are published to Google through its publishing tools, appear in Maps and in your Business Profile, and are hosted by Google for nothing. No branding, no hotspots, no control, and the best reach of anything on this list for a business people find on a map. From £350 per location as a Street View tour.
4. Desktop builders and built tours
Pano2VR, 3DVista and similar: professional tools that build a tour as files you own, with any interface you can design, hosted wherever you like, with no subscription. This is how our bespoke 360 tours are made: branded, with hotspots carrying photographs, documents and video, floor plans, routes, and an interface built to WCAG 2.2 AA. The tools are not hard to buy and are hard to use well; the output is the only kind on this list that still looks like yours in five years. Where your own team needs to edit a built tour, our 360 Studio adds a content management system on top, from £700 plus a licence from £150 a year.
What each costs over time
| To make | Each year | Who owns it | Branding | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud platform (DIY) | Your time, plus a camera | Subscription | Platform | Logo and colours |
| Matterport | From £350 per scan (us), or the camera plus a plan (DIY) | £60 per scan (us) | Matterport | Limited |
| Google Street View | From £350 per location | Nothing | None | |
| Built tour (bespoke) | From £700 | Nothing | You | Entirely yours |
| Built tour with CMS (360 Studio) | From £700 | From £150 | You | Entirely yours |
The question that decides it
Who is going to look at this tour, and what do you need them to do? If the answer is "find us on Google and come in", Street View. If it is "see the layout and the measurements", Matterport. If it is "make their own tour of a flat this afternoon", a cloud platform. If it is "choose our school, find the ward, learn the site, trust the brand", a built tour, because the interface is the product. Bespoke vs Matterport vs Google goes through that choice in more detail, and why a CMS matters covers the editing question.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest way to host a virtual tour?
Google Street View, which is free to host once published, or a bespoke tour supplied as files you host on your own website with no subscription. Every cloud platform charges monthly or yearly for as long as the tour is live.
Can we edit a professionally made tour ourselves?
Yes, if it is built on a platform with a content management system. Our 360 Studio tours are made for that: your team logs in, changes the text, the hotspots and the photographs, and publishes. A bespoke tour built offline is changed by us.
Will a DIY tour be accessible?
Rarely. The consumer platforms vary a great deal in keyboard support, screen-reader labelling and contrast, and none of them will give you an accessibility statement. If the tour is going on a public-sector website, that matters; see our accessible virtual tours page.
Ready to talk about a tour?
Bespoke 360, Matterport 3D or Google Street View: tell us about the space and we will recommend the right format and give you a clear price.