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Meshy & Tripo API Alternative: Textured GLB at $0.075

Last updated · By ModelsLab Engineering

Meshy and Tripo charge $0.20 to $0.60 for a textured 3D model through their APIs. The ModelsLab 3D API turns a prompt or one image into a textured GLB for $0.075, with a median under 2 minutes, and no per-model charge on the $149/month plan. You give up Meshy's and Tripo's polycount and topology controls.

Get API keyAPI Documentation
  • $0.075 per textured model
  • Text or image in, GLB, OBJ, STL or PLY out
  • No per-model charge on the $149/month plan

Meshy, Tripo and ModelsLab Side by Side

One textured model from each API, from each provider's own pages.

MeshyTripoModelsLab
Textured model from a promptAbout $0.60 (preview 20 + refine 10 credits)$0.20 (H2/H3, textured)$0.075
Textured model from an imageAbout $0.60 (30 credits)$0.30 (H2/H3, textured)$0.075
How you payAPI needs a Pro plan or higherPrepaid credits from $1Plans from $21/month; $149/month with no per-model charge
OutputGLB, FBX, OBJ, USDZ, STLGLB; FBX, USDZ, OBJ, STL through a convert requestGLB (default), OBJ with MTL and texture, STL, PLY
StepsPreview, then a separate refine requestOne requestOne request; median 83 s from text, 106 s from an image
Mesh sizetarget_polycount 100–300,000, quad or triangle topologyface_limit polycount settingAbout 1 million triangles, 35–40 MB per GLB, no polycount control

Read on October 15, 2026. Meshy prices are in credits; the dollar figures use its Pro plan, $20 for 1,000 credits.

Should You Switch From Meshy or Tripo?

Switch when cost per model is the problem

A textured model costs $0.075 on ModelsLab against $0.20 to $0.30 on Tripo and about $0.60 on Meshy. For 10,000 models a month that is $750 against $2,000 to $6,000, and on the $149/month Open Source Unlimited plan the models carry no per-model charge. If you already use ModelsLab for images, generate the reference image and the model on one key.

Stay when you need game-ready topology

The ModelsLab GLB comes out dense: our latest text-to-3D and image-to-3D samples (October 14–15, 2026) each had about 1 million triangles and weighed 35–40 MB, with base color and metallic-roughness textures stored as WebP (the EXT_texture_webp glTF extension). Meshy and Tripo let you set a polycount and remesh in the API. If you need low-poly assets straight from the API, keep them, or decimate the ModelsLab mesh in Blender or a glTF tool before you ship it.

Start from the endpoint pages: text to 3D API and image to 3D API.

Generate a 3D model with one request

Text to 3D and image to 3D are two endpoints with the same response. Jobs are queued: read the model URL from the fetch reply.

cURL — text to 3D

bash
1curl -X POST 'https://modelslab.com/api/v6/3d/text_to_3d' \
2  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
3  -d '{
4    "key": "YOUR_MODELSLAB_API_KEY",
5    "prompt": "A crystal dragon egg on a stone pedestal",
6    "output_format": "glb"
7  }'
8# The reply carries "fetch_result". POST it with your key until "status"
9# is "success"; the model URL is in "output".

Python — image to 3D

python
1import time
2

3import requests
4

5KEY = "YOUR_MODELSLAB_API_KEY"
6

7result = requests.post(
8    "https://modelslab.com/api/v6/3d/image_to_3d",
9    json={
10        "key": KEY,
11        "image": "https://example.com/sneaker.png",
12        "output_format": "glb",
13    },
14    timeout=60,
15).json()
16fetch_url = result.get("fetch_result")
17

18while result.get("status") == "processing":
19    time.sleep(10)
20    result = requests.post(fetch_url, json={"key": KEY}, timeout=60).json()
21

22print(result["output"][0] if result.get("status") == "success" else result)

3D Generation API Prices Compared

Every 3D model API we priced, in the unit each provider publishes.

ProviderAPI accessText to 3DImage to 3D
ModelsLab 3D APIPublic REST API, plans from $21/month$0.075 per model$0.075 per model; no per-model charge on the $149/month plan
MeshyAPI on Pro ($20/month for 1,000 credits, about $0.02 a credit) and up20 credits preview + 10 credits refine, about $0.60 with texture30 credits with texture, about $0.60
TripoPrepaid credits, $0.01 each, from $1$0.10, or $0.20 with texture (H2/H3)$0.20, or $0.30 with texture (H2/H3)
Stability AIPrepaid credits, $0.01 each—SPAR3D $0.04; Stable Fast 3D $0.10
fal.ai (Trellis 2)Pay per use—$0.25 to $0.35 per model
Hyper3D RodinAPI on the Business plan only, $120/monthAbout 416 models a month on that planSame plan

Read on each provider's own page on October 15, 2026, in the unit the provider publishes. Meshy publishes API costs in credits and sells credits only inside its plans, so its dollar figures use the Pro plan's $20 for 1,000 credits. Meshy bills preview and refine as separate requests.

Sources

Every competitor price on this page, with the page we read it on.

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On October 15, 2026 a textured model cost about $0.60 on Meshy (30 credits at its Pro plan's $0.02 a credit), $0.20 to $0.30 on Tripo, $0.25 to $0.35 for Trellis 2 on fal, and $0.075 on ModelsLab. Stability AI's SPAR3D costs $0.04 but takes an image only.

Replace Meshy's preview and refine requests with one request to https://modelslab.com/api/v6/3d/text_to_3d (or image_to_3d), put your key in the JSON body, POST the fetch_result URL until status is success, and read the model URL from output instead of model_urls.

GLB by default, or OBJ with MTL and texture, STL or PLY. Meshy also returns FBX and USDZ, and Tripo converts to them; on ModelsLab, convert the GLB in Blender or another glTF tool.

No. Recent ModelsLab samples had about 1 million triangles and weighed 35–40 MB. Meshy's target_polycount (100 to 300,000) and Tripo's face_limit set it in the request; with ModelsLab, decimate the mesh afterwards.

Yes. The 3D endpoints run on ModelsLab GPUs, so the $149/month Open Source Unlimited plan carries no per-model charge for them, with up to 15 requests at a time.