Now You Choose: iGuide or Matterport for Your 3D Walkthrough Tour

Back in July, I wrote about why we went all in on iGuide in select markets. At the time, I mentioned we were working on a way for you to choose iGuide or Matterport as part of the order. That option is now live. In markets where we have iGuide cameras, you can pick the 3D Tour platform for your 3D Walkthrough Tour right on the order form.

iGuide is the default, and I’ll explain why below. But if you prefer Matterport, or you want to use a specific provider who doesn’t have an iGuide camera, it’s one click to switch.

How to choose your 3D Tour platform

1. Start your order and go to Choose a Service. Click the 3D Walkthrough Tour tab.
2. Find the 3D Tour Platform panel. You’ll see a toggle for iGuide and Matterport. iGuide is selected by default.
3. Review the pros and cons. The panel shows what you get with each platform, so you can decide right there.
4. Click Matterport only if you want it. Otherwise, leave iGuide selected and keep building your order.

Note: the platform choice only shows up in markets where we have iGuide cameras. If you don’t see it, your order will be shot on Matterport as usual.  Current markets with iGuide: Austin, Boston, Connecticut (Fairfield and New Haven Counties), Dallas, Long Island, Portland, Philladelphia, Raleigh, San Antonio and Seattle.

If you would like iGuide in your market, please email Kris Cone at kris@homediary.com with your request and we can see how we can outfit your local provider with iGuide.

Why iGuide is the default

Matterport is a good visual platform, and we’ll keep supporting it. But when you look at what actually helps your listing, your seller and your business, iGuide comes out ahead on almost every measure.

1. Accurate floor plans, standard

iGuide floor plans are about 99.5% accurate, every time. With Matterport, we could only hit that level with the Pro camera. Accuracy matters more than most people think. Buyers use floor plans to decide if their furniture fits, appraisers use them, and a bad number on square footage can cause real problems down the road.  See this post on Why Accuracy Matters.

2. More exposure where buyers and sellers actually search

iGuide is on 100% of the top 10 real estate search sites. Matterport is on 42%, and that number has been dropping. The biggest difference is Zillow, the #1 site with over half the market. Matterport is not allowed on Zillow. On the flip side, iGuide is embedded on Zillow in up to 4 places as a 3D Home Tour, with preferential search treatment.  All you have to do it put the unrbanded iGuide link into the MLS as a virtual tour.

Pro tip: put the HomeDiary virtual tour in the #1 tour position in the MLS, the iGuide link in #2, and any custom video in #3. That gets you and your content the most exposure possible across the top sites.

3. Your brand stays on the tour

Brandkeepr, our patented tour-branding technology, already works on 87% of the top 10 sites. We will be enabling it for iGuide tours so your brand shows up on sites like Zillow, not just the listing. That’s your name in front of buyers and sellers who are watching the neighborhood.  This will likely be a 2027 enhancement.

4. The tour keeps working for you after closing

With iGuide, the 3D tour can be passed to the buyer or seller through Claim Home (again probably a 2027 enhancement), where it lives in their HomeDiary with permanent attribution to you. Matterport doesn’t allow this. That persistent placement is one reason we’ve already seen agents relist the same house multiple times now.  Plus, if we host it, we can leverage AI to create automated home inventory lists, automated tours and other unique ways to leverage the home content.

5. Lower renewal costs

iGuide doesn’t lock us into a monthly subscription to keep a tour alive, plus as mentioned above, we can host it ourselves if we wanted to, so we can charge you less to renew. Matterport’s subscription model pushes costs up, and those costs get passed along.

6. More options for the property

• Site plans: iGuide can scan outdoors, so a site plan is available as a Provider Addon. Pool houses and ADUs are just another level, vs Matterport requires a second scan, which increases your costs.
• CAD files: available at $0.05/sq ft, which is great for remodels, builders and commercial clients.
• Faster capture: iGuide scans are about 2X faster than Matterport with a 360 camera, with far fewer misalignment issues.

When Matterport might make sense

To be fair, Matterport still has two things iGuide doesn’t offer today:

• Dollhouse view. People like it, and I’ve told iGuide our customers want it.
• Guided auto walkthrough. Matterport’s video-style walkthrough is better than iGuide’s autoplay right now.

We’re working on both with our own custom viewer, so stay tuned. In the meantime, if either of those is a must-have for a listing, or you want a specific provider who shoots Matterport, just flip the toggle.

Quick comparison

The bottom line

For most listings, iGuide gives you more accurate floor plans, more exposure on the sites buyers and sellers use, and content that keeps working for you long after the sale. That’s why it’s the default. But it’s your listing, and now it’s your choice.

Next time you order a 3D Walkthrough Tour, look for the 3D Tour Platform toggle. Questions about which one is right for a specific property? Just reach out, we’re happy to help.