Mixamo vs AccuRIG for rigging game characters
Short answer: try Mixamo first. It is free, runs in your browser, rigs a humanoid character after you place a few markers, and comes with ready made animations that Adobe says you can use royalty free in commercial games. If Mixamo gives you twisted shoulders, broken fingers or refuses your model, try AccuRIG, Reallusion's free Windows app, which lets you drag every joint guide, pick the number of fingers and fix posture before you export an FBX. Its commercial terms for the free app are less clear than Mixamo's, and most of its animations are paid. Every fact below comes from Adobe's and Reallusion's own pages, checked October 30, 2026. We focus on free plans only.
Quick verdict
| If you want to... | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Rig your first humanoid with nothing to install | Mixamo | Browser based, free with an Adobe ID |
| Free walk, run and jump animations for a game you sell | Mixamo | Adobe's FAQ says its animations are royalty free for video games |
| Fix a rig Mixamo got wrong | AccuRIG | Drag joint guides, adjust shoulders, neck and fingers, pose offsets |
| A hand with three or four fingers | AccuRIG | You set the number of fingers and finger joints |
| Rig on a Mac or Chromebook | Mixamo | AccuRIG is listed for Windows only |
| Rig a dog, dragon or bird | Neither | Both are humanoid riggers. Use Blender Rigify instead |
Side by side
| Mixamo | AccuRIG | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Adobe web service that auto-rigs humanoid characters and applies ready made animations. | Reallusion desktop app that auto-rigs humanoid characters in five steps, with adjustable joint guides. |
| Price | Free. No Creative Cloud subscription or other purchase needed. | Free download. Motions from the ActorCore store can cost extra. |
| Account | Adobe ID. Not available for Enterprise or Federated IDs, or users with a China country code. | Reallusion account, needed the first time you launch it. |
| Runs on | Any web browser, at mixamo.com. | Windows 11, 10 and 8, 64-bit, DirectX 11 (from the AccuRIG 1 manual). |
| Model upload | FBX, OBJ or ZIP. Turn on embed media in FBX for textures, or zip an OBJ with its MTL and textures. A model that is already rigged must be FBX. | FBX or OBJ, with texture maps in the same folder as the model file. |
| How you rig | Place markers on the wrists, elbows, knees and groin, then wait a few minutes. | Auto joint guides you can drag, separate right and left hand steps, finger count, a calibrate step to test poses, and pose offsets. |
| Free version limits | Bipedal humanoids only. Only your last uploaded character is stored, so save each one on your computer. | Can import a character made of several meshes but cannot rig them separately. No skin weight editing, bone reduction or mesh reduction. Those are in the paid Character Creator. |
| Animations | Free animation library included. Adobe does not publish the library size. | Browse over 4,500 ActorCore motions in the app. Many are paid. ActorCore's free motions page offers up to 10 free downloads a day. |
| Export | Download from the editor panel. Adobe's help pages do not list the formats (unverified). Cascadeur's help mentions FBX and Collada files from Mixamo. | FBX (with a target app setting for Unreal, Unity, Blender, Maya, Cinema 4D, MotionBuilder or 3ds Max) or USD. Textures up to 4,096, embedded or in a folder. Character only, motion only, or both. |
| Commercial use | Yes. Royalty free for personal, commercial and non-profit projects, including video games. | Unverified for the free app. See licensing below. |
Engine support
Neither tool needs a plugin for the basic workflow. You export an FBX and import it into your engine.
| Engine | Mixamo | AccuRIG |
|---|---|---|
| Unity | Import the FBX. Unity's docs say FBX is its internal import format and best practice. | Export FBX with Unity as the target application. AccuRIG's manual recommends Reallusion's Auto Setup plug-in for Unity to speed up import. Whether Auto Setup is free is unverified. |
| Unreal Engine | Import the FBX through the Content Browser, then retarget with Unreal's IK Retargeter. | Export FBX with Unreal as the target application. Auto Setup for Unreal is also listed in the manual. |
| Godot | FBX imports with the built-in ufbx importer in Godot 4.3 and later, per Godot's 3D formats page. | Same: import the FBX with ufbx, or convert to GLB in Blender. No Godot target in AccuRIG's export list. |
| Web (three.js) | Load the FBX with FBXLoader, or convert to GLB in Blender. | Same as Mixamo: FBXLoader, or convert to GLB in Blender. |
The tools
Mixamo
Free Adobe service that auto rigs characters and applies ready made animations.
Pricing: Free. Beginner rating: 5/5. Free, drag and drop rigging and animations.
The easiest free rig for a humanoid, and the only one of the two with free animations you can clearly use in a commercial game. The catches: humanoids only, little control over joints, and Adobe's Mixamo help pages were last updated in September 2021, so the service gets few visible updates.
AccuRIG
Free desktop auto-rigging app from Reallusion. You place joint guides on a humanoid character in an A or T pose, it builds the skeleton and skin weights, and you export a rigged FBX for Unity, Unreal or Blender, or USD.
Pricing: Free. Beginner rating: 4/5. A guided five step desktop app: load your model, check the joint guides, rig, and export. You need to install it and log in with a Reallusion account.
The better free choice when you need control: drag joints, fix shoulders, set fingers and test poses before export. The catches: Windows only, a Reallusion login, mostly paid motions, and commercial terms for the free app that we could not confirm on an official page.
Who each tool is best for as a beginner
Mixamo is best for you if...
- You are making your first 3D game and need a character that can idle, walk, run and jump.
- You want to sell the game and spend nothing on rigging or animation.
- You are on a Mac, Linux or a school laptop and cannot install Windows software.
- Your character is a clean humanoid in a T-pose or A-pose, with no wings, tails or big props.
AccuRIG is best for you if...
- Mixamo's rig bends your character's shoulders, neck or fingers badly.
- Your character is stylized, bulky or has a different number of fingers.
- You use Windows and are fine logging in with a Reallusion account.
- You will animate in another tool, or buy a few ActorCore motions, rather than rely on a free library.
Try both on the same character
- Prepare the model. Put it in a T-pose or A-pose, center it at the origin, join floating parts and remove props. Adobe asks for a default or neutral pose, and Reallusion's FAQ recommends an A-pose or T-pose. Our rigging guide has a full checklist for models from Meshy, Tripo or Rodin.
- Rig it in Mixamo. Upload the FBX with embed media on, place the markers and download the rigged character. Save it on your computer, because Mixamo only keeps your last one.
- Test a walk cycle. Apply a walk and an idle in Mixamo and watch the shoulders, elbows and hands. If they look fine, you are done.
- If not, rig it in AccuRIG. Load the same FBX or OBJ, align the center line to the pelvis, drag any joint guides that are off, set the finger count, then use Calibrate to test poses and fix clipping with pose offsets.
- Export and add motion. Export an FBX with your engine as the target. You can bring the AccuRIG character back into Mixamo as an already rigged FBX to try Mixamo's animations on it. We have not tested that round trip ourselves, so treat it as something to try rather than a sure thing.
Licensing gotchas
- AccuRIG's terms for free users are not spelled out. Reallusion's Software EULA (May 25, 2026) says it governs all Reallusion products and grants the right to export models and animations into your games, but that grant is worded for software bought under a perpetual license or used under an active subscription. On Reallusion's forum, staff said in August 2025 that a character that is 100% your own, with no Reallusion content, can be rigged in AccuRIG and used in your game. Read the license agreement the installer shows you before you rely on that.
- Reallusion content has its own rules. ActorCore motions and Reallusion characters fall under Reallusion's content license, not the software EULA.
- Mixamo needs a personal Adobe ID. Enterprise and Federated IDs, and China country codes, cannot use it.
- Your character model has its own license. Neither rigger changes the license of a model you generated or downloaded. A free Meshy model, for example, is CC BY 4.0 and needs credit. See Can I sell a game made with AI art?
What we could not verify
- Commercial use terms written specifically for the free AccuRIG app. We found no AccuRIG license page, only the general Software EULA and a forum answer from Reallusion staff.
- Whether AccuRIG 2 runs on anything other than Windows. The system requirements page we found is in the AccuRIG 1 manual.
- How many ActorCore motions are free, and whether they can be exported from AccuRIG at no cost. The free motions page did not list items when we loaded it.
- Whether Reallusion's Auto Setup plug-ins for Unity, Unreal and Blender are free.
- Mixamo's download formats and the size of its animation library. Adobe's help pages do not list them.
Sources, checked October 30, 2026: Adobe Mixamo FAQ, Mixamo rigging help, AccuRIG page and free vs Character Creator comparison, AccuRIG 2 installation guide, AccuRIG 2 quick guide, AccuRIG 2 export, AccuRIG 1 system requirements, ActorCore free motions, Reallusion Software EULA, Godot 3D formats, Unity model formats, Unreal IK Retargeter.
Related
For every free rigging route, including Tripo's built-in rigging and Blender Rigify for animals, read How to rig an AI-generated 3D model for free. Once it is rigged, How to animate a 3D character for free covers Mixamo clips, free AI motion capture and Blender, and Mixamo vs Cascadeur compares library clips with hand made animation. Need a character first? See Best free AI 3D model generators for game assets. Browse every animation tool, or see all guides.
FAQ
Is Mixamo or AccuRIG better for a beginner?
Start with Mixamo. It runs in your browser, needs only a free Adobe ID, rigs a humanoid after you place a few markers, and gives you a library of ready made animations that Adobe says are royalty free for video games. Try AccuRIG when Mixamo will not rig your character well, or when you want to adjust joints, shoulders and fingers yourself. AccuRIG is a free Windows desktop app that needs a Reallusion account.
Are Mixamo and AccuRIG really free?
Yes, both rigging tools are free as of October 30, 2026. Adobe's Mixamo FAQ says Mixamo is free for anyone with an Adobe ID and needs no Creative Cloud subscription or other purchases. Reallusion's AccuRIG page calls it free software, with a Download Free button. The catch with AccuRIG is animations: it shows motions from the paid ActorCore store, and its manual has an Add to Cart step to buy motions before you export them.
Can I sell a game with a character rigged in Mixamo or AccuRIG?
Mixamo, yes: Adobe's FAQ says its characters and animations are royalty free for personal, commercial and non-profit projects, and lists creating video games. AccuRIG is less clear. Reallusion's Software EULA (dated May 25, 2026) covers all its products and allows exporting models and animations into your games, but it words that grant for perpetual or subscription licenses and does not mention free software. Reallusion staff have said on its forum that a character that is 100% your own, with no Reallusion content, can be used in a commercial game after rigging in AccuRIG. Treat AccuRIG's commercial terms as unverified until Reallusion publishes something clearer.
Does AccuRIG work on Mac?
Not that we could confirm. Reallusion's AccuRIG 1 manual lists Windows 11, 10 and 8, 64-bit, with DirectX 11 as the operating system requirements, and Reallusion's forum staff have said its 3D software is Windows only. We did not find a system requirements page for AccuRIG 2. Mixamo works on any computer with a web browser.
Which one gives me more control over the rig?
AccuRIG. Mixamo asks you to place markers on the wrists, elbows, knees and groin, then rigs automatically. AccuRIG places joint guides for you and lets you drag them, adjust shoulders and collar bones, set the number of fingers and finger joints, and apply pose offsets so arms do not clip through a bulky body. The free version cannot edit skin weights, though. That needs Reallusion's paid Character Creator.
Can either one rig animals, wings or tails?
Not really. Adobe says Mixamo's auto-rigger and animation library are for bipedal humanoids only, and large extra limbs, wings, tails, hair or clothing may not work. AccuRIG is also a humanoid rigger, although its finger count and neck settings help with creatures that are roughly human shaped. For a dog, dragon or horse, rig it in Blender with Rigify, as our rigging guide explains.
Which one works with Godot?
Both, through FBX files. Godot 4.3 and later import FBX with the built-in ufbx importer, per Godot's docs. Mixamo downloads and AccuRIG exports are FBX, so they can go straight into a Godot project, or you can convert to GLB in Blender first. Neither Adobe nor Reallusion lists a Godot plugin.
