3-GIS vs CARTO (2026): Pricing, Features & Verdict
CARTO is our pick, scoring 7.7/10 against 6.4/10 for 3-GIS on our Industrial & Infrastructure Software criteria. Its biggest advantage: higher Analytics score (9/10 vs 5/10). Neither 3-GIS nor CARTO lists a free plan.
Last updated: November 2026
3-GIS
6.4/10
3-GIS sells GIS-based network management software that telecom operators and electric and gas utilities use to plan, design, record, inspect and maintain fiber and utility networks.
CARTO
7.7/10
CARTO is a cloud-native location intelligence platform that runs spatial analysis, mapping and geospatial apps directly in cloud data warehouses for enterprise data teams.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.4/10 | 7.7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 4/10 | 4/10 |
| Analytics | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Scalability | 8/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Contact for pricing | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| GIS and Mapping | ||
| Asset Registry | Not listed | |
| Engineering Design | Not listed | |
| Inspection Checklists | Not listed | |
| Offline Field App | Not listed | |
| Work Orders | Not listed | |
Who 3-GIS and CARTO suit
3-GIS fits utilities better than CARTO.
| Audience | 3-GIS | CARTO |
|---|---|---|
| Utilities | 9/10The utility products cover Esri Utility Network editing, mobile inspections, work management and pole attachment management for electric and gas networks. | 6/10Suited to spatial analysis of network data held in a warehouse, but it has no asset maintenance or field tooling. |
| Enterprise | 8/10The vendor cites deployments with thousands of users and more than 500 million network records, and offers role-based administration and APIs for OSS/BSS integration. | 9/10Committed tiers, self-hosting, SSO, audit logs and Elite support are aimed at large organizations. |
| Small Business | 3/10Quote-only pricing, implementation services and a reliance on the Esri ecosystem make it heavy for very small operators. | 3/10There are no published prices, the minimum contract is 12 months, and reviewers say the cost may be high for smaller teams. |
| Developers | Not rated | 8/10Offers APIs, deck.gl support, coding agents and an MCP server for building geospatial apps. |
| Energy Companies | 7/10Electric and gas network operators are a stated target market, though the products focus on network records rather than generation assets. | Not rated |
| Engineering Firms | 6/10Fiber design contractors can use the design and work-packet tools, with contractor access managed in Admin. | Not rated |
| Field Teams | 8/10The Mobile and MIMS apps let crews redline, inspect, take photos and trace outages offline, then sync back to the office. | Not rated |
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose 3-GIS
- Better fit for utilities (9/10 vs 6/10)
Why choose CARTO
- Higher Analytics score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Integration score (9/10 vs 7/10)
Pros & Cons
3-GIS
Pros
- One web system covers the fiber lifecycle: planning in Prospector, design and work packets, strand-level tracing, and operations reporting.
- The Mobile app supports offline work on iOS and Android, and syncs crew redlines, photos and asset updates back to the central record.
- The utility products build on Esri ArcGIS and Utility Network, which suits utilities already invested in Esri.
- Customers can choose between SaaS and on-premises deployment, and the company displays an ISO 27001 badge from A-LIGN.
- Capterra reviewers praise the support team and the ability to configure the software to their needs, giving customer service a 4.4 sub-score.
Cons
- No public pricing, and implementation and data migration services add to total cost; Capterra users scored value for money at 3.9.
- Capterra reviewers report lag and slow navigation at times.
- Users coming from ArcGIS say they miss some ArcGIS features in the 3-GIS interface.
- Only a handful of independent reviews are public, so peer evidence is limited.
- Few turnkey OMS, ADMS or SCADA connectors are documented; deeper integrations rely on APIs or services.
- The November 2026 acquisition by SAM adds some roadmap uncertainty.
CARTO
Pros
- Runs analysis directly inside BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift and Oracle without copying data, which reviewers say saves time and storage.
- Builder renders very large datasets, and reviewers rate it highly for mapping and visualization.
- The Data Observatory gives access to more than 12,000 datasets for enrichment.
- Can be bought through the Google Cloud, AWS, Azure and Snowflake marketplaces, and self-hosting is available on committed tiers.
- SoftwareReviews users report strong loyalty, with 98 percent planning to renew.
Cons
- Advanced analysis still requires SQL, so non-technical users face a learning curve.
- No public prices, and even Pay As You Go needs a 12-month contract.
- Warehouse query costs can be hard to predict at high usage.
- Reviewers give lower marks for mobile and web GIS, and there is no field or maintenance tooling.
- The trial lasts 30 days, cannot be extended and cannot be used in production.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
CARTO scores higher on our Industrial & Infrastructure Software criteria: 7.7/10 against 6.4/10 for 3-GIS. The largest gap is in Analytics: 5/10 for 3-GIS and 9/10 for CARTO.
No, neither 3-GIS nor CARTO lists a free plan.
3-GIS is the better fit for utilities: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 6/10 for CARTO.
