Tripo is quick and popular, and it runs as a cloud service billed by credit. 3D Mate runs image-to-3D on your own Mac instead. It even ships engines from the same family, TripoSR and TripoSG, so you get local speed with no account, no upload, and no meter.
Short answer: 3D Mate is the local Tripo alternative. TripoSR draws a draft in under a minute on Apple Silicon with nothing uploaded, and you can step up to sharper engines in the same app when you need them.
| 3D Mate | Tripo AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | On your Mac, on-device | Cloud (web and API) |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
| Account and photo upload | Not needed | Required |
| Draft speed | Under a minute (TripoSR) | Fast, plus upload and queue |
| Pricing | One-time or yearly license, no credits | Subscription and credits |
| Engine choice | 9 engines, pick per job | One hosted pipeline |
| Exports | GLB, USDZ, OBJ, STL, PLY, 3MF | GLB, OBJ, STL, and more |
Tripo is fast, has a broad web and API offering, and needs nothing installed. For an API workflow or a browser-only setup where metered billing is acceptable, it is a solid option.
3D Mate keeps everything on your Mac. There is no upload, no queue, and no credit balance, so a quick idea stays quick and free of metering. Start with TripoSR for instant drafts, move to TRELLIS.2 4B for balanced quality, or TripoSG for the sharpest geometry, all offline. Want the fully DIY route instead? See how to run TripoSR yourself.
Yes. Once the app and an engine are installed, generation runs entirely on-device on Apple Silicon with no internet and no account.
Free to try on any Apple Silicon Mac. Compare every engine on the comparison page.
Download for macOS