Above Surveying vs Octave GeoMedia: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Above Surveying and Octave GeoMedia to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Above Surveying
5.7/10
UK drone inspection and data company for utility-scale solar plants. It pairs aerial thermographic surveys with its SolarGain cloud platform for inspection, QA and digital twin data.
Octave GeoMedia
6.8/10
Desktop GIS from Octave (formerly Hexagon/Intergraph). It combines CAD, GIS and database data for mapping, spatial analysis and network modeling, mainly for government and utility users.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 5.7/10 | 6.8/10 |
| Integration | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 4/10 | 4/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Contact for pricing | Free GeoMedia Viewer |
| Features | ||
| Asset Registry | ||
| GIS and Mapping | ||
| Digital Twin | Not listed | |
| Drone Inspection | Not listed | |
| Inspection Automation | Not listed | |
| Inspection Checklists | Not listed | |
| LiDAR Processing | Not listed | |
| SCADA and IoT Integration | Not listed | |
Above Surveying vs Octave GeoMedia cost by team size
| Team size | Above Surveying | Octave GeoMedia |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | Contact for pricing | FreeGeoMedia Viewer |
| 5 users | Contact for pricing | FreeGeoMedia Viewer |
| 10 users | Contact for pricing | FreeGeoMedia Viewer |
| 25 users | Contact for pricing | FreeGeoMedia Viewer |
| 50 users | Contact for pricing | FreeGeoMedia Viewer |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Above Surveying
Our data shows no clear advantage over Octave GeoMedia.
Why choose Octave GeoMedia
- Has a free plan (Above Surveying does not)
- Higher Integration score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for utilities (8/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Above Surveying
Pros
- Built only for solar: thermography finds hotspots, string faults, junction box failures and PID at the module level.
- One platform covers the full lifecycle, from topographic surveys and construction monitoring to O&M inspections.
- SolarGain accepts data from third-party providers as well as Above's own flights, so the platform is not tied to Above's survey service.
- Large track record: Above reports more than 10,000 sites, and its acquisition of ucair expanded its reach in Europe.
- ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certified.
Cons
- No public pricing; every engagement needs a quote.
- Only useful for solar assets, not other infrastructure.
- No published integrations list, API documentation or security and trust page.
- Few independent user reviews on G2, Capterra or similar sites.
Octave GeoMedia
Pros
- Connects directly to CAD, GIS, database and imagery sources without converting them first.
- Analysis results are kept as live queries that update when source data changes, which avoids piles of intermediate datasets.
- Reviewers praise its cartography and automatic label placement, which produces little overlap by default.
- SoftwareReviews users rate vendor support at 90 and data interoperability at 88, both above the category average.
- A free Viewer lets non-GIS staff open and print GeoMedia maps without buying a license.
Cons
- No public pricing, and reviewers describe the license tiers as confusing.
- Much smaller user community and fewer learning resources than Esri ArcGIS or QGIS.
- One reviewer could not load a large Esri file geodatabase and found database connections slow.
- Web publishing needs the separate WebGIS products.
- Ownership has moved from Intergraph to Hexagon to Octave, which raises questions about the product's long-term direction.
Not sold on either?
Air Inspection Automation (AiA)Our product
Plans DJI drone inspection missions for power line towers from LiDAR scans: it finds the towers, places photo stops, checks clearance, and splits the route into battery flights.
Made by the team behind b stack radar. Shown here because it fits this topic. It is not part of our rankings. How we rank tools
Frequently Asked Questions
Octave GeoMedia scores higher on our Industrial & Infrastructure Software criteria: 6.8/10 against 5.7/10 for Above Surveying. The largest gap is in Integration: 5/10 for Above Surveying and 8/10 for Octave GeoMedia.
Octave GeoMedia has a free plan; Above Surveying does not list one.
Octave GeoMedia is the better fit for utilities: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 6/10 for Above Surveying.
