When comparing ShaderMap 4 vs Quixel Mixer, the Slant community recommends Quixel Mixer for most people. In the question“What are the best programs for making height maps, normal maps, and/or other maps?” Quixel Mixer is ranked 9th while ShaderMap 4 is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Quixel Mixer is:
Its freaking free.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Node-driven map generation
Shadermap specializes in generating multiple maps using nodes. Changes to one node can then be propagated to other nodes.
Pro Bake texture maps from 3d models
This program can bake texture maps from 3d models from a high poly to low poly. Not many similar software has this feature.
Pro Free
Its freaking free.
Cons
Con Expensive compared to similar software
While the software is great at what it does, it comes at a higher cost than most software that does similar things when it comes to generating normal maps.
Con Seems to still be in beta
Many features missing, like layer deletion.
Con Free version is technically non-commercial only
But, uh, "exporting" is as easy as opening up the file locations.