Rhino 9 moved from Work-in-Progress (WIP) into public Beta in late June 2026. It's feature-complete and open to any Rhino 8 licence holder to download and test. This guide covers where things actually stand right now — release timing, what's genuinely new, and the Grasshopper 2 question that keeps coming up.

Current status: Beta, not WIP

McNeel's pre-release process for Rhino runs in three stages: WIP (early, experimental builds, sometimes called Alpha), Beta (core changes finished and tested, production-stable but not fully polished), and Final. Rhino 9 is currently in the Beta stage. You need an existing Rhino 8 licence to download and run it, and it installs alongside Rhino 8 without affecting your production install.

When will Rhino 9 be released?

McNeel doesn't commit to a fixed release date in advance — the official position is that Rhino 9 ships once beta testers confirm it's ready, not on a pre-announced schedule. For context, McNeel has historically aimed for roughly a three-year cycle between major versions, though this isn't guaranteed. If you've seen a specific month mentioned (September comes up a lot on the McNeel forum right now), treat that as community speculation rather than an official date — McNeel hasn't published one.

Does Rhino 9 include Grasshopper 2?

This is worth correcting directly, because it's a common assumption. Grasshopper 2 is a separate, long-running alpha project that McNeel has been developing and testing independently since well before Rhino 9 entered WIP — alpha builds have been released periodically since at least 2022. It is not a confirmed, finished feature bundled with the Rhino 9 release. If you're waiting for Rhino 9 specifically because you expect a finished Grasshopper 2, that's not a safe assumption to build a purchasing decision on. The current Grasshopper (v1) continues to work in Rhino 9 as it does in Rhino 8.

What's actually new in Rhino 9 Beta

Rather than generic "faster and more powerful" claims, here are specific, named changes from McNeel's official Rhino 9 change list:

• FilletEdge — added a Setback option, and fillets can now extend across joined tangent surfaces
• FilletCorners — added History support
• ExtractMeshFaces — can now extract faces from invalid meshes, including displacement meshes generated by PBR materials
• SubD — improved display accuracy for SubDs with soft creases or high face counts, plus separate Adaptive and Absolute meshing method controls
• Rendered display mode — added refraction support for transparent materials and better coloured transparency
• Section/Clipping — sectioning now works through curves, with a new "Point" layer under Section and a Reflected Ceiling Plan projection option

This is a working list during Beta — McNeel is releasing updates roughly monthly, and features can still change before Final.

Display engine: Direct3D replaces OpenGL on Windows

One of the most significant under-the-hood changes in Rhino 9 has nothing to do with modelling tools: on Windows, the default display engine has moved from OpenGL to Direct3D 11. This was confirmed directly by McNeel's Rhino lead developer, Steve Baer, on the McNeel forum.

• Why the change: OpenGL drivers were a persistent source of crashes on Windows ARM devices and in virtualised environments (Parallels, VMware, Remote Desktop) that McNeel couldn't reliably support. Direct3D resolves this.
• Performance: McNeel expects wireframe and shaded display modes to run faster under Direct3D, though actual results depend on your specific hardware and drivers.
• OpenGL isn't being removed: it remains available as a fallback option via a new GPU options page, primarily for plugins that specifically depend on OpenGL. McNeel is actively gathering feedback on why people still need it.
• Direct3D 11, not 12: this is a deliberate choice to preserve support for older hardware (such as Intel 4000-series integrated GPUs) that doesn't support Direct3D 12.

Worth clarifying: this is not a move to Vulkan. Some community discussion has conflated Rhino's change with unrelated Vulkan migrations in other software — McNeel chose Direct3D specifically for its native Windows GPU coverage, not cross-platform portability. On Mac, Rhino already moved from OpenGL to Metal back in Rhino 8, so this Windows change brings both platforms onto modern, vendor-native graphics APIs.

If you run a plugin with custom OpenGL-based rendering code, it's worth checking with that plugin's developer on Direct3D compatibility before moving production work to the Beta.

Rendering in Rhino 9: Cycles, and where Bella Render fits

Rhino 9 continues to use Cycles as its built-in raytrace renderer — the same engine behind the Raytraced viewport and the Render command since Rhino 7. Beta testers on the McNeel forum are currently working through specific use cases, including studio-style product visualisation with soft-box lighting and clean shadows on plain backgrounds.

Cycles is a capable general-purpose renderer and it's included with every Rhino licence at no extra cost. If your priority is fast, polished, client-ready studio and architectural visuals without extensive manual light and material tuning, it's worth adding Bella Render alongside it — it's built specifically around a physically-based workflow for that kind of output. The two aren't mutually exclusive: many studios use Cycles for quick in-viewport checks and Bella for final client-facing renders.

Should you upgrade to Rhino 9 now?

If you rely on Rhino 8 for production work: hold off running client projects on the Beta. Beta builds are pre-release software — stability reports and crash fixes are still being filed and resolved on the McNeel forum on a rolling basis, which is normal for this stage but not something you want mid-deadline.

If you want to test early or plan ahead: the Beta is free to download now for any Rhino 8 licence holder, and it runs alongside your existing Rhino 8 install without touching it. This is a good way to check plugin compatibility — including with the new Direct3D display engine — and get familiar with changes before Final ships.

When Rhino 9 reaches Final release, it will follow Rhino's existing upgrade model — your upgrade extends your current licence rather than replacing it. See our Rhino accounts and Cloud Zoo setup guide for how licensing and Cloud Zoo work in practice.

Plugin compatibility

Third-party plugin compatibility with Rhino 9 depends on each individual developer's own update schedule, not McNeel's release timing. If you rely on specific plugins for production work — particularly any with custom display or rendering code — check compatibility with that plugin's current version before moving any live project onto the Beta.

Have questions about upgrading, licensing, or which plugins are confirmed compatible with the Rhino 9 Beta? Contact our team — we can talk through your specific setup.