Miro vs Polycam
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and ratings
At a glance
| Dimension | Miro | Polycam |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI-powered multiplayer visual collaboration canvas with prototyping | Reality capture: LiDAR/photo/drone scans to 3D models, floor plans, point clouds |
| Pricing model | Freemium; per-seat pricing, governance/scale behind higher tiers | Freemium; photogrammetry, Gaussian splatting and point-cloud exports gated to paid tiers |
| Core output | Boards, docs, tables, slides, diagrams, kanban, clickable prototypes | GLTF, OBJ, FBX, STL, USDZ meshes; PLY, LAS, Geo-LAS point clouds; DXF plans |
| AI angle | AI Sidekicks, AI Flows automation, MCP server for Claude/Cursor/Copilot | AI object capture, auto fixture/furniture detection, AI 3D model and texture generators |
| Key integrations | Claude, Figma, Jira, Confluence, Slack, Teams, Google Drive, Dropbox | SketchUp, Unity, Unreal, Blender, Maya, Rhino, Xactimate, Apple Vision Pro |
| Works best | Distributed teams planning, reviewing and prototyping together | On-site capture before leaving the site — indoor, outdoor, drone, 360 |
Miro is an AI-powered visual collaboration canvas where teams and agents plan, prototype, and build together.
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Polycam turns phone LiDAR, photos and drone footage into 3D models, floor plans and point clouds for AEC and real estate teams.
Visit WebsiteWhat real users say: Miro vs Polycam
Not marketing copy and not our opinion — a structured sweep of public discussion (reviews, forums, communities and video comments), showing what people praise and what they complain about for each tool.
Miro
78 mentions across 5 sources · 44% positive — mixed (averaged across 5 sources)
Hacker News, YouTube, Product Hunt, Bluesky, Lemmy
What users praise
- • Widely recognized as a standard tool in design and product roles.
- • Product Hunt ratings are high (4.88 stars) from a modest sample.
- • Large user base (100M+ users) suggests proven scalability.
- • Integrates with 250+ tools, including Jira, Slack, and Figma.
What frustrates them
- • Onboarding fails to clarify the tool's core purpose for some users.
- • Sparse community discussion makes it hard to find solutions or tips.
- • Cannot be self-hosted, limiting appeal for security-conscious teams.
- • May not suit those who prefer handwriting or linear note-taking.
Researched Jul 26, 2026
Polycam
64 mentions across 5 sources · 49% positive — mixed (weighted across 5 sources)
Reddit, Hacker News, YouTube, Product Hunt, App Store
What users praise
- • Fast one-visit site capture with phone LiDAR — no dedicated scanner hardware required
- • Floor plan generation with editable walls, fixtures, and room labels is genuinely useful for AEC walkthroughs
- • Wide export coverage: seven mesh formats plus six point cloud formats including LAS and Geo-LAS
- • Cross-platform (iOS, Android, web) means teams can scan on the phone they already carry
What frustrates them
- • Auto-renew after the 7-day trial has produced multiple 1-star 'scam' App Store reviews
- • Support is 'slow' and 'the worst' per Reddit — no phone line, weeks of silence on billing issues
- • Measurement accuracy is inconsistent — one App Store reviewer calls results 'very inaccurate'
- • Free tier feels like adware: 3 AI captures, 150 images, features that used to be free are paywalled
Researched Oct 14, 2026
Feature-by-feature
Polycam's feature set is physical-world input. Capture splits into Spatial, Object, Floorplan and Drone/Aerial modes, with floor plans shipping auto fixture and furniture detection, editable wall thickness and color themes, room labels, a compass and floor-area calculation. Measuring covers ruler, pen, auto and interior tools. Output is the real differentiator: mesh exports in GLTF, OBJ, FBX, DAE, STL, USDZ, ESX; point clouds in PLY, LAS, Geo-LAS, PTS, XYZ and DXF; and Gaussian splatting with unlimited splats on paid tiers. Photogrammetry scales to 2000 images and 30-minute videos on Business and Enterprise. Polycam's own documentation warns where building codes still require manual tape measures on stairs, and the not-for list concedes survey-grade accuracy belongs to FARO and Leica-class hardware.
Miro's features are all about human coordination on a screen. The core is an infinite multiplayer canvas layered with Docs, Tables, Slides, Diagrams and Kanban. Its AI is team-oriented rather than capture-oriented: Sidekicks for brainstorming, synthesis and sticky-note clustering; AI Flows to automate repeatable collaborative processes on the canvas; and an MCP server that lets Claude, NotebookLM, Cursor and Copilot read and write board content. Miro Prototypes converts screenshots, HTML, code, prompts or board content into prototypes, with screenshot-to-prototype style matching, Figma import for multi-screen flows, prototype variations from a single prompt, styled buttons and URL-based theming. Claude Design integration sends designs to boards in one click; Claude Code pushes explorations onto the canvas as prototype screens. Neither feature list substitutes for the other.
Pricing compared
Both are freemium, but they meter completely different things, which is why a price comparison between them is close to meaningless. Polycam gates capability, not seats-per-collaboration: the free tier lets you scan, but hobbyists shouldn't expect unlimited free scans, 2000-image photogrammetry or point-cloud exports without paying. Gaussian splatting with unlimited splats, large-image photogrammetry and the full export formats sit on paid tiers, with 2000-image and 30-minute video photogrammetry reserved for Business and Enterprise. Polycam's stated gap is organizational rather than functional: no SSO, regional cloud storage or dedicated support until you step up to Enterprise. So budget for an Enterprise conversation if procurement or data residency is in the room.
Miro meters by people and governance. Multiple people on a board is the product, so per-seat pricing scales with team size, and the not-for list explicitly flags budget-conscious small teams that find per-seat pricing prohibitive for basic needs and solo users wanting a simple free sketch pad without board limits. Advanced governance and AI orchestration land in the enterprise tier, alongside the AI Sidekicks, AI Flows and MCP connectivity that make Miro more than a whiteboard. Practical read: a five-person AEC crew pays Polycam for capture volume and export formats; a fifty-person product org pays Miro per head for collaboration and admin controls. Different budgets, different line items, no real head-to-head.
Who should pick which
- AEC or forensics crew documenting a sitePick: Polycam
Floorplan mode with auto fixture detection, editable wall thickness and floor-area calculation gets 2D/3D plans and blueprints before leaving the site, with DXF and point-cloud exports for downstream tools.
- Product team running sprint planning and retrosPick: Miro
The infinite multiplayer canvas plus AI Sidekicks and AI Flows is built for distributed planning, synthesis and repeatable collaborative ceremony, which Polycam does not attempt.
- Design/UX team doing rapid prototyping and reviewsPick: Miro
Screenshot-to-prototype with style matching, Figma import, one-click Claude Design import and prototype variations directly serve design review loops.
- Engineering team wiring coding agents into planningPick: Miro
The MCP server lets Claude, Cursor and Copilot read and write board content, and Claude Code can push explorations onto the canvas as prototype screens.
- Product designer capturing a physical prototype for CAD reviewPick: Polycam
Object mode plus mesh exports in GLTF, OBJ, FBX, STL and USDZ, and integrations into SketchUp, Blender, Rhino and Unreal, make phone photos usable downstream.
Frequently Asked Questions
Would an AEC firm ever buy Miro instead of Polycam?
Not instead of — Miro has no capture, floor-plan generation or mesh/point-cloud export capability. A firm could run Polycam for on-site capture and Miro for project coordination, which is why the two rarely appear on the same shortlist.
Polycam advertises that stair and code dimensions can be captured without manual tape measuring — is that accurate?
Polycam's own not-for list says builders shouldn't expect stair and code dimensions without any manual tape measuring, and its September 2026 tutorial notes where building codes still require manual tape measures. Treat scan data as documentation, not a code-compliance measurement.
Does Polycam replace survey-grade scanner hardware?
No. Polycam states that projects requiring survey-grade or millimetric accuracy are still owned by FARO and Leica-class hardware, and its not-for list also flags fully offline capture as something to validate against your own site conditions.
Is Miro's AI just a chatbot bolted onto a whiteboard?
Its positioning is explicitly the opposite: AI Sidekicks and AI Flows operate on canvas content, an MCP server lets external agents read and write board content, and Miro pitches itself as the collaboration layer for teams embedding agents into product development rather than adding chat.
What does Miro's prototyping actually accept as input?
Screenshots, HTML, code, prompts or existing board content — plus imported Figma asset links for connected multi-screen flows. Screenshot conversion matches the original UI styling, and a single prompt can generate multiple prototype directions.
Do I need an enterprise plan for either tool?
On Polycam, SSO, regional cloud storage and dedicated support require Enterprise. On Miro, advanced governance and AI orchestration sit at the enterprise tier, and per-seat pricing is a common objection for small teams doing basic work.
More Miro or Polycam comparisons
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Last reviewed: September 25, 2026