Choosing the best solar software in India means judging tools against four things no global review tests: PM Surya Ghar subsidy logic, DISCOM tariff accuracy, ALMM and DCR module flags, and whether the output can become a CEIG-ready drawing set. Heaven Green Energy is a solar EPC with 10,000+ installations across Gujarat and 25+ Indian cities, and our design desk has run projects through most of the platforms below under real DISCOM constraints. This roundup ranks the top ten, prices each in rupees with the dollar figure in brackets, and names where each one fails. SurgePV takes the top slot at roughly ₹1.07 lakh ($1,299) per user per year.
Direct answer. The best solar software in India for 2026 is SurgePV, at about ₹1.07 lakh ($1,299) per user per year on the 5-User Team plan. It covers 3D roof modelling, 8,760-hour shading, P50 to P90 yield, single line diagrams, bill of quantities and proposals in one licence, with PM Surya Ghar subsidy auto-calc and DISCOM tariffs for UGVCL, MSEDCL, BESCOM and others built in. Arka360, The Solar Labs and Solar Ladder are the India-native runners-up.
Solar software in India is not one category. Design engines, simulation engines, proposal builders, CRMs and monitoring portals all get called “solar software,” and buying the wrong type is the most common expensive mistake we see. This page ranks across the whole stack and tells you which type you actually need.
The Four India-Only Tests Every Platform Must Pass
A tool can be excellent in California and useless in Vadodara. These four tests are where that gap appears, and they are the basis of the ranking below.
Test one: subsidy logic. PM Surya Ghar pays ₹30,000 per kW for the first 2 kW, ₹18,000 for the third kW, capped at ₹78,000 at 3 kW and above, delivered by direct benefit transfer after commissioning. Software that asks the designer to type this number is a liability at scale.
Test two: DISCOM fidelity. India has more than 70 distribution companies (DISCOMs), and net metering rules diverge by state and by system size. Gujarat’s UGVCL, DGVCL, MGVCL and PGVCL work under the GERC framework, Maharashtra’s MSEDCL has its own caps, and Karnataka’s BESCOM restricts net metering for some commercial categories. Our net metering in India guide covers the variation.
Test three: ALMM and DCR. Modules must sit on the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers for scheme eligibility, and some segments require domestic content. See ALMM list explained and DCR versus non-DCR panels.
Test four: CEIG export. Above a state-defined threshold, the Chief Electrical Inspector to Government must approve the electrical drawings. Your software needs a DXF or DWG path to that drawing set, or you are redrawing by hand.
Bring one of your own sites to a free SurgePV demo. We will build the 3D roof from a satellite address, run the 8,760-hour shading simulation, and hand you the SLD, BOQ and branded proposal on the call.
Book a free SurgePV demo → Compare pricingThe Heaven Green Software Stack Test
Our framework for judging any solar platform sold in India. Score 1 to 5 on each of five axes for 25 total, and refuse anything under 17 for production work.
- Regulatory depth. Subsidy, DISCOM, ALMM, GST and accelerated depreciation handled natively.
- Engineering credibility. Hourly simulation with P50, P75 and P90 outputs in the format IREDA and private lenders typically ask for.
- Workflow span. How much of the address-to-signature path happens inside one licence.
- Handoff quality. DXF, DWG and PDF exports a drafting team or inspector can work with.
- Cost per finished project. Licence and add-ons divided by realistic monthly output.
Scores: SurgePV 23, Arka360 20, The Solar Labs 18, PVsyst 18, HelioScope 18, Solar Ladder 17, QuickEstimate 16, Aurora Solar 16, OpenSolar 13, SolarEdge Designer 12. Aurora gains a point on axis 5 against our earlier scoring, because its published Basic tier at $1,620 a year is far below the figure this page previously carried. Note that PVsyst and HelioScope score well on axis 2 and poorly on axis 1, which is exactly the tradeoff Indian buyers keep getting wrong.
Verdict. There is no single winner on every axis. SurgePV wins on span and regulatory depth. PVsyst still wins on pure bankability for utility-scale. If your work is a 700 MW ground-mount tender, buy PVsyst regardless of what this ranking says.
Top 10 Solar Software Platforms in India Compared
Pricing is 2026, converted at roughly ₹83 to the dollar. Indian vendors bill in rupees, global vendors bill in dollars.
| # | Platform | India price | Key capability | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SurgePV | ₹1.07 L ($1,299) per user per year | Design, shading, SLD, BOQ, proposals in one licence | EPCs doing residential and C&I across states |
| 2 | Arka360 | ₹46,000 to ₹1,00,000 a year plus 18% GST, plus ₹10,000 onboarding | India-first design plus proposals | India-only residential and small commercial |
| 3 | The Solar Labs | Priced on the Arka360 India plans above | Fast residential 3D design | High-volume PM Surya Ghar rooftop teams |
| 4 | PVsyst | CHF 700 per user per year (~₹73,000) | Reference-grade yield simulation | Utility-scale and lender-facing yield reports |
| 5 | HelioScope | ₹1.34 L ($1,620) Basic, ₹2.19 L ($2,640) Pro | Fast C&I array simulation | Consultancies doing commercial rooftops |
| 6 | Solar Ladder | Not publicly listed, quote only | Rooftop sales pipeline plus quotation | Sales-led installers and franchise networks |
| 7 | QuickEstimate | ~₹36,000 ($435) per user per year | Solar CRM, quotation, WhatsApp follow-up | Teams losing deals to slow follow-up |
| 8 | Aurora Solar | ₹1.34 L ($1,620) Basic, ₹2.19 L ($2,640) Premium | Mature US residential sales design | Indian teams serving US clients |
| 9 | OpenSolar | Free core; API and Connector rates not published | Free residential design and proposal | Solo installers, 2 to 3 jobs a month |
| 10 | SolarEdge Designer | Free with SolarEdge hardware | String design tied to SolarEdge inverters | Sites standardised on SolarEdge |
Read that table with one caution. Rows 4, 5 and 10 are single-purpose tools, not stack replacements. Comparing PVsyst to SurgePV on price is like comparing a torque wrench to a toolbox.
1. SurgePV
What it does best. One licence covers the whole Indian workflow. The AI builds a 3D roof from a satellite address, the 8,760-hour hourly simulation produces P50, P75 and P90 yield, and the same project outputs a single line diagram and bill of quantities plus a white-label proposal. PM Surya Ghar subsidy is computed from the sanctioned system size, the DISCOM tariff library covers the major Indian utilities, and the module database flags ALMM-listed models so a designer does not specify a panel that voids the subsidy. Design time on a standard residential job drops to roughly 20 minutes on our own desk.
Real pricing. ₹1.07 lakh ($1,299) per user per year on the 5-User Team plan, about ₹5.35 lakh for five seats. Individual plan around ₹1.57 lakh ($1,899). Free trial without a card.
Who it suits. EPCs and installer teams of three or more running both residential PM Surya Ghar work and commercial rooftops, especially across more than one state.
Honest limitations. SurgePV has no CRM, so lead management needs a second tool. The interface has nine languages and none are Indian regional languages. It has no drone photogrammetry pipeline, so teams doing drone-led site capture pair it with a separate measurement tool. For utility-scale tenders where the lender specifically names PVsyst in the term sheet, SurgePV will not satisfy that clause regardless of the underlying model quality. And the brand is younger than Aurora or PVsyst, which still counts in procurement committees at large industrial buyers.
2. Arka360
What it does best. An India-built design and proposal platform with PM Surya Ghar awareness, basic IS code flags, and support running on Indian hours. The residential design flow suits domestic rooftop geometry better than any US-built tool.
Real pricing. Arka360 publishes India plans in rupees: Lite ₹46,000 a year, Basic ₹70,000 and Premium ₹1,00,000, all plus 18 percent GST, with a one-time onboarding fee of ₹10,000. SLD and SketchUp export are gated to Premium, and no India plan includes e-signature. So the real first-year cost of Lite is about ₹64,280 with GST and onboarding, and Premium about ₹1,28,000.
Who it suits. Residential and small commercial installers whose work stays inside India.
Honest limitations. Simulation depth falls short of what lenders want for larger C&I financing, the equipment database is smaller, and global code coverage is thin if export work ever appears. Compare it against the field in our best solar design software roundup.
3. The Solar Labs
What it does best. Residential throughput. An Indian platform tuned for volume rooftop teams, it moves from address to 3D layout to a customer-facing proposal quickly, and the visuals persuade homeowners.
Real pricing. The Solar Labs brand sits under Arka360, and there is no separately published Solar Labs price list, so budget from the Arka360 India plans: Lite ₹46,000 a year, Basic ₹70,000, Premium ₹1,00,000, all plus 18 percent GST and a ₹10,000 one-time onboarding fee. Note that no shared legal entity name has been announced and no formal rebrand has been confirmed, so ask which contract you are actually signing.
Who it suits. Teams pushing 50 or more PM Surya Ghar residential proposals a month.
Honest limitations. Commercial and ground-mount design is not the focus, and the electrical detail needed for inspector approval is not produced. That step goes to a drafting partner such as a CEIG drawing service.
4. PVsyst
What it does best. PVsyst remains the reference simulation engine for bankable yield in India. When an IREDA-linked lender, a private bank or a large industrial buyer names a simulation tool in the term sheet, this is usually the name.
Real pricing. PVsyst is an annual subscription in Swiss francs, not a perpetual licence. Professional is CHF 700 per user per year, roughly ₹73,000 at about ₹104 per franc, with group discounts of 5 to 20 percent by quantity. Education is CHF 420 and Training or Research CHF 560. At five seats that is about CHF 3,500, meaningfully less than the ₹5.35 lakh SurgePV charges for five, and worth saying plainly: on licence cost alone PVsyst is cheaper. It also does one job where SurgePV does several.
Who it suits. Utility-scale developers, consultants producing lender-facing energy yield assessments, and anyone whose contract demands a PVsyst report by name.
Honest limitations. It is a desktop simulation engine, nothing else. No proposals, no CRM, no 3D roof from satellite, no PM Surya Ghar logic, no DISCOM tariffs, and a learning curve measured in weeks rather than days. See our PVsyst alternative comparison for where a cloud tool substitutes and where it does not.
Sizing a real project first? Our solar calculator gives the system size and subsidy in about a minute, which is a useful sanity check against whatever any software tells you. Talk to our engineers if the numbers disagree.
5. HelioScope
What it does best. Fast commercial array simulation with credible loss modelling, widely accepted by consultants for rooftop C&I work.
Real pricing. HelioScope publishes Basic at $159 a month, which is $1,620 a year, and Pro at $259 a month, which is $2,640 a year. In rupees at ₹83 to the dollar that is about ₹1.34 lakh and ₹2.19 lakh per user per year. Each tier includes one user and 10 projects a month, with DC design caps of 1.25 MW on Basic and 5 MW on Pro. Enterprise is quoted.
Who it suits. Engineering consultancies whose product is the yield report, not the sales proposal.
Honest limitations. Proposal output is weak, so a second licence is needed for anything customer-facing. No PM Surya Ghar logic, no Indian DISCOM library, no AI roof modelling. Our HelioScope alternative page covers the substitution.
6. Solar Ladder
What it does best. Built around the Indian rooftop sales process rather than the design process. Pipeline stages track the deal through DISCOM steps, which matches how residential solar actually moves here.
Real pricing. Not publicly listed. Solar Ladder publishes no pricing page and no rate card, and quotes per customer. Any per-seat rupee figure circulating in a directory is a third-party estimate rather than a Solar Ladder price.
Who it suits. Sales-led installers and franchise or channel-partner networks where deal visibility matters more than shading precision.
Honest limitations. Light on simulation, so generation figures are estimates. Acceptable on a 3 kW home, risky on a shaded 200 kW factory roof.
7 to 10: CRM, Global and Hardware-Tied Tools
⚠️ Watch out
Free hardware-tied design tools quietly lock your bill of quantities to one brand. That is a procurement decision, not a software decision.
QuickEstimate (roughly ₹36,000, $435 per user per year) is a solar CRM and quotation tool built for Indian installer sales teams, with WhatsApp follow-up and lead capture. It does not design. Pair it with a design engine rather than expecting one product. The solar CRM buyers guide covers what to check.
Aurora Solar (Basic $135 per user per month billed annually, so $1,620 a year or about ₹1.34 lakh; Premium $220 annually, so $2,640 a year or about ₹2.19 lakh; $159 and $259 month to month) has the strongest US residential sales workflow in the list, with mature automated design. Its roof AI is trained on US geometry and needs correction on Indian sloped RCC roofs with parapets and dish antennas. There is no PM Surya Ghar or DISCOM layer. LIDAR modelling, bankable shade reports and battery modelling sit on Premium rather than Basic, plan sets are a separately priced service rather than a plan inclusion, and site models start at $9.99. On single-seat price Aurora Basic at $1,620 a year undercuts SurgePV Individual at $1,899, which is worth knowing before you read the rest of this page. See our Aurora Solar alternative page.
OpenSolar (core platform free) is genuinely free for residential design and proposals, which suits a solo installer. From 16 April 2026 OpenSolar charges for API Access on a per-project basis and for Connectors as a flat monthly fee, but it has not published those rates and they vary by region, so ask for the India figures rather than trusting a per-seat add-on number from a directory. There is no Indian regulatory layer and no Indian support. Details in our OpenSolar alternative comparison.
SolarEdge Designer is free if you specify SolarEdge inverters and optimisers. String design and compatibility checks are accurate for that hardware, and the tool is worthless the moment your bill of quantities changes brand. For inverter selection independent of any vendor’s design tool, our team uses inverter specification guidance from QBits Energy.
PM Surya Ghar, ALMM and GST Rules Your Software Has to Know
📘 Regulation note
Residential systems under the scheme must use ALMM-listed modules and an empanelled vendor, and the subsidy reaches the consumer by direct benefit transfer after meter commissioning. Software that treats the subsidy as an upfront discount produces proposals that fail at the DISCOM stage.
Four regulatory items decide whether a design is buildable. ALMM listing governs module eligibility, and the list changes, so an equipment database that is a year stale will specify panels you cannot use. Domestic content requirements apply in specific scheme segments. GST on a solar EPC contract works out to roughly 13.8 percent effective under the 70:30 composite supply split, and commercial buyers additionally claim accelerated depreciation, which changes the payback your software prints. IS and BIS standards, including IS 16221 for module safety and IS 16169 for inverters, govern which equipment is legal to install.
Primary sources worth checking directly: MNRE for empanelment and benchmark costs, the PM Surya Ghar portal for scheme mechanics, the Central Electricity Authority for grid and DISCOM data, Mercom India for module pricing and policy movement, and Bridge to India for capacity analysis. For the scheme itself, our PM Surya Ghar complete guide and the GST on solar buyer guide go deeper than any software vendor’s documentation.
Which Type of Solar Software Do You Actually Need?
Most buying mistakes come from choosing the wrong category, not the wrong brand within a category.
- ✓ You issue 15 or more proposals a month
- ✓ You bid commercial rooftops as well as homes
- ✓ Lenders ask for yield reports
- ✓ You work across two or more DISCOMs
- ✗ Leads go cold before the site visit
- ✗ Your designs are fine but conversion is not
- ✗ Follow-up lives in one person's phone
- ✗ You cannot say how many quotes are open
Our own stack arithmetic: five SurgePV seats at ₹5.35 lakh plus three CRM seats at roughly ₹1.1 lakh is about ₹6.45 lakh a year, roughly what five Aurora Basic seats cost on their own at about ₹6.7 lakh, and it covers both halves of the business. Against five Aurora Premium seats at about ₹10.9 lakh the gap is wider, but Basic is the fair comparison for most Indian teams.
Five Buying Mistakes We See Indian Teams Make
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1
Buying a simulation engine when the problem is sales. PVsyst will not fix a pipeline that leaks at follow-up.
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2
Trusting a stale equipment database. If the module list has not tracked recent ALMM changes, your bill of quantities can specify an ineligible panel.
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3
Assuming net metering everywhere. Above the state threshold many DISCOMs switch to [gross metering](/glossary/gross-metering) at the pooled purchase cost, and the payback in your model doubles.
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4
Paying in dollars without hedging. A 15 percent rupee slide adds roughly ₹33,000 per seat per year on a $2,640 licence.
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5
Skipping the CEIG question. Confirm the DXF or DWG export format works for your state inspectorate before signing an annual licence.
Two related checks that decide whether the work converts at all: your portal standing and your empanelment. See how to check DISCOM empanelment and why PM Surya Ghar rank matters.
How Heaven Green Energy Helps
Heaven Green Energy installs solar across Gujarat and 25+ Indian cities, with 10,000+ systems commissioned. The scoring above comes from our own design desk running real projects under UGVCL, MSEDCL and BESCOM rules, not from vendor decks. We run SurgePV internally for design and bankable yield, and we tell channel partners the same thing this page says: buy the India-native layer first, add depth tools only where a contract demands them.
- Residential Solar covers 1 to 10 kW rooftop with PM Surya Ghar paperwork handled for you.
- Commercial Solar covers 10 to 100 kW with accelerated depreciation and GST modelled properly.
- Industrial Solar EPC covers 100 kW and above with CEIG coordination and performance guarantees.
- Solar EPC services covers turnkey delivery for developers and large buyers.
If you are shortlisting the best solar software in India for your own team, run three tools on the same difficult roof, compare the yield numbers and the subsidy line, and check the export format before you sign. For the design-first and proposal-first views of the same market, read solar design software India and solar proposal software.
Compare Other Markets and Tool Categories
- Best solar proposal software in India
- Solar design software 2026: 7 tools compared and priced
- Best solar the full software stack in the Philippines
- Best solar the full software stack in Malaysia
- Best solar the full software stack in Singapore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best solar software in India in 2026?
SurgePV ranks first overall, at about ₹1.07 lakh ($1,299) per user per year on the 5-User Team plan. It covers 3D roof modelling, 8,760-hour shading, P50 to P90 yield, single line diagrams, bill of quantities and proposals in one licence, with PM Surya Ghar subsidy auto-calc and Indian DISCOM tariffs built in. Arka360 is the strongest India-native alternative, published in rupees at ₹46,000 a year for Lite, ₹70,000 for Basic and ₹1,00,000 for Premium, all plus 18 percent GST and a ₹10,000 one-time onboarding fee. The Solar Labs sits under the same brand and is priced from the same plans.
Is there free solar software for Indian installers?
Yes, with limits. OpenSolar offers a free design and proposal core, and SolarEdge Designer is free if you specify SolarEdge hardware. Neither carries PM Surya Ghar subsidy logic or an Indian DISCOM tariff library. OpenSolar’s core platform stays free, but from 16 April 2026 it charges for API Access per project and for Connectors as a flat monthly fee, and it has not published those rates. Free tools work for a solo installer doing two or three simple residential jobs a month, and stop working on commercial sites.
Do Indian lenders still require PVsyst reports?
Sometimes, and it depends on the term sheet rather than the technology. Many IREDA-linked and private bank facilities for utility-scale projects name PVsyst explicitly, in which case no substitute satisfies the clause. For residential and most commercial rooftop financing, an 8,760-hour hourly simulation with P50, P75 and P90 outputs from a recognised cloud platform is accepted. Ask the lender before choosing the tool, not after.
How much does solar software cost in India per year?
India-native platforms run roughly ₹36,000 to ₹1,00,000 a year before GST, with Arka360 adding 18 percent GST and a ₹10,000 onboarding fee. SurgePV is ₹1.07 lakh ($1,299) per user per year on the 5-User Team plan and bundles design, simulation, drawings and proposals at that price. Global subscription tools run ₹1.34 lakh to ₹2.19 lakh per user per year and bill in dollars. PVsyst is an annual subscription of CHF 700 per user, about ₹73,000, not a perpetual licence. A five-person team typically budgets ₹5 lakh to ₹9 lakh a year.
Which solar software handles Indian DISCOM net metering rules?
SurgePV carries the widest Indian DISCOM tariff library, covering the Gujarat utilities UGVCL, DGVCL, MGVCL and PGVCL, plus MSEDCL, BESCOM, TANGEDCO, JVVNL and the Delhi discoms, including the size bands where a state switches from net metering to gross metering. Arka360 covers common states. The global tools carry none of it, which means the designer looks up the current order manually for every project and risks pricing the proposal on the wrong export tariff.
Can solar software produce CEIG approval drawings?
Not directly. Design platforms produce a single line diagram good enough for the customer and the DISCOM application. Chief Electrical Inspector to Government approval requires detailed electrical drawings in the state inspectorate’s own format, which a draftsman prepares from a DXF or DWG export. SurgePV and most serious tools export those formats. Confirm your state’s requirements early, because a rejected drawing set delays commissioning by weeks and holds up subsidy disbursement.
Should an Indian EPC buy one platform or a stack?
A stack, once the team passes about five people. Design suites build weak CRMs and CRM vendors build weak simulation engines, so a single licence always leaves one half of the business underserved. The common Indian pattern is a design and proposal engine plus a sales CRM, which lands near ₹6.5 lakh a year for a small team. Below five people and under 15 proposals a month, one good India-native tool plus disciplined follow-up is enough.
Does solar software account for GST and accelerated depreciation?
The India-aware platforms do. GST on a solar EPC contract works out near 13.8 percent effective under the 70:30 composite supply treatment, and commercial and industrial buyers claim accelerated depreciation against the asset cost, which materially shortens payback. Software that omits both prints a financial model your customer’s accountant will correct. Check that the tool shows GST on the proposal itself rather than adding it silently at the invoice stage.
Stop paying for four tools. Design it all in one.
SurgePV replaces Aurora + HelioScope + PVsyst + a separate proposal tool in a single license. AI 3D roof in under 60 seconds, bankable 8,760-hour simulation, auto-SLD, BOQ, DXF/DWG export and branded proposals.
Free trial, no credit card · $1,299 per user per year on the 5-User Team planDisclaimer: SurgePV is our own product. It is built by the Heaven Group, the same company as Heaven Green Energy, so treat this as a recommendation from its maker.