Monado, Collabora’s open source XR runtime, is now powering platforms from Google to Qualcomm, highlighting how shared infrastructure is replacing proprietary XR stacks with faster, community-driven innovation.
Monado, the open source XR runtime developed by Collabora, has emerged as the foundational runtime layer for multiple major OpenXR vendors, underscoring a broader industry migration from proprietary XR stacks to shared open-source infrastructure.
The shift is strategically significant because while OpenXR remains the standard API developers build against, vendors still need a runtime layer to connect hardware, software, compositors, tracking, and controllers. Where vendors once maintained separate proprietary runtime stacks, those efforts are now consolidating around a common open-source base.
According to Frederic Plourde, Monado now underpins Google AndroidXR, Hololight Stream, NVIDIA CloudXR, Pico’s Neo3 and Pico4 runtimes, PortalVR, and Qualcomm Snapdragon Spaces.
Plourde attributes this adoption to Monado’s “High Modularity,” “High Quality,” “Permissive Licensing,” and “Lower Barrier to Entry.” He noted, “Monado is architected as reusable components,” enabling vendors to selectively integrate specialised compositors, controller drivers, distortion meshes, SLAM, or ML-based hand-tracking.
Its permissive licensing and clear separation of the OpenXR API from implementation further simplify commercial integration, while wider adoption ensures more fixes, stronger hardware support, and faster ecosystem maturity. Crucially, those improvements flow back to the open-source community, reinforcing XR development across the broader vendor landscape.
