Heliocentrium vs OpenSolar
OpenSolar made solar sales software free and owns the ANZ market. Heliocentrium automates the part OpenSolar still asks you to do: the design itself.
OpenSolar deserves credit: a genuinely free, polished sales tool, design, proposals, CRM, monetized through hardware and finance partnerships instead of subscriptions. Strongest in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, now growing in Germany.
The difference is who does the work. In OpenSolar, your team designs. In Heliocentrium, an AI pipeline segments the roof, lays out the panels, models production with PVGIS and prices the proposal, your team reviews and sells.
Feature comparison
| Heliocentrium | OpenSolar | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | SaaS | Free (partner-monetized) |
| Design automation | Full AI pipeline (~60 s) | Manual design tools |
| AI roof segmentation (SAM2) | Yes | No |
| Photorealistic Google Maps 3D | Yes | No |
| Proposals + e-sign + CRM | Built-in | Built-in |
| European cadastre + PVGIS | Native | Generic imagery |
| Home market strength | Spain, Slovenia (EU) | ANZ, South Africa, growing DACH |
| Vendor incentives | Neutral (you pay, we serve you) | Partner-driven (hardware/finance) |
Where Heliocentrium wins
The design designs itself
OpenSolar gives you good manual tools. Heliocentrium hands you a finished first design before your competitor has opened their laptop.
Neutral by design
Free tools monetize somewhere. Our only customer is the installer: no hardware marketplace steering your BOM.
European data depth
Spanish cadastre and PVGIS-native modelling beat generic satellite tracing on EU roofs.
Where OpenSolar wins
It is free, mature, and its proposal/CRM flow is battle-tested across tens of thousands of installers. For a bootstrapped installer in Sydney or Cape Town, OpenSolar is a great answer. In Europe, weigh the hours your team spends designing manually against the price of automation.
Frequently asked questions
How can OpenSolar be free?
It monetizes through hardware and financing partnerships. Legitimate model, but the incentives point at partners, not only at you.
Is Heliocentrium available in my country?
Live in Spain and Slovenia today, expanding across the EU. Book a demo and tell us your market.
Count the design hours
Book a demo, bring a real address, and compare a 60-second AI design with your current manual flow.