Propeller Aero alternative for earthworks and stockpile surveys, with the price on the page
Dronemapping is a cloud drone mapping platform for earthworks contractors, quarries and aggregates yards that want stockpile volumes, cut and fill and progress maps without a quoted platform contract. Upload geotagged JPEGs in any browser, set control from AeroPoints or your own GNSS rover, and measure on a surface built from your flight. Plans start at $99 per month for 3,000 images and 3 seats, and every plan price is printed on the pricing page.
net volume
net volume
Side by side
Propeller vs Dronemapping: price, control and outputs
The Propeller column uses Propeller's own store and help center as checked in September 2026. Propeller does not publish the price of its processing platform, so that row says quoted. Our column is the published Dronemapping plan list.
| What you compare | Propeller | Dronemapping |
|---|---|---|
| Processing platform price | Not published, quoted by sales | Starter $99 per month, Team $249, Business $599 |
| Ground control hardware | AeroPoints, $1,000 each or $5,000 for a 5-pack | Any control you already set: rover-measured targets or exported AeroPoint coordinates |
| Yearly control subscription | $999 per AeroPoint group after the first 12 months, unless bundled with a software license | None |
| PPK workflow | PPK upgrade, $2,200 in the store | Upload geotagged photos from any PPK or RTK drone |
| Stockpile volumes | Yes, built for aggregates and mining | Volumes on every plan, stockpile PDF report on Team |
| Cut and fill against design | Yes | Team and above, against an earlier survey or a design surface |
| Accuracy report | Yes | GCP and checkpoint RMSE in X, Y and Z on Team |
| Seats | Per the quote | 3 on Starter, 10 on Team, 25 on Business |
| Client access | Sharing inside the platform | View links on every plan, no seat or login needed |
| What happens if you stop paying | AeroPoint data still uploads but cannot be processed or downloaded until you renew | Export your maps and reports while subscribed. Your photos stay on your drives |
Propeller sells an integrated system of ground control hardware and heavy civil software. Dronemapping sells processing, measuring and sharing, with a printed price and control from whatever you already own.
Ground control
Keep your AeroPoints, or use the rover you already own
Switching software does not mean throwing away hardware. While your AeroPoints subscription is active you can export the corrected coordinates of each point and load them as ground control in any processing software, including ours. Hold two or three back as checkpoints and the accuracy report shows the error on points the solution never saw.
If your crew already runs a GNSS rover for staking and topo, you may not need AeroPoints at all. Set painted or fabric targets, shoot them with the rover, fly, and import the coordinates as a GCP file. That removes the $999 yearly renewal per group and the $1,000 per unit hardware line from next year's budget. Our ground control points guide covers how many targets to set and where.
Worked example
What an aggregates producer pays for Propeller and for Dronemapping
Take a sand and gravel producer with 2 yards. The survey lead flies each yard once a month for the inventory close, about 1,100 images a flight, plus 2 flights a month on a pit expansion for cut and fill. That is roughly 4,400 images a month. The plant manager, the controller and an outside accountant want to see the numbers.
| Line item | Propeller setup | Dronemapping Team |
|---|---|---|
| Ground control | 5-pack of AeroPoints, $5,000 | Targets measured with the rover you already own |
| Control subscription, year 2 onward | $999 per year standalone, or bundled with a license | Not needed |
| Processing, volumes and cut and fill | Propeller Platform, quoted | $249 per month, or $2,490 per year |
| Stockpile report for month-end | Included in the platform | Stockpile PDF on Team |
| People who can measure | Per the quote | 10 seats |
| Controller and auditor access | Per the quote | View links, no seat needed |
The firm lands on Team because 4,400 images a month is above the 3,000 in Starter, and because stockpile PDFs and cut and fill sit on Team. A single yard that only needs volumes and a map for the owner can run on Starter at $99 per month. See the full stockpile inventory software page for how a monthly count works in the browser.
Honest fit
When Propeller is still the better choice
Propeller is a strong product for heavy civil and mining, and some teams should stay:
- You want AeroPoints and processing from one vendor, with one support line for both.
- You run many large active sites and use design surfaces, haul road checks and progress reporting every day.
- Your company already standardized on Propeller across divisions, and retraining crews costs more than the license.
- You rely on a PPK workflow Propeller configured for your fleet and do not want to change it.
For everyone else, the question is narrower: do you need volumes, cut and fill, contours and a map the client can open, at a price you can read before the sales call?
Why teams switch
Why earthworks contractors look for a Propeller alternative
Most of the reasons we hear are about the buying process and the running cost, not the maps.
- The price is on the page: Starter $99, Team $249 and Business $599 per month, yearly billing at 2 months free.
- No hardware renewal: control comes from the rover or targets you already own, so there is no yearly fee per AeroPoint group.
- Seats come with the plan: the estimator, the superintendent and the survey lead can all measure at once.
- Clients and auditors never need a license: a view link opens the orthomosaic and the volumes in any browser.
- Survey tools on the mid plan: GCPs, checkpoints and an RMSE report in X, Y and Z are on Team.
- Any drone, any flight app: fly with DJI Pilot 2 or the planner you use today and upload the geotagged JPEGs.
Switching
How to move from Propeller to Dronemapping
You do not convert Propeller project files. You reprocess from the original photos, which you already keep.
- Export your control: while the AeroPoints subscription is active, download the corrected coordinates of your last few surveys.
- Pick a site you know: choose a flight where you already have a Propeller volume or a pad elevation.
- Upload and compare: drag the photos into the browser, add the control, and check one volume against your last report.
- Run both for a month: keep Propeller until your first month-end inventory matches, then decide at renewal.
Try it on a real surface
Measure a stockpile before you talk to anyone
The demo loads a sample stockpile yard, an earthworks pad and a field. Draw a toe line, pick a base plane and read the volume, with no account needed.
Pricing
What a Propeller alternative costs per month
Starter is $99 per month or $990 per year: orthomosaic, DSM and DTM, measurements and volumes, view links, 3 seats and 3,000 processed images a month. Team is $249 per month and adds the 3D model, point cloud, GCP and checkpoint report, DXF and SHP contours, stockpile PDFs and cut and fill against an earlier survey or a design surface, with 10 seats and 15,000 images. Business is $599 per month for 50,000 images, 25 seats, the progress timeline, multispectral indices and the API.
Questions
Propeller Aero alternative FAQ
For earthworks, aggregates and survey teams that need volumes, cut and fill and client maps, a cloud platform with a printed price is the closest swap. Dronemapping processes geotagged JPEGs into orthomosaics, surfaces, volumes and contours in the browser, from $99 per month with 3 seats. DroneDeploy suits teams that want flight planning in the same app, and Pix4D suits desktop specialists.
Propeller's store lists an AeroPoint at $1,000, a 5-pack at $5,000 and the PPK upgrade at $2,200. After the first year, AeroPoints need a $999 yearly subscription per group unless you hold a software license. The Propeller Platform for processing and measuring is quoted by sales, not published. Our Propeller Aero pricing article breaks it down.
Yes. While your AeroPoints subscription is active you can download the corrected coordinates of each point and import them as ground control in other processing software. In Dronemapping you load them as a GCP file, mark each target in the photos, and hold some back as checkpoints for the accuracy report.
The tools buyers most often compare with Propeller are DroneDeploy, Pix4D, Virtual Surveyor, Birdi, Skycatch and Dronemapping. They differ in whether they sell ground control hardware, whether processing runs on the desktop or in the cloud, and whether the price is published or quoted.
Yes, if you already have a way to set control. Dronemapping measures stockpiles on every plan from $99 per month, and Team at $249 per month adds the stockpile PDF report, GCP accuracy report and cut and fill. Compare the image quota with your monthly flying before you choose a plan.
No. Every plan includes view links that open in any current browser without a seat or a login. You can set an expiry date on each link.
Related pages
More on choosing earthworks drone software
- Stockpile inventory software for month-end volumes in the browser
- Construction drone software for cut and fill and weekly progress
- Propeller Aero pricing with AeroPoints, renewals and the quoted platform
- DroneDeploy alternative compared plan by plan
- Pix4D alternative for teams leaving desktop processing
- Best drone mapping software buyer's guide with a trial checklist
Measure your next stockpile without a platform quote
Upload one flight of a yard you know and compare the volume with your last Propeller report.