Pylon vs. Aurora Solar
A Quick Summary
Pylon and Aurora Solar are two common solar platforms to compare if you're a solar business looking for effective tools to grow your business. Both platforms offer a multitude of features to help you design compelling solar system proposals while managing your customer relationships in a centralised system—but they take different approaches.
The core differences between Pylon and Aurora Solar are the price and solar component management.
Pylon offers transparent pay-per-project model with no monthly fees. Its Solar Component Database includes every up-to-date Solar Panel, Inverter, Battery and EV Charger. It also includes a wide array of tools such as high-resolution imagery, 3D shading analysis, and Single Line Diagrams (SLDs).
On the other hand, Aurora Solar offers its core software free of charge. However, Aurora Solar does have additional costs for customisation services such as dedicated account support, custom forms, and dedicated training. High-resolution imagery in Aurora Solar is also an additional cost and is available via an addon from Nearmap, which costs $6 per project.
Solar Components on Aurora Solar are restricted to Sponsoring Partners per country, meaning that you will have to manage your own component database.
In conclusion, if simplicity, high-resolution imagery, and flexibility in pricing are important to you, Pylon may be the better fit for you.
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| Pricing |
All-inclusive
Pricing publicly available
|
Free
Add-ons with additional costs
|
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Solar Components
Panels, Inverters, Batteries
| Fully managed | Limited to advertising partners |
| High resolution imagery | Included | Optional paid per project |
| Integrations | Included | Optional paid add-on
via 3rd party provider
|
| GetApp "Ease of use" rating | 4.5 / 5 | – / 5 |
| Support | Live-chat, email, phone | Email, community forum |
Pylon's Ideal Customer Checklist
- The productivity of your team is your #1 priority
- You don't want to spend weeks setting up
- You're looking for a scalable system to match your team's growth
- You're looking for simplicity in your Solar Design Tool, so your team can start from day one—no training required.
- You're looking for a Single Source of Truth (SSOT)
What can you not do in OpenSolar?
Aurora Solar is a great free option that is rich in features, but requires significant time set up correctly for your team, add your favourite solar components and onboard your team.
There are also some key solar design and sales functions that you just cannot perform using Aurora Solar—such as Voltage Rise Calculator, Design Comparison page, and design with EV Chargers.
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| Voltage Rise Calculator | ||
| Design Comparison Page | ||
| EV Chargers | ||
| Built-in Payment Processor | ||
| Installer Job Sheets | ||
| Free Solar Sales Contract | ||
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Solar (PV) Site Information
AS/NZS 5033:2021
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| Xero Integration |
When should you choose Aurora Solar, and when Pylon
Pylon
- Pylon's Solar Design Tool is built to double your solar sales productivity.
- Zero commitment—flexible usage with Pylon's Pay-As-You-Go pricing.
- You have a large team of solar professionals.
- You're looking for something with zero set-up and a shallow learning curve.
Aurora Solar
- You have the resources to add new solar components as they are released.
- Aurora Solar also tends to work best if you have resources dedicated to configuring your design tool and managing your solar components.