Price terms as published

Each line is the vendor’s own wording, split from the price capture checked on 2026-10-26. Nothing here is rounded, converted or re-worded — the full sentences stay in the review below. Lines that carry only a price continue the plan named on the line above, in the vendor’s own order.

8 price terms for zCAD AI vs Meshy
#Plan / termChecked
1zCAD: Free (Beta)2026-10-26
2$58.90/mo2026-10-26
3Meshy: Free2026-10-26
4$202026-10-26
5$402026-10-26
6$1002026-10-26
7Studio $70+2026-10-26
8Enterprise2026-10-26

One-liner: zCAD AI vs Meshy is really “what do you need the 3D for?” — an editable, dimensioned CAD assembly that flows into manufacturing (zCAD AI, STEP out) or a textured, animated mesh asset that flows into a game engine or renderer (Meshy, FBX/OBJ/GLB/STL/USDZ out). Same prompt-in, opposite world-out.

Everything below was checked against the official sites and pricing pages of both products (fetched 2026-10-26) and third-party reviews. Neither product was hands-on tested here; both entries are official-terms.

Verified facts (both official pricing pages, 2026-10-26)

Dimension zCAD AI Meshy
What it outputs Parametric solid assembly: driving dimensions, geometric constraints, assembly mates; parts + mates from one prompt Textured 3D mesh asset: text-to-3D, image-to-3D, AI texturing, rigging & animation, remesh
CAD workflow zCAD. AI (generation) → zCAD. Online (modeling, drawings, sheet metal, analysis, team co-editing); same model, no export/import between them Generation/export oriented: DCC bridge (Blender, Unity, Unreal, Godot, Roblox, Maya, 3ds Max), API, MCP & Skill for AI agents
Export formats STEP (plus STL/3MF/OBJ during Beta); reads SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, Inventor, Solid Edge, STEP, Parasolid FBX, OBJ, GLB, STL, USDZ (standard 3D asset formats)
Free tier Personal free (Beta: all modeling tools; after Beta: reduced set, STL/3MF/OBJ) 100 monthly credits, 1 concurrent task, low queue, attribution license
Paid tiers Online Standard $58.90/user/mo (Beta price, 200 AI credits/mo, private models, team workspace); Online Pro TBD; Enterprise custom Pro $20/mo (1,000 credits), Premium $40/mo (3,000), Ultra $100/mo (8,000), Studio $70/mo + $10/seat (5,500 shared), Enterprise custom; 50% off first month
Audience Hardware/fixture/mechanical engineers, product designers, engineering teams Game developers, creators, studios, 3D artists, AI-agent workflows
Launch moment Product Hunt daily #1 on Oct 24, 2026 (Launch of the Day) Established: 3,888 Trustpilot reviews at 4.7/5; “20M+ models made” per third-party coverage

Getting started side by side

Both are browser products. In zCAD AI you describe the part (“a bracket has to hold a sensor on an existing hole pattern; the spacing is fixed, the height is not”), optionally add a reference image, and get an editable assembly in zCAD. AI, then continue the same model in zCAD. Online for drawings and manufacturing data — no import/export step between the two. In Meshy you type a prompt or drop an image, pick text-to-3D or image-to-3D, generate a textured mesh, then use texturing, remesh (free, per the Medium hands-on review) and animation tools; an AI “3D agent” orchestrates the steps and shows a credit price before each tool call.

What it costs

Both price by AI credits, with a free tier and paid subscriptions:

  • zCAD AI: Personal is $0 during Beta (non-commercial, public models; after Beta the free plan keeps a reduced feature set and STL/3MF/OBJ exports). Online Standard is $58.90 per user/month at the Beta price, including 200 AI credits/month that reset monthly, private models, commercial use, team workspace and version history. Online Pro is TBD; Enterprise is contact-sales. All figures read from zcad.ai/pricing on 2026-10-26.
  • Meshy: Free $0 (100 credits/month, attribution license); Pro $20/mo (1,000 credits, up to 100 assets); Premium $40/mo (3,000 credits, up to 300 assets, most popular per the pricing page); Ultra $100/mo (8,000 credits, up to 800 assets); Studio $70/mo billed yearly + $10/seat (5,500 shared credits); Enterprise custom. New-user offer: 50% off the first month. Read from meshy.ai/pricing on 2026-10-26.

The honest caveat on both: zCAD’s $58.90 is explicitly a Beta price that can change, and Meshy’s credit consumption per task (a Medium hands-on review from 2026 lists 9 credits for a concept image via gpt-image-2, 20–25 credits for image-to-3D, remesh free) is the real usage economics that the tier tables don’t show.

Which one when

  • Pick zCAD AI if the output must be an engineering object: dimension-driven, editable, with mates, drawings and STEP export — a bracket that fits existing hardware, a fixture around a machine table, a moldable enclosure. Meshy’s mesh has no dimension system; you would redraw it in CAD anyway.
  • Pick Meshy if the output is a visual asset: game props, characters, product shots, AR/VR content, animated and rigged models. zCAD’s parametric world is overkill and its mesh-quality texturing/animation toolchain simply does not exist there.
  • Both, occasionally: a workflow can start with Meshy for concept exploration and move to CAD once the form is settled — but there is no direct mesh→parametric conversion between them, so that handoff is a rebuild, not an import.
  • Budget: if you are a single engineer, zCAD’s free Beta is generous (“all available features, free”) while Meshy’s free tier is thin (100 credits); if you are a high-volume creator, Meshy’s credit ladder ($20→$40→$100) scales explicitly, while zCAD’s generation cost per prompt is not published.

Where to stay honest

  • No hands-on testing on either side: “it produces manufacturable assemblies” (zCAD) and “20M+ models made” (Meshy, from third-party coverage) are maker/third-party claims, not verified results here.
  • zCAD is a 2-day-old launch (Oct 24, 2026); Meshy is the mature incumbent — expect zCAD’s pricing and feature scope to move fastest.
  • Credit consumption is the real cost driver on both and is only partially published; check the in-product credit meter before committing.
  • No affiliate relationship to either product; all prices dated 2026-10-26.

Who this comparison is for

  • Engineers or makers deciding whether “text-to-3D” can feed their CAD/manufacturing pipeline (→ zCAD AI, then validate STEP in your own CAD)
  • Game/VFX creators deciding whether to automate asset generation (→ Meshy, then validate topology/texture budget)
  • Anyone who searched “AI 3D tool” and needs to know that prompt-in/3D-out hides two completely different deliverables.

Sources