Artsteps alternative: keep the exhibition after two weeks.
Artsteps now points new work at Metasteps. The successor sells a rented room: 14 € a month for one space, on their servers, under their licence. This page is for the person who just hit the Artsteps two-week wall, or the Metasteps checkout.
We make OpenVGal. Artsteps and Metasteps still win on templates, customisation, and crowd. We win if you want a gallery you can pack up and move.
Metasteps pricing read on 2026-09-06
Disclosure
We make OpenVGal. This is written by its creator, who tested Artsteps and Metasteps hands-on for the 2026 comparison, and it names where they are the better tool. The nine-platform roundup lives on the compare page. Metasteps prices below were read from their pricing page on 2026-09-06.
The two-week problem
Artsteps is good at the thing most virtual-gallery tools are good at: a show. Templates, furniture, custom walls, a space you dress. What the free tier was not good at is lasting. A published exhibition stayed up two weeks — a pop-up, not a portfolio. If the point of putting the work in 3D was so someone could open the link next month, it did not do that job.
Artsteps now sends new work to Metasteps. The two-week clock is gone. In its place: a 14-day trial, then a paid plan. The cheapest is 14 € a month for a single space.
The Artsteps FAQ has described the original site as in maintenance: existing exhibitions remain viewable, editing needs an active paid product, and new sign-ups go to Metasteps.
The ladder, read from their pricing:
| Plan | Price | Spaces | Storage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial | 14 days, no card | The plan you picked | The plan you picked | Not a free tier. Then you pay. |
| Creator | 14 €/mo | 1 | 200 MB | For individuals publishing their first space. 400 credits a month. |
| Creator Pro | 29 €/mo | 5 | 1 GB | 750 credits; events; uploaded structures. |
| Business | 99 €/mo | 20 | 10 GB | 5 seats; unlimited credits; privacy controls. |
| Education / Enterprise | Quote | Custom | Custom | Demo required. |
One space means one. A second show is the 29 € plan. Credits are a second meter on top of storage — top-ups start at 150 credits for 15 €, and what a credit spends is not something the public page says.
Free trial vs a comparable paid tier
Two different kinds of free. Do not mix them up.
| Metasteps | OpenVGal | |
|---|---|---|
| What free means | A 14-day trial of a paid plan. No card. Then you subscribe. | The full builder, forever. No account. No clock. |
| After free | Creator at 14 €/mo, or the trial ends | You still have the gallery. Export a ZIP, host it yourself for $0. |
| First paid plan | Creator — 14 €/mo | Artist — $9/mo |
| What that plan buys | 1 space, 200 MB, editor, 400 credits a month | Unlimited galleries, 2 GB, a permanent URL we host |
| Next plan | Creator Pro 29 €/mo · 5 spaces · 1 GB | Studio $19/mo · unlimited galleries · 10 GB |
Our free line is not a trial of Artist. It is the product: unlimited local galleries, the same engine we serve, a ZIP you can put on Netlify, GitHub Pages, or a server you control. You pay us only if you want the hosted URL. OpenVGal prices exclude VAT and sales tax; full numbers on pricing.
Where each one wins
You want the largest template set and the most knobs — furniture, custom walls, AI room setup, story paths, multiplayer events. You are staging a short exhibition, a class project, or a space that wants an audience already walking those rooms. Customisation is the reason people stay.
You want a gallery you can pack up: a ZIP, an MIT engine, a show that outlasts two weeks, more than one space without jumping a plan. Folders of images become rooms. No account to build.
Hands-on, the cost of all those knobs shows up in the session: long loading times, a waiting screen that is itself a 3D environment, poor performance on average hardware, and placement one work at a time. Visual quality is attractive. Ease of use in the 2026 table: 1 / 5.
The other half is ownership. “On your own site” is an embed of a space that still runs on their servers — there is no export file, so if the company raises prices, gets acquired, or shuts down, you rebuild from your images. That was the review’s criticism of the whole category, and it is the one thing a ZIP fixes.
What we do not do: AR wall-preview, VR headsets, built-in e-commerce, live multiplayer. If those are the job, this is the wrong alternative.
Rebuild the show
You do not migrate an Artsteps or Metasteps file. You rebuild from the images you already have. That is faster than it sounds, because we do not ask you to place each work by hand.
- Sort the images into folders. One folder becomes one room; the folder name is the name on the wall.
- Open the builder. Drop the folders in. Walk the result. No account.
- Save a local ZIP and host it anywhere — or publish at a permanent URL we host.
The five-minute version is in the quickstart. JPEG, PNG, or WebP. A desktop browser; phones do not drop whole folders well.
If you already have more than a hundred works, start with one folder of eight to twelve to see how a room fills, then rebuild with the rest. The engine is built for large portfolios, not for a one-space, 200 MB plan.
Open the builderQuestions
- How long does an Artsteps free exhibition stay online?
- On the old Artsteps free tier we tested, a published gallery stays up for two weeks. Metasteps, the successor Artsteps now sends people to, has no free publish: it offers a 14-day trial of a paid plan, no card required, and then you subscribe. The OpenVGal builder is free forever; a subscription only buys a permanent hosted URL, and the exported ZIP can be hosted anywhere.
- What does Metasteps Creator include at 14 € a month?
- One space, 200 MB of storage, editor access, and 400 credits per month. That is their cheapest paid plan, billed for individuals publishing their first space. Creator Pro is 29 € for five spaces and 1 GB. Business is 99 € for 20 spaces and 10 GB. Read from their pricing page on 2026-09-06.
- Do I own a Metasteps space?
- You own your images. You do not own the gallery as a thing you can take with you: there is no self-contained export, and publishing on your own site is an embed of a space that still runs on their servers. If they raise prices, get acquired, or shut down, you start from scratch. Read their user licence before you commit; we are not going to paraphrase it.
- Is OpenVGal a good Artsteps alternative?
- Yes if you want ownership you can pack up, more than one gallery, self-hosting, and a show that does not expire. No if you need the Artsteps and Metasteps template library, deep customisation, multiplayer events, or the audience already on that platform. OpenVGal does not offer AR, VR headsets, or built-in e-commerce.
- What happens to my gallery if OpenVGal disappears?
- You keep it. Export a self-contained ZIP from the builder and host it on any static server — Netlify, GitHub Pages, or a machine you control. The engine is MIT-licensed at github.com/lbartworks/openvgal and is the same one we serve. Paying us is a convenience choice, not a lock-in.
- Artsteps or Metasteps — which one is this about?
- The same product family. Artsteps now refers new work to Metasteps, and the Artsteps FAQ has described the original site as in maintenance. Our 2026 hands-on review tested the line the comparison table still labels Artsteps. The two-week free publish was Artsteps; the 14 € one-space plan is live Metasteps pricing as read on 2026-09-06.
Elsewhere
If you are on Kunstmatrix BASIC and hitting fifty works, there is a separate page for that exit. The rest of the field — Exhibbit, ArtPlacer, Galeryst, and the others — is on the 2026 comparison.