Texel
Texel: A free, collaborative web studio covering painting, procedural materials, baking, and exports. Ranked #5 of 29 in 3D Texturing Software by our editors (8.8/10); pricing: Free plan; best for collaborative browser-based texturing teams.
At a glance
- Editor score8.8 / 10
- PricingFree plan
- Best forCollaborative browser-based texturing teams
- Free planYes
- Paid fromFree
- 3D texture paintingYes
- Facts checked20 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- Real-time multiplayer editing with branching, comments, and review history
- UDIM-native painting, automatic baking, and broad PBR channel support
- Exports for USD, glTF, Unreal, and Unity, plus AI graph nodes
Where it doesn't
- Invite-only Early Access limits immediate availability
- Web and API access do not include a desktop application
- Paid plans have not launched yet
Our verdict on Texel
Texel is a browser-based 3D texturing studio for VFX and game teams that need shared work on textured assets. It combines brush and projection painting with procedural material graphs, UDIM-native workflows, automatic baking, and PBR channels such as albedo, roughness, metallic, normal, height, AO, and emission. The product accepts USD, FBX, glTF, and OBJ models, and is currently available free to accepted users through invite-only Early Access. Its audience is teams that value collaborative asset creation in a web environment rather than a desktop-only texturing workflow.
Collaboration is a defining part of Texel's feature set. Real-time multiplayer editing is paired with branching, review, comments, and operation-level history, giving teams tools for shared iteration and feedback. Its ecosystem fit is also broad: links or API workflows connect with Blender, Maya, Houdini, ZBrush, and Nuke, while channel-packed exports support USD, glTF, Unreal, and Unity. That combination makes Texel suitable for pipelines moving assets across modeling, visual effects, and game development tools.
Texel also extends material work beyond manual painting through masks, blends, generators, and AI nodes for upscale, semantic fill, normal extraction, and edge wear. The main trade-off is access and platform scope: it is invite-only Early Access, and its listed platforms are web and API rather than desktop applications. Paid plans have not launched, so the current offering is centered on free access for accepted users. Choose Texel if browser-based collaboration, procedural materials, UDIMs, and review workflows are priorities. Teams requiring a desktop texturing application or immediate unrestricted access should consider a different fit.
Your product? Our editors can test Texel in depth and publish a review, labelled as paid · from $149/mo →
Texel pricing
Texel fact sheet
| Free plan | Yes |
|---|---|
| Paid from | Free |
| 3D texture painting | Yes |
| Procedural materials | Yes |
| Texture baking | Yes |
| PBR workflow | Yes |
| Node-based authoring | Yes |
| Maximum texture resolution | Not verified |
| Supported platforms | web |
| Deployment | Cloud, Browser extension |
| Platforms | Web |
| Compliance & security | SSO/SAML |
| Support | |
| Built for | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 9 integrations: Blender, Maya, Houdini, ZBrush, Nuke, Unreal … |
| Pricing | Free plan |
| Website | texel.art |
| Facts checked | 20 Sep 2026 |
Texel integrations
Texel lists 9 integrations on its own site.
- Blender
- Maya
- Houdini
- ZBrush
- Nuke
- Unreal
- Unity
- USD
- glTF
Alternatives to Texel
- InstaMATA cross-platform toolkit for procedural materials, texture painting, baking, and pipeline automation.9.4
- Mixos PaintA broad, cross-platform PBR texturing workspace with a capable free tier and paid 4K export.9.2
- MariA deep texturing tool for VFX teams that need UDIM scale and procedural control.9.1
Texel vs the competition
- Texel vs InstaMAT
- Texel vs Mixos Paint
- Texel vs Mari
- Texel vs ArmorPaint
- Texel vs Wafer
- Texel vs Material Maker
Compare Texel with any tool side by side →
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The editor score above is our own research. What this page doesn't have yet is a reader's view — what you used Texel for, what worked and what didn't. No stars are seeded and no review is paid for; an editor reads every one before it appears.
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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