Own your renderer. Skip the RTX requirement.
D5 Render is fast and full of assets, but you rent it for $360 a year, and it needs a ray-tracing graphics card on Windows, with no CPU mode. Rayscaper renders inside SketchUp on any Windows PC and on Apple silicon Macs, and a license is $99, once.
On a Mac? Get Rayscaper for Mac, for Apple silicon.
At a glance
| Feature | Rayscaper | D5 Render |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $99 once, a year of updates included | D5 Pro: $360 a year |
| Free version | No time limit; watermark, 1280 px, non-commercial | Community: free for non-commercial work |
| Runs | Inside SketchUp, live | Separate app, linked with LiveSync; D5 Lite inside SketchUp |
| Rendering | Path tracing, refined while you model | Real-time ray tracing |
| Hardware | Any Windows PC (NVIDIA GPU optional) or Apple silicon Mac | Ray-tracing GPU required, no CPU mode |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS (Apple silicon) | Windows |
What it costs you
- D5 Render
- Rayscaper
D5 Pro is $30 a month billed yearly, $360 a year, on the D5 website in October 2026. Prices are in US dollars without taxes and may differ in your region. Rayscaper is $99 once with a year of updates included; the totals don't count later upgrades. Not happy with it? Get your money back within 14 days.
Why SketchUp users switch from D5 Render
Buy it, don't rent it
$99 once, with a year of updates, and it keeps working after that. Five years of D5 Pro cost $1,800.
No RTX card required
D5 needs a ray-tracing GPU to run at all. Rayscaper uses one when you have it and renders on the CPU when you don't, so it runs on laptops and office PCs.
Stay in SketchUp
No LiveSync and no second scene: Rayscaper renders the model you're working on, with its materials, sun, tags and scenes.
On your Mac too
D5 Render runs on Windows only. Rayscaper also runs on Macs with Apple silicon.
Made by Rayscaper users
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Exterior Scene · Majid Yeganegi -
Loft Cuisine · Julien Fischel -
Guggenheim Museum · Rich O'Brien
When D5 Render is the better choice
D5 Render is good at what it was built for. Stay with it if:
- You make fast animations and videos, where real-time ray tracing shines.
- You rely on D5's big library of models and effects, or its AI tools.
- You have a modern RTX card and only make non-commercial renders, which the free Community version allows.
If that isn't you, you're paying for more than you use. Try Rayscaper on your next project and compare.
Switching from D5 Render
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Render in SketchUp
Install Rayscaper, open your model and click Start Render. There's no LiveSync to set up.
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Check the materials
Colors and textures come from your SketchUp materials. Make the windows Glass and the fixtures Metal, and the light does the rest.
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Set the scene
The sun comes from SketchUp. Pick a sky or one of 1,000+ HDRIs, and scatter plants with Rayscaper's scatter.
See it on your own model
The free version has no time limit: open the project you're working on and watch it render. If you like what you see, a license is $99, once, and you can get your money back within 14 days.
Frequently asked questions
Is D5 Render free?
Its Community version is free for non-commercial work. For commercial work D5 Pro costs $360 a year. A Rayscaper license for commercial renders is $99 once.
Can Rayscaper render without an RTX card?
Yes. Rayscaper renders on an NVIDIA GPU when it finds one, with hardware ray tracing on RTX cards, and on the CPU otherwise. On a Mac it renders on the GPU of Apple silicon.
Can Rayscaper make animations?
Yes, between your SketchUp scenes, with a moving sun, rendered frame by frame. D5's real-time renderer makes long videos faster.
Does Rayscaper run on a Mac?
Yes: on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or newer), macOS 14 or later and SketchUp 2025 or 2026. D5 Render runs on Windows only.