With a 360° camera and the Matterport app, anyone can in theory capture a walkable tour. In practice it takes technical know-how, time to learn and practice on top of the equipment – all the more if the tour has to carry a listing. What it costs, how accurate it gets and when a professional pays off – with Matterport’s official figures.
The equipment is the easy part. Know-how and practice make the difference – they decide whether a tour merely works or whether it can carry a listing.
360° camera, tripod, app and subscription. Done quickly – anyone can manage this.
Planning positions, handling light and windows, aligning scans correctly, post-processing the model. Without an affinity for technology, it gets tough.
Until a tour is good enough to market – complete, bright and cleanly aligned – we reckon on 50 to 200 hours.
RoomView360’s own experience. For a private tour of your own home, the first two steps are often enough; a tour that has to let or sell needs all three – or a professional.
| Item | What it takes | Cost (as of September 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| 360° camera | A model from Matterport’s list, such as current Ricoh Theta or Insta360 models. Unlisted cameras only work via the “Import 360” workaround. | from around CHF 300 at Swiss online retailers |
| Tripod | Matterport recommends capturing from a tripod. Handheld or on a selfie stick, quality drops and the operator appears in the image. | depends on the model |
| Matterport app | For iOS and Android; controls the camera and stitches the scans together. | free |
| Subscription | Free: 1 active tour, 360° camera captures cannot be shared publicly. Starter 5: up to 5 active tours, sharing and embedding possible. | Starter 5: 13 euros per month or 132 euros per year |
| Floor plan | Matterport schematic floor plan, ordered per plan. | 20 euros on Starter, 15 euros on Professional |
| Time | Several positions per room: according to Matterport, two for a small room and four to five for a larger one. | your own |
| Practice | Until tours are good enough to market: complete, well lit, correctly aligned and post-processed. | 50 to 200 hours (RoomView360’s experience) |
The most underestimated item is the subscription: the tour only stays online as long as a plan keeps it active. When the subscription lapses, the link stops working everywhere. More on this in What a virtual tour costs.
A 360° camera does not measure depth. Matterport computes the room geometry from the panoramic images using AI (Cortex). Cameras with an active depth sensor, such as the Matterport Pro2 or Pro3, measure it directly. RoomView360 also works with a 360° camera – so the figures below apply to our tours as well.
| Capture device | Room dimensions in the model, according to Matterport |
|---|---|
| Camera with active depth sensor (Matterport Pro2, Pro3) | on average within 1 % |
| 360° camera or smartphone with Axis mount | on average within 4 to 5 % |
| Smartphone, handheld | depends heavily on how steadily the hand rotates |
In a comparison test with ten capture methods in the same bedroom, most wall-to-wall measurements were within 2 to 3 % (Matterport, April 2026). That is enough for a listing, viewing preparation and furniture planning. It is not enough for a lease, condominium ownership or a building permit – those need a dimensioned plan. The reasons are explained in Areas in a scan floor plan.
One more limit: for models containing 360° camera captures, Matterport does not offer a point cloud (E57), a BIM file or a CAD file.
Not every “360° tour” is a 3D model. A panorama tour links individual 360° photos; you jump from position to position. A 3D tour additionally contains a spatial model of the flat.
| Feature | 360° panorama tour | 3D tour (e.g. Matterport) |
|---|---|---|
| Movement | jump from photo to photo | walk freely through the model |
| Dollhouse view | no | yes |
| Measuring in the browser | usually no | yes, with the deviations above |
| Floor plan from the capture | no | yes, automatic or drawn |
| Doing it yourself is enough if … | A professional pays off if … |
|---|---|
| it is a single property of your own | several properties or regular jobs are coming up |
| you have time to learn and to try again | the appointment has to work first time because the flat is occupied or only briefly accessible |
| the tour is for private or information use | the tour has to carry a listing and sell |
| an automatic floor plan is enough | a drawn or dimensioned plan and separate photos are needed |
| you want to manage the subscription yourself | hosting, embedding and renewal should run without your own subscription |
Example for a single property: a camera from around CHF 300, plus 132 euros for one year of Starter and 20 euros for the floor plan – around CHF 440 in total, before a tripod and your time. Our Basic package costs CHF 390 for properties up to 100 m², with the tour, 2D floor plan, 6 stills and 12 months of hosting. For agents and property managers with a steady flow of properties, time is what counts: capture, post-processing, managing the subscription and arranging appointments come up again for every property.
Because it is not the camera that makes the tour but the know-how: planning positions, handling light, aligning scans correctly and post-processing the model. On top come appointments, the subscription and missing pieces such as separate photos or a drawn floor plan. A professional delivers the tour, floor plan and images from one appointment, at a fixed price and within 48 hours – for a listing that has to let or sell, that is almost always the better choice.
You can capture a first tour after a short introduction. Until the results are good enough to market a tour – complete, well lit, correctly aligned and post-processed – it takes, in our experience, 50 to 200 hours of practice. How fast it goes depends heavily on your own affinity for technology.
Yes. The Matterport app also captures with a smartphone; iPhones and iPads with a LiDAR sensor measure part of the depth directly and the rest is computed. Handheld, quality depends heavily on how you rotate, which is why Matterport recommends its Axis mount. On the free plan, smartphone captures are the only ones that can be shared publicly.
According to Matterport (as of 2 September 2026), the officially supported models are the Ricoh Theta A1, X, Z1, V and SC2 and the Insta360 X5, X4, X3, One RS, One RS 1 inch, One X2, One X and the 360 module of the One R. Other 360° cameras only work via a workaround: capture the images with the camera’s own app and upload them with “Import 360”.
The free plan allows one active tour, but captures from a 360° camera cannot be shared publicly on it. The smallest paid plan, Starter 5, costs 13 euros per month or 132 euros per year for up to five active tours (Matterport price list, July 2026). A schematic floor plan costs an extra 20 euros on Starter.
According to Matterport, room dimensions from 360° camera captures are on average within 4 to 5 % of the real value, and within 1 % with cameras that have an active depth sensor. That is enough for a listing and planning, but not for a lease, condominium ownership or a building permit.
Usually not. A camera, one year of Starter and a floor plan add up to around CHF 440, plus a tripod and the time to learn. RoomView360 charges CHF 390 for a tour with 2D floor plan, 6 stills and 12 months of hosting for properties up to 100 m². If you market properties regularly, the time per property matters more than the purchase price of the camera.
Describe your property. We respond the same business day with a fixed-price quote and a proposed shoot date. No call centres, no sales pressure.
