Comparison

Mapillary vs HDReye

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Mapillary

This platform allows anyone to capture and contribute street-level imagery from any location using any camera. It combines these images into a collaborative, navigable view of the world, enhanced by computer vision for smoother viewing and automated data extraction. The collected data can be used to improve maps, cities, and mobility.

Highlights
  • Capture street-level imagery with any camera
  • Collaborative global street-level view
  • Computer vision for data extraction
  • Privacy blurring of faces and license plates
  • Access and explore millions of images
  • Integrates with mapping tools
Read full description

Mapillary is the street-level imagery platform that scales and automates mapping using collaboration, cameras, and computer vision. Anyone can capture images of any place, as often as needed, with any camera—including smartphones. Mapillary combines all images into a collaborative street-level view of the world that’s available for anyone to explore and use for improving maps, cities, and mobility. Computer vision technology provides a smooth viewing experience and speeds up mapping through machine-extracted map data. Capturing with the Mapillary mobile app is the easiest way to join our contributor network. Let’s get started! CREATE YOUR OWN STREET-LEVEL VIEWS You control when and where to capture to create the freshest street-level imagery. Mapillary’s technology combines all images into a navigable view and blurs faces and license plates for privacy. ACCESS AND OPEN UP DATA Mapillary contributors are people, organizations, companies, and governments in 190 countries. Millions of images are added to the dataset every week, which you can explore right here in the mobile app. MAKE BETTER MAPS Use imagery and machine-extracted data to add details to maps and geospatial datasets. Mapillary integrates with tools like OpenStreetMap iD editor and JOSM, HERE Map Creator, and ArcGIS. To access the available map data, go to mapillary.com/app.

About

HDReye

Create custom 360° HDRi images for realistic 3D lighting and compositing directly from your phone. Capture bracketed panoramas and generate 32-bit EXR files for seamless integration with 3D software and AR development.

Highlights
  • Create 360° HDRi images
  • Shoot bracketed multi-exposure panoramas
  • Generate 32-bit .EXR files
  • Realistic 3D lighting and compositing
  • Image-based lighting solution
  • Access to crowdsourced HDRi collection
Features
Read full description

Finally, an app to shoot 360° HDRis with your phone. HDReye is the first and only iOS app for creating custom 360° HDRi images for realistic 3D lighting and compositing. Just select your desired dynamic range, follow the prompts to shoot a bracketed multi-exposure panorama of your location, and HDReye will stitch and generate a 32-bit (.EXR format) HDRi of your location. HDReye is an essential app for combining 3D animation realistically with footage or capturing lightmaps of any location. What used to require an expensive 360° camera or chrome ball light probe, now can be done conveniently on your phone with HDReye. Whether you are an independent 3D artist, VFX studio, AR developer, NFT artist, content creator, or just a hobbyist - HDReye is here to make your workflow simpler and renders more realistic. HDReye is your image-based lighting solution. Compatible with all 3D packages and render engines including Cinema 4D, Blender, Houdini, Maya, 3D Studio Max, Adobe After Effects, Element 3D, OTOY Octane Render, Redshift, V-ray, Arnold, Unreal Engine, Unity, Spark AR, and more. HDReye users also have access to the largest crowdsourced collection of HDRi images in the world. HDReye also works well for capturing 360° panoramas similar to the Google Street View app. Terms of Use: http://hdreye.app/terms/ Privacy Policy: http://hdreye.app/privacy/

Screenshots

Mapillary4 screens
HDReye4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mapillary at none against HDReye's 4. Mapillary also leads on review sentiment (41% vs 29%). HDReye's advantage is ratings volume (770 vs 21). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. HDReye sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Mapillary asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Mapillary against 4.5 for HDReye. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HDReye has 770 ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 41% of Mapillary's written reviews are positive against 29% of HDReye's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mapillary ships an update every 2 weeks, HDReye monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 3, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Mapillary versus HDReye: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMapillaryHDReye
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (21 ratings) — better4.5 (770 ratings)
Positive reviews41.2% of reviews — better29.0% of reviews
Number of ratings21770 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB90 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMapillary ABHDReye Technologies Inc.

Customer experience

Mapillary

All ratings21 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral4.8%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews114 reviews
Positive41.2%
Neutral10.5%
Negative48.2%

HDReye

All ratings770 ratings
Positive88.3%
Neutral2.7%
Negative9.0%
Written reviews186 reviews
Positive29.0%
Neutral5.4%
Negative65.6%

Bugs and requests

Mapillary

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

HDReye

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Account deletion issues
  • Stuck on processing/uploading
  • Disappearing credits

Requested features

4 requests
  • Free trial or preview option
  • Ability to stitch locally on device
  • One-time purchase option
  • Improved stitching algorithm

In-app purchases

None

Mapillary

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

HDReye

Subscriptions3
  • HDReye Pro$6.991 Month
  • HDReye Pro3 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • HDReye Pro$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Asset unlock$2.99

Questions

Is Mapillary free?
Mapillary is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is HDReye free?
HDReye is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Mapillary or HDReye?
Mapillary is rated higher. Mapillary averages 4.6 out of 5 from 21 ratings, while HDReye averages 4.5 from 770 ratings.
Do Mapillary or HDReye have ads?
Neither Mapillary nor HDReye shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mapillary or HDReye?
Mapillary ships an update every 2 weeks, and HDReye monthly. Most recently, Mapillary was updated on September 3, 2026 and HDReye on September 27, 2026.

Other comparisons