Solar Design Software Pricing in 2026: All-In Cost Across 10 Platforms

A US installer comparing solar design platforms in 2026 sees a price range that spans three orders of magnitude. The cheapest sticker is $0 (OpenSolar). The most expensive enterprise contract is $15,000 per year per seat (RatedPower). Between those two extremes are eight platforms with materially different pricing models, hidden costs, and feature ceilings. The sticker is rarely the right comparison number. The all-in cost (subscription plus bolt-on tools plus implicit fees plus the designer FTE that the platform does not eliminate) is what determines per-watt soft cost. On a 220-system installer book, the all-in stack runs between $6,495 (SurgePV team tier alone) and $170,000 (Scanifly plus Aurora plus permit designer plus drone fleet). That is a 26x spread on the same workload.

Direct answer. Solar design software pricing in 2026 ranges from $0 (OpenSolar standard tier, real cost is transaction fees) to $15,000 per year per seat (RatedPower enterprise). The mid-market spread is $59 per month per user (Pylon) to $450 per month per user (Scanifly top tier). For US installers running 60 to 500 systems per year, the lowest all-in number is SurgePV at $1,299 per user per year on the five-seat team tier because it is the only platform that ships AI 3D roof design, 8,760-hour shading, NEC 2023 SLD, AutoCAD DXF export, white-label proposal, and Clara AI on a single license. Every other platform requires at least one bolt-on at a meaningful incremental cost. This guide ranks all 10 by sticker and by all-in cost on the same 220-system workload.

This is a category pricing pillar for the US installer or engineering team running 60 to 500 systems per year. It is written by the Heaven Designs engineering bench, which audits installer and EPC tool stacks across 38 US states during permit design intake.

How to Read Solar Design Software Pricing

Three numbers matter, and the published sticker is only one of them.

The first number is the per-seat sticker (the monthly or annual published price). The second number is the bolt-on cost (the second or third tool the team buys because the platform does not handle the full workflow). The third number is the implicit cost (transaction fees, lender attach, hardware referrals, drone overhead, weather cancellations, permit designer FTE).

A fair comparison adds all three. The all-in number for a 220-system installer is rarely under $10,000 and is often above $100,000. The 26x spread between the cheapest and most expensive all-in stack is almost entirely about how many bolt-ons each platform requires.

The 220-system reference workload

Every comparison in this guide uses the same reference workload. A residential installer closes 220 systems per year. The average system price is $25,000. The average hardware BOM is $14,000. The team is three to five seats. The geography is US (NEC 2023, multiple AHJs). Sixty-five percent of deals are financed.

Why 220 systems? It is roughly the median of the US mid-market residential installer segment. Smaller teams (under 80 per year) make different software choices because the $0 OpenSolar tier wins on simple sticker math. Larger teams (above 500 per year) negotiate enterprise contracts where published prices stop being predictive.

The All-In Stack Test

Every solar design platform claims a full workflow. Most ship only a subset and require bolt-ons for the rest. The All-In Stack Test names the four jobs every platform needs to ship and tracks the incremental cost when the platform does not handle one of them.

A platform that passes all four ships with one license. A platform that fails one or more adds the bolt-on cost on top of its sticker. The all-in math collapses to a small number of finalists once the bolt-on costs are honest.

The 10 Platforms, Ranked by Sticker

The sticker prices for the 10 platforms in the comparison set as of 2026. These are the headline numbers, not the all-in.

OpenSolar: Free Sticker, Transaction-Fee Reality

OpenSolar’s headline price is $0 per user per month for the standard tier. The platform makes revenue on transaction fees collected when financed deals route through the integrated partner-lender network (0.8 to 1.5 percent of system price) and on hardware referral commissions through preferred distributors (1 to 3 percent of materials BOM).

On a 220-system installer book with a 65 percent finance attach at $25,000 average ticket, the implicit lender fees alone are $28,600 to $53,625 per year. Add hardware referrals at partial attach and the total climbs to $42,000 to $94,000. The crossover where OpenSolar becomes more expensive than a flat-fee platform is around 60 to 80 systems per year. For a deeper drill, the dedicated OpenSolar pricing breakdown and the OpenSolar alternatives guide go through the math.

The platform is strong on residential AI 3D and on the consumer-facing proposal motion. It does not ship a NEC 2023 SLD that consistently passes AHJ review on three-phase or complex services, and it does not produce stamped structural calculations.

Pylon: $59 Per User Per Month

Pylon sits at the bottom of the per-user subscription range at roughly $59 per month per user. The pricing is genuinely the simplest in the comparison set. The trade-off is feature ceiling. Pylon is built for residential US sales rep workflow and does not ship the full C&I shading model or the AutoCAD DXF export at the standard tier.

On a 220-system installer book with three users, the sticker is $2,124 per year. The bolt-on stack is meaningful. Most Pylon shops also pay for a separate measurement tool (Scanifly or EagleView at $200 to $400 per month) and a separate permit design service or in-house designer. The Pylon alternatives guide goes through the workflow gaps in detail.

HelioScope: $99 to $300 Per User Per Month

HelioScope’s published pricing runs from $99 per month per user on the entry tier to $300 per month per user on the enterprise tier. The platform is genuinely strong on commercial 8,760-hour module-level shading and is the most respected non-PVsyst yield model in the C&I market.

The gap is on the customer-facing motion. HelioScope is an engineering tool, not a proposal tool. Installers who use it also pay for Aurora Sales Mode or Solargraf for the consumer proposal. On a 220-system C&I book at the growth tier ($199 per month per user) for three seats, the HelioScope line is $7,164 per year. Add Solargraf at $4,644 per year for one proposal seat and the stack is $11,808. The HelioScope alternatives guide ranks the field.

SurgePV: $1,299 Per User Per Year

SurgePV ships an unusually wide feature set on a single standard tier at $1,299 per user per year on the five-seat team tier (roughly $108 per month per user). The individual tier is $1,899 per year. The three-seat tier is $1,499 per user per year.

The full standard tier includes AI 3D roof design from address, 8,760-hour simulation with module-level mismatch, NEC 2023 single-line diagrams, AutoCAD DXF export, white-label solar proposals with e-signature, Clara AI design assistant, and shadow analysis. This is the only platform in the comparison set that passes all four jobs in the All-In Stack Test on a single license.

On a 220-system installer book with five seats, the sticker is $6,495 per year. The all-in cost is the same number because the platform does not require bolt-ons. There is no transaction fee on closed deals. The SurgePV installer platform is purpose-built for the US installer workflow, and SurgePV pricing is published transparently without sales-call gates.

Solargraf: $129 Per User Per Month

Solargraf’s published price is around $129 per month per user. The platform is strong on the consumer-facing proposal motion and on residential design. Like HelioScope (but on the opposite axis), it is a single-job platform that needs a second tool for the parts it does not handle.

Solargraf does not ship a full 8,760-hour C&I simulation and does not produce AutoCAD-quality DXF export at the standard tier. On a 220-system residential book at three seats, the Solargraf line is $4,644 per year. Add a measurement tool and a permit design service and the stack runs $12,000 to $18,000. The Solargraf alternatives guide covers the workflow comparison.

Scanifly: $150 to $450 Per User Per Month, Plus Drone

Scanifly publishes between $150 and $450 per user per month depending on tier. The lower tier carries per-project pricing on processed roof models above the included monthly allowance. The fundamental cost of Scanifly is not the subscription though. It is the drone operation that the subscription enables.

A Part 107 pilot at $65 per hour fully loaded spending 45 minutes to 3 hours per site totals 165 to 660 hours per year on a 220-system book, which is $11,000 to $43,000 in pilot labor. Add drone equipment depreciation and insurance ($2,200 to $4,100 per year), weather cancellations ($3,200 to $5,000), and a second platform for proposal and SLD ($6,000 to $15,000), and the all-in stack is $30,000 to $80,000. The dedicated Scanifly pricing breakdown and the Scanifly alternatives guide go through the math.

Aurora: $159 to $259 Per User Per Month

Aurora Solar’s Grow tier runs roughly $159 per user per month and the Sales Mode add-on pushes that toward $259 per user per month for teams that need the consumer-facing motion. A three-seat shop pays between $5,700 and $9,300 per year before platform fees, the AutoCAD export add-on, or team training.

According to the NREL 2024 US PV cost benchmark, residential installer soft costs already run between 60 and 65 cents per watt. Aurora’s per-seat creep on multi-seat teams pushes that higher faster than installers can re-price. Module-level shading, the Aurora AI design assistant, and the multi-array snapping logic are gated to higher plans, so a team that started on Essentials finds itself locked out of the features that justified the platform. The Aurora Solar alternatives guide ranks the replacements by all-in cost.

PVsyst: $500 Per Seat Per Year

PVsyst is the bankability standard for utility-scale and large C&I yield. The published price is roughly $500 per seat per year for the Premium tier, which is genuinely the lowest sticker in the engineering-grade category. The implicit cost is the workflow.

PVsyst is a desktop application with no satellite roof model, no AI design, no proposal, and no integrated CAD export. The full PVsyst workflow requires either a parallel design tool (SurgePV or HelioScope) for the roof model and the SLD, or a designer who builds every input by hand. For a US installer, PVsyst is a bolt-on to a primary design platform rather than a standalone. The PVsyst alternatives guide goes deeper, and the advanced PVsyst analysis review covers when the bankability investment pays back.

PVcase: Roughly $3,000 Per User Per Year

PVcase targets utility-scale ground-mount design with a native AutoCAD plugin. The published pricing is around $3,000 per user per year for the standard subscription, with enterprise contracts negotiated separately. On utility-scale work where AutoCAD is the lingua franca of the engineering deliverable, that price is competitive.

For US residential and small C&I, PVcase is not in the consideration set because the workflow is built for ground-mount tracker and fixed-tilt arrays, not residential rooftop. The PVcase alternatives and utility-scale solar design software guides cover the segment.

RatedPower: Roughly $15,000 Per Year, Enterprise

RatedPower targets utility-scale developer workflow with an end-to-end auto-design motion for grid-tied PV plants. Pricing is enterprise contract only and runs around $15,000 per year per seat at the entry level, scaling up for multi-seat teams and feature-rich contracts.

The platform is genuinely strong on the early-stage feasibility motion (auto-layout, civil takeoff, interconnection sketch). It is not a substitute for the bid-stage engineering pack that an EPC submits for bankability review. The RatedPower alternatives guide goes through the workflow.

All-In Cost Ranking on the 220-System Workload

Sticker is the wrong number. The fair comparison is all-in. Here is the same 220-system installer workload, costed on a three to five seat US residential team across the relevant platforms.

Where Pricing Models Break Down

There are three pricing model archetypes in the comparison set and each one breaks down at a predictable scale.

Free-with-transaction-fee model (OpenSolar)

Optimal under 60 to 80 systems per year. Breaks down above that because the implicit fees scale linearly with revenue. The model rewards the platform for the installer’s success rather than for platform usage, which is exactly upside-down from what an installer wants.

Per-user-per-month model (Aurora, HelioScope, Pylon, Solargraf)

Optimal for installers who need the specific job that the platform targets and do not need the rest. Breaks down for full-workflow shops because the bolt-on stack adds 30 to 100 percent on top of the headline sticker. The published comparison numbers always understate the all-in cost.

Per-seat-annual model (SurgePV, PVsyst, PVcase, RatedPower)

Optimal for teams that want predictable cost and the full workflow on one license. Breaks down only when the team is small enough (under 60 systems per year) that the annual commitment is hard to justify, which is rarely the case for any US installer with a real sales motion.

How the Bolt-On Math Works

The All-In Stack Test reveals the bolt-on cost only when the platform fails a job. The math compounds because most platforms fail more than one.

Aurora fails on AutoCAD DXF (extra cost), 8,760-hour C&I shading (needs HelioScope or PVsyst), and stamped permit packets (needs designer FTE or external bench). The Aurora-centric stack at three seats runs $14,300 plus $7,000 for the bolt-ons plus $75,000 for the designer.

OpenSolar fails on NEC 2023 SLD consistency, structural calculations, and the transaction-fee model. The OpenSolar-centric stack at three seats runs $0 sticker plus $42,000 to $94,000 implicit fees plus the designer.

HelioScope fails on the consumer-facing proposal motion and on the AI 3D roof model. The HelioScope-centric stack at three seats runs $7,164 plus $4,644 for Solargraf plus the measurement tool.

SurgePV passes all four jobs on the standard tier. The stack at five seats runs $6,495 and stays there.

How Permit Design Changes the Math

The line item most software comparisons miss is the permit packet. Every closed deal needs a NEC 2023 single-line diagram, an ASCE 7-22 structural calculation, and a stamped plan set before it goes to AHJ. That work is either an in-house designer (fully loaded at $75,000 to $110,000 per year) or an external bench (variable cost at $200 to $500 per residential packet, $800 to $2,500 per C&I packet).

For an installer running 220 systems per year, the in-house designer is fixed cost regardless of volume. The external bench is variable cost that scales with the book. At 220 systems per year, the external bench runs $44,000 to $110,000 per year on residential, which is roughly the same range as an in-house designer. The advantage is the variable structure (no salary line during a slow quarter) and the quality-controlled AHJ-fluent output.

Heaven Designs delivers PE-stamped permit packets in 4 to 7 business days at 96.2 percent first-pass AHJ approval on residential and 94.1 percent on C&I, across 38 US states.

How Heaven Designs Helps

The pricing decision on the design tool layer is one piece of the per-watt soft cost equation. The permit packet is the other. The Heaven Designs engineering bench plugs in as the variable-cost permit and detailed engineering layer underneath whatever design platform the team picks.

• Solar Permit Design. PE-stamped plan sets in 4 to 7 business days across 38 US states, NEC 2023 compliant, 96.2 percent first-pass AHJ approval on residential, 94.1 percent on C&I.
• Solar Rooftop Detailed Engineering Design. Full IFC pack including GA, SLD, structural, and BOQ.
• Solar 3D Pre-Design. Sales-stage 3D and shading model delivered in 48 hours.
• Download a sample permit packet. Redacted Riverside County residential install pack.

For a working quote on a state and AHJ where the team is currently running, contact us and the turnaround on a quote is under four business hours. For installers shopping a specific replacement, the dedicated guides cover each platform: Aurora Solar alternatives, HelioScope alternatives, OpenSolar alternatives, Scanifly alternatives, PVsyst alternatives, Solargraf alternatives, Pylon alternatives, PVcase alternatives, RatedPower alternatives, Arka360 alternatives, PV*SOL alternatives, and Enact Solar alternatives. For the broader category review, the solar design software, AI solar design software, solar proposal software, and 3D solar design software guides cover the same field. For regional buyer’s guides, the solar design software USA, solar design software India, commercial solar design software, and utility-scale solar design software pieces narrow the comparison. For installers comparing the wider CRM layer, sister brand QuickEstimate covers pipeline and lead-routing.

FAQ

What is the cheapest solar design software in 2026?

OpenSolar at $0 per user per month on the standard tier. The real cost is 0.8 to 1.5 percent transaction fees on financed deals routed through partner lenders, which adds $42,000 to $94,000 per year on a 220-system installer at 65 percent finance attach. Above roughly 80 systems per year, OpenSolar is not actually the cheapest. The lowest all-in cost in that range is SurgePV pricing at $1,299 per user per year on the five-seat team tier.

What is the most expensive solar design software?

RatedPower at roughly $15,000 per year per seat for the entry enterprise tier. The platform targets utility-scale auto-design and is not in the consideration set for US residential or small C&I. PVcase at roughly $3,000 per user per year is the next-most-expensive in the comparison set and also targets utility-scale. The most expensive all-in stack on a residential workload is Scanifly plus Aurora plus an in-house designer, which runs $50,000 to $170,000 per year.

Which solar design software has the best price-to-feature ratio?

By the All-In Stack Test, SurgePV at $1,299 per user per year is the only platform that passes all four jobs (AI 3D roof model, 8,760-hour shading, NEC 2023 SLD with AutoCAD DXF export, white-label proposal) on a single license. Every other platform requires at least one bolt-on. On the 220-system workload the all-in math is roughly half the next-cheapest stack.

Does free solar design software exist?

OpenSolar is the only platform with a published $0 standard tier in 2026. The real cost is not zero (transaction fees on financed deals, hardware referrals on routed BOMs, paid add-on for email support). For installers under 60 to 80 systems per year, the free sticker beats every paid platform on absolute cost. Above that volume, the implicit fees exceed the flat-fee competitors. Most other “free” offerings in the market are time-limited trials, not standing free tiers.

How much does a US installer typically spend on design software per year?

For a three to five seat residential installer running 80 to 300 systems per year, the published tool stack typically runs between $5,000 and $20,000 per year. The all-in number (including bolt-ons and either implicit fees or designer FTE) ranges from $6,500 on the leanest stack to over $100,000 on the most bolt-on-heavy. The NREL 2024 PV benchmark attributes 4 to 6 cents per watt of residential soft cost to engineering and software combined.

Is per-seat or per-project pricing better for solar installers?

Per-seat is more predictable and almost always cheaper for installers running above 50 to 60 projects per year. Per-project pricing punishes growth (more deals equals more cost without volume discount) and the implicit per-project model on transaction-fee platforms is the most expensive of all above the crossover. For mid-market installers running 150+ projects per year, a flat per-seat annual subscription is the cleanest pricing motion.

What is the all-in cost of running solar design at 220 systems per year?

On the leanest stack (SurgePV team tier plus Heaven Designs as the variable-cost permit bench) the all-in cost is $6,495 software plus roughly $44,000 to $66,000 for the permit bench at $200 to $300 per residential packet. Total roughly $50,000 to $73,000 on the 220-system workload. On the most bolt-on-heavy stack (Scanifly plus Aurora plus in-house designer plus drone fleet) the total runs $150,000 to $200,000 on the same workload. The cost difference is a sales rep’s full annual compensation, recovered from the tool budget.

Should I pick the cheapest software or the most feature-rich?

Neither, on its own. Pick the platform with the best all-in math on your specific workload. The All-In Stack Test names the four jobs every installer needs. A platform that passes all four on its standard tier wins almost every time on the all-in number, even when its sticker is higher than a single-job competitor. For most US residential installers running 80 to 500 systems per year, that platform is SurgePV plus an external permit bench. Book a SurgePV demo to see the workflow on a real lead from your pipeline.