Searching for the best solar software in UK practice usually means one of three different questions wearing the same words: which tool designs a British roof accurately, which one produces yield numbers a lender or a customer will accept, and which one keeps you on the right side of MCS and BS 7671. The answers are not the same tool for every firm. A two-van domestic installer in Yorkshire and a consultancy modelling a 30 MW ground mount in Lincolnshire have almost nothing in common in their software requirements, and rankings that ignore that are useless. This ranking scores ten platforms by job type, in pounds, with the UK regulatory layer as the primary axis. The overall winner for a typical British installer doing mixed domestic and commercial work is SurgePV at roughly £1,030 per user per year on the 5-User Team plan, but three of the ten below beat it on specific jobs, and those cases are named.
Direct answer. The best solar software in the UK for 2026 is SurgePV for mixed installer workloads, at about £1,030 per user per year on the 5-User Team plan, because BS 7671 flags, MCS-aware proposals, the SEG tariff library, G98/G99 triggers and 8,760-hour shading arrive in one licence. PVsyst remains the reference for bankable utility-scale yield at CHF 700 per user per year, PVcase for ground mount layout on a quote-only licence, and Easy PV for fast domestic MCS paperwork at £35 a month on Pro.
Everything below is scored the way we choose tools for our own design desk: on what still works at 4pm on a Friday with a difficult roof and an impatient customer, not on the feature grid. Where a platform is weak, including the one that ranks first, that is written down.
The UK Rules Your Software Has to Respect
Six regulatory items decide whether a platform is genuinely usable in Britain or merely available here.
BS 7671, the IET Wiring Regulations in their 18th edition with amendments, governs the electrical installation. Section 712 covers PV specifically: DC and AC isolation, RCD selection, surge protection and the prosumer low-voltage rules. Any tool producing single-line diagrams for UK use has to label to that standard or your electrician redraws them.
Part P of the Building Regulations applies to domestic electrical work in England and Wales, which means notification or competent-person certification on most residential PV installs. Software cannot do this for you, but it can produce the certificate-ready documentation.
MCS certification is the commercial gate. Without it, no SEG payments and no consumer-code registration. MCS 005 sets the installer requirements, including the SAP 10 calibrated performance estimate that must appear on the customer document. The scheme rules live at MCS Certified.
The Smart Export Guarantee replaced the Feed-in Tariff in 2020. Obligated suppliers publish varying export tariffs, from low single-figure flat rates to time-banded agile products. Ofgem maintains the supplier list. Software that models export at one hardcoded number gets the financial case wrong.
G98 and G99 connection rules split at 3.68 kW per phase. Below that, notification. Above, DNO pre-approval, with queues long enough to reshape a project programme.
VAT on domestic solar is currently zero-rated under a relief running to 31 March 2027, per HMRC guidance on gov.uk. Commercial jobs are standard-rated.
⚠️ Watch out
Scotland and Northern Ireland differ on building control and, in places, on connection practice. A platform localised for "the UK" usually means localised for England. Check the assumptions before you rely on it north of the border.
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 5-Axis UK Software Bench
Our scoring frame, usable during any trial. Each axis scores 1 to 10 for a maximum of 50.
- UK compliance depth. BS 7671 labelling, MCS estimate method, SEG library, G98/G99 flagging, correct VAT behaviour.
- Design accuracy on British roofs. Hip and dormer geometry, obstruction handling, low winter sun angles, hourly rather than monthly shading.
- Simulation credibility. 8,760-hour module-level modelling, P50 and P90 outputs, soiling and degradation assumptions a lender will read.
- Workflow coverage. Design through SLD, BOQ, DXF export and customer-facing proposal without a second licence.
- Cost in pounds, per finished job. Licence plus add-ons divided by realistic monthly output.
Axis two is where the UK diverges most from the markets these tools were built for. British winter irradiance is low and largely diffuse, so a shading model that averages by month will flatter a roof that a chimney ruins in December. That single modelling choice explains most of the gap between a proposal and the first year of real generation data.
Top 10 Solar Software Platforms in the UK Compared
Pricing is 2026, converted to pounds where vendors publish in dollars or euros, and should be treated as indicative.
| # | Platform | Indicative UK price | Key capability | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SurgePV | £1,030/user/yr (5-user team) | Full workflow with UK compliance bundled | Mixed domestic and commercial installers |
| 2 | OpenSolar | Free core platform, paid add-on rates not published | Deep UK residential template library | Small residential teams |
| 3 | HelioScope | $159/user/mo Basic, $259 Pro (approx £126 and £206) | Fast, trusted C&I yield modelling | Engineering-led commercial teams |
| 4 | PVsyst | CHF 700/user/yr (approx £620) | The bankability reference simulation | Utility-scale and lender-facing work |
| 5 | Aurora Solar | $135/user/mo Basic, $220 Premium, billed annually (approx £107 and £175) | Automated design and proposal polish | US-owned groups operating in the UK |
| 6 | Easy PV | Free tier, £35/month Pro | Fastest MCS and BS 7671 domestic paperwork | Domestic MCS installers |
| 7 | PV*SOL premium | EUR 845/named user/yr plus VAT (approx £710) | Detailed 3D shading and thermal simulation | Technical consultancies |
| 8 | PVcase | Not publicly listed, quote only | Terrain-aware ground mount layout | Ground-mount developers |
| 9 | Scanifly | Not publicly listed | Drone survey to as-built model | Firms with in-house drone capability |
| 10 | SolarEdge Designer | Free | Accurate string design on SolarEdge kit | SolarEdge-standardised installers |
The list splits into three groups: full-workflow platforms (1, 2, 5, 6), simulation specialists (3, 4, 7), and site-specific tools (8, 9, 10). Comparing across groups on price alone produces nonsense conclusions.
1. SurgePV
What it does best. SurgePV is the only platform here that covers the British workflow from satellite address to signed proposal in one licence without add-ons. Roof geometry is generated from imagery, which handles the hipped-and-dormered semi that defeats simplistic tools. Shading runs at 8,760 hours per module, with P50 and P90 outputs, so December performance is modelled rather than averaged away. BS 7671 labelling appears on generated single-line diagrams, the SEG library is supplier-level, VAT defaults correctly by project type, and the G98/G99 threshold is flagged on the canvas as the design crosses 3.68 kW per phase. Solar simulation and the 3D roof design engine sit on every plan rather than a premium tier, and DXF export hands off cleanly to a structural engineer.
Pricing. Approximately £1,030 per user per year on the 5-User Team plan, roughly £5,150 for five seats, with an individual tier nearer £1,510. Free trial without a card.
Who it suits. Installers and EPC firms running a mix of domestic SEG jobs and commercial rooftop, especially those currently paying for two tools because one does design and the other does proposals.
Honest limitations. Three real ones. It is not a bankability substitute for PVsyst on a large project where the lender’s technical adviser has specified PVsyst by name, and arguing that point rarely wins. It does not do terrain-aware ground mount layout at PVcase’s level, so a developer optimising a sloped 20 MW site needs a different tool. And it is not a CRM, so pipeline management still lives elsewhere. Add to that a shorter UK track record than OpenSolar, which matters for hiring people who already know it. We use SurgePV on our own solar EPC design work, so treat this ranking as an informed opinion with an interest attached and run the bench yourself.
2. OpenSolar
What it does best. Free core design and proposal software funded by hardware referral, with the largest UK residential user base and template library. Distributor and finance integrations are well-developed for the British market, and the learning resources are extensive.
Pricing. The core platform is free. Since 16 April 2026 OpenSolar charges for API Access on a per-project basis and for Connectors as a flat monthly fee, but it publishes neither rate and both vary by country, so the add-on cost cannot be stated without a quote.
Who it suits. Small residential teams and anyone whose volume does not justify a licence.
Honest limitations. The free model shapes the product toward hardware partners, and commercial and G99 work exposes the limits. On licence cost OpenSolar is free and therefore cheaper than SurgePV, but because the paid API and Connector rates are unpublished you cannot budget a full setup from the website. See our OpenSolar alternative comparison.
3. HelioScope
What it does best. Fast, credible commercial yield modelling with a simulation engine that UK C&I clients and many lenders typically ask for. Component-level modelling and wiring loss analysis are strong, and the speed from layout to result is excellent for feasibility work.
Pricing. HelioScope publishes Basic at $159 per user per month ($1,620 a year) and Pro at $259 ($2,640 a year), each covering one user and 10 projects a month, with DC design capped at 1.25 MW and 5 MW respectively. Enterprise is quoted. At $1.26 to the pound that is roughly £126 and £206 a month.
Who it suits. Engineering-led firms doing commercial rooftop feasibility at volume.
Honest limitations. Proposals are weak, so a second tool is mandatory for customer-facing work. There is no MCS awareness, no SEG library and no domestic workflow. Our HelioScope alternative page covers the pairing question, and the HelioScope versus PVsyst comparison covers where each is credible.
4. PVsyst
What it does best. PVsyst remains the reference simulation for bankable yield in Europe. When a lender’s technical adviser asks for a yield report, PVsyst is frequently named in the specification. Loss-diagram transparency is unmatched, and near and far shading modelling is trusted.
Pricing. PVsyst bills in Swiss francs. Professional is CHF 700 per user per year on an annual subscription, roughly £620 at CHF 1.13 to the pound, with group discounts of 5 to 20 percent by quantity. Five seats is CHF 3,500, which is less than five SurgePV seats. On licence cost PVsyst is the cheaper product.
Who it suits. Utility-scale developers, independent engineers and anyone producing lender-facing yield reports.
Honest limitations. Desktop only, a steep learning curve, no proposal output, no MCS or SEG awareness, and slow for residential volume work. It is a specialist instrument, not a business system. See our PVsyst alternative guide and how to read a PVsyst loss diagram.
Get an engineering second opinion. If a UK project hinges on marginal structure, unusual roof loading or a difficult DNO position, get the drawings reviewed before you commit. Talk to our engineers →
5. Aurora Solar
What it does best. The most polished automated design and proposal output in the category, refined against very high US residential volume, with credible storage modelling and strong sales-facing presentation.
Pricing. Aurora publishes Basic at $135 per user per month billed annually ($1,620 a year, $159 month to month) and Premium at $220 billed annually ($2,640 a year, $259 month to month), each covering one user and 50 projects a month. At $1.26 to the pound that is roughly £107 and £175 a month. Five Basic seats is $8,100 a year and five Premium seats is $13,200. LIDAR modelling, bankable shade reports and battery modelling need Premium, plan sets are a separately priced service rather than a plan inclusion, and site models start at $9.99.
Who it suits. US-headquartered groups operating in Britain with Aurora already standardised.
Honest limitations. The UK compliance layer is thin: no supplier-level SEG library, no MCS estimate wording, no G98/G99 flag, so your team maintains those in templates. Aurora Basic is not the most expensive cloud seat here either. At $1,620 a year it undercuts a SurgePV Individual seat at $1,899, and it is only at Premium that Aurora costs more. See our Aurora Solar alternative analysis.
6. Easy PV
What it does best. Built in Britain for British domestic installers, and it shows. MCS documentation, BS 7671 string voltage checks and the performance estimate come out quickly and correctly. For sub-10 kW domestic work it removes more administrative time per pound than anything else on this list.
Pricing. Genuinely usable free tier; Pro is £35 per month. Enterprise is not publicly listed.
Who it suits. Domestic MCS installers who need compliant paperwork faster, not design sophistication.
Honest limitations. No meaningful commercial, ground-mount or bankable simulation capability, and 3D shading is basic. Firms moving into C&I outgrow it rather than upgrade within it.
7. PV*SOL premium
What it does best. Detailed 3D shading with visual output that clients understand immediately, plus thermal and component-level electrical simulation with a long engineering pedigree. Useful when the deliverable is a technical report.
Pricing. PVSOL premium is EUR 845 per named user per year plus VAT, roughly £710 at EUR 1.19 to the pound. Standard PVSOL is EUR 585. It is a user-based subscription. Perpetual licences bought before 19 November 2024 remain usable indefinitely, but maintenance renewals ended on 1 October 2024. Five premium seats is EUR 4,225, less than five SurgePV seats.
Who it suits. Technical consultancies and design bureaux producing engineering documentation.
Honest limitations. Desktop, weak collaboration, no MCS templates, no SEG modelling and no sales proposal. Our PV*SOL alternative guide sets out the trade-offs.
8. PVcase
What it does best. Terrain-aware ground mount layout. On a sloped or irregular UK site, PVcase optimises row placement against actual topography in a way rooftop-first tools cannot approach, and it exports cleanly into civil workflows.
Pricing. Not publicly listed. PVcase quotes each customer and publishes no price table, so any per-seat figure quoted elsewhere is an unverified third-party estimate.
Who it suits. Ground-mount and utility-scale developers, particularly those working the growing pipeline of British solar farms.
Honest limitations. Irrelevant for rooftop work, quote-only so you cannot budget it from the website, and it assumes CAD competence because it runs on AutoCAD. See our PVcase alternative comparison and the utility-scale solar design software guide.
9. Scanifly
What it does best. Drone photogrammetry into an accurate 3D site model, which is the most reliable way to capture a complicated or unsafe roof without climbing it. As-built verification is genuinely useful on remedial work.
Pricing. Not publicly listed. Scanifly quotes by volume and publishes no price table.
Who it suits. Firms with in-house drone capability and CAA operational authorisation, doing complex or high-risk roofs.
Honest limitations. You still need a design and proposal platform alongside it, drone flights add British weather risk to the survey schedule, and the economics only work at reasonable survey volume. See our Scanifly alternative page.
10. SolarEdge Designer
What it does best. Free, fast and trustworthy inside its own hardware boundary. String and optimiser design checks are authoritative because the manufacturer wrote them.
Pricing. Free.
Who it suits. Installers fitting SolarEdge on most jobs.
Honest limitations. A manufacturer tool: no independent hardware comparison, no bankable yield reporting, and basic proposal output. Use it as a design aid alongside something else. String sizing across mixed hardware is better handled on an independent string sizing calculator.
What a Sensible UK Software Stack Costs
Most British installers do not need one tool. They need two that do not overlap.
A five-person installer doing domestic and commercial rooftop can run SurgePV plus a CRM for under £7,000 a year and cover every deliverable a customer or a DNO asks for. A consultancy doing lender-facing work adds a PVsyst Professional subscription at CHF 700 a user per year and keeps it for the projects that demand it, rather than trying to use it daily. A developer working ground mount needs PVcase, which is quote-only, so budget it after you have the quote. Trying to make one tool serve all three is how firms end up paying for capability they never use. Deployment context for those decisions is in the IEA renewables tracking and IRENA capacity statistics.
Choosing by Job Type Rather Than by Rank
- ✓ You quote and design and sell in the same team
- ✓ You mix domestic SEG with commercial rooftop
- ✓ You currently pay for two overlapping tools
- ✓ MCS documentation eats hours every week
- ✗ A lender has named PVsyst in the specification
- ✗ Your work is sloped-terrain ground mount
- ✗ You survey by drone as standard practice
- ✗ You fit one inverter brand almost exclusively
Verdict. For the median British installer, SurgePV is the strongest single licence because the compliance layer and the simulation are both included. For everyone outside that median, the correct answer is a specialist: PVsyst for bankability, PVcase for terrain, Easy PV for domestic paperwork on a small budget. Rank order is less useful than matching the tool to the job you actually win.
Mistakes UK Firms Make Choosing Solar Software
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1
Buying for the biggest project you might win. Firms licence utility-scale capability for a pipeline that never arrives, then do 95 percent domestic work in a tool that makes domestic work slow.
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2
Accepting monthly-average shading in a British climate. Low winter sun makes hourly modelling a requirement rather than a refinement. Averaged models overstate December and January output on obstructed roofs.
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3
Treating a free tier as free. Count the add-ons required to reach the capability you actually use, then compare. The gap between the headline and the working configuration is often the whole decision.
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4
Ignoring the handoff to structural and electrical engineering. If the tool cannot export DXF or a usable single-line diagram, someone redraws the job by hand and the saving disappears.
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5
Skipping the trial on a real project. Every platform demos well on a rectangular roof in good light. Test it on the worst job you took last quarter.
That last point is the whole method. Take a genuinely awkward British property, a north-facing extension, a chimney, a conservation-area constraint, and run it through two shortlisted tools in the same afternoon. The difference in output is usually decisive and takes about two hours to discover.
How Heaven Green Energy Helps
We design and build solar daily, and we select software the way we select mounting systems: by what holds up in the field. If you are shortlisting tools for a British installer business, these are the next things worth reading:
- Solar design software pillar guide explains how the category is structured and where the real differences sit.
- Solar design software for the UK goes deeper on BS 7671, MCS and DNO workflow within design tools.
- Best solar proposal software in the UK ranks the customer-facing side of the same stack.
- Best solar design software is the global ranking of design engines.
- Commercial solar shows how these outputs turn into delivered projects.
- Heaven Designs solar design software resource centre covers the outsourced-engineering perspective on the same platforms.
Regulatory references worth keeping to hand: MCS Certified for scheme documents, Ofgem for SEG supplier obligations, and gov.uk for VAT and building regulations guidance. Deciding on the best solar software in UK conditions is finally a question about your own job mix rather than about feature counts, and the fastest way to settle it is a two-tool trial on a difficult real property. If you want to see the full workflow on one of your own sites, compare SurgePV pricing first and bring the awkward job to the demo.
Compare Other Markets and Tool Categories
- Best solar the full software stack in Ireland
- Best solar the full software stack in the Netherlands
- Best solar the full software stack in Germany
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best solar software in the UK in 2026?
For a typical British installer doing mixed domestic and commercial rooftop work, SurgePV ranks first at roughly £1,030 per user per year on the 5-User Team plan, because BS 7671 labelling, MCS-aware proposals, the SEG tariff library, G98/G99 flags and 8,760-hour shading arrive in a single licence. For lender-facing yield reports PVsyst remains the reference at CHF 700 per user per year, which is cheaper than SurgePV per seat, and for small domestic firms Easy PV Pro at £35 a month is better value.
Does solar software need to support BS 7671?
If it produces electrical drawings for UK use, yes. BS 7671 in its 18th edition, particularly Section 712, governs PV isolation, RCD selection and surge protection. Software that generates single-line diagrams to a US or Australian convention creates rework for your electrician and confusion at inspection. Tools without BS 7671 awareness can still be used for layout and yield, provided someone redraws the electrical package to British convention afterwards.
Which solar software do UK lenders accept for yield reports?
PVsyst is the most frequently named tool in lender technical specifications across Europe, and where a technical adviser has specified it, alternatives rarely get accepted without negotiation. HelioScope is widely accepted for commercial rooftop, and platforms producing full 8,760-hour module-level P50 and P90 outputs, including SurgePV, are accepted on many commercial deals. Check the specification before assuming your existing tool qualifies.
Is there genuinely free solar software for UK installers?
Yes, within limits. Easy PV and OpenSolar both offer usable free tiers for domestic work, and SolarEdge Designer is free for installers standardised on that hardware. The limits show up on commercial rooftop, on projects requiring G99 pre-approval, on complex shading, and on bankable yield reporting. Free tiers also tend to route you toward specific hardware partners, which is worth understanding before it shapes your specification.
How does UK solar software handle the Smart Export Guarantee?
Better tools carry a supplier-level tariff library so a quote built on an agile time-of-export product reads differently from one built on a flat rate. Weaker tools use a single hardcoded export rate, which produces a financial case that is wrong for most customers. Since SEG offers vary widely between obligated suppliers listed by Ofgem, naming the assumed supplier and tariff in the output is the practical minimum.
What does solar design software cost in the UK per year?
Vendors bill in their own currencies, so these are the published figures with approximate sterling in brackets. SurgePV is US$1,299 per user per year on a five-seat team (about £1,030). Easy PV Pro is £35 a month. HelioScope is $159 or $259 per user per month, so $1,620 to $2,640 a year (about £1,290 to £2,100). Aurora is $135 or $220 per user per month billed annually, so $1,620 to $2,640 a year (about £1,290 to £2,100). PV*SOL premium is EUR 845 per named user per year plus VAT (about £710). PVsyst Professional is CHF 700 per user per year (about £620), which makes it the cheapest paid seat on this list. PVcase and Scanifly do not publish prices. Conversions use $1.26, EUR 1.19 and CHF 1.13 to the pound.
Do I need separate software for ground mount solar in the UK?
Usually yes, once terrain matters. Rooftop-first platforms handle flat or gently sloping sites adequately, but sloped and irregular ground requires terrain-aware row placement, and PVcase is the established tool for that. For small ground-mount arrays on level land, a general design platform is sufficient. The threshold in practice is site slope and array size rather than a fixed megawatt figure.
How long does it take to switch solar design platforms?
Plan for two to four weeks of overlap. The technical migration is fast, but rebuilding proposal templates, re-entering pricing and hardware defaults, and getting a sales team fluent takes longer than vendors suggest. Run the old and new platforms in parallel on real jobs for a fortnight before cancelling anything, and keep exported copies of historic designs, since access to old projects usually ends with the subscription.
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.