People search for Aurora Solar pricing because the Aurora website hides the number behind a demo request. The reasoning is commercial, not technical: a discovery call lets the sales team match the discount to the deal size. For a residential installer running fifteen systems a week, that is the wrong starting point. What you actually need is a public, plan-by-plan view of what Aurora costs in 2026, what the four most common bolt-ons add, and whether a browser-native replacement at one-third of the per-seat rate covers the workflow without losing AHJ approval. This guide walks through the real Aurora plan tiers, the hidden costs that do not show up in the demo, and where SurgePV lands as the cheaper alternative.
Direct answer. Aurora Solar costs roughly $159 to $259 per user per month in 2026 depending on tier and the Sales Mode add-on. SurgePV runs $1,299 per user per year on the five-seat tier, which is about $108 per user per month equivalent, and includes module-level shading, NEC 2023 single-line diagrams, AI 3D roof design, and an interactive proposal in one license. The real Aurora delta over three years for a five-seat shop is between $30,000 and $90,000.
What Aurora Solar Costs in 2026
Aurora publishes tier names but not per-seat prices on the site. The numbers below come from RFQ responses, public Reddit threads on the r/solar professional community, and competitor comparison pages. They are accurate within a 10 percent band depending on multi-year commitment and seat count.
$159
Aurora Essentials, per user, per month
Annual commit, 2026
$199
Aurora Grow, per user, per month
Annual commit, 2026
+$60
Sales Mode add-on per user
Pushes Grow to ~$259
$108
SurgePV per user, per month equivalent
$1,299 annual on the 5-seat tier
The three Aurora tiers
| Aurora Tier | Per-user list | What it includes | What it does not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $159/user/month | Satellite design, basic shading, financial analysis, 50-state AHJ rule library | Module-level shading, AI design assistant, multi-array snapping, advanced SnapShot 3D |
| Grow | $199/user/month | Everything in Essentials plus module-level shading, AI design, advanced 3D | Sales Mode interactive proposal, AutoCAD DXF export add-on |
| Plus / Enterprise | Custom, often $259+/user/month with Sales Mode | Sales Mode interactive proposal, premium support, API access | Bundled training; multi-year commit often required |
These prices assume an annual commit. Month-to-month is typically 15 to 20 percent higher. A team that signs for three years gets a 5 to 10 percent discount but loses the ability to right-size seats if a rep leaves. The published Aurora plan page does not show any of this. You learn it during the discovery call.
Five-seat shop, three-year total
A five-seat residential team on Grow plus Sales Mode is paying approximately $259 multiplied by 5, multiplied by 12, multiplied by 3, which equals $46,620 over three years. Add the AutoCAD export add-on for one engineer at roughly $40 per month and you are at $48,060. That is before training, custom proposal template work, or the second tool the team buys for measurement (Scanifly, EagleView, or Solo).
By comparison, a five-seat SurgePV pricing stack runs $1,299 multiplied by 5, multiplied by 3, which equals $19,485. The three-year delta is roughly $28,500 before bolt-ons and roughly $90,000 if you include the AutoCAD seat and a separate proposal tool that Aurora pulls into Sales Mode.
What the Sticker Hides
The published per-user number is the start of the conversation, not the end. Four cost lines tend to surface after the contract is signed.
1. Sales Mode is not optional for a sales-led shop
Aurora Essentials and Grow ship the design tool. The interactive proposal that reps share with homeowners lives in Sales Mode, which is a separate add-on running roughly $60 per user per month. A five-rep sales team that did not budget for Sales Mode finds itself paying an extra $3,600 per year per rep, or $18,000 across the team, just to send the proposal. SurgePV ships an equivalent white-label solar proposals builder at no extra cost across all tiers.
2. Module-level shading is gated to Grow
Essentials does basic shading. For C&I projects above 50 kW, module-level shading is what makes the yield report defensible. Teams that started on Essentials to control cost usually upgrade within nine months once a commercial project misses the bankability bar. The upgrade is $40 per user per month, or $2,400 per year for a five-seat shop. SurgePV ships shadow analysis at the module level on every paid tier with no upcharge.
Watch out. The Aurora Sales Mode add-on is sometimes pitched as a CRM replacement during the discovery call. It is not. It does not handle pipeline reporting, rep performance, or lead routing. Teams that drop their CRM to save on Sales Mode usually re-buy a CRM inside twelve months. A solar-purpose CRM like QuickEstimate covers that gap without overlapping the design tool.
3. AutoCAD export is an add-on
The Aurora plan view shows shareable PDF output. The DXF or DWG output that an electrical engineer uses to draft the SLD is a separate AutoCAD export feature. The pricing is typically $30 to $50 per user per month for the seats that need it. Most shops put it on one or two seats. That is roughly $720 per year on top of the tier. SurgePV bundles AutoCAD DXF export on every paid tier.
4. Training and template work
Aurora ships with a generic proposal template. Custom branding, custom finance modules, and battery storage proposal logic require either an Aurora professional services engagement or an internal designer to build the template. The professional services rate is competitive with a marketing agency, roughly $150 to $200 per hour. A custom template usually lands between $3,000 and $8,000 one-time. This is not in the published tier price.
Aurora vs SurgePV: The Real Comparison
| Line item | Aurora Grow + Sales Mode | SurgePV (5-seat tier) |
|---|---|---|
| Per user, per year | ~$3,108 (Grow + Sales Mode) | $1,299 |
| Module-level shading | Grow tier and above | Included on all paid tiers |
| Interactive proposal | Sales Mode add-on (~$60/user/mo) | Included |
| AI 3D roof design | Grow tier | Included on all paid tiers |
| NEC 2023 single-line diagram | Not native, AutoCAD bolt-on | Included native |
| AutoCAD DXF export | Add-on ~$30 to $50/user/mo | Included |
| Free trial without card | No | Yes |
| 50-state AHJ rule library | Yes | Yes (US installer mode) |
| Battery storage proposal logic | Yes (custom template) | Yes (native) |
| Five-seat, three-year cost | ~$46,620 to $48,060 | $19,485 |
The delta over three years for a five-seat shop is roughly $28,500 before bolt-ons. With one AutoCAD seat and a custom proposal template, it climbs north of $35,000. For a three-seat shop, the delta is still approximately $17,000. For a single-seat sole proprietor on Essentials, Aurora is closer to break-even with SurgePV Individual at $1,899 per year; the gap widens once Sales Mode or Grow features are needed.
For a deeper feature-by-feature view, see the Aurora Solar vs SurgePV comparison, and for the cutover playbook, the Aurora to SurgePV migration guide covers data export and proposal history.
The Aurora True-Cost Test
If you are sitting on an Aurora renewal quote and trying to decide whether to negotiate or switch, this is the four-question test we run for installers who hire us for engineering support. Score one for each “yes.”
Sales Mode question
Are you paying for Sales Mode just to send the proposal? If yes, that is $60 per user per month that disappears with a tool that bundles the proposal builder.
Top-tier shading question
Did you upgrade from Essentials to Grow only because a C&I project needed module-level shading? That is roughly $480 per user per year that disappears on a tool that includes module-level shading on the base tier.
AHJ overlay question
How many of your top three AHJs require an overlay or note that Aurora's 50-state library does not generate automatically? If you are still hand-editing the SLD in AutoCAD, the AHJ library savings are smaller than the sticker implies.
AutoCAD question
Do you have one or more dedicated AutoCAD seats paying $30 to $50 per user per month for DXF or DWG export on top of the Aurora seat? A tool that bundles DXF export at no extra cost zeroes that line.
A score of two or higher means a switch will likely save more than it costs to migrate. A score of three or four means you are leaving thousands of dollars per seat per year on the table.
Pricing Comparison: Stack vs Stack
Most teams do not run Aurora alone. They run Aurora plus a measurement tool, plus a CRM, plus an AutoCAD seat. Stack-vs-stack is the comparison that matters.
| Stack | Annual cost, 5-seat shop | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Aurora Grow + Sales Mode + AutoCAD (1 seat) + EagleView | ~$19,000 | Design, shading, proposal, DXF, measurement |
| Aurora Essentials + Scanifly + Solo proposal | ~$18,500 | Design, drone, manual proposal |
| HelioScope + Solargraf + AutoCAD (1 seat) | ~$18,000 | Design, simulation, proposal, DXF |
| SurgePV 5-seat tier (all-in) | $6,495 | Design, shading, NEC SLD, proposal, DXF, AI 3D |
The all-in browser tool is the only stack that lands under $10,000 annually for a five-seat shop. According to the SEIA US solar market research, residential installer gross margins have compressed from 28 percent in 2022 to roughly 21 percent in 2025. Saving $12,000 per year on software stack is roughly 0.6 percentage points of margin back on a five-million-dollar installer.
Want the design samples that this team ships for Aurora and SurgePV clients?
Download the Heaven Designs sample pack. Residential SLD, C&I three-line diagram, structural placement, and a 8,760-hour yield report exported from SurgePV.
Download the sample pack →When Aurora Is Still the Right Call
This guide is not a “switch immediately” pitch. There are three scenarios where staying on Aurora is the cheaper outcome.
Scenario 1: You are a one-seat shop with a Sales Mode template that closes
If you are a sole proprietor closing five to ten residential systems a month on a custom Sales Mode template that you spent four months tuning, the migration cost will outweigh the seat savings in year one. The break-even tips toward switching in year two or three. Compare against the broader Aurora Solar alternatives list before committing.
Scenario 2: You have a 20-plus seat enterprise with a custom AHJ-overlay contract
Aurora’s enterprise tier negotiates state-specific AHJ overlays that the standard library does not generate. A 20-plus seat team with that contract is buying engineering hours, not just software. SurgePV’s enterprise pricing is custom; ask for an AHJ overlay scope during the discovery call.
Scenario 3: Your reps will not switch interfaces
Tooling friction is real. If your reps are at the volume cap and you cannot afford a six-week productivity dip, the right move is to negotiate a 10 to 15 percent Aurora renewal discount and plan the switch for the next contract cycle. Aurora discounts are available; the trick is asking with a competitive quote in hand.
How Heaven Designs Helps
Heaven Designs is an outsourced solar engineering team that ships permit-ready packets for US installers regardless of which design tool the installer runs. We have produced over 25,000 PV designs across Aurora, HelioScope, PVsyst, OpenSolar, and SurgePV. The tool is the installer’s choice; the engineering output is what we deliver.
When an installer hires us during an Aurora-to-something-else migration, we run two services:
- The rooftop detailed engineering design service. We produce the NEC 2023 SLD, the structural overlay, and the AHJ packet from whichever tool the installer is currently on, then re-issue from the destination tool once the migration completes. This eliminates the design backlog risk during the switch.
- The solar permit design service. We map the installer’s top three AHJs to whichever tool’s overlay library is closer to the target jurisdiction, which usually flags whether SurgePV, Aurora, or a separate AutoCAD workflow is the cheapest path per project.
For installers shopping the broader market, our published guides on solar design software for the US market and the Aurora Solar alternatives breakdown cover the trade-offs in depth. For commercial installers considering a step up, see the commercial solar design software guide. The bankability glossary and the P50 glossary are useful when comparing simulation output across tools. The AI solar design software roundup covers what each platform actually ships in 2026 versus the marketing claim.
If you want to talk through a specific renewal quote, the contact form is the fastest path. Aurora renewals are timed, so the four to six weeks before the auto-renew is when negotiation works.
FAQ
How much does Aurora Solar actually cost per user in 2026?
Roughly $159 per user per month on the Essentials tier and $199 per user per month on the Grow tier, both with an annual commitment. The Sales Mode add-on pushes the Grow tier to approximately $259 per user per month. Multi-year commits earn a 5 to 10 percent discount; month-to-month is 15 to 20 percent higher.
Why does Aurora hide pricing on its website?
Aurora uses a discovery call to match the discount to the deal size and the seat count. This is a standard SaaS playbook. The downside for the buyer is that you cannot compare Aurora against alternatives without sitting through a 45-minute demo. Public pricing pages from competitors like SurgePV pricing let you compare on the same page.
Is Aurora Sales Mode a CRM?
No. Sales Mode is an interactive consumer-facing proposal that runs on the Aurora design file. It does not handle pipeline reporting, lead routing, rep performance, or follow-up sequencing. Teams that try to use it as a CRM usually buy a real solar CRM inside twelve months.
Does Aurora include AutoCAD DXF export?
Not in the base tier. AutoCAD DXF export is an add-on, typically $30 to $50 per user per month for the seats that need it. SurgePV bundles AutoCAD DXF export at no extra cost across all paid tiers.
What is the cheapest credible alternative to Aurora Solar in 2026?
SurgePV at $1,299 per user per year on the five-seat tier, which works out to roughly $108 per user per month equivalent. It ships module-level shading, AI 3D roof design, NEC 2023 SLD, AutoCAD DXF export, and an interactive proposal in one license. The Aurora Solar alternatives guide covers six others including HelioScope, OpenSolar, and Scanifly.
Will switching off Aurora break our existing proposal history?
The Sales Mode interactive proposals do not export cleanly. They are keyed to the Aurora design file. SurgePV’s Aurora to SurgePV migration guide walks through how to preserve closed-deal records, re-issue active proposals, and run both tools in parallel for the first three months.
How much can a five-seat residential team save by switching?
Approximately $28,500 over three years before counting bolt-ons. With one AutoCAD seat and a custom proposal template, the delta climbs north of $35,000. The savings come from the proposal builder being included rather than added, module-level shading being included rather than gated, and AutoCAD DXF being included rather than added.
Does Aurora’s 50-state AHJ library cover every jurisdiction?
Aurora’s library covers roughly 1,100 US AHJs and grows quarterly. It does not generate every overlay required by the strictest cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles County, Honolulu, parts of New York City). For those jurisdictions, most installers either run a side AutoCAD seat or contract an engineering team like Heaven Designs for the AHJ packet. The NFPA NEC code reference is the underlying source for most of the overlays.
