OpenSolar Pricing 2026: What Is Free and What Is Not

If you are researching OpenSolar pricing in 2026, here is the straight answer we owe you before anything else: the core OpenSolar app is free, and it stays free for the full design-to-proposal workflow as long as you work inside the platform. We sell against OpenSolar and we are still going to say it plainly. If your team designs, proposes, and closes without pushing data into another system, OpenSolar costs you nothing, and no comparison table changes that.

What did change in 2026 is narrow. OpenSolar began charging for two things, and both of them are about data leaving the platform. API Access, for connecting OpenSolar to external systems (CRM, accounting, ops, incentive platforms, reporting, analytics, custom tools), is billed as a per-project fee applied when a project is created. Connectors, OpenSolar’s own prebuilt integrations with specific third-party tools such as Xero and QuickBooks, are billed as a flat monthly subscription. Both bill through the OpenSolar Wallet. Existing API users had to enable API Access by 17 March 2026 to avoid interruption, a 30-day free trial ran from 17 March to 16 April 2026, and billing started 16 April 2026.

Direct answer. OpenSolar’s core app is free in 2026 for the whole workflow inside the platform, which makes it cheaper than SurgePV for any team that stays inside it. OpenSolar now charges for API Access (per project, applied on project creation) and for Connectors like Xero and QuickBooks (flat monthly), both billed through the OpenSolar Wallet. OpenSolar does not publish dollar rates for either one; pricing is geo-specific and directed to their Help Center. The reason to look at SurgePV is not price, it is engineering scope: bankable 8,760-hour module-level simulation, AI 3D roof from satellite, and C&I depth. Book a free SurgePV demo if that scope is what you are missing.

This guide is written for solar installers and EPC firms who are evaluating OpenSolar honestly: what the free core app actually covers, what is now chargeable and what OpenSolar will and will not tell you about the rates, what breaks at the C&I tier, and where a paid platform earns its keep anyway. We share the same 4-point bench test our solar EPC team uses internally to vet design software, and we map each OpenSolar capability gap to a specific SurgePV feature. You can compare SurgePV pricing yourself and decide whether the capability gap is worth paying for.

Why OpenSolar Pricing Is Hard to Pin Down in 2026

The homepage says “free”, and for the core app that is true, including for a working installer running the full design-to-proposal flow. The reason the search term still gets typed thousands of times a month is that “free” does not tell you what happens at the edges, and OpenSolar’s 2026 change lives entirely at the edges.

The chargeable surface is data movement, not features. API Access covers connecting OpenSolar to external systems: your CRM, your accounting stack, ops tooling, incentive platforms, reporting and analytics, and any custom tool you built in-house. That is billed per project, applied at project creation, so the cost scales with pipeline volume rather than headcount. Connectors are the integrations OpenSolar builds and maintains itself against named third-party tools, with the Xero and QuickBooks accounting connectors as the stated examples, and those bill as a flat monthly subscription. Everything runs through the OpenSolar Wallet.

Here is the part you should plan around: OpenSolar does not publish dollar amounts for either one. The rates are geo-specific and the announcement points you to their Help Center rather than a price page. So if anyone hands you a confident per-user monthly number for OpenSolar, including any number this page carried in an earlier version, treat it as unsourced. Ask OpenSolar for your region’s rate before you build a budget on it. If you are still shopping the category broadly, our roundup of free solar design software options covers what genuinely free actually looks like across the market.

The second issue is the C&I ceiling. OpenSolar’s design engine is built around residential work. On our bench, C&I roofs above 200 kW were where we saw the shading model coarsen and the multi-array workflow get fiddly, and we did not find a native PVsyst-grade simulation export of the kind lenders commonly ask for. Installer teams we know who started on OpenSolar run PVsyst alongside it for projects that go to lender review, which doubles the licensing problem. Teams shipping large rooftop or ground-mount portfolios are usually better served by dedicated utility-scale solar design software built for multi-array C&I workflows from the ground up.

These two issues, the unpublished integration rates and the C&I ceiling, are why “OpenSolar pricing” is one of the highest-volume searches in our software category. Installers Google it because the website does not give them a straight number for the parts that are not free.

The Real Cost of OpenSolar (What Is Published and What Is Not)

Before we compare alternatives, here is the cost picture with the sourcing attached. The OpenSolar figures below come from OpenSolar’s own free platform and data export pricing announcement. The SurgePV figure is SurgePV’s published 2026 price. Where OpenSolar has not published a rate, we say so instead of guessing.

Read that grid the way it is written. There is no dollar delta to quote, because three of the four numbers are either zero or unpublished. On software spend alone, a 5-seat team working entirely inside OpenSolar pays $0 and a 5-seat SurgePV team pays $6,495. OpenSolar wins that line by $6,495, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest.

The one cost line that is genuinely worth modelling on the OpenSolar side is API Access, because it is per project rather than per seat. A team pushing every project into a CRM or an accounting system pays on every project created, so the bill tracks pipeline volume and grows as you sell more, not as you hire. Since the rate is not published, the only way to size it is to ask OpenSolar for your region’s number and multiply by your annual project count.

Where SurgePV changes the arithmetic is on the second licence, not on the first. If you ship C&I projects above 200 kW, we did not find a native PVsyst-grade yield report in OpenSolar of the kind lenders commonly ask for, so in the stacks we have seen PVsyst or an equivalent sits alongside it. SurgePV’s solar simulation engine runs the 8,760-hour module-level math natively and bundles white-label branded proposals on every paid plan. For an EPC running commercial solar and residential solar workloads in parallel, that is the comparison that matters. For a pure residential shop that never touches lender review, it is not, and OpenSolar being free should win.

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 that lenders accept? Soiling, snow, albedo, and temperature coefficient modeling, with realistic shading loss accounted for? If it fails any of these, it is a sales tool dressed as a design tool. OpenSolar falls short of PVsyst-grade bankability here, which is the single clearest gap in the platform.
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? OpenSolar covers the residential design plus proposal flow inside the platform. SLD and BOQ export are weak.
3. Total cost of ownership. Annual licence plus integration cost plus onboarding across a 5-person team. We score by cost-per-finished-project, not cost-per-seat. OpenSolar wins this criterion outright at $0 for teams that stay inside the platform, and it is the one gate SurgePV cannot beat.
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). OpenSolar has strong US, UK, and Australia coverage. India, Latin America, and Middle East tariff libraries are thin.

When we run this bench, SurgePV scores 38 of 40. Aurora scores 32. HelioScope scores 30. PVsyst scores 26 (engineering gold standard, fails workflow). OpenSolar scores 27: full marks on cost, strong on residential workflow, weak on engineering rigour and non-Anglophone code coverage. The scoring is honest, and we will hand you the same scorecard if you book a demo and want to run your own tool through it.

Verdict. Use the 4-Point Bench Test on any tool you evaluate, and weight the criteria for your own business. If bankable C&I simulation is not in your pipeline, OpenSolar’s free core app is very hard to argue against, and we will not try. If it is, you are paying for a second licence anyway, and that is the moment to compare platforms on engineering rather than on price.

OpenSolar vs SurgePV: Honest Comparison

Here is the comparison most installers want to see. OpenSolar entries reflect OpenSolar’s own 2026 pricing announcement; where they have not published a rate, the cell says so.

The honest read: on price, OpenSolar wins, and it is not close. A free platform beats a $6,495 platform every time on the invoice line. SurgePV earns its price on engineering scope, bankable 8,760-hour module-level simulation, AI 3D roof from satellite instead of manual tracing, C&I depth above 200 kW, and code and tariff coverage outside the US, UK, and Australia. If you do not need those things, buying SurgePV would be a waste of your money and we would rather you knew that now.

Capability by Capability: Where SurgePV Differs

The gaps that matter are engineering gaps, not billing gaps. This is the mapping our designers use when they switch.

Advanced shading. OpenSolar includes a shading model that we found adequate for residential sizing on our bench, but not the 8,760-hour, module-level resolution lenders commonly want for C&I. SurgePV’s solar shading analysis module runs the hour-by-hour, year-long simulation that lender-facing yield reports are normally built from, on every paid plan. Module-level and string-level results land in under 30 seconds for residential designs, under 5 minutes for a 1 MW C&I roof. For Indian projects under the PM Surya Ghar scheme, this matters because the financial subsidy proposal has to clear DISCOM scrutiny on yield assumptions.

Branded proposals and languages. OpenSolar handles branded proposals inside the platform, and that is not where the difference is. The difference is reach: SurgePV’s solar proposal software ships fully white-labeled PDF and interactive web proposals on every paid plan, with shareable URLs, e-signature, and 9-language support (English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Arabic, French, Turkish, Italian, Polish).

AI 3D roof from satellite. As of August 2026 we have not found an automatic AI 3D roof from satellite imagery in OpenSolar. In the version we tested you trace the roof outline and obstructions manually in the design canvas. 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. The AI 3D solar design module is included on every SurgePV paid plan, part of the broader shift toward AI solar design software that the whole category is moving toward in 2026.

Bankable yield and financial reports. OpenSolar’s financial modeling covers basic ROI for residential. For C&I projects above 200 kW, lenders typically ask for a PVsyst-grade bankable yield report, which we have not been able to produce natively in OpenSolar. SurgePV’s generation and financial tool covers cashflow, IRR, NPV, payback, country-specific tariffs (net metering, FiT, ToU, PM Surya Ghar), loan, lease, and PPA modeling, and outputs yield in the P50/P75/P90 format lenders commonly request. Whether a given lender accepts it is always that lender’s decision. Carbon offset reporting is built in for ESG-conscious buyers.

Clara AI, the natural-language design assistant. OpenSolar’s interface is canvas-driven and does not yet support natural-language design. Clara accepts plain English commands. “Add a 25 kW carport with two-row tilt at 10 degrees, north-south, avoid the skylight” is a valid command. Industry analysts at pv magazine flagged natural-language design assistants as the single biggest workflow shift in solar software through 2026.

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 installer team can run end-to-end without a separate spreadsheet anywhere.

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Common Mistakes When Pricing OpenSolar

We have helped several installer partners move from OpenSolar to SurgePV, and we have talked others out of it. These are the five mistakes installers make when they try to price OpenSolar honestly, scored by frequency.

1. 1
   Assuming "free" must have a catch. For the core app it does not. The mistake in the other direction is forgetting that API Access is charged per project once you connect OpenSolar to a CRM or accounting system, so a high-volume team that integrates pays more than a low-volume team that integrates. Count your annual projects, ask OpenSolar for your region's rate, and budget from that.
2. 2
   Ignoring the second licence for C&I. If you ship projects above 200 kW, budget for the second licence most lender-facing workflows we have seen still need. Add the PVsyst or similar licence cost to your real OpenSolar TCO, typically another CHF 700 per user per year. Heaven Designs' guide to bankable PVsyst reports walks through exactly what lenders expect in that second-licence output.
3. 3
   Underestimating the integration tax. If you run OpenSolar plus a separate CRM plus a separate proposal tool, you now pay twice: designer time on the glue work (manual handoff, lost leads, two to four hours per week per designer), and the per-project API Access fee on every project that syncs out. The manual-handoff route avoids the fee but costs the hours. Neither is free.
4. 4
   Missing the India tariff gap. OpenSolar's tariff library is strong for US, UK, and Australia. PM Surya Ghar subsidy auto-calc and DISCOM-specific net metering rules are not native, so Indian installers end up rebuilding them in spreadsheets. SurgePV ships these built in, which is why our separate roundup of [solar design software for India](/blog/solar-design-software-india) weighs this gap heavily for installers here.
5. 5
   Forgetting the onboarding cost. Two to three weeks of designer time before a new hire is productive on a multi-tool stack is real payroll. SurgePV's 1-day onboarding window cuts this by 90%.

These mistakes are the same pattern we see when installers try to price any modular SaaS. We covered the broader lessons in our writeup on common mistakes EPC companies make in rooftop solar and they apply word-for-word to a design-software migration. For a side-by-side switch guide, see our OpenSolar alternative guide.

How the Migration Works (5 Steps)

The full 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 OpenSolar’s active projects. Export in-progress designs as PDF and the customer data as CSV. SurgePV’s importer ingests roof geometry from screenshots and address re-pulls satellite imagery cleanly.
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 ship their first finished SurgePV project on the same call.
4. Re-create your proposal template. Re-build the 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. Wind down the OpenSolar integrations last. Once each designer has shipped 2-3 SurgePV projects (typically within 5 working days), disable API Access and any Connector subscriptions so the per-project and monthly charges stop. The core OpenSolar account can stay open at no cost if you want it as a fallback, which is a genuine advantage of a free platform.

Who Should Stay on OpenSolar (Honest Pros and Cons)

We are recommending the switch, but there is a real scenario in which staying on OpenSolar makes sense. Here is the honest view.

Note the shape of that split. It is not “OpenSolar is expensive, switch”. It is “OpenSolar is free and good enough for a defined job, and if your job is bigger than that job, a paid platform stops being an indulgence”. SurgePV is the better tool in the right-hand column, at a real price you should only pay when the left-hand column no longer describes you. The Indian solar market specifically, where Mercom India projects 25 GW of new rooftop installations through 2027 and the IEA tracks India as the third-largest solar market globally, rewards installers who can ship designs faster, cheaper, and with bankable simulation built in. Global capacity data from IRENA confirms the same shift across emerging markets.

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 keep three separate licences live for shade analysis, design, and proposals. 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-generated yield reports in the P50/P75/P90 format lenders typically ask for.
• 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 on choosing the right tool, see our guides to the best solar design software, solar proposal software, Aurora Solar alternative, HelioScope alternative, PVsyst alternative, and Scanifly alternative, or our 2026 ranking of top solar inverter companies in India. Additional market context from Bridge to India confirms the trend toward integrated single-license platforms.

Related Solar Design Software Guides

• Solar Design Software 2026: 7 Tools Compared and Priced
• Aurora Solar Pricing 2026: $135-$220/User/Mo Explained
• Aurora vs OpenSolar 2026: Which Wins (+ SurgePV)
• HelioScope Pricing 2026: Real Costs and Alternative
• Scanifly Pricing 2026: Real Costs and Alternative

Frequently Asked Questions

Is OpenSolar actually free?

Yes, for the core app. OpenSolar’s own 2026 announcement is explicit that the platform stays free for the full workflow inside it, and that charges apply only when data moves outside OpenSolar. Two things are chargeable: API Access, for connecting OpenSolar to external systems such as a CRM, accounting, ops, incentive platforms, reporting or custom tools, billed as a per-project fee applied on project creation; and Connectors, OpenSolar’s own integrations with named third-party tools like Xero and QuickBooks, billed as a flat monthly subscription. Both bill through the OpenSolar Wallet. OpenSolar does not publish dollar rates for either, so if you need a number for your region you have to ask them.

How much does OpenSolar pricing cost for a 5-person team in 2026?

If that team works entirely inside OpenSolar, $0. There is no per-seat licence fee for the core app, and team size does not change that. The team only starts paying if it connects OpenSolar to external systems, in which case API Access is charged per project created rather than per user, so the bill tracks project volume. Connector subscriptions for tools like Xero or QuickBooks add a flat monthly line. OpenSolar does not publish the rates for either, and they vary by geography, so no honest per-team annual figure can be quoted here. For comparison, SurgePV’s 5-User Team plan is a flat $6,495 per year, which is $6,495 more than free. What that buys is bankable 8,760-hour simulation, AI 3D roof from satellite, and C&I coverage, not a cheaper invoice.

Does OpenSolar have AI 3D roof modeling from satellite?

Not as far as we can tell as of August 2026. In the version we tested, OpenSolar’s design canvas needs manual roof outline tracing and manual obstruction placement, and we did not find an automatic 3D roof model generated from satellite imagery. SurgePV pulls satellite imagery on address entry and builds a 3D roof model with obstructions detected automatically in under 60 seconds, with accuracy within ±3% of LIDAR ground truth. This single feature typically saves a designer 10 to 20 minutes per residential project and 30 to 60 minutes per C&I project.

Can OpenSolar handle C&I projects above 200 kW?

Partially. OpenSolar’s design engine works on C&I roofs, but as of August 2026 we have not found a native PVsyst-grade P50/P75/P90 hour-by-hour module-level yield simulation of the kind lenders commonly ask for. Most installer teams shipping C&I above 200 kW end up running PVsyst alongside OpenSolar, which adds another CHF 700 per user per year and doubles the licensing problem. SurgePV runs the same 8,760-hour module-level simulation natively on every paid plan, so one tool covers residential and C&I.

Does OpenSolar support PM Surya Ghar subsidy calculation?

OpenSolar’s tariff library is strong for the US, UK, and Australia. India-specific tariff structures, PM Surya Ghar subsidy auto-calc, and DISCOM-specific net metering rules are not native and require either custom configuration or external spreadsheets. SurgePV ships PM Surya Ghar, FiT, ToU, and net metering tariff models built in for all four major markets including India. This matters because a subsidy application has to clear DISCOM scrutiny on yield and tariff assumptions. No government body approves or certifies design software, so verify the current rates yourself.

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. Run the trial on a project that stresses the gap, ideally a C&I roof or a site where manual roof tracing costs you real time. If SurgePV does not save you anything on that project, the free option is the right option and you should stay where you are.

Is SurgePV cheaper than OpenSolar?

No. OpenSolar’s core app is free and SurgePV is not, so on price OpenSolar wins outright for any team working inside the platform. SurgePV’s published 2026 pricing is $1,899 per user per year (Individual), $1,499 per user per year (3-User Team), $1,299 per user per year (5-User Team), and custom Enterprise, so a 5-seat team pays a flat $6,495 a year. Every plan bundles AI 3D roof from satellite, 8,760-hour module-level shading, single-line diagrams, BOQ, DXF/DWG export, branded proposals, Clara AI, and full country code libraries. That bundle is the argument, and it only pays for itself if you would otherwise be buying a second bankable-simulation licence such as PVsyst, or if manual roof tracing and thin India coverage are costing you billable hours. If neither applies, OpenSolar is the better buy.

Does SurgePV handle CRM and lead management?

SurgePV focuses on design, engineering, and proposals. For CRM, lead routing, follow-up automation, and PM Surya Ghar subsidy paperwork, the natural pairing is QuickEstimate, a sister-brand solar CRM built for installer sales workflows. SurgePV plus QuickEstimate gives a 5-person installer team a complete design-to-signed-deal stack in two tools. Worth noting honestly: pushing OpenSolar data into an outside CRM is exactly the case that now triggers OpenSolar’s per-project API Access fee, whereas SurgePV and QuickEstimate are built to talk to each other. That is a workflow argument, not a savings claim, since we cannot compare against a rate OpenSolar does not publish.