Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Blender

Blender

Overview

What is Blender?

Blender is a free and open source 3D creation suite available in under the GNU General Public License. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing and 2D animation pipeline. Blender…

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Blender has proven to be a versatile and valuable tool for a wide range of use cases. Users, including professionals in the fields of 3D …
Continue reading

Blender For Free.

10 out of 10
January 20, 2023
Incentivized
For our Livestream service, modeling was used for fill-in effects. Blender, being free, was used to model graphics for this production. We …
Continue reading

Free, fast and fun!

10 out of 10
January 20, 2023
When creating educational content, powerpoint slides are fine, but having animation is much better. I became aware of Blender from a …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing

Blender Cloud Membership

$11.50

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Blender?

Blender Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac, SteamOS
Mobile ApplicationNo
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(87)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Blender has proven to be a versatile and valuable tool for a wide range of use cases. Users, including professionals in the fields of 3D modeling and sculpting, have found Blender to be an essential tool for their work. It allows them to create precise and detailed 3D models for various purposes, such as virtual environments, product visualization, and interior design projects. Additionally, Blender's animation capabilities have been highly valued by users in educational content creation, as it provides a more engaging experience compared to static slides.

Blender's features extend beyond 3D modeling and animation. Many marketing agencies have found it indispensable for creating eye-catching visuals for product launches, videos, and client logos. The software's rendering capabilities have been particularly appreciated, surpassing those offered by CAD-integrated renderers. Moreover, Blender's integration with three.js has allowed users to generate interactive experiences for websites, further enhancing their marketing efforts.

Blender's lightweight and cost-effective nature have made it accessible to students and those on a budget, serving as an alternative to pricier software like Autodesk 3ds Max. However, the initial learning curve may be steep for beginners without prior knowledge of 3D modeling tools and terminology. Nevertheless, motivated users who take advantage of tutorials and resources have managed to become familiar with Blender's features over time. Its free and open-source nature, along with its support for multiple operating systems, has also attracted a loyal user base.

  1. Free and open-source platform: Users appreciate that Blender is accessible to beginner animators as it doesn't require any charges, making it an ideal choice for those starting out in animation.

  2. Powerful features and tools: Users find the wide array of features in Blender essential for their creative process, allowing them to tackle various tasks efficiently. The availability of precise 3D object placement and manipulation tools, as well as intuitive free-form sculpting tools, are particularly valued by users.

  3. Supportive community and resources: The Blender community's size and online resources are highly regarded by users, making it easy for them to find tutorials and solutions to their queries. This accessibility to resources enhances the overall Blender experience.

Cons:

  1. Performance Issues: Some users have experienced performance issues with Blender, such as slow rendering times and crashes during complex projects.
  2. Steep Learning Curve: Several reviewers have mentioned that Blender has a steep learning curve, making it difficult for beginners to grasp all of its features and functionalities.
  3. Lack of Intuitive Interface: A number of users have expressed frustration with the interface of Blender, finding it less intuitive compared to other 3D software programs.

Users commonly recommend starting with tutorials on YouTube and blender.org to learn the basics of Blender. These resources are found to be valuable for gaining knowledge and skills in using the software.

Users advise not being afraid of the interface and taking time to learn and practice. They suggest that investing time and effort into learning Blender is worth it for 3D modeling and rendering.

Users also recommend exploring the various functionalities of Blender, such as its rendering tool, for different purposes like financing project management, animation, digital content molding, and more. Blender is also suggested for both 3D and 2D work, making it versatile for users with low configuration systems.

Reviews

(1-14 of 14)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Yaco Lioi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blender became the one for all solution that is also the best compared to every competitor. Most of the media companies we consulted were using other software, or even software suites, that were replaced by Blender, gaining so much more productivity and better results.
  • Fast rendering
  • Ease of use
  • Continuous development and new features
  • Plugins and third party support
  • Render quality
  • Better performance on mac
Blender it's hands down the best 3D software right now. The competition doesn't have any chance competing with it, because apart from having all the same features and even better ones, it's 100% free, so it's getting better by the community each day.
Kèlene Poyurs | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Blender in our marketing agency to create product launch images, 3D animations for the beginnings of Youtube and Tiktok videos, as well as for the creation of any other product images our clients may need. Occasionally we also use it for the creation of 3D logos and logo animations to present to clients.
  • Relatively user-friendly interface given the complexity of what it is capable of
  • Excellent physics engine which makes it easy to create "realistic" animations and images
  • Wide array of importable and exportable file formats, make it easy to work within client specifications and with the files that clients provide
  • Rigging is fairly easy
  • Very cost-effective, being free.
  • Interface, though user-friendly, can be quite intimidating when just starting out
  • Extremely hardware intensive, requiring a lot of GPU and CPU power.
Blender is an excellent tool for everything from simple to complex 3D animations, the creation of 3D images, etc. It performs excellently in all of these areas. In the realm of 3D modelling, animation and rendering, there is very little that Blender is not suited for.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blender for 3D animation.
  • 3D animation
  • 3D creation
  • simulation
  • modeling
  • Mixing of real other platform image to Blender.
  • Size limitation
  • Easy instruction for new user
I am using Blender to make cartoons and 3D animation to show my concept of research results to the audiance ranging from low-level to excellent in the field. It saves a lot of time to explain and makes attraction to the audiance. It is exceptionally used in academia, classroom, and industry.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blender has helped the Marketing Production team in generating 3D designs, animations and even AR filters for Instagram. Although the learning time was somewhat slow, in the end, it gave us that extra quality to our visual and audiovisual pieces. It thus generated loyalty in our potential customers, creating a powerful differentiator against our competition.
  • 3D Static graphics
  • 3D Animations
  • VR/AR
  • Learning curve.
  • Interface could be more user-friendly.
  • Sometimes it can consume a lot of PC resources.
Blender has been improving for over 10 years, and it is impressive that the software keeps being this current. Thanks to its zero cost and this amount of years in the market, it has managed to form an incredible community that provides thousands of tutorials to shorten the learning gap.
Thanks to its number of updates, it stopped being that software dedicated exclusively to 3D beginners, to begin to be considered as one of the excellent software for comprehensive projects.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Blender mainly to create (relatively simple) models for 3D printing -- mostly tools and accessories for our camera team. These have included missing tripod handles, custom storage hooks, (etc.). Occasionally, we design more detailed small props for videos, or figures we use in mock-ups for blocking and storyboarding. We barely scratch the surface of Blender's incredibly deep feature set. Even for the relatively easy things we use it for, it's amazing. It truly too to be true that's open source and available free.
  • Powerful and precise 3D object placement and manipulation
  • Intuitive free-form sculpting tools
  • Easy to keep complex 3D elements organized
  • Deep bench of tools to make complex design processes easy
  • Huge online community -- you can easily Google how to do anything you want to do
  • Very steep learning curve -- interface is complex to get your head around
  • Functions aren't intuitively organized, so you generally have to look up how to do something new.
It feels like there's nothing in the 3D design space Blender can't do -- if you have the patience to research techniques online. We use Blender to make very accurate 3D tool and hardware models -- and it's great at placing vertices and edges and manipulating them precisely. For more freeform modeling, it has a sculpting mode that lets you virtually manipulate a surface like clay. Between these two modes, you can create everything from ultra-precise machine templates to organic figurines. It has a 3D printing add-on that checks your models before slicing, then it outputs it to one of many different formats. We output to .stl and have had good results.
January 20, 2023

Blender is the best

Zeel Pandya | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blender is free , open source 3D creation suite that has so many features that allows you to model animate, video editing and even simulate some projects during composition . I can say its is all in one package , It does supports Linux, Windows and Mac operating system .

If you are looking for a free accessible complete set of tool to start 3D modeling, digital sculpting , I think Blender is the one for you
  • you can create your 3D model portfolio using blender
  • you can also create realistic renders using its powerful Cycles renderer
  • Light weight , cost effective and more flexible
  • The biggest challenge is learning curve for beginners
  • Using cycles for rendering takes a lot of time
  • User interface is not so good , specially navigation is bit confusing and difficult
Blender is supporting almost everything , modelling, texturing, animation, compositing, simulation, FX, lighting and rendering and even sculpting. Which you can use in your organization .Finding plugin for blender is too easy as it's an open source .Setting up with blender is too easy , you just have to download from site and follow the instruction provided there, no need to create account anything.

I feel ZBrush of Blender is very powerful tool that let you do all pipeline work in one package without paying for a separate piece of software for sculpting .
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blender is used to create 3d models of a wide range of kitchen and bathroom products for use on our website and social media accounts. Our customers like to be able to see every angle of a product and Blender lets us model these products very precisely, suppliers don't always supply an image for every finish or size of their products so we create them.
  • Fast modelling
  • Lots of export options
  • Excellent renderer
  • Faster cycles rendering
  • Output to 360 Webroate native form
The software is free which is amazing and is updated with new features regularly, not to steep a learning curve and has many powerful functions other software programmes have that cost ÂŁ1000's.

Lots of users and online tutorials make it very easy to learn, plus the Cycles ray tracer is amazing and creates stunning results
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I currently am using the platform to build 3d Assets and other parts that are being used for a 3d model set that I am hoping to either turn into a workable game that will allow potential clients to interact with our products (The assets being built) or to shoot a commercial highlighting them, if not both things.
  • Being open source - being widely available and free for anyone was my first reason for downloading it.
  • The UI of the platform is easy to use, and if there's something missing there are plugins to fill the need.
  • The rigging tools are so robust.
  • It take a bit of learning to get use to but the massive community helps.
  • It can be quite intensive if you don't have a powerful PC to run high demand items.
  • The sculpting tools were confusing as a beginner.
Building our products in the platform that can be used for marketing materials or previews for customers has been helpful; I want to get the product teams involved and do imports from original CAD drawings so they can be seen in real word scenarios and environments. If you only want something small and you want to build it, sometimes it's worth hiring instead of undertaking the work yourself if you have other time commitments.
January 20, 2023

Free, fast and fun!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
When creating educational content, powerpoint slides are fine, but having animation is much better. I became aware of Blender from a friend who works in the animation department for a major movie producer. The fact it was free and would deal with my less-than-beautiful artistry were both plusses. We use it to create short films to demonstrate various job tasks.
  • enables a fairly non-skilled person to make good animated content.
  • Fabulous support group to get questions answered.
  • can’t beat free!
  • Since I’ve never used other animation software, I don’t have anything to compare it to. I’ve been pleased with it as it does everything I need.
Blender works on both MAC and PCs have a far shorter learning curve than I expected (especially since this was the first time I was using any kind of animation software and am NOT a trained artist), and the tutorials do an excellent job of explaining and demonstrating the various aspects of the software. It works very well for creating educational content, which is what we use it for. I don’t think I’d make a 2-hour move with it, but I don’t see why that couldn’t be done if you wanted to.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blender is a wonderful tool if you work around 3D modelling or sculpting. I used blender for creating 3D models of different products for videos and content for Social Media. All features around 3D modelling are inbuild in blender and you also have the option to add additional plug-ins if you need external ones. Blender can be a bit intimidating for begineers who have no idea regarding 3D modelling tools and terms.<br>
  • 3D modelling
  • Sculpting and character creation/Modelling
  • Animation, 3D animation
  • The UI, it can get really intimidating for first time users.
Blender is perfectly suited for 3D modelling and animation with characters. Sculpting can get difficult in blender keeping in mind the tools in hand.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use a [Blender] to increase my digital media capabilities. I mainly use 3D modeling tools. Will be using the final production in digital media. I have a passion for design and this is an outlet to explore my passion without making a career change. I hope to all proficiency in 3D modeling to my capabilities. I mainly use it as a learning medium at the moment.
  • Providing an array of tools[.]
  • Providing free printed tutorials[.]
  • The program can be downloaded free of charge[.]
  • The interface is simple and you can save your projects easily[.]
  • It is a big program and requires large computer ram[.]
  • I would enjoy more video tutorials[.]
  • Making labels and buttons easier to find for new users[.]
Blender is well suited for character design from scratch. Designing any element from scratch is what blender is ideal for. Creating 3d animation and 2d background. You can test out different animations on a scene in a blender. If you a trying to design a full-on scene and 3d characters in one project it can get quite slow to render and load.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
While we mostly use Blender for 3D modeling, remodeling, and texturing purposes, we also occasionally use it to create simple animations (character breathing, wind effect on trees, spinning animations such as wheels or windmills). The software is also used to create simple graphic designs, with or without a 3D effect, albeit rarely.
  • 3D Modeling
  • Texturing
  • Graphics creation
  • Simple animations
  • Moving from 2.7X to 2.8X was somewhat challenging since the entire UI had changed.
  • Not as intuitive as other alternatives for more detailed animations.
  • Steep learning curve for detailed texturing.
Blender has been an amazing tool for the creation of new models for our games, be it characters, enemies, buildings, or equipment (weapons, armor, accessories), and continues to be our go-to software to meet these needs. Detailed animations are however challenging to create with the current setup/UI it provides.
Salomi Rai | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Blender is a free and open-source platform so it's a great choice for students and freelancers. Blender has all 3D features like animation, modeling, texturing, rigging, sculpting, and rendering but we mainly use blender for modeling and sculpting. Like all the other software, it takes little time to learn the UI.
  • free and open source platform
  • great software for modeling and sculpting
  • we can export blender file into any other file format
  • render with GPU
  • slow viewport performance sometimes
  • many features in one software makes it little complicated
If you are a new 3D artist, Blender is a perfect choice. It's free and has every 3D feature you need. In my opinion, Blender is great for modeling and sculpting compared to animation. personally, I feel a little uncomfortable animating in Blender so I only use bender for modeling and sculpting.
Aniket Kumar Chaudhary | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized

Blender 3D makes it possible for you to perform a wide range of tasks in one place. When entering the software for the first time, it can be overwhelming to understand the basic concepts and features. However, with a bit of motivation and an official tutorial, it is possible to become familiar with Blender3D after several hours of practice.

The most prominent artists do not create masterpieces by pressing a magic button or just manipulating brushes. Still, learning and practicing topics such as composition, lighting, animation principles, etc., will make a perfect design. After all, it's a tool, and you have to learn it.

Blender 3D software has additional technical complexity and jargon. Terms like UV maps, materials, shaders, meshes, and subdivisions are the means of the digital artist, and understanding them in general terms will help you use Blender and get the most out of it.

  • It is a totally free and open-source platform. Made for beginner animators.
  • The interactive game features like collision detection, dynamic re-enactments, and logic.
  • Blender accepts graphic formats such as TGA, JPG, IRIS, HDRI, or TIFF. It can also read Inventor files.
  • Integrated 3D game engine with a logic brick system. For more control, Python programming is used.
  • It includes Inverse Kinematics, Grid Strains, Load Vertices, and Static and Dynamic Particles.
  • Tough to learn. Beginners may be overwhelmed by its jargons full of shortcut keys. It has a lot of features to learn.
  • It slows in an AMD processor with 4GB RAM.
  • I can't find more cons about Blender, but new users may [be] confuse[d] due to its tricky layout.
Blender is one of the best software focused mainly on modeling, lighting control, rendering, animation, and 3D graphics. This software is completely free and open-source, and it is more than at the level of other similar alternatives within the professional field. Some movies such as Coffee Run (2020), Spring (2019), and movie studios (like Marvel) have used it to animate and process their films and effects. The only issue is that it slows down the PC sometimes.
Return to navigation