iGUIDE vs Matterport: what it costs to still own it in year five.
Matterport is the name most people know. That's a real advantage for them, and it's worth taking seriously. Here is an honest accounting of where the two differ — including where Matterport is the better answer.
Two questions people ask straight after this one: what tour hosting actually costs over five years, and whether you own the tour you paid for.
Hosting is not a one-time cost.
Matterport's published pricing includes hosting at $20 per month, per active tour, or subscription tiers: Starter $9.99/mo for 5 spaces, Professional $69/mo for 25, Business $309/mo for 100.
| Matterport Business plan | iGUIDE | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly hosting | $309 | $0 |
| Year one | $3,708 | $0 |
| Five years | $18,540 | $0 |
| +$50 each | Included | |
| Point cloud exportsample on request | +$150 (E57) | Included (DXF) |
| Can you self-host? | No | Yes — download and host it yourself |
Matterport figures from their published 2026 pricing. Compare against your own quote — plans change.
What happens when you stop paying?
This is the question that matters for documentation, and almost nobody asks it at purchase.
On a subscription platform, spaces go inactive when the plan lapses. That is a reasonable model for marketing content with a short shelf life. It is a bad model for a warranty record, a life safety drawing, a claim file or a litigation exhibit — none of which should have an off switch controlled by a vendor's billing system.
With iGUIDE, the drawings, the point cloud and the photography are delivered as files. Hosting is included, and you can download the walkthrough and host it on your own infrastructure whenever you like. You're not renting access to a record you paid to create.
"If I cancel in three years, what do I still have?"
Ask any provider. The answer tells you what you're actually buying.
Ask for the published specification.
We're not going to characterize another platform's accuracy — we'd be quoting a number we didn't measure. What we'll do is publish ours and recommend you demand the same from anyone bidding.
| iGUIDE published specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Wall distance uncertainty | within 1 cm |
| Distance accuracy | 99.5% |
| Square footage accuracy | 99% |
| Standard permits | 2% uncertainty |
ANSI Z765 permits 2% measurement uncertainty. We run at about half that.
If a measurement is going in front of an appraiser, an adjuster or a court, the question isn't which platform markets better. It's which one publishes a specification and meets it. Ask for the number in writing.
Three cases where we'd tell you to use them.
You need one tour, once
A single space, marketing use, no documentation requirement, no measurement that matters. Matterport's free tier hosts one space at no cost. That's a perfectly good answer, and we're not going to invoice you $2,500 to beat it.
Your client specifically asks for Matterport
Some enterprise workflows and franchise marketing standards are built around it by name. If your client's process requires the Matterport player, use the Matterport player.
You want the specific visual style
Dollhouse view and the Matterport navigation feel are distinctive, and some people simply prefer them. That's a legitimate reason and there's no measurement argument that overrides taste.
Anything where the measurement has to be defensible, where the record must outlive a subscription, where you need DWG or Revit rather than a viewer, or where you're hosting more than a handful of spaces and the monthly line starts compounding.
What people ask when comparing.
Is iGUIDE less well known because it's worse?
It's less well known because it sells primarily to professionals producing measured documentation rather than to a mass consumer market. Different go-to-market, not a quality gap. On measurement specification and file deliverables it is the stronger tool; on brand recognition Matterport wins and we're not going to pretend otherwise.
Can I get CAD and Revit files from a Matterport scan?
Matterport publishes paid exports including an E57 point cloud at $150 and a MatterPak bundle at $100. Whether that is what your CAD team needs depends on the workflow — ask them before you buy, not after. iGUIDE delivers DWG and DXF as standard and Revit as an add-on.
We already have Matterport tours. Do we have to redo them?
No. Keep what works. Most clients who move do it for new capture where documentation matters and leave existing marketing tours alone until the subscription math stops making sense.
What if iGUIDE changes its hosting terms?
Fair question, and the honest answer is that any vendor can change terms. Which is why we deliver the files on every job whether or not you ask. If the drawings, measured geometry and photography are already on your servers, a policy change is an inconvenience rather than a crisis.
Who actually operates the camera?
We do — the same operator on every job. iGUIDE capability is thin across the mountain west and most who have it are companies scanning their own properties rather than firms selling the service. That's a large part of why clients fly us in.