> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://doc.realvirtual.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://doc.realvirtual.io/basics/editions.md).

# Editions: Starter vs Professional

realvirtual.io ships in two editions that share the same core engine and the same project format. **Starter** gives you the complete simulation core — drives, sensors, transport, grippers, MUs and logic — everything you need to build and run a digital twin. **Professional** adds the productivity tools, the full industrial interface library, robotics, the HMI suite and realvirtual WEB on top.

A project always opens in either edition. Anything you build in Starter keeps working when you move up to Professional — Professional is purely additive.

{% hint style="info" %}
Both editions run on the same Unity version and use the same scene and prefab format. Upgrading from Starter to Professional only adds the `io.realvirtual.professional` package — no migration is required.
{% endhint %}

## Which edition do I need?

* **Starter** — Build and simulate machines and lines, define logic, import geometry, and publish to Windows or WebGL. Ideal for concept design, training and standalone simulations.
* **Professional** — Add virtual commissioning against real PLCs and robot controllers, CAD import with live update, robot inverse kinematics, performance tooling for large assemblies, the 3D-HMI suite, multiplayer and realvirtual WEB.

{% hint style="success" %}
Throughout the documentation, Professional-only features are marked with a **(Pro)** suffix in the page title and a hint box at the top of the page.
{% endhint %}

## Core simulation

| Feature                                                                                                 | Starter | Professional |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [Drives, CAM & Kinematic](/components-and-scripts/motion.md)                                            |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Sensors & Measurement](/components-and-scripts/sensors.md)                                             |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [TransportSurface & Guided Transport](/components-and-scripts/motion/transportsurface.md)               |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Chain & Chain Element](/components-and-scripts/motion/chain.md)                                        |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [MU, Source & Sink](/components-and-scripts/mu-movable-unit.md)                                         |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Picking & Placing (Grip, Gripper, Fixer, Pattern)](/components-and-scripts/picking-and-placing-mus.md) |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Changing MUs (Material, Switcher, Part, Cutter)](/components-and-scripts/changing-mus.md)              |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [PathTracer](/components-and-scripts/motion/path-tracer.md)                                             |    —    |       ✅      |
| [KinematicMU](/components-and-scripts/motion/kinematicmu-pro.md)                                        |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Volume Tracking](/components-and-scripts/volume-tracking-pro.md)                                       |    —    |       ✅      |

## Logic & interaction

| Feature                                                                                                                       | Starter | Professional |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [Unity Scripting](/components-and-scripts/defining-logic/unity-scripting.md)                                                  |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Behavior Graph](/components-and-scripts/defining-logic/behavior-graph.md)                                                    |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [LogicSteps](/components-and-scripts/defining-logic/logicsteps.md)                                                            |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Recorder](/components-and-scripts/defining-logic/recorder.md)                                                                |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [3D Buttons & Screen Overlay Buttons](/components-and-scripts/scene-interaction/3d-buttons.md)                                |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Lamp, Interact3D, KeyboardMove](/components-and-scripts/scene-interaction.md)                                                |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Tooltip](/components-and-scripts/scene-interaction/tooltip-pro.md)                                                           |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Scene Selectables](/components-and-scripts/scene-interaction/scene-selectables-pro.md)                                       |    —    |       ✅      |
| [State Statistics](/components-and-scripts/scene-interaction/state-statistics.md)                                             |    —    |       ✅      |
| [HMI Components (Tab, Pushbutton, Switch, Value, Slider, …)](/components-and-scripts/scene-interaction/hmi-components-pro.md) |    —    |       ✅      |
| [ModelZoo](/components-and-scripts/scene-interaction/modelzoo-pro.md)                                                         |    —    |       ✅      |

## Editor tools

| Feature                                                                      | Starter | Professional |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [Hierarchy Window & Quick Edit](/basics/user-interface/quick-edit.md)        |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Demo Scenes Browser](/basics/user-interface/demo-scenes-browser.md)         |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Model Checker](/basics/user-interface/model-checker.md)                     |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Recent Items](/basics/user-interface/recent-items-pro.md)                   |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Move Pivot Points](/basics/user-interface/move-pivot-points-pro.md)         |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Selection Window](/basics/user-interface/selection-window.md)               |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Material Window](/basics/user-interface/material-window-pro.md)             |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Measurement](/basics/user-interface/measurement-pro.md)                     |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Kinematic Tool](/basics/user-interface/kinematic-tool-pro.md)               |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Clean Restart](/basics/user-interface/clean-restart-pro.md)                 |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Duplicate Finder](/basics/user-interface/duplicate-finder.md)               |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Mesh Tools](/basics/user-interface/mesh-tools.md)                           |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Group Assignment Tool](/basics/user-interface/group-assignment-tool-pro.md) |    —    |       ✅      |

## CAD & performance

| Feature                                                                                         | Starter | Professional |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [Importing & Exporting (FBX, STEP via Unity, …)](/basics/importing-and-exporting.md)            |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Cadenas parts4cad](/basics/cadenas-parts4cad.md)                                               |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [CADLink (direct CAD import)](/basics/cad-import/cadlink.md)                                    |    —    |       ✅      |
| [CAD Checker](/basics/cad-import/cad-checker.md)                                                |    —    |       ✅      |
| [CAD Updater](/basics/cad-import/cad-updater.md)                                                |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Combine Meshes](/components-and-scripts/performance-tools/combine-meshes-pro.md)               |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Mesh Optimizer](/components-and-scripts/performance-tools/mesh-optimizer-pro.md)               |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Hierarchy Cleanup](/components-and-scripts/performance-tools/hierarchy-cleanup-pro.md)         |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Create Prefab](/components-and-scripts/performance-tools/create-prefab-pro.md)                 |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Performance Optimizer](/components-and-scripts/performance-tools/performance-optimizer-pro.md) |    —    |       ✅      |

## Robotics

| Feature                                                                         | Starter | Professional |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [Robot Inverse Kinematics](/components-and-scripts/robot-inverse-kinematics.md) |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Robot Program Export (Beta)](/components-and-scripts/robot-program-export.md)  |    —    |       ✅      |

## Collaboration & web

| Feature                                                               | Starter | Professional |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [Publishing (Windows, WebGL)](/basics/publishing-the-digital-twin.md) |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Multiplayer](/components-and-scripts/multiplayer-pro.md)             |    —    |       ✅      |
| [realvirtual WEB (browser 3D-HMI)](/extensions/realvirtual-web.md)    |    —    |       ✅      |

## Interfaces

The signal layer and the basic interface tooling are in Starter; the industrial protocol and controller interfaces are Professional.

| Feature                                                                                               | Starter | Professional |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [Signal Manager & Signal Tools](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/interface-tools/signal-manager.md) |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Signal Importer / Exporter](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/signal-importer-exporter.md)          |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [S7 TCP](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/s7-tcp.md)                                                |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [FMI](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/fmi.md)                                                      |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [OpenCommissioning](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/opencommissioning.md)                          |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Igus Rebel](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/igus-rebel.md)                                        |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Custom Interfaces (FastInterface)](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/custom-interfaces.md)          |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [OPC UA](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/opcua.md)                                                 |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Modbus](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/modbus.md)                                                |    —    |       ✅      |
| [MQTT](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/mqtt.md)                                                    |    —    |       ✅      |
| [EthernetIP](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/ethernetip.md)                                        |    —    |       ✅      |
| [UDP](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/udp-pro.md)                                                  |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Websocket](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/websocket-pro.md)                                      |    —    |       ✅      |
| [TwinCAT (ADS)](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/twincat.md)                                        |    —    |       ✅      |
| [TwinCAT HMI](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/twincat-hmi.md)                                      |    —    |       ✅      |
| [PLCSIM Advanced](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/plcsim-advanced.md)                              |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Siemens Simit](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/siemens-simit-interface-pro.md)                    |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Simit Shared Memory](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/simit-shared-memory.md)                      |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Bosch Rexroth ctrlX](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/ctrlx.md)                                    |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Festo AX Controls / PLCnext](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/festo-plcnext.md)                    |    —    |       ✅      |
| [SEW SimInterface](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/sew-siminterface-pro.md)                        |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Simulink](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/simulink.md)                                            |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Windmod Y200](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/windmod-y200-pro.md)                                |    —    |       ✅      |

### Robot controllers

| Feature                                                                      | Starter | Professional |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [ABB RobotStudio](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/abb-robotstudio.md)     |    —    |       ✅      |
| [KUKA](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/kuka.md)                           |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Fanuc](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/fanuc-pro.md)                     |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Denso Robotics](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/denso-robotics-pro.md)   |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Mitsubishi McpX](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/mitsubishi-mcpx.md)     |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Universal Robots](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/universal-robots.md)   |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Keba](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/keba-interface.md)                 |    —    |       ✅      |
| [RoboDK](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/robodk.md)                       |    —    |       ✅      |
| [Wandelbots Nova](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/wandelbots-nova-pro.md) |    —    |       ✅      |
| [RFSuite](/components-and-scripts/interfaces/rfsuite-pro.md)                 |    —    |       ✅      |

## Updates & support

| Feature                                                                                        | Starter | Professional |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :-----: | :----------: |
| [Customer Portal](/basics/customer-portal.md)                                                  |    ✅    |       ✅      |
| [Login & Download Updates (User Hub, UPM Registry)](/basics/login-and-download-updates-pro.md) |    —    |       ✅      |

## Upgrading from Starter to Professional

To move from Starter to Professional, add the `io.realvirtual.professional` package next to your existing `io.realvirtual.starter` package — follow the same steps as in the [Installation](/basics/installation.md) guide. Your scenes, prefabs and references are preserved automatically.

## See Also

* [Installation](/basics/installation.md)
* [Release Notes](/release-notes.md)
* [License Conditions](https://realvirtual.io/en/license-conditions/)


---

# Agent Instructions
This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com.

## Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://doc.realvirtual.io/basics/editions.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.