Above Surveying vs Pointly: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Above Surveying and Pointly to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Above Surveying
5.7/10
UK drone inspection and data company for utility-scale solar plants. It pairs aerial thermographic surveys with its SolarGain cloud platform for inspection, QA and digital twin data.
Pointly
6.8/10
Pointly is AI software from Berlin that classifies large LiDAR point clouds and extracts vector objects for utilities, railways, mapping agencies and surveyors.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 5.7/10 | 6.8/10 |
| Integration | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | €99/mo Professional S |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Contact for pricing | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| Digital Twin | ||
| Drone Inspection | ||
| Asset Registry | Not listed | |
| GIS and Mapping | Not listed | |
| Inspection Automation | Not listed | |
| Inspection Checklists | Not listed | |
| LiDAR Processing | Not listed | |
| Power Line Inspection | Not listed | |
| SCADA and IoT Integration | Not listed | |
Above Surveying vs Pointly cost by team size
| Team size | Above Surveying | Pointly |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | Contact for pricing | FreeFree |
| 5 users | Contact for pricing | FreeFree |
| 10 users | Contact for pricing | FreeFree |
| 25 users | Contact for pricing | FreeFree |
| 50 users | Contact for pricing | FreeFree |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Above Surveying
- Higher Analytics score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for energy companies (9/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose Pointly
- Has a free plan (Above Surveying does not)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Cost score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for utilities (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for drone service providers (7/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
Above Surveying
Pros
- Built only for solar: thermography finds hotspots, string faults, junction box failures and PID at the module level.
- One platform covers the full lifecycle, from topographic surveys and construction monitoring to O&M inspections.
- SolarGain accepts data from third-party providers as well as Above's own flights, so the platform is not tied to Above's survey service.
- Large track record: Above reports more than 10,000 sites, and its acquisition of ucair expanded its reach in Europe.
- ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certified.
Cons
- No public pricing; every engagement needs a quote.
- Only useful for solar assets, not other infrastructure.
- No published integrations list, API documentation or security and trust page.
- Few independent user reviews on G2, Capterra or similar sites.
Pointly
Pros
- Monthly prices are published, from 99 euros for 500 million points, and there is a free tier for testing
- Pointly Box allows on-premise and air-gapped processing for data-sensitive operators
- It holds ISO 27001 certification, and cloud processing defaults to EU data centers on Azure
- Custom classifiers can be trained on a customer's own class catalog
- There are extensions for Esri ArcGIS and Bentley MicroStation, and it exports in many formats
Cons
- It only covers classification, with no asset management, work orders or maintenance tools
- Vectorization and custom classifier training are quoted per project, not list-price items
- There are few independent user reviews on G2, Capterra or Reddit
- The pricing page has a yearly billing toggle but shows no annual prices
Not sold on either?
Air Inspection Automation (AiA)Our product
Plans DJI drone inspection missions for power line towers from LiDAR scans: it finds the towers, places photo stops, checks clearance, and splits the route into battery flights.
Made by the team behind b stack radar. Shown here because it fits this topic. It is not part of our rankings. How we rank tools
Frequently Asked Questions
Pointly scores higher on our Industrial & Infrastructure Software criteria: 6.8/10 against 5.7/10 for Above Surveying. The largest gap is in Cost: 4/10 for Above Surveying and 7/10 for Pointly.
Pointly has a free plan; Above Surveying does not list one.
Pointly is the better fit for utilities: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 6/10 for Above Surveying.
