Aurora Solar vs solarVis: which solar sales software fits in 2026?
Two platforms, one promise: take a roof from first enquiry to a signed solar proposal. Aurora Solar gets there with the industry's strongest design automation and deep US financing. SolarVis gets there with a 7-day free trial, tariff and regulation rules for 45+ countries, and homes and commercial sites in the same product. Here is the honest version, from both sides.
What is Aurora Solar?
Aurora Solar is the US market leader in solar design and sales software, founded in San Francisco in 2013. More than 7,000 organizations use it, and over 20 million solar projects have been designed on it. Its design engine is the industry benchmark: AI roof detection builds a 3D model in seconds, LiDAR-assisted modeling sharpens it, and bankable shade reports back it up for financiers. Proposals carry US financing (cash, loan, lease or PPA) with e-signature to close on the spot, and a 25,000+ AHJ database feeds permit-ready documentation. For commercial engineering, Aurora sells HelioScope as a separate product, compared on its own page.
It is the premium pick for US-based installers, and it is building out in Europe: regional sites for Germany, Spain and France, software in German, French, Spanish and Italian, heat pump modelling for eligible installers in Germany, and a UK launch in September 2026 with MCS-compliant proposals. The way in is a demo, with no free tier or trial. The rest of this page weighs that against solarVis, where a 7-day free trial is a request away and tariffs and regulations are supported for 45+ countries.
Aurora Solar
The design benchmark for the US market.
solarVis
Lead to proposal in one flow, from a home to a 50 MW site.
Why teams choose solarVis
A trial, not a sales cycle
Request the 7-day free trial with no credit card. Our team sets up your access, then you design real projects. Aurora offers no free trial or free tier.
Built for Europe first
Tariff and regulation rules for 45+ countries, from hourly time-of-use to net billing and feed-in tariffs, in a platform available in 24 languages, with MCS documents for UK installers. Aurora is expanding into the UK and Europe, but its integrated rate database is American: outside the US, tariffs are set up as custom rates.
Homes and commercial sites in one product
SolarVis designs a house and a 50 MW logistics park in the same product: every building on the site in one project, 3D design that models stepped roofs with adjoining sections at their own height and roof type, and flat roofs laid out with service corridors and wind edge zones kept clear. Aurora sells commercial design separately, as HelioScope.
- Up to 80% less design time
- 80%
- Solar projects
- 67,500+
- Countries supported
- 45+
Feature comparison
How we compared. We follow the order an installer sells in: access, market fit, site and roof modelling, layout and engineering, yield and feasibility, proposal and close, and pipeline and operations. SolarVis facts come from the product itself. Aurora Solar facts come from its own product and help pages, news and official announcements, checked between 31 July and 29 September 2026 and re-checked every 90 days. Where Aurora's pages say nothing about a capability, we leave the row out rather than guess, and the section below names where Aurora is the better pick.
| Capability |  solarVis |  Aurora Solar |
|---|---|---|
| Access | ||
| Free trial | 7 days, no credit card | None, demos only |
| Market fit | ||
| Country coverage | Tariff and regulation rules, 45+ countries | US-first, now also the UK and Europe |
| Tariffs outside the US | Built in | Custom rates, plus a German export model |
| MCS documents (UK) | Yes, MCS Performance Estimate and MIS 3002 shade report | Yes, MCS-compliant proposals since September 2026 |
| Site and roof modelling | ||
| Roof capture | AI roof detection, then Fit to LiDAR where data covers the site | AI roof detection plus LiDAR-assisted modeling |
| CAD (DXF) | Import and export | Export |
| Layout and engineering | ||
| Automatic stringing | Yes, Full Auto and Guided | Yes |
| Single-line diagram | Yes, generated from the stringing; PDF and DXF | Yes, alongside US permit documentation |
| C&I and ground-mounted projects | Same product, up to 50 MW per design | Separate product (HelioScope) |
| Yield and feasibility | ||
| Shading analysis | Cell-level, on an 8760-hour engine | Yes, with bankable shade reports |
| Battery simulation | Self-consumption, autonomy and arbitrage | Arbitrage on Premium |
| Heat pump | Simulation and sizing | Modelling for EU projects (limited release), no sizing |
| Proposal and close | ||
| US financing and incentives | No | Cash, loan, lease, PPA |
| White-label and custom branding | Yes | Yes |
| Pipeline and operations | ||
| Built-in CRM | Yes, customizable pipelines with stage-gated tasks | No, integrates instead |
| Website lead capture | Lead Generator and AI Sales Agent (add-ons) | Embedded Leads, US only; no chatbot listed |
Last verified 11 September 2026; markets, tariffs, CAD, heat pumps, CRM and lead capture re-checked on 29 September 2026. The solarVis column comes from the product, the Aurora Solar column from aurorasolar.com and its help centre. Re-checked every 90 days.
The workflow, stage by stage
Lead generation
solarVis edgesolarVisA Lead Generator on your own site and an AI Sales Agent trained on your website that can return a feasibility report and a proposal link, with every lead landing in the CRM.
Aurora SolarEmbedded Leads, a lead capture tool for your own website, and the Aurora Solar Marketplace, both for US installers; no chatbot is listed.
Site model and layout
EvensolarVisAI Roof Detection for the outline, Fit to LiDAR for height and slope, 3D modelling of stepped roofs with adjoining sections at their own height and roof type, then AI panel placement to a target panel count, capacity, production or consumption share.
Aurora SolarAI roof detection in seconds, LiDAR-assisted modeling and DXF export.
Electrical design
EvensolarVisAutomatic Stringing (Full Auto or Guided), checked per string, MPPT and inverter, then a single-line diagram generated from those strings, checked electrically as you draw and exported as PDF or DXF.
Aurora SolarAutomatic stringing and SLD export.
Feasibility and project pricing
EvensolarVisCell-level shading on an 8760-hour engine, PV, battery and heat pump in one feasibility, tariff rules for 45+ countries, and payback with a 20-year cash flow.
Aurora SolarBankable shade reports, PV and battery with arbitrage, US rates with custom rates elsewhere, heat pump modelling for EU projects, incentives and financing options.
Proposal and close
Aurora edgesolarVis26 configurable proposal pages, sent by email, SMS or link or shared to WhatsApp, with view and time-spent tracking and customer accept or reject.
Aurora SolarFinancing built into the proposal and e-signature to close on the tablet.
After the sale
solarVis edgesolarVisA built-in CRM with customizable pipelines, by default from Offer Sent to Construction and Installation, with stage-gated tasks and headquarters, team and partner permissions.
Aurora SolarPermit-ready documentation from the AHJ database, custom project statuses, and CRM by integration.
Selling in the UK and South Africa
Aurora launched in the UK in September 2026 with MCS-compliant proposals and automated electrical diagrams, though its pages list no Smart Export Guarantee rates, and South Africa is not among its markets. Here is what solarVis carries in both markets, and what it leaves to other tools.
| Market | What solarVis covers | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | MCS Performance Estimate and an MIS 3002 shade report, for Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man; the Smart Export Guarantee modelled as net billing, with default export rates for fixed and time-of-use tariffs that you edit per project to match the customer's supplier; standing, metering and capacity charges kept separate from the unit rate | DNO applications (G98 or G99), BS 7671 compliance flags, BUS grant tracking, job scheduling and invoicing |
| South Africa | Around 180 Eskom and municipal tariffs preloaded, from Homeflex to Megaflex and the metro residential blocks, with seasonal time-of-use and net billing; custom tariffs where a municipality is not preloaded; a battery autonomy mode with a backup reserve for outages; off-grid and zero-injection designs | SSEG registration and NERSA applications, load-shedding schedule simulation, NRS 097-2 and SANS 10142-1 documentation, rent-to-own billing |
Where a row says "does not do", plan on a separate tool or a manual step.
Where Aurora Solar is the better pick
No tool wins everywhere. If these four sound like your business, Aurora is the premium pick, honestly.
- You want design automation backed by a lender-ready shade report. Aurora's AI builds the 3D roof model in seconds, LiDAR sharpens it, and bankable shade reports back it up for US financiers. SolarVis gets to 3D in two steps, AI Roof Detection for the outline and Fit to LiDAR for height and slope, and both run only where high-resolution data covers the address.
- You sell in the United States. Incentives, integrated financing with cash, loan, lease and PPA options, and e-signature to close on the tablet. SolarVis has none of the US-specific stack: its proposals carry a payment plan, not a loan or a lease.
- You file permits in the United States. Aurora pairs its single-line diagrams with permit-ready documentation from a 25,000+ AHJ database. SolarVis generates the single-line diagram from your stringing and exports it as PDF or DXF, but it prepares no permit package for any authority.
- You want the category leader's scale. Founded in 2013, 7,000+ organizations, more than 20 million projects designed, and a $4 billion valuation at its 2022 raise funding the roadmap.
For commercial engineering, Aurora sells HelioScope as a separate product. See HelioScope vs solarVis.
Switching from Aurora Solar to solarVis
Plan on running both in parallel for about two weeks. Here is the path.
- Get your data out of Aurora. Export projects and contacts from the project list or through the API, and each open design as a DXF file. Where no export covers it, Aurora support can help retrieve your data.
- Request your solarVis trial. Apply with no credit card. Once the team has set up your access, import contacts and leads from Excel with the sample template.
- Set your project pricing once. Load Preset Cost Settings, Packages and material prices, with VAT, discounts and margins. Every proposal prices consistently from then on.
- Pick your tariffs. Choose your market's utility tariffs, time-of-use schedules and export rules in Tariff Settings.
- Rebuild active designs. Start each open project from AI Roof Detection or from the DXF you exported from Aurora, run Fit to LiDAR where data covers the site, let AI panel placement fill the roof, and let Automatic Stringing build the strings.
- Brand, send and route. Add your logo and commercial terms, send proposals with view tracking, and point new leads at solarVis while Aurora stays live until the last open deals close.
What moves over: contacts and leads (Excel import), pipeline stages, material prices, packages and cost presets, branding, margins and VAT rules.
See also
- Best solar design software for installers: the whole category, compared the way installers buy
- OpenSolar vs solarVis: what the free model does not cover
- Reonic vs solarVis: a free trial vs a demo-first model
- HelioScope vs solarVis: commercial engineering vs the full sale
- Solar Proposal Software: the product behind this page
- What is solar design software?: the category, explained
