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Meta Quest 3 vs Valve Index
Both devices below are described from their manufacturers’ own specification pages. Where a row does not apply to one of them, it says so rather than showing a dash — that is a different statement from “the maker does not publish it”.
Meta · Mid range
Valve · Premium
Differences you can see
Pictures first, table second. Every chart is computed from the same published fields you can read below it — nothing here is an illustration.
- Meta Quest 3
- Valve Index
Resolution per eye
Panels at true pixel scale, one inside the other.
The sharpest panel here has 98% more pixels per eye than the softest — that is what you gain on small text inside a scene.
Field of view
Seen from above. The grey area is roughly the human binocular field (~200°).
- Meta Quest 3110° horizontal
- Valve Index108° horizontal
The widest field here is 110°, the narrowest 108°. A pair of human eyes covers about 200° — even the best of these shows less than two thirds of that.
Launch price
On the whole catalogue’s scale, from $199 to $38500.
Meta Quest 3$499
Valve Index$999
$199$38500
IPD range
Against the 54–74 mm range most adults fall into.
Meta Quest 353–75 mm
Valve Index58–70 mm
51 mm77 mm
The grey band is people, not hardware. Where a coloured bar stops short of it, that share of a team cannot set the headset to their eyes — and a badly set distance is the usual cause of headaches after twenty minutes.
On sale, and supported
Two different questions: how long you can still buy it new, and how long the manufacturer keeps updating it. The dashed line is the end of a three-year training programme (2029).
Meta Quest 3 on sale since 2023 · support until 2028
Valve Index on sale since 2019 · no published end of support
available newmanufacturer support after the last sale
20182030
Sold and supported are not the same thing. A model can leave the shelves while its maker keeps shipping software to the units you already own — and it can stay on the shelves with no published support commitment at all.
What actually differs
Computed from the two records, most decisive first.
Device type
- Meta Quest 3
- Standalone VR, also PC-powered
- Valve Index
- PC-powered VR
Category
- Meta Quest 3
- VR — standalone
- Valve Index
- VR — PC-tethered
Runs Skillsive apps
- Meta Quest 3
- Yes
- Valve Index
- No
Price band
- Meta Quest 3
- Mid range
- Valve Index
- Premium
Launch price
- Meta Quest 3
- $499
- Valve Index
- $999
Performance
- Meta Quest 3
- 4 / 5 — current flagship
- Valve Index
- does not apply
This row does not exist for one of the two — they are different kinds of product.
Resolution per eye
- Meta Quest 3
- 2064x2208
- Valve Index
- 1440x1600
Field of view
- Meta Quest 3
- 110° horizontal
- Valve Index
- 108° horizontal
Brightness
- Meta Quest 3
- 100 nits
- Valve Index
- —
Refresh rate
- Meta Quest 3
- 72/90/120 Hz
- Valve Index
- 80/90/120/144 Hz
Weight
- Meta Quest 3
- 515 g
- Valve Index
- —
Hand tracking
- Meta Quest 3
- Yes
- Valve Index
- No
They match on 16 further specifications.
Full specification, row by row
67 of 90 rows differ.
| Specification | Meta Quest 3 Meta | Valve Index Valve |
|---|---|---|
| ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from. | Meta | Valve |
| CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all. | VR — standalone | VR — PC-tethered |
| Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it. | Standalone VR, also PC-powered | PC-powered VR |
| AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped. | 2023-06-01 | 2019-04-30 |
| ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category. | 2023 | 2019 |
| AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today. | On sale | On sale |
| Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy. | 2028-10-10 | Support ends: not published by the manufacturer |
| PanelThe screen type. micro-OLED gives deeper blacks and higher contrast; LCD is brighter and cheaper. | LCD | LCD |
| OpticsThe lenses in front of the panel. Pancake stays sharp closer to the edges than older Fresnel, which decides how much a trainee has to aim their head to read something. | Pancake lenses | Canted dual-element |
| Eyes coveredOne eye or both. Over a full shift this is a real difference in fatigue. | Both eyes | Both eyes |
| Resolution per eyePixels delivered to each eye. Higher means small text and labels stay readable. | 2064x2208 | ≈1440x1600*VRcompare |
| Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort. | 72/90/120 Hz | 80/90/120/144 Hz |
| Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work. | 110° horizontal | ≈108° horizontal*VRcompare |
| Pixel densityPixels per degree of view — the honest way to compare sharpness between a headset and a pair of glasses. Higher is sharper. Only shown where somebody published it; we never compute it ourselves. | Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer | Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer |
| BrightnessIn a plant or outdoors, brightness decides legibility more than resolution does. | 100 nits | Brightness: not published by the manufacturer |
| WeightThe device alone. Anything above roughly 150 g is felt within an hour. | 515 g | Weight: not published by the manufacturer |
| Visible field of viewWhat the eye actually sees through the optics, by axis. | Visible field of view: not published by the manufacturer | 108° horizontal · 104° vertical |
| Rendered field of viewWhat the device draws. Never smaller than what you see. | 108° horizontal · 98.25° vertical · 113.3° diagonal | 108.06° horizontal · 109.16° vertical · 114.43° diagonal |
| Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens. | 80° | 85.93° |
| Average pixel densityPixels per degree across the image. More is sharper. | 18.8 PPD horizontal (computed) | 13.3 PPD horizontal · 15.4 PPD vertical (computed) |
| Peak pixel densityThe sharpest point, usually the centre of the lens. | 25 PPD | Peak pixel density: not published by the manufacturer |
| Subpixel layoutHow the coloured dots sit in a pixel. A stripe looks cleaner on text than PenTile. | RGB stripe · 3 subpixels per pixel | RGB stripe · 3 subpixels per pixel |
| Foveated renderingWhether detail is dropped outside where you look, to save performance. | Fixed | Foveated rendering: not published by the manufacturer |
| PassthroughWhat the front cameras give you: colour, grayscale, or nothing. | Colour | None |
| Passthrough camerasResolution, density and frame rate of that camera feed. | 18 PPD | Passthrough cameras: not published by the manufacturer |
| IPD adjustmentMatching lens spacing to the eyes. Motorised is fastest when one headset passes between people. | Manual | Manual |
| IPD rangeHow far the lenses travel to match eye spacing. A narrow range excludes part of any group of adults, which matters when one headset is shared. | 53–75 mm | 58–70 mm |
| Works with glassesWhether people who wear glasses can use it — fits over them, or takes prescription lens inserts. | Yes | Works with glasses: not published by the manufacturer |
| Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range. | Official lens inserts · -10 to 6 D | Vision correction: not published by the manufacturer |
| DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself. | Dimensions: not published by the manufacturer | Dimensions: not published by the manufacturer |
| Weight with strapWith the strap it ships with — the weight you actually wear. | Weight with strap: not published by the manufacturer | ≈809 g*VRcompare |
| Head strapSoft band or a rigid one. Decides how the weight sits over an hour. | Soft strap | Rigid strap with a dial |
| MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words. | Plastic · foam facial interface | Plastic · foam facial interface |
| ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in. | White | Black |
| Haptics in the headsetVibration in the headset itself, not in the controllers. | No | No |
| TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed. | inside-out 6DoF | outside-in 6DoF (SteamVR base stations) |
| Base stationsWhether boxes have to be mounted on the walls before it works. | Not needed | Required |
| Tracking camerasHow many cameras it uses to know where it is. | 4 | Tracking cameras: not published by the manufacturer |
| Tracking rateHow often position is recalculated. Higher is steadier. | Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer | Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer |
| Depth sensorA dedicated sensor for distance, on top of the cameras. | Yes | Depth sensor: not published by the manufacturer |
| Hand trackingWhether bare hands can operate the interface, without a controller or the phone. | Yes | No |
| Eye trackingThe headset knows where the trainee is looking. Enables sharper rendering where they look, and attention analytics. | No | No |
| Face trackingTracks facial expression — for avatars, not for training scenarios. | No | No |
| Body trackingHow much of the body the device knows about. Estimated legs are not tracked legs. | Upper body, legs estimated | None |
| Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only. | Yes | Yes |
| Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller. | Meta Quest Touch Plus Controllers | Index Controller |
| Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only. | 6DoF | 6DoF |
| Finger tracking on the controllerWhether the controller senses individual fingers, and how. | Capacitive (partial) | Full |
| Controller inputsButtons, sticks and triggers the controller offers. | Capacitive face buttons · capacitive joystick · capacitive touch pad · capacitive index trigger · middle finger trigger | Capacitive thumbstick · trackpad · capacitive face buttons · capacitive index trigger · pressure sensitive grip |
| Controller hapticsVibration feedback in the hand. | Yes | Yes |
| Controller powerDisposable cells or a built-in rechargeable — a fleet question. | AA batteries | Built-in rechargeable |
| Controller weightOne controller, as the vendor weighs it. | Controller weight: not published by the manufacturer | 196 g |
| Other input methodsWays in beyond controllers and bare hands. | Other input methods: not published by the manufacturer | Other input methods: not published by the manufacturer |
| PerformanceHow much the headset can run — sharper scenes, more objects, smoother mixed reality. Higher is better. | Very good | does not apply to this class |
| ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from. | Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 | does not apply to this class |
| CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them. | Octa-core Kryo (1 x 3.19 GHz, 4 x 2.8 GHz, 3 x 2.0 GHz) | does not apply to this class |
| GPUThe graphics part of the chip. | Adreno 740 | does not apply to this class |
| MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be. | 8 GB | does not apply to this class |
| PlatformThe platform an application is built against — and what an MDM has to speak. | Meta Horizon OS | does not apply to this class |
| StorageOn-board space for downloaded courses. More matters for an offline library in several languages. | 512 GB | does not apply to this class |
| SD card slotWhether storage can be added with a card. | No | does not apply to this class |
| BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure. | 132 min | does not apply to this class |
| Battery capacity (Wh)Energy in the cell. Bigger is longer, given the same power draw. | ≈19.44 Wh*iFixit teardown, reported by UploadVR | does not apply to this class |
| Battery capacity (mAh)The same fact in the other unit vendors use. We never convert between the two. | 5060 mAh | does not apply to this class |
| Charge timeFrom empty to full. Rarely stated by the manufacturer, so it usually comes from whoever timed it. | 138 min | does not apply to this class |
| ChargerPower of the supplied charger — it decides the charge time above. | 18 W | does not apply to this class |
| External batteryBattery on a cable or a puck instead of on the head. | No | does not apply to this class |
| Charging caseExtra runtime carried in the case the glasses ship with. | Charging case: not published by the manufacturer | does not apply to this class |
| Hot-swap batteryWhether a charged battery can replace the empty one without ending the session. This is what decides if a headset can hold an all-day training station. | No | does not apply to this class |
| Runs Skillsive appsOur own statement about whether Skillsive training applications run on it today. | Yes | No |
| Suitable for trainingOur judgement on whether it survives real deployment: comfort, hygiene, fleet management. | Yes | No |
| Kiosk mode / MDMVendor tooling to enrol devices, push an app and lock the headset to it. Practically required above ten devices. | No | No |
| Business tierAn official business tier, so devices belong to the company rather than to employees’ personal accounts. | No | No |
| Swappable facial interfaceRemovable, wipeable face padding. A consumable, and the difference between shared use and complaints. | Yes | No |
| CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine". | CE | Certifications: not published by the manufacturer |
| PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts. | USB Type-C · charging contacts | Front USB port |
| Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up. | 6E | Wi-Fi: not published by the manufacturer |
| BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories. | 5.2 | Bluetooth: not published by the manufacturer |
| Video from a computerWhether a computer can drive it, over a cable or wirelessly. | Over a cable · Wireless (Oculus Link) | Over a cable |
| AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working. | Built-in speakers · Headphone jack | Built-in speakers · Headphone jack |
| MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert. | Yes | Yes |
| MicrophonesHow many. An array picks a voice out of a noisy hall; one does not. | Microphones: not published by the manufacturer | 2 |
| Price bandThe band it sits in, rather than a price that goes stale. | Mid range | Premium |
| Launch priceThe manufacturer's launch price. Fixed history, so it never goes stale. | $499 | $999 |
| Price by configurationWhat each configuration cost at launch. | Price by configuration: not published by the manufacturer | Price by configuration: not published by the manufacturer |
| Price todayApproximate current net price in USD — a general figure, since these barely differ between regions once tax is stripped out. A snapshot from the date shown, not an offer. | $599.99 | $999 |
| Comfort (from reviews)How it wears over a full session. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers, not from our own testing. | 3 / 5Reviewers agree the centre of mass sits closer to the face than on Quest 2, so it feels lighter than its 515 g suggests. They split on the bundled soft strap: UploadVR found it fine for about an hour, Road to VR called it as poor as Quest 2's. For shared training, budget for a rigid strap.Road to VR review,UploadVR review | Comfort (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer |
| Edge clarity (from reviews)Sharpness away from the centre of the lens. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers. | Edge clarity (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer | Edge clarity (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer |
| Tracking reliability (from reviews)How tracking holds up in poor light and fast movement. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers. | Tracking reliability (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer | Tracking reliability (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer |
| Hand tracking quality (from reviews)How usable controller-free hand tracking is in a training scenario. Scored from agreement between reviewers. | 4 / 5Rated on agreement rather than our own testing: UploadVR finds less jitter, better accuracy and better handling of overlapping hands than PSVR2, and Road to VR reports Meta still shipping measurable improvements. Not a 5 because fast motion and low light still cost tracking.UploadVR, Quest 3 vs PSVR2 hand tracking,Road to VR, hand-tracking upgrade | Hand tracking quality (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer |
“—” means the manufacturer does not publish that figure. “≈” with an asterisk means it was measured by somebody else — follow the asterisk for who. Prices are an indicative net figure in USD, a snapshot from the date on each model page, not an offer.
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