8th Wall is a development platform for building immersive AR and interactive 3D experiences. The official description states that it is now open source and available free to everyone, for creating 3D experiences and WebAR.
Purpose and Positioning 8th Wall is aimed primarily at developers and teams who need to build WebAR and interactive 3D content. It can be used both on the web and in native scenarios, and the official description states that native export is coming soon. Its XR engine is designed to work with popular 3D frameworks, including A-Frame, Three.js, Babylon.js, and PlayCanvas, making it easy to integrate into existing workflows and use alongside other tools and platforms.
Main Capabilities The platform provides powerful AR features across web and native. The official listing includes Absolute Scale, but notes that it is available only through the XR engine binary. 8th Wall Desktop supports developing 3D and AR and can export to web and native (native export coming soon). There are also open-source tools to simplify workflows, including Image Target Processor, XR Extras (UI components and helper utilities), and the official description states that more tools are coming soon. The platform also provides ready-to-use sample projects and starter templates.
How to Use The official three-step getting started flow is: first, get the latest version for Mac or Windows from the download page, run the installer, and open 8th Wall Desktop; second, create a new project or open an existing project, referring to the engine integration guide; third, export the project and refer to the publishing guide to host the built project anywhere. 8th Wall requires no login and no account, developers can bring their own source control, tools, and workflows, and projects can be deployed and hosted anywhere that meets their needs. Users with existing projects can consult the migration guide.
Openness and Licensing The XR engine is distributed as a binary and is free to use under a limited-use license, including for commercial projects. 8th Wall Desktop is currently provided as an offline download, with full open source coming soon. The rest (image targets, face effects, sky effects, utilities, sample projects) are fully open source under the MIT license. The official description states that more features and tools are coming soon.
Commercial Use The official description confirms that 8th Wall can be used to build commercial AR experiences, brand campaigns, and client projects. The open-source components are free to use, and the distributed engineBinary is permitted for commercial use as part of a broader application or experience.
Migration and Subscription Changes According to the official statement, the hosting platform has been retired, and all paid subscriptions ended on February 28, 2026. If a project was exported before that date, it can be migrated to run locally or be self-hosted; the project export feature is no longer available. Open-source tools and the distributed engine binaries can both be used free of charge.
Community and Participation Developers can connect with other developers and get help through Discord, GitHub Discussions, and can also follow the blog. Official encouragement is given to star on GitHub, report bugs and issues, submit pull requests, and help improve the documentation.
Limitations and Matters to Be Clarified Native export has not yet been launched, and the official statement says it is coming soon; Absolute Scale is available only through the XR engine binary; the XR engine is distributed as a binary and is subject to a limited-use license; making 8th Wall Desktop fully open source is still in progress. Regarding specific pricing, billing plans, platform compatibility details, or performance data, no further information is provided in the materials.
