Litchi vs Pointly (2026): Pricing, Features & Verdict
Pointly is our pick, scoring 6.8/10 against 4.8/10 for Litchi on our Industrial & Infrastructure Software criteria. Its biggest advantage: higher Scalability score (9/10 vs 3/10). Both Litchi and Pointly have a free plan.
Last updated: November 2026
Litchi
4.8/10
Autonomous flight and waypoint mission planning apps for DJI drones, used by solo pilots and small operators for repeatable aerial capture and inspection flights.
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 | 4.8/10 | 6.8/10 |
| Integration | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 3/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 2/10 | 5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Scalability | 3/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | €99/mo Professional S |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Litchi Hub | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| Drone Inspection | ||
| Digital Twin | Not listed | |
| LiDAR Processing | Not listed | |
| Offline Field App | Not listed | |
| Power Line Inspection | Not listed | |
Litchi vs Pointly cost by team size
| Team size | Litchi | Pointly |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeLitchi Hub | FreeFree |
| 5 users | FreeLitchi Hub | FreeFree |
| 10 users | FreeLitchi Hub | FreeFree |
| 25 users | FreeLitchi Hub | FreeFree |
| 50 users | FreeLitchi Hub | 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.
Who Litchi and Pointly suit
| Audience | Litchi | Pointly |
|---|---|---|
| Drone Service Providers | 7/10Cheap, repeatable waypoint missions on DJI hardware suit small operators doing routine capture work, though it lacks fleet and client management. | 7/10It processes airborne LiDAR, and the drone platform FlyNex offers it through the API. |
| Energy Companies | Not rated | 7/10It offers power line and substation scan-to-BIM workflows. |
| Engineering Firms | Not rated | 7/10It exports DXF and Shapefile, and has ArcGIS and MicroStation extensions. |
| Enterprise | 2/10There is no team administration, compliance documentation or enterprise support, and enterprise-drone support is still in Android beta. | Not rated |
| Freelancers | 8/10A one-time licence of about USD 25 and support for consumer DJI drones make it accessible to solo pilots. | Not rated |
| Government | Not rated | 7/10Pointly says it has done classification work on the Digital Twin Germany project, and it offers on-premise air-gapped deployment. |
| Real Estate | 6/10Orbit, POI and cable-cam style missions are often used for property shoots, though some users report gimbal accuracy issues on POI missions. | Not rated |
| Small Business | 6/10Low cost and simple licensing fit small firms that fly their own DJI drones occasionally. | Not rated |
| Utilities | Not rated | 9/10It has a dedicated Powerline Classifier that covers towers, conductors and vegetation encroachment. |
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Litchi
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose Pointly
- Higher Scalability score (9/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 3/10)
Pros & Cons
Litchi
Pros
- The one-time licence of roughly USD 25 to 27 is far cheaper than subscription-based drone flight platforms.
- Missions are uploaded to the aircraft, so a pre-planned route keeps flying if the controller signal drops.
- Detailed waypoint control covers speed, curve size, heading, gimbal pitch and up to 15 actions per waypoint.
- Litchi Hub allows desktop planning with CSV and KML import and terrain-relative altitude from elevation models.
- Supports a wide range of DJI aircraft, from older Phantom 3 models to Matrice 300, 350 and 4 series through Litchi Pilot.
- Flight logs upload automatically to Airdata UAV for record keeping.
Cons
- Newer DJI drones need the separate Litchi Pilot app, which is still an Android-only beta with reported crashes.
- iOS and Android licences are bought separately, so teams using both platforms pay twice.
- It has no inspection reporting, asset records, photogrammetry or team management, so it must be paired with other tools.
- Forum users report curved paths overshooting waypoints and photo actions not firing when corners are smoothed.
- Support is mainly through a forum and contact form, with no published SLA or security documentation.
- Several current DJI drones, such as the Mini 5, Air 3 and Mavic 4, can only receive missions exported to DJI Fly.
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 4.8/10 for Litchi. The largest gap is in Scalability: 3/10 for Litchi and 9/10 for Pointly.
Yes, both Litchi and Pointly have a free plan.
