DJI Terra vs Metashape price at a glance
DJI Terra prices are US reseller list prices (Drone Nerds) and Metashape prices come from Agisoft's own store, both checked in September 2026 in USD. Confirm them in your own quote, because dealers bundle and DJI changes editions.
| What you buy | DJI Terra | Agisoft Metashape |
|---|---|---|
| Entry license | Standard, $1,680 a year or $4,800 permanent | Standard, $179 once, but no orthomosaic, DEM or GCP georeferencing |
| Survey-grade license | Standard covers 2D and 3D mapping. Flagship $3,360 a year or $9,610 permanent | Professional, $3,499 once |
| Offline option | Offline Standard $2,040 a year or $5,160 permanent | Works offline as standard |
| License type | Per device, yearly or permanent | Node-locked to one computer. Floating licenses through resellers |
| Updates | Included while the yearly license runs. Ask your dealer about upgrades on a permanent license | Free within version 2.x |
| Operating system | Windows only, NVIDIA GPU required | Windows, macOS and Linux |
| Trial | One month, up to 500 photos | 30 days |
| Cloud option | None for processing | Agisoft Cloud, needs a Professional license, storage from $10 a month per 100 GB |
The short version: Metashape Professional costs less up front than a permanent Terra Standard license, and Terra's yearly option is the cheapest way in for a firm that only needs it for a season.
Which is cheaper, DJI Terra or Metashape?
Metashape Professional is cheaper to own. At $3,499 once it costs $1,301 less than a permanent DJI Terra Standard license and less than about two years of the $1,680 Terra subscription. Terra wins on short commitments: a single year of Standard at $1,680 is half the Metashape price if you only map for one big project.
Be careful with the cheap Metashape Standard edition at $179. It builds 3D models but has no orthomosaic, no DEM export and no georeferencing with ground control, so it does not do survey work. Every price comparison for a survey firm should use Professional.
What neither license price includes
Both are desktop engines, so the license is only part of the bill.
- A workstation. DJI lists 32 GB of RAM and an NVIDIA card with at least 4 GB of memory as the minimum for Terra, and large surveys want much more. Metashape runs on more hardware, including Macs, but big jobs also want a strong GPU and 64 GB of RAM or more.
- A second seat. Both are licensed per computer, so two people processing at the same time need two licenses.
- Client sharing. Neither gives your client a map link. You export GeoTIFF, LAS and DXF files, or pay for Agisoft Cloud on top of Metashape.
- Renewals. Terra's yearly license expires each year, and a Metashape 3.x release would likely be a paid upgrade. Track those dates the way your office already tracks other subscriptions, ideally in the same spend management software with budget alerts your finance team uses, so a processing license never lapses in the middle of a job.
What a 3-person survey team pays for DJI Terra vs Metashape over 3 years
Take a small survey firm flying a Mavic 3 Enterprise with RTK: a pilot, a CAD technician and a project manager. They fly 6 to 8 sites a month, about 5,000 images, deliver an orthomosaic, a DTM and contours, and on busy weeks two people process at once.
| Cost over 3 years | DJI Terra Standard | Metashape Professional | DroneMapping Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software, two people at once | Two permanent licenses $9,600, or two yearly licenses $10,080 | Two node-locked licenses $6,998 | $4,464 on yearly billing ($1,488 a year), 10 seats |
| Workstations | Two Windows PCs with NVIDIA GPUs, bought and maintained by you | Two capable PCs or Macs | Not needed, processing runs in the cloud |
| Client sharing | Export files | Export files, or Agisoft Cloud storage on top | View links, no seat needed |
| GCP and checkpoint report | Yes | Yes | Yes, RMSE in X, Y and Z on Team |
| Contours to CAD | Yes | Yes | DXF and SHP on Team |
| Known total | $9,600 before workstations | $6,998 before workstations | $4,464 |
With only one person processing on one computer, the three-year figure is $4,800 for Terra Standard permanent, $3,499 for Metashape Professional and $1,764 for DroneMapping Starter on yearly billing with 3 seats. The desktop engines close the gap only if you already own the workstation and never need a second seat.
Is DJI Terra better than Metashape for DJI drones?
DJI Terra is better when your fleet is DJI Enterprise and you want speed with little tuning. It reads DJI camera and RTK metadata directly, processes Zenmuse L2 and L3 LiDAR, and offers real-time 2D mapping in the field. Metashape is better when you need fine control over every processing step, fly mixed cameras, or work on a Mac or Linux machine.
When DJI Terra is the right purchase
- You fly DJI LiDAR and need the point cloud processed next to the photo map.
- Your sites are offline or your client requires data to stay on your own hardware, and you buy the offline license.
- You map for a single season and a one-year license at $1,680 fits the project budget.
- You already own a strong Windows workstation with an NVIDIA card.
When Metashape is the right purchase
- One experienced analyst does all the processing and wants control over alignment, filtering and meshing.
- You fly cameras from more than one brand, or process photos from a crewed aircraft or terrestrial captures.
- Your office runs on Macs or Linux.
- You prefer a one-time license and can live with paying for the next major version.
When a cloud plan with seats costs less than both
A cloud platform wins when processing is shared work. If the pilot uploads, the CAD tech pulls contours and the PM measures volumes and sends a link, paying per computer for a desktop engine charges you for seats nobody uses at the same time. DroneMapping turns geotagged photos from DJI and other drones into an orthomosaic, DSM and DTM, volumes, contours and a GCP accuracy report in any browser. Our drone mapping software for DJI page shows which DJI aircraft and flight apps work, and the Agisoft Metashape alternative page compares Metashape line by line.
Can DJI Terra or Metashape run on a Mac?
Metashape runs on macOS, so a Mac office can buy Professional and process locally, though large jobs are slow without a strong GPU. DJI Terra has no Mac version and DJI says none is planned. Mac teams with DJI drones either keep a Windows PC for Terra or process in the cloud, as covered in our DJI Terra alternative for Mac article.
Is there a cheaper alternative to DJI Terra and Metashape for a survey team?
Yes. DroneMapping Starter is $99 per month or $588 per year with 3 seats and 3,000 images a month, and Team is $249 per month or $1,488 per year with 10 seats, GCP and checkpoint reports, DXF and SHP contours, stockpile PDFs and cut and fill. There is no workstation to buy and every plan is on the drone mapping pricing page. We do not process LiDAR, so a LiDAR-heavy firm should keep a desktop engine.