Gaussian Splatting Statistics (2026)

By Michael Rubloff · Updated July 9, 2026

Gaussian splatting went from a SIGGRAPH 2023 paper to a full software industry in under three years — but reliable numbers about that industry are hard to find. This page collects the statistics we can measure directly, drawn from the databases behind RadianceFields.com: a directory of 212 platforms, an index of 3,333 research papers, 665 tracked job listings, and 992 news articles published since 2023. Every figure below is first-party data, not an estimate, and this page is updated as the numbers move.

Key gaussian splatting statistics

  • 212 gaussian splatting platforms and tools are on the market as of July 2026, from phone capture apps to enterprise renderers.

  • More than $1.5 billion in disclosed funding has been raised by companies building gaussian splatting products; dedicated 3D and spatial startups account for roughly $480 million of it.

  • 3,333 radiance field research papers are indexed on RadianceFields.com — at least 749 published in 2026, roughly four new papers every day.

  • 415 gaussian splatting job listings are open right now, out of 665 tracked since 2024.

  • 992 news stories have covered the field since January 2023; the 216 published in the first half of 2026 put this year on a record pace.

  • At least nine industries now ship gaussian splatting tools, led by GIS (25 tools), architecture, engineering & construction (24), and media & entertainment (20).

Each figure is unpacked below, with methodology at the end of the page.

How many gaussian splatting tools are there?

Our platforms directory tracks 212 gaussian splatting tools, apps, and companies as of July 9, 2026, each with its own profile page. Grouped by what they offer, the largest categories are capture studios (43), cloud-based services (38), viewers (27), hardware products (19), generative-AI tools (15), editors (9), structure-from-motion pipelines (8), and renderers (7). Twenty-five of the 212 are free to use.

Which industries use gaussian splatting?

Tagged by industry, GIS and geospatial leads with 25 tools, followed by architecture, engineering & construction with 24 and media & entertainment with 20. eCommerce (11), hospitality (9), simulation (8), commercial services (7), automotive (6), and cultural heritage round out the list.

On the device side, VR is the largest single target with 24 tools, ahead of DCC integrations (17), iOS apps (12), Android apps (7), and five native Apple Vision Pro apps. The spread is the story: what began as an academic rendering technique now ships in products across at least nine industries.

Gaussian splatting funding and market activity

Thirteen companies in our directory have publicly disclosed funding, totaling more than $1.5 billion. The two largest are Wayve ($1B+, raised for autonomous driving with splatting-based simulation in its stack) and Niantic Spatial ($250 million in spin-out funding, 2025). They are followed by World Labs ($100M+), Luma AI ($68.5M), Pico ($62M), Polycam ($22.1M), SpAItial ($13M), and Common Sense Machines ($10M), plus five smaller raises of $5 million and under.

Set aside Wayve and Pico — where the raises fund far more than splatting — and dedicated spatial and 3D reconstruction startups still account for roughly $480 million in disclosed capital. These are company-reported totals as publicly stated, not our estimates.

Research output: papers per year

RadianceFields.com indexes 3,333 radiance field research papers. At least 749 of them carry 2026 publication dates through July 9 — roughly four new papers a day, or more than 100 a month. Publication dates are still being backfilled for older entries, so the 2026 figure is a floor, not a ceiling.

Gaussian splatting jobs

Since 2024 the RadianceFields job board has tracked 665 listings that call for gaussian splatting or radiance field skills — 253 posted in 2024, 252 in 2025, and 130 in the first half of 2026. 415 of those listings are currently open, spanning research, engineering, and production roles.

News coverage as an activity signal

RadianceFields.com has published 992 articles on radiance fields since January 2023 — a daily news archive dedicated to the field, and a useful proxy for how much is actually happening in it. Coverage has grown every year: 237 stories in 2023, 253 in 2024, 285 in 2025, and 216 in the first half of 2026 alone. That puts 2026 on pace for roughly 415 stories — a 46% jump over 2025 and the clearest signal yet that activity is accelerating, not plateauing.

Key milestones: from NeRF to gaussian splatting

  • 2020 — Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF): photorealistic 3D reconstruction from ordinary 2D photos, the breakthrough that started the field.

  • 2022 — Instant NGP: NVIDIA cuts radiance field training from days to seconds, making the technique practical.

  • 2023 — Zip-NeRF: the fidelity high-water mark for NeRF-based methods.

  • 2023 — 3D Gaussian Splatting: real-time rendering via rasterized gaussians, introduced at SIGGRAPH — the technique this page measures.

  • 2024 — 3D Gaussian Ray Tracing: ray-traced effects come to gaussian representations.

Everything above is what that lineage produced in barely three years. For the full history, see our interactive timeline.

Methodology and how to cite

Every statistic on this page is derived from RadianceFields.com’s first-party databases as of July 9, 2026: the platforms directory (212 entries), the research paper index (3,333 entries), the job board (665 listings), and our article archive (992 stories). Counts are live database totals, not estimates — the only projection is the 2026 article pace noted above. Funding figures are company-disclosed totals as publicly reported, attributed at the company level; one raise reported in euros is counted at par. Directory categories are editorially assigned and a tool can belong to several, so category counts sum to more than 212.

You’re welcome to cite these figures with attribution — “RadianceFields.com Gaussian Splatting Statistics, July 2026” — and a link to this page. For corrections or additions, contact us.

New to the field? Start with What is Gaussian Splatting? and What is a Radiance Field?, learn the workflow in our capture guide, pick hardware with the gear buyer’s guide, and explore all 212 tools in the platforms directory.