Hosted platforms like Kuula and Matterport are quick to start, but the tour lives on their servers, under their branding rules and plan limits, inside an iframe. A self-hosted tour keeps the images in your WordPress Media Library and the tour on your own pages, with no monthly fee. Use Matterport when you need a measured 3D model with a dollhouse view; use a self-hosted plugin like Photo Sphere Viewer for 360° photo tours you want to own.
Disclosure: WPXERO makes Photo Sphere Viewer. What we say about Kuula comes from Kuula's free account help page and about Matterport from Matterport's plans page, as of October 27, 2026. Both change their plans; check them before you decide. We don't quote their prices because they vary by plan, region and billing period.
The three options
| Kuula (hosted) | Matterport (hosted) | Photo Sphere Viewer (self-hosted) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | 360° photo tour platform | 3D capture and digital-twin platform | WordPress plugin |
| Where the files live | Kuula's servers | Matterport's servers | Your Media Library |
| How it appears on your site | Embed (iframe) | Embed (iframe) | Native block, widget or shortcode |
| Free plan | Yes, with limits (below) | Free plan with 1 active space | Free, no tour or scene limit |
| Paid plans | Monthly or yearly subscriptions | Priced by number of active spaces | Optional Pro from $19.99/yr or $59.99 lifetime |
| Branding | Kuula logo on free embeds | Matterport player | No watermark |
| Capture | Any 360° camera | Matterport, 360° cameras or phone capture | Any 360° camera or drone |
| 3D dollhouse and measurements | — | Yes | — |
| SEO | Content inside the iframe | Content inside the iframe | Captions and page text on your page |
Kuula: easy, but the free tier is limited
Kuula is popular with photographers because it's quick to upload and build a tour in the browser. Its free account page is clear about the limits once you share:
- Hotspots aren't visible to anyone except you; visitors see the photos and can move between them only with the thumbnail bar.
- Embeds are branded with the Kuula logo. PRO removes or changes branding; Business adds custom domain links.
- No audio on the free account.
- Uploads are capped at 25 images at once and 100 a month.
So a real, linked tour on your site means a paid plan for as long as you want it to keep working.
Matterport: a different product
Matterport isn't really a 360° photo tour; it builds a 3D model of a space that visitors can walk through, view as a dollhouse and measure. For large commercial listings, facilities and construction, that's worth paying for, and nothing photo-based replaces it.
The trade-offs: plans are priced by active spaces, the free plan covers one, and when you exceed your limit you archive spaces or upgrade. A listing's tour depends on the subscription staying active.
Self-hosted: own the tour
A self-hosted tour is a plugin showing your own photos on your own pages. With Photo Sphere Viewer:
- No limits, no fee. Unlimited panoramas, tours and scenes in the free version, without a watermark.
- No iframe. The viewer is part of your page, so captions and surrounding text are your content, and it inherits your site's speed and privacy setup. Scripts load only on pages with a viewer.
- Built where you edit. In the block editor, insert the 360° Virtual Tour block, pick the photos and click on each doorway to place an arrow. Elementor has a PSV Virtual Tour widget.
- More than tours. 360° video and AR 3D models from the same plugin.
- Nothing to cancel. The tour keeps working whether or not you buy Pro.
Pro adds unlimited hotspots with a photo in each panel, a scene gallery and compass, a restricted viewing angle, and full-resolution loading for large drone panoramas.
Which should you choose?
| Situation | Choose |
|---|---|
| You need a measured 3D model, dollhouse view or floor measurements | Matterport |
| You want to share tours on a platform with its own audience | Kuula (paid plan) |
| You want 360° photo tours with hotspots, on your own site, with no monthly fee | Photo Sphere Viewer |
| You have many listings or rooms and don't want per-space pricing | Photo Sphere Viewer |
| You want visitors to stay on your pages, not inside an embed | Photo Sphere Viewer |
Moving from a hosted tour
If you shot the tour yourself, you have the equirectangular photos — upload them to the Media Library and rebuild the tour with the block; it usually takes minutes per tour. If the platform did the capture (as with Matterport's own camera workflow), check whether you can export the 360° images before your plan ends.
For a full walkthrough, see how to create a real estate virtual tour in WordPress, or compare WordPress plugins in the 360° virtual tour plugin comparison.