# 3D Gaussian Splatting (INRIA) vs Nerfstudio (gsplat): 2026 Empirical Benchmark & Cost Shootout

> **Direct Answer (October 2026 Verdict)**: INRIA 3D Gaussian Splatting (`graphdeco-inria/gaussian-splatting`) wins as the canonical SIGGRAPH reference implementation with maximum ecosystem compatibility across 24.2k+ GitHub stars (97.6), while Nerfstudio (`gsplat` / Splatfacto) wins for commercial production deployment under Apache-2.0 with 4x lower GPU memory usage, web viewer streaming, and camera pose optimization across 12.1k+ GitHub stars (97.2).

- **Category**: Reference INRIA CUDA 3DGS Rasterizer vs Apache-2.0 Modular Splatfacto & gsplat Framework Shootout
- **Canonical URL**: https://exactbaseline.com/vs/gaussian-splatting-vs-nerfstudio
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## 3D Gaussian Splatting (INRIA) Key Advantages
- 24,233+ GitHub stars as the foundational SIGGRAPH paper implementation pioneering real-time 120+ FPS 1080p novel-view synthesis
- Every third-party Unreal Engine, Unity, PlayCanvas, and Three.js `.ply`/`.splat` plugin targets INRIA's exact spherical harmonics format
- Minimal C++/CUDA codebase ideal for academic benchmarking and custom rasterizer kernel research

## Nerfstudio (gsplat) Key Advantages
- 12,080+ GitHub stars under Apache-2.0 (`gsplat`), removing the non-commercial licensing restrictions of the original INRIA repository
- Optimized CUDA kernels consume up to 4x less GPU VRAM on large aerial/street-scale scenes while training 15% faster
- Built-in browser-based Viser 3D interactive viewer, COLMAP/Polycam/ARKit data parsers, and `.ply`/mesh CLI exporters