ScreenMind vs Polycam
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and ratings
ScreenMind or Polycam: which should you choose?
| Dimension | ScreenMind | Polycam |
|---|---|---|
| Category | macOS screen memory + local transcription | Reality capture / photogrammetry |
| Pricing model | Free, MIT-licensed | Freemium (Business/Enterprise tiers for exports) |
| Platform | macOS only | iOS, Android, web |
| Core engine | Gemma 4 vision + MiniLM embeddings | LiDAR, photogrammetry, Gaussian splatting |
| Data location | Local only, AES encrypted at rest | Cloud processing on paid tiers |
| Notable outputs | Searchable screen history, meeting notes | 3D models, 2D/3D floor plans, point clouds |
ScreenMind builds a local, searchable AI screen memory with on-device Gemma 4 vision analysis.
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Polycam turns a phone or drone walkthrough into a measured 3D model, floor plan and CAD-ready export.
Visit WebsiteHow do ScreenMind and Polycam compare feature by feature?
Polycam's capability set is physical-world capture: LiDAR and non-LiDAR space capture, object capture from phone photos, AI Capture mode for low-photo-count models, instant 3D and editable 2D floor plans with auto fixture and furniture detection, ruler/pen/auto measure, drone and aerial photogrammetry (up to 2000 images and 30-minute videos on Business and Enterprise), Gaussian splatting with unlimited splats on Basic and up, 360 photospheres, and AI texture and 3D model generation via free web tools. It exports into SketchUp, Xactimate, Unity, Blender, Unreal, Maya, 3ds Max, Rhino, Three.js, and Apple Vision Pro — a pipeline tool for AEC, forensics, and VFX.
ScreenMind captures pixels, not places. It uses pHash content-change detection rather than timers, runs frames through Gemma 4 locally for app detection, activity categorization, mood, scene description, and spatial layout, then indexes everything with MiniLM embeddings plus FTS5 keyword search for hybrid retrieval and conversational RAG chat. It adds voice memos transcribed by Gemma 4's native audio encoder, auto-detected Zoom/Teams/Meet transcription with structured summaries, three analysis modes (~76s, ~40s, ~12s), a sensitive-data filter that redacts cards, SSNs, API keys, and passwords, and AES encryption at rest with a dashboard PIN lock. Integrations are Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Obsidian, Notion, Slack, Discord, and IFTTT.
There is no functional overlap: Polycam measures rooms, ScreenMind remembers screens.
Which is cheaper, ScreenMind or Polycam?
Polycam is freemium, and the paywall is functional rather than cosmetic: floor plans, point cloud exports, and automated measurements require the Business tier, so anyone using it commercially will end up paying. Business and Enterprise unlock photogrammetry up to 2000 images and 30-minute videos, AI-generated reports, custom branding, and higher limits; Enterprise adds SSO, regional cloud storage, and custom billing as paid add-ons. Budget for a subscription, not the free tier, if you need deliverables.
ScreenMind is free and MIT-licensed — no subscription, no seat count, no usage meter. The real costs are hardware and time: it runs locally on any GPU with 4GB VRAM or CPU-only with no NPU required, so older Macs work but slower. There's no paid support, SLA, or admin console, which matters if you're a team. The two pricing models don't overlap in any meaningful way. Polycam's tiers are about unlocking outputs for a business workflow; ScreenMind has no tiers at all because there's no vendor to pay. Comparing their 'cost' side by side tells you nothing about which to buy — you'd be buying them for unrelated jobs.
Who should pick ScreenMind, and who should pick Polycam?
- AEC or facilities managerPick: Polycam
Space capture plus editable 2D/3D floor plans with auto fixture detection lets you produce area records and plans before leaving the site; budget for Business to get exports and measurements.
- Forensics or claims investigatorPick: Polycam
Scene capture, automated measurements, and AI-generated reports with custom branding on Business and Enterprise map directly to claim documentation workflows, with Xactimate in the integration list.
- VFX, media, or product designerPick: Polycam
Object capture, Gaussian splatting, and 360 photospheres feed Unity, Unreal, Blender, Maya, 3ds Max, and Rhino exports without dedicated scanner hardware.
- Privacy-first macOS knowledge workerPick: ScreenMind
Local Gemma 4 analysis, AES encryption at rest, sensitive-data redaction, and no telemetry give you searchable screen memory and RAG chat that never leaves the machine.
- Developer or researcher automating their own historyPick: ScreenMind
Hybrid MiniLM + FTS5 search, MCP Server and Agent platform access, plus Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, and Obsidian integrations make screen history scriptable — and it's free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Could one team plausibly use both?
Only incidentally. A construction-tech firm might scan job sites with Polycam and separately run ScreenMind on a PM's Mac, but the two budgets, owners, and problems are unrelated — nobody evaluates them against each other.
Which is more mature?
Polycam, by a wide margin: multi-platform apps, credentialed commercial tiers, and a published 2026-2027 comparison against Matterport. ScreenMind sits at roughly 216 GitHub stars and 90 commits, with no captured news and no paid support.
Does ScreenMind capture rooms or spaces?
No. It captures your screen — visual activity, app usage, mood, scene description, and meeting audio. It has no measurement, floor plan, or 3D output of any kind.
Does Polycam run locally or on-device?
Polycam is capture-first on phone or drone, with processing and paid-tier outputs delivered through its cloud, and Enterprise adding regional cloud storage. It is not a local-only privacy tool like ScreenMind.
Is the free tier of Polycam enough for professional deliverables?
Polycam's own positioning puts floor plans, point cloud exports, and automated measurements behind Business, so plan to pay for commercial output. ScreenMind is free outright, but offers no SLA, admin controls, or shared dashboards.
Is ScreenMind available on Windows?
It's positioned as a macOS app despite cross-platform autostart code in the repo. Windows or Linux primary users should look elsewhere; Polycam isn't a substitute — it runs on iOS, Android, and web for a completely different task.
What else are ScreenMind and Polycam compared with?
Don't cross-shop these. Polycam is a capture tool that turns the physical world — rooms, prototypes, job sites — into 3D models, floor plans, and point clouds you export to SketchUp, Blender, or Unity
These are not competitors and you should never be choosing between them — Polycam is a capture tool that turns a phone, drone, or LiDAR scan into a 3D model, floor plan, or point cloud, and Notion is
These two don't compete — a buyer almost never chooses between them. Polycam is a capture tool: you point a phone, drone or LiDAR at a physical space and get floor plans, meshes and point clouds you c
These two products never meet in a buying decision, and treating them as rivals would mislead you. If your problem is documenting a physical site — rooms, buildings, props, a claims scene — Polycam is
These tools don't compete — they solve unrelated problems, and no buyer shortlists both. If your problem is running open models locally (GLM, Kimi, DeepSeek, Qwen3.8) for private agentic work, LM Stud
You are not choosing between these. Polycam and Sketch solve different problems for different people, and no buyer with one budget and one job shortlists both. Pick Polycam if you need to digitise a p
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