With Rhino 9 now in public beta, many existing Rhino users are starting to think about what an eventual upgrade will involve. While McNeel hasn’t announced an official release date or final pricing for Rhino 9, there’s useful information available now to help you plan ahead.

Accessing Rhino 9 Today: The Public Beta

You don’t need to wait for an official release to start using Rhino 9. McNeel’s Serengeti project gives all current Rhino 8 commercial and educational licence holders free access to the public beta builds. This means:

• You can download and test Rhino 9 features as they’re developed, completely free of charge.
• You can provide feedback directly to McNeel via the official forum, helping shape the final release.
• You can start familiarising yourself with new commands and workflows well before the official launch.

To access the beta, simply download it from the official Rhino website using your existing Rhino 8 licence key. No separate purchase or registration fee is required.

Important: Treat the Beta as a Test Environment

Because Rhino 9 beta builds are pre-release software, McNeel is clear that bugs, crashes, and even file loss are possible. If you choose to explore the beta:

• Always save your work frequently.
• Save important files in Rhino 8 (.3dm) format as a backup, since beta builds may not maintain full backward compatibility as development continues.
• Avoid using the beta for critical production work — keep Rhino 8 as your primary tool for client deliverables until Rhino 9 is officially released.
• Beta builds expire periodically, but McNeel always makes a newer build available before the current one expires.

What About Upgrade Pricing?

McNeel has not yet published official upgrade pricing for Rhino 9, as the product is still in development. However, based on McNeel’s historical approach to major version upgrades, a few general patterns tend to hold:

• Existing licence holders typically receive discounted upgrade pricing compared to the cost of a new licence.
• Recent purchasers are often covered by free or low-cost upgrade windows — McNeel has previously offered free upgrades to customers who purchased the previous version shortly before a new release.
• Educational and commercial licences are typically handled separately, with different upgrade terms for each category.

If you’re considering a new Rhino 8 purchase now, it’s worth asking CADWAX directly about current upgrade protection policies, as these are sometimes time-limited and tied to your purchase date.

And if you'd rather not run the newest version at all, that's fine too — every Rhino 8 licence includes legacy licence keys for Rhino 6 and Rhino 7, so you can install whichever version suits your project or plugin compatibility.

Preparing for the Transition

• Explore the beta on a secondary machine or in a test environment — this lets you get familiar with new tools like Markups, the UVN Gumball, and the improved fillet commands without risking production files.
• Review your plugin dependencies — if you rely on third-party plugins such as VisualARQ, Karamba3D, or Grasshopper add-ons, check with those developers about Rhino 9 compatibility timelines, as plugin support often lags slightly behind major Rhino releases.
• Provide feedback on the beta — McNeel actively incorporates community feedback during development, so testing early and reporting issues can directly influence the final release.

For more context, see our related articles: Should I Wait for Rhino 9? and Rhino 8 vs Rhino 9: What’s New and What’s Changed.

Related Reading

• Rhino 8 vs Rhino 9: What's New and What's Changed
• Should I Wait for Rhino 9?
• Rhino 9 Beta: New Features Confirmed So Far

View Rhino 3D V8 upgrade licence details.