Threekit vs Expivi vs a Custom 3D Configurator: Which One Fits Your Product?

If you are comparing Threekit vs Expivi, you are past "do we need a 3D configurator" and into shortlisting vendors. Most comparison pages you will find are written by a platform selling itself as the alternative. This one is written by a developer who builds configurators for made-to-order manufacturers, both on platforms and from scratch.

The short answer: Threekit suits manufacturers who want an AI-native CPQ for their sales team, dealers and website, and can accept a custom quote and a rollout measured in months. Expivi suits manufacturers with rule-heavy products who want visual CPQ, ready-made ecommerce plugins and a faster start. A custom build suits teams who want to own the code and the 3D models and pay once instead of every month.

A disclosure before we start. We have shipped on Expivi and built fully custom configurators. We have not built on Threekit, so everything here about Threekit comes from its own site and from third-party sources we link. For the general argument, read our build vs buy guide. This post is the named comparison.

Threekit vs Expivi vs custom at a glance

Vendor prices are attributed, not stated as fact. Neither Threekit nor Expivi publishes a price, so those cells say "quote only" and cite the best public estimate.

Threekit: AI-native CPQ for manufacturers

If you last looked at Threekit a few years ago, look again. The Threekit homepage now leads with "The AI-Native CPQ Built for Manufacturers". The platform is organized around needs analysis, configure, price, quote and handoff. Its use cases are a website lead agent, a dealer portal and a sales team agent, either replacing your current CPQ or running alongside it. The industries it lists include doors and windows, machinery and equipment, millwork, commercial equipment, and plumbing and bath. Zakeke's Threekit comparison describes the same shift as Threekit having "moved toward AI quoting for manufacturers".

The visual roots are still there. Threekit's pricing page calls it the "World's Leading Visual Commerce Platform" and lists 3D product configuration, photorealistic 2D imagery from its Virtual Photographer, AR, and digital asset management.

Pricing is custom. The pricing page says it depends on your use case, the number of products you need configured, and your timeline and budget. The route to a number is a meeting, a project survey and a quote discussion. Neither page lists a public plan or a free trial. Both send you to a demo. On timing, Threekit's homepage promises "live in months, not years" and its pricing FAQ says go-live depends on the scope and scale of the visuals. Zakeke, checking in September 2026, reports that Threekit states deployment in about 90 days. CPQ3D says Threekit once had a $999/month public price and estimates enterprise contracts at $30K to $100K+ a year. Zakeke and CPQ3D both compete with Threekit, so treat their figures as estimates.

On ownership, Threekit's FAQ says you own your assets and content "100%, all of the time". That is worth knowing. The configurator itself still runs on Threekit's platform.

Pros

• A CPQ built around quoting, from needs analysis through to sales handoff
• AI agents for website leads, dealers and sales teams
• 3D, photoreal 2D imagery and AR from the same platform
• Integrations listed for ecommerce, OMS, ERP, PIM and DAM systems, and a clear statement that your assets stay yours

Cons

• No public pricing, so you cannot size it without a sales process
• A rollout measured in months, by Threekit's own description
• A recurring fee for as long as the configurator is live

Expivi: 3D, visual CPQ and plugins for manufacturers

Expivi is a Dutch platform that combines "visual CPQ, design to print and a real-time 3D configurator in one platform", according to its 3D configurator page. The site also lists guided selling and a modular configurator, and Zakeke's Expivi comparison includes AR among its modules. The CPQ side shows customers how each choice changes the total price as they configure.

Commerce is Expivi's strongest point. It lists a native WooCommerce plugin, plugins or custom integrations for Shopify, Magento (Adobe Commerce) and Shopware, and a headless API for custom webshops, ERP, PIM and dealer portals. Salesforce, SAP Commerce Cloud and Sana Commerce are on the list too.

Expivi does not publish prices. Presenter3D notes that G2 lists a $500/month starting point, with Business and Enterprise plans shown as "Contact Us". CPQ3D estimates about €499/month plus per-product modeling fees. Expivi offers a free demo rather than a trial.

What we learned building Hulck on Expivi

The project we draw on here is our Hulck trailer configurator built on Expivi. Hulck builds heavy-duty industrial trailers in the Netherlands. Its configurator covers 23+ attributes, from dimensions, floor type and wheels to steering, coupling, walls, gates and tarpaulins. Every choice updates the 3D model, and a finished configuration goes in as a quote request with a screenshot attached. There is more on our industrial work page.

Three lessons from that build:

• Expivi did the 3D heavy lifting. It supplied the rendering engine, model hosting and material system. We set up the full product configuration inside Expivi: every attribute, the dependencies between options, and the geometry swaps, material changes and visibility toggles behind them.
• Integration was the real engineering. Hulck runs WordPress and WooCommerce. We built a custom integration layer so the configurator renders inside a normal WordPress page, follows WordPress conventions and routes quote requests into Hulck's existing workflow. Budget for that work whichever platform you pick.
• It was fast. The first version launched in under a month, because there was no 3D engine to build and the site already existed. That is one project on an existing store, not a benchmark for every Expivi rollout. We have kept extending it as Hulck adds trailer types and options.

We took the same route for MrTafel's furniture configurators. For clients with an established store they cannot abandon, it is the right call. The trade-off is that the configuration lives inside Expivi, so it is still a platform you rent.

A custom 3D configurator: Three.js or React Three Fiber

"Custom" means the configurator is software you own: your own rules engine, your own UI and your own pricing logic, built in Three.js or React Three Fiber (the React renderer for Three.js). The code and 3D models are delivered to you and hosted where you choose, with no platform underneath to rent. That is what we offer as custom 3D configurator development.

The cost is that everything a platform gives you out of the box, from the viewer to the admin screens, has to be built. That is why custom suits products a platform handles awkwardly, and teams that will keep the configurator for years.

Fully custom: Baseline Courts and the door configurator

The Baseline Courts court designer is vanilla Three.js. Customers set court dimensions, colour three zones, place an uploaded logo on the surface, pick hoops and fence any side at any distance, then submit the design as a quote request. The court, line markings and fencing are generated from the customer's inputs rather than swapped from fixed models, which is the kind of geometry platforms built around part and material swaps struggle with. It took two to three months. See our sports work.

The 3D door configurator, for a premium Australian slimline glass door maker, uses React Three Fiber. A 7-step wizard walks the customer through location, style, handing, colour, size, hardware and glass, with live pricing at every step and a quote system at the end. Behind it sits a pricing engine with option dependencies across nine door series, owned by the client with no licence fee. It took about three months. More in our doors work.

The middle path: a rendering platform plus custom UX

You do not have to choose between all platform and all custom. The VanHaven van configurator uses Unlimited3D for rendering, while we built the interface, configuration logic, camera system and PDF brochure generation. The core build took about three months. This route gets you a production rendering layer and a bespoke experience, but you still pay the platform. See our automotive work.

Cost over three years: subscription vs one-time build

The real difference is the shape of the spend. Threekit and Expivi both charge recurring fees and neither publishes them, so the third-party numbers above are the best public guide. At G2's $500/month starting point, three years of Expivi comes to $18K before modeling and integration work. If CPQ3D's Threekit estimate of $30K to $100K+ a year holds, three years comes to $90K to $300K+. Across the wider SaaS configurator category, the range we use in our cost guide is $500 to $2,000+ a month, roughly $18K to $72K+ over three years.

A custom build is a one-time fee. Ours start with a $2.5K Pilot, then from $8K, $16K and $28K for Starter, Professional and Enterprise. Hosting and optional maintenance are extra, but there is no licence to renew. One more thing the Hulck and VanHaven projects show: a platform build is rarely just the licence, because the integration work around it is billed on top.

So custom is not automatically cheaper. At the low end, three years of Expivi at its G2 starting point ($18K) costs less than our $28K Enterprise tier. The comparison moves toward custom as subscription fees rise, as the years add up, and as integration work gets billed on top of the licence. Put real quotes for the same scope side by side.

The full breakdown is in how much a 3D product configurator costs, and our tiers are on the pricing page.

Threekit alternatives and Expivi alternatives worth a look

If neither platform fits, these are the names that come up most often. We have not built on any of them, so each description comes from the vendor's own site or, where noted, from Salsita's Threekit alternatives guide.

• Zakeke: describes itself as an AI platform for D2C brands and manufacturers, combining 3D, personalization and virtual try-on, with a free trial and integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce and more.
• Salsita: in its own guide, a 3D configurator with parametric models, visual CPQ and an AI assistant, aimed at complex, modular and made-to-order products.
• Cylindo: described in Salsita's guide as a furniture visualization platform built around pre-rendered product imagery and digital asset management.
• VividWorks: a Finland-based "All-in-one Platform for 3D Configuration, AR, Pricing and Quoting", focused on furniture, kitchen and bath, lighting and modular products.

A custom build is worth evaluating against all of them in three cases: geometry generated from customer input, like Baseline Courts' courts and fences, where you should check how far each platform's parametric support actually goes; pricing rules that a platform's rule builder expresses only awkwardly; and businesses that would rather own the configurator than rent it. Only the last is a clear difference in kind. The first two are worth testing in a demo with your own product. If you are an agency evaluating platforms for a client, we also build white-label.

Which one should you pick? A decision checklist

Pick Threekit if:

• You are a manufacturer whose bottleneck is quoting, across a sales team, dealers and the website
• You want to replace an existing CPQ, or add AI agents alongside it
• A custom-quote contract and a rollout measured in months fit your plans
• A recurring platform fee is acceptable for as long as the configurator runs

Pick Expivi if:

• Your store runs on WooCommerce, where Expivi has a native plugin. On Shopify, Magento or Shopware, confirm whether your route is a plugin or a custom integration
• Your products have many options and dependencies, and you want visual CPQ without building a pricing engine
• You need to launch quickly and a monthly licence is fine
• You are comfortable with the configuration living on the platform

Go custom if:

• You want to own the code and the 3D models, with no subscription
• Your product needs custom geometry, a custom flow or pricing logic a platform handles awkwardly
• You plan to run the configurator for years, and real quotes show a one-time fee beating the subscription over that time
• You want direct access to the developer who builds it

Still unsure? Test the custom route on one product with a $2,500 Pilot before you commit to anything bigger.

Try it on one product first

Not sure if Threekit, Expivi or a custom build fits? Start with one product. The two-week Pilot turns your best-seller into a live 3D configurator for $2,500, you own the code and the models, and the full fee is credited toward a full build within 6 months. If a platform turns out to be the better fit, you will still have a working configurator for your best-seller and a clear view of what the full build needs. Or email us your product and we will tell you which route we would take.

Frequently asked questions