VertiGIS vs WebODM (2026): Pricing, Features & Verdict
VertiGIS is our pick, scoring 6.7/10 against 5.8/10 for WebODM on our Industrial & Infrastructure Software criteria. Its biggest advantage: higher Security score (7/10 vs 4/10). Only WebODM has a free plan.
Last updated: November 2026
VertiGIS
6.7/10
VertiGIS builds GIS software on top of Esri ArcGIS for utility network management, facility management, telecom network inventory, and low-code web and mobile apps.
WebODM
5.8/10
Open-source drone photogrammetry software that turns aerial photos into orthomosaics, elevation models, point clouds and 3D models, self-hosted for free or in the paid Lightning cloud.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.7/10 | 5.8/10 |
| Integration | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 4/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 3/10 |
| Cost | 4/10 | 10/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Scalability | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Contact for pricing | Free Self-hosted (open source) |
| Features | ||
| GIS and Mapping | ||
| Asset Registry | Not listed | |
| Drone Inspection | Not listed | |
| Offline Field App | Not listed | |
| Preventive Maintenance | Not listed | |
| Work Orders | Not listed | |
VertiGIS vs WebODM cost by team size
| Team size | VertiGIS | WebODM |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | Contact for pricing | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 5 users | Contact for pricing | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 10 users | Contact for pricing | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 25 users | Contact for pricing | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 50 users | Contact for pricing | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
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 VertiGIS and WebODM suit
VertiGIS fits enterprise better; WebODM fits small business better.
| Audience | VertiGIS | WebODM |
|---|---|---|
| Small Business | 2/10It requires ArcGIS, uses quote-based pricing, and often needs implementation services. | 7/10The free self-hosted edition and Lightning plans from 24 USD a month suit small mapping operations on tight budgets. |
| Enterprise | 7/10It offers enterprise tiers, SOC 2 Type II and ISO certification, and SAP integration. | 3/10Lightning has no SSO, compliance certifications or SLA, and the vendor declines security questionnaires. |
| Construction | Not rated | 6/10Volume measurement, contours and elevation models cover common site-survey needs, but there are no construction workflow tools. |
| Developers | Not rated | 7/10The AGPL source code, documented API, plugin system and command-line client allow custom pipelines. |
| Drone Service Providers | Not rated | 8/10It produces the core mapping outputs drone operators deliver, such as orthomosaics, DEMs and 3D models, at very low cost, and maps can be shared with clients. |
| Education | Not rated | 8/10It is free and open source, and Lightning offers educational discounts on request. |
| Energy Companies | 7/10It supports electricity, gas, and district heating networks. | Not rated |
| Government | 8/10It is widely used by municipalities on ArcGIS and is offered through a public procurement schedule. | Not rated |
| Utilities | 9/10VertiGIS Networks provides domain data models for electricity, gas, water, wastewater, telecom, and district heating. | Not rated |
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose VertiGIS
- Higher Security score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Support score (6/10 vs 3/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (7/10 vs 3/10)
Why choose WebODM
- Has a free plan (VertiGIS does not)
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for small business (7/10 vs 2/10)
Pros & Cons
VertiGIS
Pros
- It adds ready-made utility data models for electricity, gas, water, wastewater, telecom, and district heating on top of the Esri Utility Network.
- VertiGIS Integrator syncs assets between GIS and SAP, which supports map-centric maintenance workflows.
- The low-code Studio suite lets GIS teams build ArcGIS web and mobile apps without heavy coding.
- Native mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows work offline.
- It offers flexible deployment: on-premises, private cloud, VertiGIS-hosted cloud, or managed service.
Cons
- It depends on ArcGIS, so organisations without an Esri platform get little value from it.
- No public list prices are published, and implementation and integration costs can dominate first-year spend.
- Complex deployments tend to be services-heavy because of data cleanup and integration work.
- There are very few public user reviews on G2, Capterra, or TrustRadius to validate vendor claims.
WebODM
Pros
- The self-hosted edition is completely free under the AGPL-3.0 licence and has no per-seat fees, so its cost is far below commercial photogrammetry suites.
- It covers the main photogrammetry outputs, including orthomosaics, DSMs, DTMs, point clouds, textured 3D models, Gaussian splats and NDVI-style plant health maps.
- Processing can run on a local machine without internet, which keeps sensitive imagery on premises.
- The API, plugin system, choice of engines (ODX, MicMac, LGT), distributed processing and GPU acceleration give technical teams a lot of control.
- The Lightning cloud plans are cheap, from 24 USD a month billed yearly, and can be paused for up to 120 days.
Cons
- Output quality depends on tuning processing parameters, and reviewers say non-experts struggle to get good results.
- Self-hosting needs a lot of RAM and disk space: around 16 GB of RAM is recommended, and a single project can generate 10 to 20 GB of intermediate files.
- Lightning offers no SSO and no compliance certifications, and the vendor declines security questionnaires.
- Support is mostly through community forums, and Lightning does not help troubleshoot customer datasets except when the software itself malfunctions.
- Reviewers describe input as photo-based only, with no video or smartphone footage. There are no built-in workflows for inspection reporting, asset tracking or work orders.
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
VertiGIS scores higher on our Industrial & Infrastructure Software criteria: 6.7/10 against 5.8/10 for WebODM. The largest gap is in Cost: 4/10 for VertiGIS and 10/10 for WebODM.
WebODM has a free plan; VertiGIS does not list one.
WebODM is the better fit for small business: we rate it 7/10 for them, against 2/10 for VertiGIS.
