CloudCompare vs Pointly Comparison
Compare CloudCompare vs Pointly features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
C
CloudCompare
5.8/10
Free, open-source desktop software for processing, comparing, and classifying 3D point clouds and meshes, such as laser scans, for surveyors, engineers, and researchers.
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 | C CloudCompare | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 5.8/10 | 6.8/10 |
| Integration | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 3/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Scalability | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | €99/mo Professional S |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Open source (GPL) | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| Work Orders | Not listed | |
| Offline Field App | Not listed | |
| LiDAR Processing | ||
| Power Line Inspection | Not listed | |
| Digital Twin | Not listed | |
| Drone Inspection | Not listed | |
Which One Should You Choose?
CWhy choose CloudCompare
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Analytics score (7/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Pointly
- Higher Integration score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
CCloudCompare
Pros
- It is completely free under the GPL with no seat or feature limits, so small firms and universities can roll it out without a budget.
- Cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-mesh, and M3C2 distance tools make it strong for change detection and as-built deviation analysis.
- Plugins add specialist classification, including CANUPO, 3DMASC, and the CSF ground filter, without extra cost.
- It was built from the start to handle very large terrestrial laser scans on standard hardware.
- The open source code and plugin architecture let developers add their own algorithms.
Cons
- There is no commercial support, so help comes from the community forum.
- Third-party commentary says the documentation can be sparse or outdated for newcomers.
- It is a desktop-only tool with no cloud collaboration, sharing portal, or multi-user workflow.
- It has no asset registry, work orders, or inspection reporting, so it covers data processing only, not infrastructure management.
- Results depend heavily on input data quality, and one user report could not run a usable analysis on a noisy LAS dataset.
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
