The C&I HelioScope alternative
Solesca vs HelioScope
Feature by feature
How do Solesca and HelioScope compare, feature by feature?
| Vendor | HelioScope | Solesca | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feature | Basic (HelioScope) | Pro (HelioScope) | Enterprise (HelioScope) | Design License (Solesca) | Engineering License (Solesca) |
| 01Licensing and limits | |||||
| Published price | $1,620/year | $2,640/year | $10,000 minimum | $3,500/year | $5,500/year |
| Users | 1 per license | 1 per license | Unlimited | 1 per seat | 1 per seat |
| Free view and comment-only users | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| ProjectsHelioScope counts per license, and unused projects do not roll over. | 10 a month, 120 a year | 10 a month, 120 a year | Custom | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| System size ceiling | 1.25 MW DC | 5 MW DC | 30 MW DC | Up to 1 GW | Up to 1 GW |
| 02Site and screening | |||||
| Satellite imagery | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| 3D design capabilities | Not included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Parcel boundaries | Not included | IncludedSelect regions | IncludedSelect regions | LimitedImported or drawn by hand | LimitedImported or drawn by hand |
| Slope layer from USGS elevation models | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included | Included |
| Wetlands layer from the US Fish and Wildlife Service | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included | Included |
| Forest canopy height, 2000 and 2020 | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included | Included |
| Automatic tree heights | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Substations and transmission lines | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included | Included |
| Site plan, drone and KMZ overlays | IncludedImages and KMZ; PDFs converted first | IncludedImages and KMZ; PDFs converted first | IncludedImages and KMZ; PDFs converted first | IncludedImages, PDF and KMZ | IncludedImages, PDF and KMZ |
| Custom weather files | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| 03Layout | |||||
| Rooftop, carport and ground mount | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| 3D design | Not included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Automatic layout | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| AI obstruction detection | Not included | IncludedStarts from a keepout you draw | IncludedStarts from a keepout you draw | IncludedARGUS AI, with a confidence threshold | IncludedARGUS AI, with a confidence threshold |
| Keepouts and setbacks | Included | Included | Included | IncludedSetbacks per obstruction type | IncludedSetbacks per obstruction type |
| Reusable design templates | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| East-west racking | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Single-axis trackers | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Bifacial modules | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Terrain tracking design | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included$2,000 add-on | Included$2,000 add-on |
| Pile reveals and slope limits per frame | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included$2,000 add-on | Included$2,000 add-on |
| Roads drawn into the layout | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included | Included |
| Module and inverter library, with PAN and OND upload | Included50,000 components | Included50,000 components | Included50,000 components | IncludedCalifornia Energy Commission list | IncludedCalifornia Energy Commission list |
| 04Simulation | |||||
| Hourly yield simulation with near shading | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Published validation | DNV, NREL and CEC | DNV, NREL and CEC | DNV, NREL and CEC | Against PVsyst; NREL CRADA | Against PVsyst; NREL CRADA |
| P50 production | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| P90, P95 and P99 | Not included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Automatic snow and soiling losses | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included | Included |
| 8760 hourly export | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Production report with losses and a bill of materials | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| DNV SolarFarmer simulation | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| 3D simulation model | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included | Included |
| PVsyst export | Not included | Not included | Included3D shade scene (.DAE) | IncludedNative PVC & PVsyst ZIP exports | IncludedNative PVC & PVsyst ZIP exports |
| 05Electrical engineering | |||||
| DC stringing with wire losses | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included |
| Code-minimum wire sizingHelioScope’s help center says it does not verify or certify code compatibility. | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Combiner boxes | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Rapid shutdown, by optimizers or microinvertersHelioScope’s help center says rapid shutdown devices are not modeled. | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Inverters placed on the site plan | Included | Included | Included | Not included | Included |
| Transformers and switchgear placed on the site planHelioScope infers transformers from voltages instead of placing them. | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Bill of materials with switchboards, transformers, poles and string lengths | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
| 06Drawings and deliverables | |||||
| Single-line diagramHelioScope draws one with every design; its help center notes transformers are not shown on it. | Limited | Limited | Limited | Not included | Included |
| Site plan sheet | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not included | Included$1,000 add-on |
| Equipment settings sheet, with inverter and relay settings | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not included | Included$1,000 add-on |
| Stampable plan setUp to three transformers, typically about 15 MW. Solesca does not stamp. | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not included | Included$1,000 add-on |
| Electric stamp by a licensed PE | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not included | SOL Credits, market rate |
| CAD export (DXF)HelioScope’s DXF carries no geo-location. | Included | Included | Included | IncludedLayered | IncludedLayered |
| KMZ export | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included | Included |
| 07Storage and sales | |||||
| Storage designAC-coupled on HelioScope, with storage simulation from Pro. | Included | IncludedWith peak-shaving simulation | IncludedWith peak-shaving simulation | Not included | Not included |
| Financial modeling and sales proposals | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included |
| Utility rate editor | Not included | Included | Included | Not included | Not included |
| 08Team, data and support | |||||
| API access | Not included | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| SSO | Not included | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included |
| Admin and member roles | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Live co-editing and map comments | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Included | Included |
| SupportHelioScope publishes no response time. | Email and chat | Email and chat | Premium, with an account manager | 30-minute average first response | 30-minute average first response |
Project lifecycle
Where does each tool fit in a C&I project?
A C&I project passes through eight stages before anyone builds it, and most of its cost is fixed before drafting starts. Solesca starts earlier, at site screening, and runs further, through electrical engineering to the interconnection package.
01Screen the site
HelioScope: Partly covered
Imagery and keepouts; LIDAR and parcels from Pro
Solesca: Covered
Slope, wetlands, canopy, grid and parcel layers
02Lay out the array
HelioScope: Covered
Roof, carport and ground; trackers on Enterprise
Solesca: Covered
AI layouts and ARGUS AI; terrain as an add-on
03Simulate the yield
HelioScope: Covered
Hourly by module; P90 to P99 from Pro
Solesca: Covered
P50 to P99, DNV SolarFarmer and PVC export
04Price and propose
HelioScope: Covered
Financial models and proposals from Pro
Solesca: Not covered
Not in either license
05Engineer the system
HelioScope: Partly covered
Stringing and combiners; transformers inferred
Solesca: Covered
Engineering License: equipment to the grid, stringing, BOM
06Interconnection package
HelioScope: Partly covered
A single-line diagram; no site plan or settings sheet listed
Solesca: Covered
Plan set add-on: site plan, SLD, equipment settings
07Stamp
HelioScope: Not covered
Not listed
Solesca: Through a partner
A licensed PE partner signs, at market rate
08Construction drawings
HelioScope: Not covered
DXF out to your CAD team
Solesca: Not covered
Layered DXF out to your CAD team
- Pre-CAD solar design
- The work between a site address and a drafted construction document: layout, shading, stringing, yield, and the engineering decisions that fix a design's economics. Every one of those decisions is cheaper to change before anything is drafted.
The other side
Where does HelioScope win?
If storage or sales proposals sit at the center of your work, those lines are a reason to keep HelioScope, and no amount of plan set capability changes it.
Storage design
Included on every HelioScope tier, with storage simulation from Pro. Neither Solesca license includes storage design.
Financial proposals
From Pro, HelioScope carries financial modeling, a utility rate editor and sales proposals. US-specific utility rates only.
Time in market
More than a decade. It is the best-known name.
SSO
Offered on HelioScope Enterprise. Solesca offers none.
Is either one more accurate?
Solesca builds more of the real site into its energy model than HelioScope does, especially for US projects. Start with snow and soiling. HelioScope uses a flat 2% soiling default and leaves snow as a monthly number you type in yourself. Solesca calculates both automatically on every simulation, using the Townsend snow model and the Kimber soiling model with data from the nearest NOAA ground weather station, adjusted for your tilt and racking height. Wire losses follow your real interconnection design. On Engineering seats, Solesca sizes every DC and AC conductor to NEC from the equipment you place, all the way to the point of interconnection, and feeds that wire loss into the simulation. HelioScope calculates wiring from the gauges you pick, and if you skip its optional AC design it falls back to a flat AC loss. Shading starts from real geometry too. Solesca auto-populates 3D building heights anywhere in the world, and terrain tracking lays ground-mount arrays on the actual ground surface and simulates every frame in 3D, where HelioScope fits arrays to flat or sloped planes. The one area HelioScope leads is weather data. It includes Meteonorm 8 files natively, while Solesca lets you import Meteonorm or any 15-minute weather file you already use.
System size
Who can simulate larger projects, HelioScope or Solesca?
On HelioScope it changes tier. Pro stops at 5 MW DC and Enterprise at 30 MW DC.
Solesca designs up to 1 GW on either license.
HelioScope Basic
$159 a month
HelioScope Pro
$259 a month
HelioScope Enterprise
Custom, per project
Solesca
Either license
Evaluation checklist
How should you evaluate switching from HelioScope?
- 01
Tired of paying per project?
Solesca
Neither Solesca license counts projects.
- 02
Do you need to design projects larger than 5 MW?
Solesca
Designs run to 1 GW on either license.
- 03
Looking for a full 3D design tool?
Solesca
Only Solesca offers 3D design for rooftop and terrain tracking ground mount projects.
- 04
A route from layout to the permit-ready drawings
Solesca
Plan sets and SLDs come as an add-on to the Engineering License, with the Electric Stamp at market rate through SOL Credits.
- 05
Do you need engineering-grade outputs: PVsyst, CAD or KMZ?
Solesca
Layouts export to editable, layered DXF.
- 06
A support response time in writing
Solesca
First response averages 30 minutes in business hours.
Shortlist
Which HelioScope alternatives are worth evaluating?
The shortlist follows your deliverable, not your preference. Match the tool to what leaves your team at the end of a project.
- SolescaC&I and community solar
- Fits teams whose output is an interconnection package: browser-based, unmetered, layout through bankable simulation to the drawing set.
- PVFarmUtility-scale ground mount
- Ground Mount design run in the cloud. Best-in-class team of award-winning PhDs building exclusively for utility scale.
- PVsystSimulation of record
- Not a layout tool. A team that only needs the financeable model can buy PVsyst on its own.
- AuroraResidential
- HelioScope's parent platform. Residential teams belong here rather than on anything else named on this page.
Common questions
Solesca vs HelioScope, answered
Does Solesca replace HelioScope?
For a C&I or community solar team whose output is a plan set, Solesca replaces the chain rather than the single modeling step: layout, shading, stringing and yield through to a stampable plan set. For a team whose output is a preliminary model and nothing further, HelioScope already does that job.
Does HelioScope produce a single-line diagram or a plan set?
HelioScope generates a single-line diagram with every design, on every tier, and exports it to DXF; its help center notes that transformers are not drawn on it. It does not list a site plan, an equipment settings sheet or a stampable package. Solesca produces all three sheets (site plan, single-line diagram and equipment settings) as the plan set add-on to the Engineering License.
Is there a project limit on a Solesca license?
No. Both Solesca licenses carry unlimited projects, and purchased SOL Credits don't expire while your account is open.
How much does HelioScope cost in 2026?
On pricing retrieved 2 October 2026, HelioScope Basic is $159 a month or $1,620 a year and Pro is $259 a month or $2,640 a year per license, each license allowing 10 projects a month and 120 a year. Enterprise starts at $10,000 USD for 50 projects, and it is the tier carrying PVsyst export, API access, SSO and single-axis trackers.
Does Solesca stamp drawings?
No. Solesca produces a stampable plan set. The Electric Stamp is a market-rate service through a licensed PE partner, and an engineer of record signs the drawings.
Does Solesca offer storage design?
No. HelioScope includes storage design from its Basic tier. If your projects are storage-led, HelioScope covers something Solesca does not.
Can we run Solesca and HelioScope in parallel?
Yes. Solesca does not meter projects, so a side-by-side on live sites during your current HelioScope term consumes no allowance on the Solesca side. Most teams evaluate this way rather than switching cold.
Which HelioScope alternative is right for our team?
It follows your deliverable. Solesca fits C&I and community solar teams producing an interconnection package. PVFarm is great for utility-scale ground mount teams. PVsyst is the simulation of record rather than a layout tool. Residential teams should look at Aurora, HelioScope's parent platform. If storage design is in most of your proposals, look at Energy Toolbase or Xendee.
How accurate are Solesca simulations?
Solesca validates within 1% of PVsyst, corroborated by ECA Power's published case study, and holds an NREL CRADA (CRD-23-23746). HelioScope publishes its own DNV, NREL and CEC validation. Simulation accuracy is not a meaningful difference between the two.
See it on your own project
Bring a site you are working on now. Thirty minutes, and you will see where HelioScope ends and where a stampable plan set begins.
Competitor pricing and tier details are taken from published vendor pricing pages on 5 October 2026. They change; if you spot something stale, tell us at contact@solesca.com.