Rhino 9 for jewellery designers
Rhinoceros 9 is widely used in jewellery workshops, but it is not a jewellery programme on its own. This page separates what McNeel publishes about Rhino from what jewellery plugins add, using only figures and claims already checked from official pages (11 November 2026).
What Rhino 9 is — and isn’t
Rhinoceros (Rhino 9) is a general NURBS modeller for curves, surfaces and solids, from Robert McNeel & Associates. It runs on Windows and Mac (one commercial licence covers both, per McNeel). It saves .3dm and, according to McNeel, opens and saves common exchange formats including STL, STEP, IGES, OBJ, FBX and glTF. Jewellery-specific tools are not included out of the box; they are added with plugins or built by hand. See the Rhino product page and the Europe sales page.
Published licence and price
McNeel’s Europe sales page, last checked 11 November 2026, lists a commercial single-user licence at €995 for Rhino 9. An upgrade from an older version is listed at €595, with a promotional €395 price ending 1 March 2027. McNeel notes that international prices may vary. A working United States dollar price list was not opened on that check, so no USD figure is quoted here.
The same page describes a permanent licence with no maintenance fees. Support and service releases for the current version are included. Hardware or OS changes may require a paid upgrade. McNeel also publishes a 90-day evaluation; after that, a licence is required to save files or run plugins.
Jewellery plugins and which Rhino they need
If you already model jewellery in Rhino, the plugin — not Rhino itself — is usually what you are comparing. Current products we list, with the Rhino requirement taken from each maker’s public pages:
- MatrixGold 4Current
Gemvision says MatrixGold 4 requires Rhino 8. If you are on Rhino 7, a Rhino upgrade is required before or alongside MatrixGold 4. Gemvision also says MatrixGold 4 runs on Rhino 8, which is included with a Rhino 9 commercial licence. US list prices on the Gemvision store were $5,995 with Rhinoceros and $5,495 without (11 November 2026).
- RhinoArtisan 7Current
The maker’s buy page says RhinoArtisan 7 for Windows runs on Rhino 7, 8 and 9 for Windows only. A separate Mac product is in beta and is free while the beta lasts. Permanent licences were listed at €4,000 with a Rhino 9 commercial licence, or €3,000 if you already own commercial Rhino 7, 8 or 9.
- CrossGemsCurrent
A parametric jewellery plugin for Rhino and Grasshopper. Public prices were found on a reseller (Novedge), not on the maker’s own pricing page in this check.
- JewelBeetleCurrent
A Rhino-based jewellery design studio. The maker’s store listed the jewellery design studio at $4,995, or more with Rhino 8 included or as an upgrade.
RhinoGold and Matrix are discontinued. Stuller says MatrixGold can import their legacy .3dm files. See MatrixGold vs RhinoGold and Matrix vs MatrixGold.
Common questions
Is Rhino 9 jewellery CAD software?
Rhino 9 is a general NURBS modeller. McNeel’s public pages do not present it as jewellery-specific. Jewellery tools usually come from plugins such as MatrixGold, RhinoArtisan, CrossGems or JewelBeetle, or are built by hand in Rhino.
How much does Rhino 9 cost?
On McNeel’s Europe sales page, last checked 11 November 2026, a commercial single-user licence is listed at €995. An upgrade from an older version is listed at €595, with a promotional €395 price ending 1 March 2027. McNeel notes that international prices may vary. A working United States dollar price list was not opened for that check.
Does MatrixGold 4 need Rhino 9?
Gemvision says MatrixGold 4 requires Rhino 8. It also says MatrixGold 4 runs on Rhino 8, which is included with a Rhino 9 commercial licence. If you are on Rhino 7, a Rhino upgrade is required before or alongside MatrixGold 4.
Written by the editorial team. Prefer a current official quote before you buy. Compare all current programmes on the jewellery CAD table.