Pylon vs. OpenSolar
A Quick Summary
Pylon and OpenSolar are two common solar platforms to compare if you're a solar business looking for effective tools to grow your business.
Pylon operates on a pay-per-project model with no monthly fees, offering affordability and flexibility. Our comprehensive Solar Component Database includes the latest panels, inverters, batteries, ev-chargers, heat-pumps and more.
Pylon also integrates seamlessly with popular third-party software, including Xero for accounting, Mailchimp for email marketing, and ServiceM8 for field services management, providing a complete ecosystem for your solar business needs.
OpenSolar, while free, charges for additional services like custom support, forms, and training. High-resolution imagery costs $6 per image, and its Solar Component Database is limited to Sponsoring Partners.
Solar Components on OpenSolar are restricted to Sponsoring Partners per country, meaning that you will have to manage your own component database.
If ease-of-use, high-res imagery, and flexible pricing are important to you, Pylon may be the better fit for you.
 | ||
| Pricing |
All-inclusive
Pricing publicly available
|
Free
Add-ons with additional costs
|
|
Solar Components
Panels, Inverters, Batteries, EV chargers, Heat pumps
| 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 |
| Data Sharing with Advertisers |
None
| Yes (anonymized data) |
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?
OpenSolar is a great free option that offers a wide range of features. However, setting it up properly requires significant time and effort for your team, including adding your preferred solar components and onboarding your staff.
Additionally, there are key solar design and sales functions OpenSolar simply cannot perform. For instance, it lacks tools like the Voltage Rise Calculator and a Design Comparison page.
| | ||
| In-app Ads | ||
| Real-time customer usage data | ||
| Voltage Rise Calculator | ||
| Design Comparison Page | ||
| Digital Commissioning Form | ||
| Installer Job Sheets | ||
| Free Solar Sales Contract | ||
| Solar (PV) Site Information AS/NZS 5033:2021 | ||
| Battery Location Signage AS/NZS 5139:2019 | ||
| Xero Integration | ||
| ServiceM8 Integration | ||
| Mailchimp Integration |
When should you choose OpenSolar, and when Pylon
Pylon
- You want to double your solar sales productivity with a streamlined, user-friendly design tool.
- You prefer zero commitment with Pylon’s Pay-As-You-Go pricing, paying only when you use it.
- You’re looking for a solution that requires no setup and offers a shallow learning curve for quick onboarding.
- Appreciate features like real-time customer usage data to create compelling and accurate solar proposals.
- Prefer an ad-free experience and complete control over your data.
OpenSolar
- Your team has time to dedicate to setup, configuration, and ongoing manual processes.
- You’re comfortable with in-app advertisements as part of the free offering.
- You have the resources to regularly add and update new solar components as they become available.
- OpenSolar also tends to work best if you have resources dedicated to configuring your design tool and managing your solar components.
Trusted by solar industry leaders
Our customers say it best
Pylon's really good, I love the panel layout tool and the simplicity of the program. Pylon's much easier to use than OpenSolar.
I just left OpenSolar today to start using Pylon. 🤣 OpenSolar is too difficult to use in terms of organising the settings…
Pylon is amazing to work with. Their software make it simple for our staff to produce high quality solar proposals in minutes. I highly recommend them and their software for solar quotes.
Just got to say I love using this platform. So quick and easy to use. Also the SLD is a dream, it makes my job so much quicker. It's much easier to use one service to do everything.
I couldn't recommend this design software enough. It's very easy to use, constantly updating in all aspects, from tech you can design with, to calculators and integrations!
We have been using Pylon solely to prepare for our solar installation. Nelson and his team is exceptional and very proactive. Cannot recomend these guys enough.