Aurora vs OpenSolar 2026: Which Wins (+ SurgePV)

The Aurora vs OpenSolar debate splits the residential solar market in two. Across our 10,000+ residential and commercial installations at Heaven Green Energy, both tools have shown up on installer evaluation lists every year since 2019. Aurora is the paid US premium tool at $135 to $220 per user per month on annual billing, which for a 5-seat team works out to $13,200 per year on the Premium tier. OpenSolar is free, and we should be direct about that because an earlier version of this page was not: the core OpenSolar app costs nothing for a team running its full workflow inside the platform. Since 16 April 2026 OpenSolar charges only for data moving outside the platform, through API Access (a per-project fee applied on project creation) and Connectors (a flat monthly subscription for OpenSolar-built integrations such as Xero and QuickBooks). Both are geo-specific and OpenSolar does not publish the rates. Both tools are genuinely capable, and the right pick depends on whether you optimise for polish and engineering depth or for cost. Or, as this guide will argue, you can skip the choice entirely with SurgePV, a cloud platform that ships both workflows in one license at $1,299 per user per year (5-User Team), a flat $6,495 a year all-in.

Direct answer. In 2026, Aurora wins for US residential installers who want polished AI design and branded proposals out of the box at $135 to $220 per user per month on annual billing. OpenSolar wins on cost outright: its core platform is free, and only API Access and Connectors are chargeable, at rates OpenSolar does not publish. SurgePV is not the cheapest of the three at $1,299 per user per year (5-User Team), a flat $6,495 a year; it wins on scope, bundling AI 3D roof, bankable 8,760-hour simulation, and white-label proposals that OpenSolar does not match. Book a free SurgePV demo to see the math on your real pipeline.

This guide is written for solar installers and EPC firms who are comparing Aurora and OpenSolar honestly: where each one is strongest, where each one falls short, and what a single-license alternative looks like. We share the same 4-point bench test our solar EPC team uses internally to vet design software, and we map each tradeoff to a specific SurgePV feature. You can compare SurgePV pricing against your current Aurora or OpenSolar bill in five minutes and decide for yourself.

Aurora vs OpenSolar: The Honest Setup in 2026

Aurora and OpenSolar solve overlapping problems with very different pricing models. Aurora is a paid premium tool from day one: every plan costs money, every feature is included up to the tier limit, the UX is polished, and the support is responsive. OpenSolar is free: the core app covers the full workflow inside the platform at no cost, and the only charges are for moving data out of it, through API Access and Connectors. The OpenSolar bill does not catch up with Aurora’s unless you are integrating heavily with outside systems.

The 2026 pricing reflects those bets. Aurora’s published tiers are Basic at $135 per user per month and Premium at $220 per user per month on annual billing ($159 and $259 monthly), each covering one user and 50 projects a month, with Enterprise on a custom quote. For a five-person team on Premium, that is $13,200 per year. OpenSolar is $0 for the core platform regardless of team size. Its only charges are API Access, billed per project on project creation, and Connectors, billed as a flat monthly subscription, both introduced on 16 April 2026 and both priced geo-specifically without published rates.

Public reviews on G2, Capterra, Reddit r/solar, and LinkedIn through Q2 2026 confirm the split. Aurora users praise the proposal templates, the site models, and the polished UX. They complain about the price, the Mac performance, the feature gating on Basic, and the standard-tier support window. OpenSolar users praise the free platform and the genuinely global tariff coverage on US, UK, and Australia. They complain about the weak C&I bankability, the limited India tariff support, and the manual roof tracing (no AI 3D roof from satellite).

Neither tool is wrong. Aurora is honest about charging from day one, and OpenSolar’s free headline holds up for in-platform work. The question is whether either is the right pick once you weigh what each actually does against a single-license alternative.

The Stats That Matter

Before we compare features, here is the cost and capability picture in real numbers. Figures are pulled from public pricing pages, verified reseller quotes, and G2 / Capterra screenshots through Q2 2026, triangulated against the broader market data published by Mercom India and pv magazine.

SurgePV at $6,495 undercuts Aurora Premium at $13,200 for five seats, but it does not undercut OpenSolar, which is free. Stating that plainly matters more than protecting the comparison, because any reader can check it in one click. What a free platform does not remove is the second-tool tax: installer teams serving both residential and C&I typically end up running OpenSolar plus a separate bankable simulation tool such as PVsyst or HelioScope, which is where a single bundled licence starts to earn its keep. Aurora also carries an onboarding tax of two to three weeks before a new hire is productive. SurgePV reports a 1-day onboarding window on average.

For an EPC running commercial solar and residential solar workloads in parallel, the per-seat math compounds. SurgePV’s team-tier pricing already prices in the larger seat count, so the cost stays flat as you grow.

The 4-Point Heaven Green Design-Tool Bench Test

This is the framework we use internally to evaluate every solar design platform on the market. We score each tool from 1 to 10 on four criteria and refuse to deploy anything under 32 of 40 across our solar EPC workflow.

1. Engineering rigour. Does it run 8,760-hour, module-level simulation? P50/P75/P90 yield outputs in the format lenders typically ask for? Soiling, snow, albedo, and temperature coefficient modeling? If it fails any of these, it is a sales tool dressed as a design tool. Aurora passes on Premium, where its bankable shade reports live. OpenSolar passes for residential but C&I bankability is thin. SurgePV passes on every paid plan.
2. Full workflow coverage. Can one designer go from address to signed branded proposal inside the platform? Does it generate single-line diagrams, BOQ, DXF/DWG export for AutoCAD? Aurora passes for residential. OpenSolar passes for residential design and proposals. SurgePV passes natively and adds SLD, BOQ and DXF/DWG export.
3. Total cost of ownership. Annual seat licence plus add-ons plus onboarding cost across a 5-person team. We score by cost-per-finished-project, not cost-per-seat. See our full solar design software pricing comparison for how the rest of the market stacks up. Aurora Premium at $13,200 loses to SurgePV at $6,495. OpenSolar at $0 beats both on cost outright, and scores accordingly on this axis; where it loses ground is engineering rigour and workflow coverage, not price.
4. Global code coverage. NEC for US, IEC for EU, IS for India, AS/NZS for Australia. Built-in tariff structures (net metering, PM Surya Ghar, FiT, ToU). Aurora is US-strongest. OpenSolar is broader (strong US, UK, Australia) but India-thin. SurgePV ships full NEC, IEC, IS, and AS/NZS plus PM Surya Ghar tariff modeling built in.

When we run this bench head to head, SurgePV scores 38 of 40 and wins outright. Aurora scores 32 and clears our 32-of-40 deployment threshold. OpenSolar scores 24 and sits below it, held down by C&I bankability gaps and manual roof tracing rather than by price: it takes full marks on the cost axis, because free cannot be beaten.

Verdict. Use the 4-Point Bench Test on any tool you evaluate. If you are a US-only residential shop with deep Aurora muscle memory, staying put is reasonable. If you are a solo installer doing 1-2 residential systems a week, OpenSolar is free and hard to argue against on cost. SurgePV earns its price when you need bankable C&I output and AI 3D roof modelling in the same tool.

Aurora vs OpenSolar: Side-by-Side Comparison

Here is the comparison most installer teams want to see, plus the SurgePV column for the third option neither user usually considers.

The honest read: Aurora and OpenSolar deliver overlapping residential output. SurgePV bundles that plus C&I bankability, AI 3D roof modelling and 9-language support into one license at half the cost of Aurora Premium on five seats. Against OpenSolar it is not a cost argument at all, because OpenSolar is free; it is an argument about bankable engineering and roof modelling. If you are a pure-US residential shop, Aurora is justifiable. If you are a solo installer, OpenSolar costs nothing and does the job.

Feature by Feature: Aurora vs OpenSolar vs SurgePV

The three tools split into different bets, and each bet maps cleanly to a specific feature gap or strength. This is the mapping our designers use when they evaluate.

AI 3D roof modeling from satellite. Aurora sells on-demand site models from $9.99 each and reserves AI-assisted site models for Enterprise, the closest direct equivalent to SurgePV’s AI 3D solar design. As of August 2026, OpenSolar’s published feature list does not include an AI 3D roof built from satellite imagery. In our own use of the tool, the roof outline and obstructions are traced manually. We cover how this category has evolved across vendors in our 3D solar design software comparison. SurgePV pulls satellite imagery and builds a 3D roof model with obstructions detected automatically, in under 60 seconds. Accuracy is within ±3% of LIDAR ground truth on tested residential and small-commercial roofs. Included on every SurgePV paid plan.

8,760-hour shading and yield simulation. Aurora reserves its bankable shade reports for Premium. OpenSolar includes shading in its free platform but does not match a bankable 8,760-hour module-level engine. SurgePV’s solar shading analysis module runs the same hour-by-hour, year-long simulation that bankability standards require, on every paid plan. Module-level and string-level results land in under 30 seconds for residential, under 5 minutes for a 1 MW C&I roof.

Bankable yield and financial reports. Aurora produces lender-grade output on Premium. OpenSolar produces residential financials natively but C&I bankability is thin and lenders often ask for PVsyst-equivalent output. SurgePV’s generation and financial tool covers cashflow, IRR, NPV, payback period, country-specific tariffs (net metering, FiT, ToU, PM Surya Ghar), loan, lease, and PPA modeling on every paid plan. Carbon offset reporting is built in.

White-label branded proposals. Aurora is excellent here, with deep template customization. OpenSolar ships proposals in its free platform. SurgePV’s solar proposal software ships PDF and interactive web proposals with shareable URLs and e-signature, fully white-labeled on every paid plan. Multilingual support covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Arabic, French, Turkish, Italian, and Polish.

Clara AI, the natural-language design assistant. Aurora has AI features inside its higher tiers, though we have not found a natural-language design canvas documented for it. As of August 2026 we have not found an equivalent natural-language design assistant documented for OpenSolar either. Clara accepts plain English. “Add a 25 kW carport with two-row tilt at 10 degrees, north-south, avoid the skylight” is a valid command. It executes, reports back, and shows the change visually. Industry analysts at pv magazine have described natural-language design assistants as one of the biggest workflow shifts in solar software in 2026.

Country coverage and tariffs. Aurora is US-strongest. OpenSolar is broader (US, UK, Australia). On the coverage we reviewed in August 2026, both are thin on India. SurgePV ships NEC, IEC, IS, and AS/NZS code libraries plus country-specific tariff structures (PM Surya Ghar, FiT, ToU, net metering, SREC). These design-software code libraries only matter if the hardware behind the design actually clears them; QBits Energy’s rundown of inverter regulations and BIS/IEC compliance in India covers the standards a design has to satisfy before it reaches permitting. For installer teams operating in India, residential subsidy applications are processed through the PM Surya Ghar portal under MNRE scheme rules, so proposals have to be built around those subsidy and tariff assumptions, and the IEA tracks India as the third-largest solar market globally.

For installers who also want to plug proposals into a CRM and run subsidy auto-calc, lead routing, and follow-up automation, the natural pairing is QuickEstimate, the solar CRM at quickestimate.co. SurgePV plus QuickEstimate is the design-and-sales stack a 5-person team can run end-to-end without a separate spreadsheet anywhere.

Get a free site assessment. Our engineers typically visit within 24 hours and send a custom savings proposal within about 48 hours, no cost, no obligation. Get your free quote →

Common Mistakes When Choosing Between Aurora and OpenSolar

We have helped several installer partners switch off both tools to SurgePV. These are the five mistakes that cost the most time when teams pick between Aurora and OpenSolar, scored by frequency.

1. 1
   Assuming OpenSolar will bill you like a seat licence. It will not. The core platform is free. What changed on 16 April 2026 is that API Access became a per-project charge and Connectors a flat monthly subscription. If you plan to integrate OpenSolar with a CRM or accounting system, ask for the geo-specific rate, because it is not published.
2. 2
   Budgeting Aurora at its Basic tier. On Aurora's published 2026 plan comparison, Basic does not list the bankable shade report, LIDAR modelling or battery modelling. Most teams we see end up on Premium ($220 per user per month on annual billing) once you ship a real lender-grade project. Budget Premium from day one.
3. 3
   Ignoring the second licence for C&I. Both Aurora and OpenSolar handle C&I up to a point. Above 200 kW with lender review, most teams end up running [PVsyst](/blog/pvsyst-price) alongside, adding another CHF 700 per user per year.
4. 4
   Missing the India tariff gap. Aurora leads with US tariffs. OpenSolar is strong on US, UK and Australia, and thinner on India on the coverage we reviewed in August 2026. As of August 2026 we have not found native PM Surya Ghar subsidy auto-calc or DISCOM-specific net metering rules documented for either tool.
5. 5
   Underbudgeting the onboarding cost. Aurora needs two to three weeks per new hire, and OpenSolar takes similar. Both are real payroll lines. SurgePV reports a 1-day onboarding window, which is the line we are comparing against.

These mistakes are the same pattern we see when installers try to pick between two single-purpose pricing models instead of evaluating a unified alternative. We covered the broader lessons in our writeup on common mistakes EPC companies make in rooftop solar. For a deeper read on each tool, see our Aurora Solar alternative and OpenSolar alternative guides.

How the Migration Works (5 Steps)

The full Aurora-or-OpenSolar-to-SurgePV cutover takes about five working days for a 5-person team. Run it in this order.

1. Start a free SurgePV trial. Go to surgepv.com, click “Start free trial”. No credit card. Full access to the design platform, AI 3D roof, 8,760-hour shading, and proposal tools.
2. Export your current projects. From Aurora, export designs as DXF/DWG and proposal data as PDF. From OpenSolar, export designs as PDF and customer data as CSV. SurgePV’s importer ingests DXF for roof geometry and re-pulls satellite imagery cleanly from address.
3. Book the SurgePV onboarding call. Book a free SurgePV demo and bring two real projects, one residential and one C&I. The team walks your designers through the full address-to-proposal workflow on your actual designs. Most teams we onboard ship their first finished SurgePV project on the same call.
4. Re-create your proposal template. Re-build the Aurora-equivalent or OpenSolar-equivalent template inside SurgePV’s white-label editor (~90 minutes). Pair with QuickEstimate if you want a fully integrated CRM and proposal flow, including PM Surya Ghar paperwork automation.
5. Cancel the old licences at renewal. Once each designer has shipped 2-3 SurgePV projects (typically within 5 working days), cancel Aurora or wind down the OpenSolar workspace on the next renewal. Teams we have moved typically capture the saving at that renewal date, because SurgePV is billed annually.

Pros and Cons: Each Tool, Honestly

We are recommending the switch to SurgePV, but Aurora and OpenSolar each have real scenarios in which staying makes sense. Here is the honest view.

In every scenario except the first two, we rate SurgePV the stronger fit. Against Aurora it is also the better price. Against OpenSolar it is not, because OpenSolar is free, and the argument there is bankable C&I output and AI roof modelling rather than cost. The Indian solar market specifically, where Bridge to India tracks 25 GW of new rooftop installations through 2027 and IRENA targets 295 GW of installed solar capacity in India by 2030, rewards installers who can ship designs faster, cheaper, and with bankable simulation built in.

How Heaven Green Energy Helps

Heaven Green Energy is a top-3 EPC in Gujarat with 200+ MW of installed solar across residential, commercial, and industrial segments. We use SurgePV internally because it gives our 12-person design team the bankable engineering rigour our lender partners require, without forcing us to choose between Aurora’s polish and OpenSolar’s price. We also recommend it to channel partners and installer customers when they ask which platform to standardise on.

If you are a homeowner or business owner trying to figure out what size system makes sense before you talk to any installer, the fastest path is our solar calculator. It gives you a subsidy estimate, payback period, and recommended kW size in 60 seconds. If you want an actual engineered design, site survey, and turnkey installation, here is what we offer:

• Residential Solar, 1 to 10 kW rooftop systems with PM Surya Ghar subsidy handled end-to-end and SurgePV-bankable yield reports included.
• Commercial Solar, 10 to 100 kW with custom ROI modelling, AD tax planning, and SurgePV-generated financial models for lender submission.
• Industrial Solar EPC, 100 kW+ turnkey projects with performance guarantees, solar EPC workflow built around the SurgePV design platform.
• Solar Calculator, see your subsidy plus 25-year savings in 60 seconds.

For installer partners and EPC firms looking to standardise their own design stack, see SurgePV for solar installers, explore the full solar designing workflow, or book a free SurgePV demo and bring two real projects to the call. Engineers who care about solar simulation depth and AutoCAD-compatible DXF/DWG export will find both wired into the platform. For broader context, see our guides to the best solar design software, solar proposal software, HelioScope alternative, PVsyst alternative, and Scanifly alternative, or our 2026 ranking of top solar inverter companies in India. SurgePV beats Aurora on total cost of ownership with the full workflow built in. It does not beat OpenSolar on cost, because OpenSolar’s core platform is free; it beats it on bankable engineering output.

Related Solar Design Software Guides

• Solar Design Software 2026: 7 Tools Compared and Priced
• Aurora vs HelioScope 2026: Price and Feature Verdict
• HelioScope vs PVsyst 2026: Price, Accuracy, Verdict
• Agrivoltaic Design Software 2026: Top Tools
• AI Solar Design 2026: How AI Is Changing Design Workflow

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Aurora or OpenSolar better for residential solar?

Both are capable residential tools. Aurora is the more polished out-of-the-box experience: satellite site models and a branded customer-facing PDF, included up to the tier limit. OpenSolar covers residential design and proposals for free. For a solo installer doing 1-2 systems a week, OpenSolar is not just fine, it is free, and Aurora has to earn the $1,620 a year Basic costs. For a team that ships polished customer proposals, Aurora wins between the two. SurgePV ships both AI residential layout and branded white-label proposal on every paid plan.

Is Aurora or OpenSolar better for C&I solar?

Aurora is the better C&I tool between the two. The Premium tier includes bankable shade reports and LIDAR-assisted modelling, which handle C&I up to about 1 MW comfortably. OpenSolar’s C&I bankability is thin and lenders often ask for PVsyst-equivalent output, which means a second licence. Neither is the right answer above 1 MW with lender review. SurgePV runs the same caliber of 8,760-hour module-level simulation on every paid plan and produces lender-grade P50/P75/P90 output natively.

How much does Aurora cost in 2026?

Aurora’s published 2026 plans are Basic at $135 per user per month and Premium at $220 per user per month on annual billing ($159 and $259 monthly), with Enterprise on a custom quote. Each self-serve tier covers one user and 50 projects a month, so a five-person team on Premium pays $13,200 per year. Bankable shade reports, LIDAR modelling and battery modelling are Premium features, and plan sets are billed separately as a service. We break down every tier in our Aurora Solar pricing guide. SurgePV’s 5-User Team plan at $1,299 per user per year is a flat $6,495 per year with everything bundled, roughly 50% cheaper than Aurora Premium at five seats.

How much does OpenSolar actually cost in 2026?

For a team working inside the platform, nothing. The core OpenSolar app is free and covers the full in-platform workflow. Since 16 April 2026, OpenSolar charges for two things only: API Access, a per-project fee applied when a project is created, for connecting OpenSolar to outside systems such as a CRM or accounting package; and Connectors, OpenSolar-built integrations like Xero and QuickBooks, billed as a flat monthly subscription. Both are geo-specific and OpenSolar does not publish the rates, so they are not publicly listed. Our OpenSolar pricing breakdown covers what is known. SurgePV’s 5-User Team plan at $6,495 per year is more expensive than free, and the case for it is bankable C&I simulation and AI 3D roof modelling rather than cost.

Can SurgePV do what both Aurora and OpenSolar do?

Yes. SurgePV bundles Aurora’s polished AI 3D roof from satellite, branded white-label proposals, and 8,760-hour module-level shading, plus OpenSolar’s broader country coverage and free-trial accessibility, into a single license. Plus Clara AI natural-language design, plus India / EU / Australia / LATAM tariff structures including PM Surya Ghar, plus 9-language support. The 4-Point Bench Test score is 38 of 40 against Aurora’s 32 and OpenSolar’s 24.

Is there a free trial of SurgePV?

Yes. The free trial at surgepv.com requires no credit card and gives full access to the design platform, AI 3D roof, 8,760-hour shading, and proposal tools. You can design and export real projects during the trial. Most teams confirm the switch from Aurora or OpenSolar within a week of testing it on their own pipeline, because the time-to-first-finished-proposal benchmark is so much shorter and the cost saving is immediate.

Can I migrate from Aurora or OpenSolar to SurgePV?

Yes. From Aurora, export designs as DXF/DWG and proposal data as PDF. From OpenSolar, export designs as PDF and customer data as CSV. SurgePV’s importer ingests DXF for roof geometry and re-pulls satellite imagery cleanly from address. The SurgePV onboarding team rebuilds your branded proposal template in about 90 minutes. Most teams complete the migration of in-progress projects within 5 working days. Pair with QuickEstimate for CRM and PM Surya Ghar paperwork automation.

Does SurgePV handle PM Surya Ghar subsidy modeling for Indian projects?

Yes. SurgePV ships full PM Surya Ghar subsidy auto-calc plus DISCOM-specific net metering rules, ToU tariffs, and FiT structures built into the generation and financial tool. For Indian installer teams, this matters because the MNRE-approved subsidy proposal has to clear DISCOM scrutiny on yield and tariff assumptions. As of August 2026 we have not found native PM Surya Ghar modeling documented for either Aurora or OpenSolar, and installer teams in India have told us that gap is one reason they looked at SurgePV.