Solar pros search for things like "best solar design software," "Aurora Solar alternative," "solar proposal software," and "3D solar design tool for installers." This post answers all of those directly.
Solar design software isn't just about drawing panels on a roof. For a professional solar company, your design tool needs to handle the entire proposal-to-close workflow:
Aurora Solar is the market leader in solar design software, and for good reason. The irradiance modeling is accurate, the 3D tools are solid, and the proposals look professional. But here's the problem most growing solar companies run into: Aurora doesn't have a CRM. It doesn't have scheduling. It doesn't have door-to-door prospecting. It doesn't manage your inventory or generate purchase orders. It doesn't handle HR or financing.
So you build a stack: Aurora for design, HubSpot for CRM, Sales Rabbit for prospecting, a separate scheduler, a separate inventory system. Each platform has its own login, its own pricing, its own learning curve — and none of them talk to each other natively. The average solar company using disconnected tools spends $6,000–$8,800/month on software and loses hours every week to manual data handoffs.
Aurora Solar — Industry standard. Great design accuracy, solid proposal tools. Expensive, and operates in isolation from the rest of your business.
Solargraf — Lighter weight, faster to learn. Good for smaller teams. Less depth on the irradiance side. Still a standalone tool.
Energy Toolbase — More focused on storage and commercial. Not ideal for residential installers.
Scanifly — Drone-based site modeling. Great for scan accuracy, but you still need another tool for proposals and design.
Helioscope — Engineering-focused. More technical depth, less consumer-facing proposal capability.
All of these are good at what they do. None of them run your solar business.
SolarDesk.
SolarDesk's design tool delivers Aurora-level depth — 3D modeling, irradiance analysis, shading simulation, system sizing, production estimates — but it's natively embedded in a complete solar business platform. When a rep drops a pin at a prospect's door, a contact is created in the CRM. When a designer builds a design, the proposal is attached to the same record. The customer can review pricing, choose a financing option, and sign the contract — all in the same workflow. When they sign, the scheduler is automatically notified. When the install crew needs materials, the inventory system already knows what the design calls for and can generate a purchase order automatically.
Nothing gets re-entered. Nothing gets lost. The design isn't a separate artifact in a separate system — it's the center of your entire customer record.
It should — and SolarDesk's does. Proposals are generated directly from the design, so the system size, panel count, production estimates, pricing, and financing options all populate automatically. No copy-pasting numbers into a separate template. No version control issues when the design changes. Customers can review proposals on any device, select their financing option, and sign electronically — all without leaving SolarDesk.
SolarDesk's design tool includes full irradiance modeling and shading simulation. You get accurate annual production estimates based on real panel placement, roof pitch, azimuth, and local weather data. The same level of accuracy that Aurora built its reputation on — built into the same platform where you close deals, schedule installs, and manage your team.
Yes — SolarDesk. It's the only platform that combines professional-grade solar design with a full CRM, door-to-door prospecting, scheduling, inventory management, HR, and financing — all in one system. If you're evaluating design software and you're also paying for a CRM and a scheduling tool, look at SolarDesk before signing another annual contract on a standalone design tool.
You need great solar design software. But you also need a CRM, a scheduler, a prospecting tool, inventory management, HR, field service, Project management and financing — and you need them to actually work together. SolarDesk is the only platform where all of that lives under one roof, built specifically for solar companies. Stop paying for five tools that don't talk to each other.
See the SolarDesk design tool →