What 8th Wall does

8th Wall, operated by Niantic Spatial, Inc. and headquartered in Palo Alto, is an open source development platform for building WebAR and 3D immersive experiences that deploy across the mobile web, iOS, Android, desktop, and headsets. Its product stack centers on the XR Engine (providing AR features such as World Effects, Absolute Scale, Image Targets, Face Effects, and Sky Effects), 8th Wall Desktop (a visual editor for 3D and AR content), and 8th Wall Studio (an AI-native 3D game engine with AI-generated asset capabilities). The platform integrates with major 3D frameworks including A-Frame, Three.js, Babylon.js, and PlayCanvas, allowing developers to embed AR functionality into existing workflows.

Founded in 2016, 8th Wall pioneered WebAR technology and operated as a subscription-based SaaS platform for approximately seven years. It was acquired by Niantic in 2022. Following Niantic's $3.85 billion sale of its gaming division to Scopely in early 2026, the company became part of Niantic Spatial, a separate entity focused on geospatial AI and XR technologies. On February 28, 2026, 8th Wall retired its hosted platform, ended all paid subscriptions, and transitioned all components to open source under the MIT license, with existing published experiences set to cease on February 28, 2027.

The company historically served individual developers, agencies, and businesses seeking to deploy branded AR campaigns and client projects without requiring native app downloads. Distribution is now entirely open source via GitHub and direct downloads with no login required, and there is no paid pricing tier. Marketing and community engagement operate through Discord, GitHub Discussions, YouTube tutorials, LinkedIn, Instagram, and a company blog. Pre-acquisition funding totaled approximately $10.4 million across two rounds from investors including Norwest, Shasta Ventures, Betaworks, Greylock, SV Angel, and The Venture Reality Fund.

Name

8th Wall

Legal name

Niantic Spatial, Inc.

Website

https://8thwall.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

8th Wall, operated by Niantic Spatial, Inc., is an open source development platform providing tools and an AI-native 3D engine for building WebAR and immersive 3D experiences. It serves individual developers, agencies, and brands deploying cross-platform AR content on web and native applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AR Development Platform

akta.pro primary industry

XR/AR/VR/MR Development Frameworks & Toolchains (MPAFAFAF)

Keywords

• WebAR development
• AR engine
• 3D game engine
• Augmented reality tools
• Cross-platform AR

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Former Subscription Platform (Discontinued): Previously operated as a SaaS WebAR platform with paid subscriptions. All paid subscriptions ended February 28, 2026 when the hosted platform was retired. Now fully open source with no revenue generation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

8th Wall provides an open source AR and 3D development platform for building WebAR and immersive 3D experiences. Its core product is the XR Engine, which delivers web and native AR features (World Effects, Image Targets, Face Effects, Sky Effects), complemented by 8th Wall Desktop (a visual editor with web and native export) and 8th Wall Studio (an AI-native 3D game engine). All components are free and distributed via GitHub under MIT license, with the XR Engine distributed as a binary permitting commercial use.

Product overview

8th Wall is an open source AR and 3D development platform that provides a suite of tools for building WebAR and immersive 3D experiences. The platform architecture consists of the XR Engine (a binary distribution providing core AR features like World Effects, Face Effects, Image Targets, and Sky Effects), 8th Wall Desktop (a visual desktop editor for developing 3D and AR content with export capabilities), and various open source utilities including the Image Target Processor and XR Extras UI components. The platform also offers example projects and sample code for developers. Following the retirement of its hosted platform in February 2026, 8th Wall transitioned to fully open source under Niantic Spatial, with all tools now free to use for both personal and commercial projects.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• XR Engine The XR Engine is a powerful AR engine providing web and native AR features including World Effects, Absolute Scale, Image Targets, Face Effects, and Sky Effects. It is distributed as a binary free to use, including for commercial projects under a limited use license, and integrates with popular 3D frameworks such as A-Frame, Three.js, Babylon.js, and PlayCanvas.
• 8th Wall Desktop 8th Wall Desktop is a desktop XR game engine with a visual editor for developing 3D and AR experiences. It offers export capabilities to web and native platforms, is available as an offline download for Mac or Windows, and is being transitioned to full open source.
• 8th Wall Studio 8th Wall Studio is an AI-native 3D game engine enabling developers to create immersive content across multiple platforms. It features AI-generated assets for content creation and supports native app deployment across Android, iOS, desktop, and headset environments.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• NianticflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Niantic acquired 8th Wall in 2022 to expand its WebAR capabilities. Following Niantic's $3.85 billion sale of its gaming division to Scopely, Niantic Spatial emerged as a separate entity focused on geospatial AI and XR technologies, now maintaining 8th Wall as an open source project.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Unity Technologies: Unity is the dominant cross-platform 3D engine with deep AR Foundation support for iOS, Android, and WebGL. It competes with 8th Wall for AR and 3D game developers, but operates a much broader portfolio including paid tooling, asset store, and services.
• Epic Games (Unreal Engine): Unreal Engine is a leading real-time 3D engine with strong AR/XR capabilities via Unreal Engine AR template and Pixel Streaming. It overlaps with 8th Wall Desktop and 8th Wall Studio for high-fidelity 3D development and is supported by a far larger budget and studio ecosystem.

Direct peers

• PlayCanvas: PlayCanvas is an open source WebGL-first 3D engine with hosted editor and AR capabilities, and is explicitly listed as a framework that 8th Wall's XR Engine integrates with. It targets the same WebAR and browser-based 3D developer audience with a comparable visual editor model.
• Babylon.js: Babylon.js is a Microsoft-backed open source 3D engine for the web with native AR module support. It is integrated into 8th Wall's XR Engine and competes for the same web-first 3D and XR developer mindshare that 8th Wall targets.
• Three.js: Three.js is the most widely used open source WebGL 3D library and serves as a primary integration target for 8th Wall's XR Engine. While Three.js itself is a rendering library rather than a full engine, the extensive XR wrappers (three.ar.js, three-xr) overlap directly with 8th Wall's AR feature set.
• A-Frame (Mozilla / Supermedium): A-Frame is an open source web framework for building VR and AR experiences using HTML-like markup and is integrated with 8th Wall's XR Engine. It serves the same declarative XR developer community as 8th Wall and is one of the leading no-download WebXR authoring tools.
• Zappar: Zappar is a WebAR and computer vision platform providing authoring tools, SDKs, and AR content services. It is a direct commercial competitor to the prior 8th Wall subscription platform, especially for branded AR campaigns and marketing activations.
• Blippar: Blippar is a WebAR creation platform with AR authoring studio and SDK for brands and agencies. It competes for the same marketing-led WebAR use cases (product visualization, packaging AR, campaigns) that previously drove 8th Wall's subscription business.

Others

• Niantic Spatial: Niantic Spatial is the parent entity formed after Niantic sold its gaming division to Scopely for $3.85B; it focuses on geospatial AI and XR technologies and retains 8th Wall as an open source project. It is the strategic and capital umbrella under which 8th Wall now operates.

Emerging players

• Godot Engine: Godot is an open source, community-driven game engine with growing Web and XR export support. While not historically focused on WebAR like 8th Wall, it increasingly competes for the same independent developer audience seeking free, cross-platform 3D tooling with export to web and headsets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/8thwall/8thwall
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@8thwall
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/8thwall
• Instagraminstagram.com/8thwall
• Xx.com/the8thwall
• Facebookfacebook.com/the8thwall

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 8th Wall