DEV Community: Forrest Reed

Blender AI add-ons that work in Blender 5.3 (2026)

Forrest Reed — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 23:00:47 +0000

Most AI add-ons for Blender should keep working in Blender 5.3, because they already support 5.1 or 5.2 and the 5.3 Python API changes are mostly additions. The free ones worth starting with are Blender's own Lab MCP Server (5.1 or newer) and MCP for Blender, which let an AI assistant you already use edit your scene. For generated 3D models, the bridges from Meshy, Tripo and Rodin work, but sending models straight into Blender or shipping them usually needs a paid plan.

Blender 5.3 is expected on November 10, 2026; 5.2 LTS is the current release. Source: blender.org download page Nobody can promise an add-on works on a release that isn't out yet, so this guide lists what each maker states today, checked on 2026-11-03. For a side-by-side table of every Blender 3D tool we list, see AI 3D asset tools for Blender.

The quick answer

Add-on	What it does	Blender versions the maker states	Cost	Main catch
Blender Lab MCP Server	Lets an AI client read and edit your open scene	5.1 or newer	Free (GPL-3.0)	Runs AI-written code with no guards
MCP for Blender	Same idea, plus asset libraries and 3D generators	3.0 or newer	Free (MIT); generation from $10/mo	Arbitrary Python unless safe mode is on
3D-Agent	Paid agent that builds editable models in Blender	4.2 or later	From $19/mo	No free plan; your outputs can train its service
StableGen	Local text/image to textured mesh, AI texturing	4.2 to 4.5, or 5.1 and later (not 5.0)	Free (GPL-3.0)	Needs ComfyUI and a strong GPU; some models are non-commercial
Meshy bridge	Sends Meshy models into your scene	4.2 or later; tested up to 5.2.0	Bridge needs Pro ($20/mo)	Free plan assets are CC BY 4.0
Tripo DCC Bridge	Sends Tripo models into your scene	4.1.0 or newer	Not checked this run	Check Tripo's terms before shipping
Rodin RodinBridge	Rodin generation from Blender	Not stated	Add-on $0; Creator $24/mo yearly	Free tier lacks any-use rights
Uthana add-on	Text or video to character animation	4.0 or newer	Pay per second of motion	Needs an API key and internet

What changes in Blender 5.3 for add-ons

The 5.3 Python API notes mostly list new features: color-space interop IDs, OpenEXR and OpenTimelineIO as built-in modules, extension-defined asset libraries and a read-only undo stack. The old color-space names are kept, so existing scripts still work. The one behavior change is that the order of bpy.data.all_ids changed and is now an internal detail scripts shouldn't rely on. Source: Blender 5.3 Python API notes

The real risk is a hard version limit. Extensions can set blender_version_max in their manifest, and Blender treats that version and newer as unsupported. Source: Blender manual, extensions If an add-on refuses to enable in 5.3, check for that first, then for an update from the maker.

Let an AI assistant work in your scene

Blender Lab MCP Server: official and free

Blender's own Lab team publishes a small MCP server: a Blender add-on plus a server process that your AI client (such as llama.cpp, or any MCP client you prefer) launches. It is aimed at understanding and tidying scenes: renaming data-blocks, finding which objects use a material, the highest-poly object, or documenting a Geometry Nodes setup. It needs Blender 5.1 or newer. Source: Blender Lab MCP Server The add-on is GPL-3.0-or-later. Source: Lab MCP manifest

The catch is stated plainly by Blender: the server runs LLM-generated code with no guards against deleting your data or sending it somewhere, and it recommends a virtual machine or a system without sensitive files. Results also depend on the model you use.

MCP for Blender: the community favorite

MCP for Blender connects Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients to Blender 3.0 or newer. The AI writes Blender Python for modeling, materials, animation and rigging, and the add-on adds tools such as pulling assets and generating models with Tripo, Hunyuan3D, Rodin or Meshy. Source: MCP for Blender README

It is MIT and free with your own generator API keys. Optional Premium plans include generations: Hobby $10, Pro $20, Studio $60 and Max $100 a month. Source: MCP for Blender Premium Two things to know: by default the AI can run any Python, so save first or set BLENDER_MCP_SAFE_MODE=1, and a minimal anonymous usage record is sent unless you set DISABLE_TELEMETRY=true. Your prompts and scene data are only collected if you opt in. Source: MCP for Blender README

We compare it with the paid option below in MCP for Blender vs 3D-Agent.

3D-Agent: paid, nothing to set up

3D-Agent is a Windows and macOS desktop app that installs its own Blender extension and builds models with Blender's native tools, so you get editable geometry rather than a generated mesh. It needs Blender 4.2+. Source: 3D-Agent download There is no free plan: Basic is $19 a month for 100 prompts, Pro $29 for 200, Ultra $89 for 800, and every plan includes a commercial license. Source: 3D-Agent pricing Its terms let the maker use your prompts and outputs to train and improve the service and send them to outside AI providers, so think twice for NDA work. Source: 3D-Agent terms

Generate and texture 3D models

StableGen: free and local, if you have the GPU

StableGen generates meshes with TRELLIS.2, textures any model in your scene, bakes PBR maps and exports glTF or FBX for Godot, Unity and Unreal. It supports Blender 4.2 to 4.5 or 5.1 and later; 5.0 isn't supported. It needs a ComfyUI server, preferably on an NVIDIA GPU with about 8 GB of VRAM for SDXL and 16 GB or more for Qwen Image. Source: StableGen README

The license catch: StableGen is GPL-3.0, but three of the models it can run are non-commercial: Qwen Image 2.1 (Qwen Research License), Bria FIBO 2.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0) and the TRELLIS.2 Native texture mode. SDXL and Qwen Image Edit aren't affected. Source: StableGen license section Pick your model before you make assets you plan to sell.

Meshy, Tripo and Rodin bridges

These add-ons don't generate inside Blender; they bring models from the maker's web app into your open scene.

Meshy: needs Blender 4.2 or later and was tested with 4.2.6, 5.0.1, 5.1.0 and 5.2.0. No API key needed, but sending models needs a Pro plan or higher. Source: Meshy for Blender docs Free plan assets are CC BY 4.0 (commercial use with credit); paid plans make them yours. Pro is $20 a month. Source: Meshy pricing
Tripo: the DCC Bridge needs Blender 4.1.0 or newer on Windows or Mac and connects to Tripo Studio in Chrome, Edge or Opera. Source: Tripo DCC Bridge for Blender We couldn't load Tripo's pricing page this run, so read its current license terms before you ship a Tripo model.
Rodin: the RodinBridge Blender add-on is free on Deemos's Gumroad page, which doesn't state a Blender version. Source: RodinBridge on Gumroad "Unlimited export and any use" starts at Creator, $30 a month or $24 billed yearly. Source: Hyper3D pricing
Sloyd: plugin access, including Blender, and a commercial license start at Plus, $15 a month or $12.50 billed yearly; the free Guest plan is personal use. Source: Sloyd pricing

Meshy and Tripo are compared in Meshy vs Tripo.

Clean up what the AI made

AI meshes often need cleanup before an engine. AI Mesh Fixer ($14 on Superhive, GPL) welds, removes floaters and fixes holes and normals. It lists Blender 4.2 to 5.2 and says it was tested on 4.2 LTS and 5.1. It doesn't retopologize into quads or remove lighting baked into AI textures. Source: AI Mesh Fixer on Superhive

Animate characters

Uthana's Blender add-on turns a text prompt or recorded video into motion on your character, for Blender 4.0+, with an Uthana account, API key and internet connection. Source: Uthana plugins You buy credits: text-to-motion starts at $0.02 a second, video-to-motion is $0.05 per second of input, and paid usage includes commercial use. Source: Uthana pricing

How to choose

Want AI help in Blender for free? Start with MCP for Blender (any version from 3.0) or the Lab MCP Server (5.1+), using an AI client you already pay for.
Want models from a prompt, no setup? 3D-Agent if a subscription is fine; a Meshy, Tripo or Rodin bridge if you already use that service.
Zero budget and a big GPU? StableGen, with SDXL or another commercial-safe model.
Before you upgrade to 5.3:
- Keep 5.2 LTS installed alongside 5.3 until your add-ons are confirmed.
- Save your file before any AI agent runs code in it.
- Check which plan you generated each asset on; the free tiers of Meshy, Rodin and Sloyd all limit how you can ship, and Tripo's terms need checking too.
- Disclose AI content on Steam: see Steam's AI disclosure.

For other free tools you can ship with, see which free AI tools you can use in a commercial game.

Originally published on IndieBots, a free directory of AI tools for indie game developers, checked against each maker's own site. Prices and terms change often: see the latest version.

AI voice tools for Unreal Engine you can ship for free (2026)

Forrest Reed — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:00:47 +0000

Yes, you can ship AI voices in an Unreal game without paying, but only with a few tools. The cleanest free option is an offline plugin that runs an open model inside your build, such as SpeechGen (Apache-2.0, Unreal 5.7, Windows only). Inworld's pay-as-you-go plan also includes a commercial license at $0 a month, while the free plans of ElevenLabs and Fish Audio do not let you sell what you make.

Prices and terms below were checked at each maker's own page on 2026-10-27. They change often, so follow the source link before you build on any line. This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice.

The quick answer

Tool	How it reaches Unreal	Free to ship?	Main catch
SpeechGen	Unreal plugin, runs on the player's CPU	Yes (Apache-2.0)	Unreal 5.7 and Windows x64 only; one-developer project
Runtime Text To Speech (Georgy Dev)	Unreal plugin on Fab, offline	Plugin is paid; voices vary	Each voice model has its own dataset license
ReadSpeaker runtime TTS	Unreal plugin on Fab, on-device	No: free trial is watermarked	Publishing license on request; price not public
Convai	Official Unreal plugin, cloud	Free plan exists, for testing	"Powered by Convai" credit; every turn costs credits
Inworld AI	REST, WebSocket or WebRTC API	Yes, pay as you go	No Unreal plugin; you pay per character spoken
ElevenLabs	Export audio files, or call its API	No: Starter ($6/mo) and up	Free plan has no commercial license
Fish Audio	Export audio files, or call its API	No: paid plans only	Free output is personal, non-commercial use

For more voice tools that aren't Unreal-specific, see AI voice and sound tools. For talking NPCs, see AI character and animation tools for Unreal.

First decide: pre-recorded lines or live speech?

This one choice decides which tools fit.

Pre-recorded lines (a script you write before release): generate WAV files once, import them as Sound Waves, and ship them like any voice-over. Any text-to-speech service works. The only question is whether the plan you generated them on gave you a commercial license.
Live speech (lines written at runtime, such as an LLM-driven NPC or reading player names): the voice has to be produced while the game runs. You need either an in-engine runtime that runs offline, or a cloud API that bills you for every line every player hears.

Offline runtimes cost nothing per player but add a model to your build and use the player's CPU. Cloud services sound better and do more, but the bill grows with your player count.

Which free options can you actually ship?

SpeechGen: free, offline, Unreal 5.7 only

SpeechGen is an open-source Unreal Engine 5.7 plugin that runs the Kokoro-82M voice model through Unreal's own neural network runtime, on the CPU, with no cloud service. It supports 48 voices across English, Spanish, Hindi, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and Mandarin, with German, Dutch and Turkish marked experimental. Packaging places the model files beside your executable, so players never download anything. Source: SpeechGen README

The license is clean: the plugin is Apache-2.0, and the Kokoro model and voice weights are Apache-2.0 too. The notices file also lists training-data credits under CC BY 3.0 and CC BY 4.0, so keep the license files it asks you to ship. Source: SpeechGen third-party notices Kokoro's own model card confirms the Apache-2.0 weights. Source: Kokoro-82M on Hugging Face

The catches: it requires Unreal 5.7 and Windows x64, the editor needs internet once to download the runtime, and it is a very young project run by one developer. Prototype with it before you build a game around it.

Runtime Text To Speech (Georgy Dev): wider support, check each voice

This Fab plugin also runs offline, using Piper or Kokoro models, for Unreal 4.27 to 5.8 on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and Meta Quest. It streams audio and lets you import your own Piper or Kokoro voice models. Source: Georgy Dev It is sold on Fab; we couldn't read the price this run, so check the listing.

The license catch sits in the voices, not the plugin. Each Piper voice has a model card naming its training data. Some use CC BY 4.0 data (for example the en_US libritts_r voice), while the en_US lessac voice was trained on a dataset released under a research licence. Source: Piper voices, libritts_r model card Source: Lessac Blizzard 2013 licence Pick voices whose data allows commercial use, or use the Kokoro voices.

ReadSpeaker: free to try, not free to ship

ReadSpeaker's on-device Unreal plugin has a free full trial with no time limit, but trial audio carries a watermark. When you're ready to publish, ReadSpeaker removes the watermark and gives you a lifetime license for that game. The price isn't listed. Source: ReadSpeaker on Fab

Inworld AI: commercial license on the $0 plan

Inworld's On-Demand plan costs $0 a month and is pay as you go: TTS-2 is $25 and TTS-2 Flash $15 per million characters, with up to 70 minutes of speech included. The pricing table lists a commercial license on every plan, including On-Demand. Creator is $25 a month. Source: Inworld pricing

The catch for Unreal devs: Inworld is API-first. You call text-to-speech, speech-to-text and speech-to-speech over REST, WebSocket or WebRTC from Unreal. It doesn't name a dedicated engine plugin. Source: Inworld for games Budget the per-character cost against how much your players will hear.

Which paid options are worth it?

Convai: the most Unreal-native, but it's a full NPC platform

Convai has an official Unreal plugin (now in a 4.0 beta) that adds conversation, voice, lip sync and actions to existing characters, with Win64 and Android build targets. Source: Convai Unreal plugin docs The pricing page shows a $0 Free plan "to test out the platform" with 100 interactions a month, and Indie Dev at $29 a month. Source: Convai pricing Its billing docs say plans are moving to credits: each spoken turn is charged for speech recognition, the language model, the voice and a platform fee, and an open session uses credits even when nobody speaks. Source: How Convai credits work

Read the terms before you ship. You own your content and the AI output, but a public release must show Convai's logo and a "Powered by Convai" tagline at the start, and on the Creator tier you grant Convai a license to use your content to improve its services. Source: Convai terms Comparing it with Inworld? See Convai vs Inworld AI.

ElevenLabs and Fish Audio: great for pre-recorded lines, if you pay

Both work fine for an Unreal game if you generate the lines and import the audio. Neither free plan lets you sell the result:

ElevenLabs Free gives 10,000 credits a month without a commercial license. Starter ($6 a month) adds it. Source: ElevenLabs pricing
Fish Audio says free users can only use generated content for personal, non-commercial projects; paid subscribers can use voices they own commercially. Source: Fish Audio plans

We compare the two in ElevenLabs vs Fish Audio.

How to choose

All lines known before release, and budget is zero? Generate them with an offline Kokoro voice (SpeechGen in Unreal 5.7) and ship the WAVs, or pay one month of a cloud plan with a commercial license and generate everything then.
Live NPC speech, no per-player bill? An offline plugin: SpeechGen on Windows and 5.7, or Georgy Dev's plugin for other platforms and versions (check each voice's license).
Live speech, best quality, budget per player? Inworld for pay-as-you-go voices with a commercial license, or Convai if you want the whole NPC stack in an Unreal plugin and accept its credit line.
Before you ship, whichever you pick:
- Save a screenshot or PDF of the pricing and terms page on the day you generated your lines.
- Keep the license files and credits the tool asks for.
- Don't clone a real person's voice without their written consent.
- Check what Steam asks you to disclose: see Steam's AI disclosure.

For other free tiers you can and can't ship with, see which free AI tools you can use in a commercial game.

Originally published on IndieBots, a free directory of AI tools for indie game developers, checked against each maker's own site. Prices and terms change often: see the latest version.

Can you use AI in game jams? Game Off, Ludum Dare and GMTK rules

Forrest Reed — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 17:00:44 +0000

It depends on the jam, and the big ones disagree. GitHub Game Off (Nov 1 to Dec 1, 2026) sets no AI rule and lets you use any tools you like, and Ludum Dare allows AI tools as long as you opt out of the categories where a generator did most of the work. GMTK Game Jam, Brackeys Game Jam, Scream Jam and Godot Wild Jam ban AI-generated content, and some of them disqualify you for it.

Below is what each jam's own rules page says, checked on 2026-10-23. Jam rules change from one edition to the next, so read the current page before you start. Here's the summary.

Quick answer: which jams allow AI?

Jam	Next or latest edition	AI code help	AI art and audio	The catch
GitHub Game Off	Nov 1 to Dec 1, 2026	No rule	No rule	Submission form will ask whether you used AI
Ludum Dare	See ludumdare.com	Allowed	Allowed, but opt out	Skip categories where a generator did ~90% of the work
GMTK Game Jam	Jul 22 to 26, 2026 (back in 2027)	Asked not to	Banned	Disqualification for AI art or audio, including the itch page
Brackeys Game Jam	Feb 15 to 22, 2026	Banned	Banned	"No AI-Generated content"
Scream Jam	Oct 16 to 23, 2026	Banned	Banned	All generative AI technologies
Godot Wild Jam	Nov 13 to 22, 2026 (#99)	Banned, "no vibe code"	Banned	Covers your itch page too

Does GitHub Game Off allow AI?

Yes, as far as the rules go: they don't mention AI at all. The jam page says to "use whatever programming languages, game engines, or libraries you like", that the theme is announced on November 1, 2026, and that your source code has to live in a public GitHub repository, pushed before December 1 at 13:37 PST. Source: Game Off 2026 on itch.io

There is one change this year. Asked in the jam's community tab whether AI-made games could be separated out, host Lee Reilly replied that the submission form will have a place to indicate whether AI was used, and that he was looking at options more detailed than yes or no (no AI, some AI help, built largely with AI). Source: Game Off 2026 community thread

What that means for you:

You can use an AI coding assistant like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code or Cursor, and AI art or audio tools.
Be honest on the form. In the same thread, a jammer asked for the AI answer to become a filter so players can find the kind of games they want to rate, so expect your answer to be visible.
Your repo is public, so everyone can see your code and commit history. If an AI tool wrote most of it, that will usually be obvious.
Check the license of anything you generate. A public repo means you're also publishing those assets.

Does Ludum Dare allow AI?

Yes. Ludum Dare's FAQ says AI-powered tools can be used, but "you may have to opt-out of certain categories." AI assistants and co-pilot tools can be used without restriction; content generators can be used too, but you should opt out of any category where the generator did most of the work, typically Graphics. "Most of the work" means about 90% of that category. Source: Ludum Dare FAQ, "Can I use AI?"

Three details people miss:

The same applies to the Compo, not just the Jam.
Non-AI generators (procedural sound effect tools, for example) are treated the same way, so a generated soundtrack means opting out of Audio either way.
You're responsible for the legality of the tool. The FAQ says it's up to you to know whether the tool's training data was licensed and whether you have the right to use what it generated.

Ludum Dare's reasoning is that banning AI isn't realistic to police and wouldn't match how the industry works, but it still wants to celebrate artists, hence the category opt-outs.

Does GMTK Game Jam allow AI?

No for art and audio. The 2026 rules say you must not use generative AI to make art or audio assets for your game or your itch.io page, and that doing so will get your game disqualified. Beyond that, the organizers ask you not to use AI for the jam in general ("just make the game yourself, or find someone who can help"), but say they can only actively police art and audio. Source: GMTK Game Jam 2026 on itch.io

The 2026 jam ran July 22 to 26; the page says it returns in 2027. If you plan to use an AI coding assistant there, you're inside the letter of the rule but against what the organizers asked.

Do Brackeys, Scream Jam and Godot Wild Jam allow AI?

No, and these three are the strictest.

Brackeys Game Jam: the rules list for the February 2026 edition says "No AI-Generated content", alongside "Use any engine or framework" and permission to use assets you have the license for. Source: Brackeys Game Jam 2026.1 on itch.io
Scream Jam 2026 (Oct 16 to 23): its FAQ answers "Can I use generative AI content in my submission?" with "No. All generative AI technologies are banned from use in this jam." Source: Scream Jam 2026 on itch.io
Godot Wild Jam #99 (Nov 13 to 22): "Do NOT use AI-generated content. No vibe code, no AI-generated art, no AI-composed music, no AI-written dialogue, no AI assets of any kind." It applies to your game and your itch page, and submissions can be removed at the organizers' discretion. The jam starts on the second Friday of every month. Source: Godot Wild Jam #99 on itch.io

Godot Wild Jam is the one to watch if you use Godot AI plugins like Godot MCP or Ziva: "no vibe code" rules out letting an agent write your scripts, not just generated art. Turn those plugins off for the jam.

What counts as "AI" in a jam rule?

Jams draw the line in different places, and the wording matters more than the headline:

"AI-generated content" (Brackeys) or "generative AI" (Scream Jam): read it as covering code, art, audio and text unless the page says otherwise.
"Art or audio assets" (GMTK): a narrower ban that names what gets you disqualified.
Category opt-outs (Ludum Dare): allowed, but you give up the ratings that would reward the generated part.
Silence (Game Off): allowed by default, but disclosure is coming on the form.

If a rule is vague about something you depend on, like code autocomplete, ask in the jam's community tab or Discord before the jam starts and keep the answer. Organizers can remove entries at their discretion, and "I didn't think autocomplete counted" won't help after the deadline.

A checklist before your next jam

Read the current rules page, not last year's. Each edition gets a new itch.io page, and the rules can change between them.
Find the AI line and what it covers: code, art, audio, writing, and the itch page itself (GMTK and Godot Wild Jam include it).
Look at the penalty: disqualification (GMTK), removal at the organizers' discretion (Godot Wild Jam), or opting out of categories (Ludum Dare).
Switch off what you can't use. Disable code assistants in your editor and engine plugins for strict jams; it's easy to accept a suggestion out of habit.
Check the tool's license anyway. Even where AI is allowed, some free tiers don't let you publish or sell what you make. Our Can you ship it? page lists the verdict for every tool we track.
Disclose plainly where the jam asks (Game Off's form, Ludum Dare's category choices), and keep the same note in your README or itch page.
Thinking of selling the game afterwards? See Can you sell a vibe-coded game? for code ownership and Steam's disclosure rules.

For jams that allow AI, our AI coding assistants, 3D and art and sound and voice lists show price and license for each tool, so you can pick one you're allowed to ship with.

Originally published on IndieBots, a free directory of AI tools for indie game developers, checked against each maker's own site. Prices and terms change often: see the latest version.

Can you sell a vibe-coded game? Code ownership, export and Steam

Forrest Reed — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:00:44 +0000

Usually yes, but it depends on which kind of tool wrote the game. Coding agents that work on files on your own machine (Claude Code, Cursor, engine plugins) hand whatever rights they have in the output to you, and the game is yours to sell. Prompt-to-game platforms are different: some only let you sell on a paid plan, some keep rights to what they generate, and one doesn't let you take the game off its site at all.

Below is what each maker's own terms say, checked on 2026-10-20. Terms change, so follow the source link before you rely on a line here. This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice.

The quick answer

Tool	Type	Can you sell the game?	Can you export it?	Catch
Claude Code	Coding agent	Yes	It's your project folder	Needs a paid Claude plan
Cursor	AI code editor	Yes	It's your project folder	Suggestions may match other users'
Summer Engine	AI game engine (desktop)	Yes, no royalties	Godot 4-compatible project, Windows and macOS builds	Hosted AI needs a paid plan
Rosebud AI	Prompt-to-game (browser)	Only on 10x Dev and up	Code download and Windows export on Pro and up	Rosebud claims rights in content made on its service
Cinevva	Prompt-to-game (browser)	Only after a purchase	Downloads on paid plans	Free games are public and remixable
Google Playground	Prompt-to-game (browser)	Not addressed	.zip of HTML, JS, CSS and assets	US only, 18+, experimental
Astrocade	Prompt-to-game (browser)	No, outside Astrocade	No	Personal, non-commercial use only

Coding agents: the code is yours

When an agent edits files in your own project, three things decide whether you can sell the result: who the terms say owns the output, whether you need a paid plan, and the license of your engine.

Claude Code

Anthropic's consumer terms say that, as long as you follow the terms, Anthropic assigns to you "all of our right, title, and interest—if any—in Outputs." Source: Anthropic consumer terms Claude Code is part of the Pro plan, which costs $17 a month billed yearly or $20 monthly. Source: Claude pricing

Cursor

Cursor's terms assign to you its rights, if any, in the code it suggests, and say it won't use your inputs or suggestions to train AI models unless you explicitly agree. One line worth knowing: suggestions "may be similar to or the same as" suggestions given to other users, and you get no rights in theirs. Source: Cursor terms of service Cursor has a free plan; paid plans start at $8 a month. Source: Cursor pricing

Weighing the two? See Claude Code vs Cursor.

Note the words "if any"

Both companies give you whatever rights they hold, and promise nothing beyond that. The U.S. Copyright Office's January 2025 report concluded that prompts alone aren't enough to make AI output protectable, but your own creative arrangement or changes to it can be. Source: U.S. Copyright Office, Part 2 report In practice: nobody stops you selling a vibe-coded game, but the more of the design, structure and edits are yours, the easier it is to protect against a copycat.

Prompt-to-game platforms: read the plan, not the homepage

These tools write the code, make the art and host the game for you. That is where the catches live.

Summer Engine: export and sell, no royalties

Summer Engine is a desktop engine that builds 2D and 3D games from a description. The maker says its projects are standard projects compatible with Godot 4, that you can export Windows and macOS builds, publish on Steam, itch.io or your own site, and pay no royalties or revenue share. Source: Summer Engine Its terms say you keep ownership of what you create, with a license for Summer to process your content to run and improve the service; Privacy Mode, which keeps your code out of model training, is on paid plans only. Source: Summer Engine terms The free app includes 5 AI messages a day (up to 30 a month); Pro is $20 a month. Source: Summer Engine pricing

Rosebud AI: pay for 10x Dev before you sell

Rosebud builds browser games from prompts. Its pricing FAQ says 10x Dev and higher plans include full commercial rights, while code download and Windows export for Steam need Pro or higher. Source: Rosebud pricing The terms go further than most: free-plan content is for personal, non-commercial use only, Rosebud says it owns all "data, content, code, artwork, and other materials within the Services and derived thereof," and you give it a perpetual license to use your content, including to train AI models. Source: Rosebud terms of service If you plan to sell, read those sections in full before you build.

Cinevva: ownership arrives with your first purchase

Cinevva's terms say it reserves commercial rights on what you generate before your first credit purchase (for games, it reserves publishing, showcase and remix rights), and everything converts to your ownership automatically once you buy anything. Games on free accounts are public and remixable. Source: Cinevva terms The Standard plan ($15 a month) adds downloads of every file and full commercial rights. Source: Cinevva plans

Google Playground: export yes, selling unclear

Google's experimental platform lets you export a .zip with your game's HTML, JavaScript, CSS and generated assets. It is open to users 18 and over in the United States. Source: Playground help center The terms say Google won't claim ownership of your games and may monetize them on Playground with ads, asking your permission first. They don't say whether you can sell an exported game elsewhere. Source: Playground terms Until Google answers that, treat it as a prototyping tool.

Astrocade: a no for selling elsewhere

Astrocade's terms say you own your content, but you may use the service for personal, non-commercial use only, and Astrocade's own content is licensed to you only for making and publishing games on Astrocade. Source: Astrocade terms Fine for fun; not a route to Steam.

What does Steam's AI disclosure ask about vibe coding?

Valve's content survey says AI tools built into development environments, used for efficiency, are "not the focus." It asks about AI-made content that ships with your game and that players consume, such as artwork, sound, narrative and localization. If your game generates content with AI while it runs, you must also describe your guardrails. Source: Steamworks content survey

So AI-written code on its own isn't what the survey targets. But prompt-to-game platforms usually generate the art and sound too, and those you disclose. Our Steam AI disclosure summary has the details.

Which coding agent works with which engine?

Any general agent can edit your scripts. To let it see and change the running editor, you need a bridge:

Unreal: Unreal Engine 5.8 ships an Experimental MCP plugin that exposes Blueprints, assets, levels, materials and meshes to any model you choose; Epic says some features aren't production-ready. Source: Epic Games Aura is an agent built for Unreal and Unity. Source: Aura Compare agents at /engines/unreal/code-engine/.
Godot: Godot AI connects Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other MCP clients to a live Godot 4.5+ editor. Source: Godot Asset Store Ziva is an agent inside Godot 4.2+ that writes GDScript or C#, and its terms say you keep all rights to code and content you make. Source: Ziva terms More at /engines/godot/code-engine/.
Unity: see /engines/unity/code-engine/ for in-editor agents such as Bezi and Aura.
Roblox: Roblox Studio has a built-in MCP server, with setup guides for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI and Gemini CLI. Source: Roblox Creator Hub Roblox's own in-Studio agent is Roblox Assistant.

Before you sell: a checklist

Write down every AI tool that touched the game, and the plan you were on when you used it.
Check that plan's commercial rights against the current terms. Free tiers of prompt-to-game platforms are the usual problem.
Make sure you can export. If the game only runs on the maker's site, you can't put it on Steam or itch.io.
Check training terms if your code or design matters to you (Rosebud's terms allow training; Cursor's don't without your consent).
Fill in Steam's AI disclosure for any generated art, sound or text, and for any AI that runs live in the game.
Keep receipts and screenshots of your plan and the terms on the day you shipped.

For the art, voice and music side of the same question, see which free AI tools you can use in a commercial game.

Spotted a change in one of these tools' terms? Email hello@indiebots.ai and we'll recheck it.

Originally published on IndieBots, a free directory of AI tools for indie game developers, checked against each maker's own site. Prices and terms change often: see the latest version.

Which free AI tools can you use in a commercial game? (2026)

Forrest Reed — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 20:24:45 +0000

"Free" and "free to use in a game you sell" are not the same thing. Many AI tools give away a free tier but keep commercial rights for paying customers. If you put those assets in a game on Steam or itch.io, you could be breaking the license the moment someone buys a copy.

Below is what each tool's free tier actually allows, checked against the maker's own pricing or terms page. Prices and terms change often, so follow the source link before you rely on any line here. This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice.

The quick answer

Tool	What it's for	Free tier in a commercial game?	Catch
Meshy	3D models from text or images	Yes, with credit	Free assets are CC BY 4.0, so you must credit Meshy
Tripo	3D models from text or images	No	Free models are public and non-commercial
Scenario	Art in your game's own style	No	Free outputs are for personal and evaluation use only
ElevenLabs	Voice lines, sound effects, music	No	Commercial license starts on the paid Starter plan
Suno	Music and soundtrack drafts	No	Free songs have no commercial rights
Cascadeur	Character animation	No	Free is non-commercial and only exports its own file format
OpusClip	Clips for marketing your game	Watermarked	Free clips carry a watermark and expire after 3 days

3D models and art

Meshy: the one free tier you can ship with

Meshy's free plan gives 100 credits a month, and its free-plan assets are licensed under CC BY 4.0, which allows commercial use as long as you give credit. Meshy's own FAQ says free users may sell what they make but should credit Meshy. Paid plans (from $20 a month) make the assets private and fully yours, with no credit needed. A credits screen line such as "3D assets created with Meshy" covers the attribution. Source: Meshy pricing

Tripo: pay before you ship

Tripo's free plan (200 credits) marks models as public and non-commercial. Commercial use and private models start on the Pro plan. Source: Tripo pricing

Scenario: paid plans only for shipped games

Scenario is built for keeping AI art consistent with your game's style, and custom model training needs the Pro plan. Its FAQ says all paid plans include a full commercial license, while free outputs are for personal and evaluation use only. Source: Scenario pricing

Voice, sound effects and music

ElevenLabs

The free plan includes text to speech, sound effects and music, but the commercial license is listed as a Starter plan feature, not a free one. Budget for at least one paid month before you record final voice lines for a commercial release. Source: ElevenLabs pricing

Suno

Suno's free plan states "no commercial rights" and doesn't allow monthly song downloads. Paid plans add commercial use rights, but Suno's pricing page also points to further limits in its terms of service, so read those before you ship a track. Source: Suno pricing

Animation

Cascadeur

Cascadeur's free version is non-commercial and only exports its own .casc format, so you can't get animations into Unreal without paying. The Indie plan ($8 a month billed yearly) allows commercial use if your revenue or funding is under $100,000 a year, and Pro removes that cap. Cascadeur also asks you to mention it in your credits. Yearly Indie and Pro plans turn into a perpetual license after the first year. Source: Cascadeur plans

Marketing your game

OpusClip

OpusClip can cut devlogs and gameplay into vertical shorts. On the free plan, clips are watermarked and exports expire after three days. The watermark is about branding rather than legal rights, but it's worth knowing before you post a trailer clip. Source: OpusClip pricing

Don't forget Steam's disclosure

If AI-generated art, sound, voice or text ships in your game, Steam's content survey asks you to disclose it. AI coding assistants and other development tools don't need to be disclosed; Valve's focus is content that players see or hear. If your game generates AI content while it runs, such as an NPC that improvises dialogue, you also have to describe your guardrails. Read our Steam AI disclosure summary or Valve's documentation.

One more thing: copyright on AI output

A commercial license means the tool maker won't object to you selling the output. It doesn't automatically mean you own a copyright in it. In its January 2025 report on copyrightability, the U.S. Copyright Office concluded that prompts alone aren't enough to make an AI output protectable, but that human expression can be: for example, your own work that's visible in the output, or creative arrangements and modifications you make to it. Using AI as part of a larger human-made work doesn't rule out protection. If guarding your assets from copycats matters to you, keep your own creative work in the loop. Source: U.S. Copyright Office, Part 2 report

Before you ship: a checklist

List every AI tool that produced something players will see or hear.
Check the plan you were on when you generated each asset, against that tool's current terms.
Add required credits (Meshy free tier, Cascadeur) to your credits screen.
Fill in Steam's AI disclosure for pre-generated and any live-generated content.
Keep receipts or screenshots of your plan and the terms, in case questions come up later.

Spotted a change in one of these tools' terms? Email hello@indiebots.ai and we'll recheck it.

Originally published on IndieBots, a free directory of AI tools for indie game developers, checked against each maker's own site. Prices and terms change often: see the latest version.