MonRig vs Rigify
Rigify ships with Blender for free and builds a full animator's control rig from a meta-rig, with ready meta-rigs for a human, a basic quadruped, a cat, a wolf, a horse and a shark. You move the meta-rig's bones onto the mesh, generate the rig and then animate every clip by hand. MonRig skips the hand animation: the skeleton is placed in the browser and every clip is generated from it.
Side by side
| Rigify | MonRig | |
|---|---|---|
| Body types | Any, from building blocks; meta-rigs for human, basic quadruped, cat, wolf, horse and shark | 22 body types: four-legged animals, dragons, birds, insects and spiders, snakes, fish, slimes and humanoids |
| How the skeleton is placed | By hand: move the meta-rig's bones onto the mesh, then generate | A starter skeleton you drag into place, Guided Rig from a few clicked landmarks, or Auto Rig's AI-proposed landmarks you check |
| Where the animations come from | None included; you keyframe every clip | Generated from the creature's own skeleton: 16 core clips for every creature and 37 optional ones by anatomy, steered with dials |
| Output | Whatever Blender exports (FBX, glTF…) | FBX and GLB with every clip; for Unity an AnimatorController and animation events |
| Runs in | Blender add-on, bundled with Blender | Web browser, nothing to install |
| Price | Free | Rigging and previewing free; baking and downloads paid per creature (credit packs from €10, plans from €19 a month) |
When Rigify is the better choice
If you animate in Blender and want full control over every pose, Rigify gives you a real control rig for free, with IK/FK switching and the controls an animator expects. For a hero creature with hand-made, film-quality motion it is the better tool.
When MonRig is
- You need a whole roster animated, not one creature: MonRig generates the full clip set for each.
- You do not want to keyframe: walk, run, attacks, hurt and defeat come out of the skeleton, and dials change how they look.
- Your engine needs a game skeleton and baked clips, not a Blender control rig.
Questions
Can Rigify animate a quadruped automatically?
No. Rigify builds the rig; the animation is yours to keyframe. It does include animal meta-rigs (basic quadruped, cat, wolf, horse, shark) to start from.
Can I edit MonRig's animations in Blender?
Yes. The bake delivers FBX and GLB with the skinned mesh and every clip as keyframes on the skeleton, which Blender imports like any other animated file.
Is MonRig free like Rigify?
Rigging and previewing in MonRig are free for up to three creatures; baking and downloading the files is paid per creature.
Blender is a trademark of the Blender Foundation. MonRig is independent and not affiliated with the Blender Foundation. What this page says about Rigify is taken from Blender's own pages, checked on 17 October 2026: docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/addons/rigify/index.html, docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/addons/rigify/basics.html. Something out of date? Write to contact@monrig.com and we correct it.
Other comparisons
Anything World · AccuRIG · Auto-Rig Pro · Cascadeur · Mixamo · All tools side by side