Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ArcGIS
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Esri in Redlands, California offers ArcGIS, a geographic information system.
$100
per year
CARTO
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Carto (formerly CartoDB) in Brooklyn, New York offers their location intelligence solution.N/A
Google Maps API
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Google Maps APIs allow developers to integrate Google Maps into a website or retrieve information from Google Maps.N/A
Pricing
ArcGISCARTOGoogle Maps API
Editions & Modules
Viewer
$100
per year
ArcGIS for Personal Use
$100
per year
ArcGIS for Student Use
$100
per year
Editor
$200
per year
Field Worker
$350
per year
Creator
$500
per year
GIS Professional Basic
$700
per year
GIS Professional Basic
2,750
per year
GIS Professional Advanced
3,800
per year
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ArcGISCARTOGoogle Maps API
Free Trial
NoNoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ArcGISCARTOGoogle Maps API
Considered Multiple Products
ArcGIS
Chose ArcGIS
To be honest, there isn't really any competition to ArcGIS, while there are smaller applications such as QGIS, they are not enterprise. Meaning that they might do onething well, but not at a enterprise level. Other applications such as Google Maps API, and Mapbox, is just …
Chose ArcGIS
My students love the "drop" feature in Google Maps, but besides that it truly doesn't compare. I love that you can add, delete, or change layers to this map to better understand its larger affect. There are many more ways to manipulate maps on ArcGIS than on Google Maps. I can …
Chose ArcGIS
These alternatives to ArcGIS have one thing in common - they are all generally more user-friendly, and they all lack the capability of ArcGIS. ArcGIS can do most anything geographically-related, while these other products do one or two things very well. For instance, ArcGIS's …
Chose ArcGIS
There is a reason why ArcGIS and Esri is still a leader in the spatial data industry. Their tools are irreplaceable, though many other mapping companies are taking the technology further and enabling their maps to be better seen or used on a web-based platform or browser. …
CARTO
Chose CARTO
Google Maps API was what we started with. It provides a lot of nice tools, but they are all browser-side. This means that when you want to display points on a map you send data to the users browser and the software runs on the users's machine to render that data into points. …
Google Maps API

No answer on this topic

Best Alternatives
ArcGISCARTOGoogle Maps API
Small Businesses
Google Maps API
Google Maps API
Score 8.8 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.0 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Google Maps API
Google Maps API
Score 8.8 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.0 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Google Maps API
Google Maps API
Score 8.8 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.0 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ArcGISCARTOGoogle Maps API
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(40 ratings)
8.1
(4 ratings)
7.0
(8 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ArcGISCARTOGoogle Maps API
Likelihood to Recommend
Esri
I'm very grateful to be able to use it, and I have a master's degree with a focus in Geospatial Analysis. There can be a bit of a learning curve, and I try to build user-friendly ways for volunteers to see & collect data. Meanwhile, if a colleague is less confident with building such a system, it may be more difficult for them to implement.
Read full review
CARTO
CartoDB is great for generating geographic visualizations of data where the geographies are well-defined. It would be great for analysts to develop visualizations of data with spatial elements. That being said, the software is limited if you want to do any real data munging or analysis, as it can be cumbersome to use and there isn't a great interface for actually saving the results of different manipulations (you can save it as a new file, but it's hard to do version control, etc.). I would recommend preparing the data outside of CartoDB and only using the tool for visualization once the data is well prepared.
Read full review
Google
It is most suited for someone who has a physical office, particularly a retail store which helps them to promote the business locally. I would suggest businessmen should use this tool for promoting their business in a more effective way. It is of least important if you are promoting your business digitally and don't have a physical location.
Read full review
Pros
Esri
  • Enterprise GIS - multi-user, multi-versioned geodatabase access through a host of apps and web tools really help people stay connected to data.
  • Cartography - fantastic control and customization available with the ability to automate workflows.
  • Training - tons of training videos, seminars, and other learning materials are easily accessed. The help documentation is superb.
  • Ability to manage an organization through dashboards is extremely helpful.
Read full review
CARTO
  • It is amazing at allowing control of the visualizations. It takes a little bit to get used to but the combination of full SQL queries and CSS-like styling is very powerful.
  • The services are built on a robust stack of open source software. I was able to build a standalone instance of CartoDB relatively easily (after some research and trial and error).
  • Server side map rendering is key for handling large data sets. The way the images are returned makes them very easy to catch in an HTTP cache to minimize the hits to the server. The interactivity that CartoDB has built in makes this completely transparent to the end user, they can click on parts of the static images and be presented with popups or change map styles. It's a very clever implementation.
Read full review
Google
  • Very simple UI, easy to use.
  • You can send your live location to a person who wants to meet you.
  • You can mark and pin the locations you are travelling regularly.
  • You can get the code of iframe for any location and embed it into your organization's website also.
Read full review
Cons
Esri
  • There is a steep learning curve for ArcGIS users.
  • It takes a lot of computing power for ArcGIS, as it can't be installed on every computer.
  • At times, tools can be outdated and there are many similar competitors making more web-based tools that can replace ArcGIS.
Read full review
CARTO
  • I don't like the new Builder UI as it has been tough to explain. Other than that I have no complaints.
Read full review
Google
  • Offline location required for some certain locations
  • Needs to reduce updates as it is comes from most of the updates.
  • Maps needs to be accurate in small areas in order to find destination.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Esri
Simply because the program deserves it. It seems to me that it is a fundamental tool for the storage, analysis, and interpretation of medium and large-scale phenomena, unmanageable with traditional engineering software. Its versatility in the handling of the different "layers" with which the data is handled and interpolation tools, make this software a powerful ally both for companies and for the educational part of the universities.
Read full review
CARTO
No answers on this topic
Google
No answers on this topic
Usability
Esri
Once set up, the tools are extremely easy to use. I had a staff member develop a tool for field data collection, that included an external and internal dashboards to monitor progress in days. The field workers that collected the data, barely knew how to use a computer, and within minutes they could use the application that was configured for them.
Read full review
CARTO
No answers on this topic
Google
Google Maps API is easy to use. Map visibility is good and accurate. Easy to search routes, distance, and travel time based on actual address to address locations or when quoting a zip code to zip code rate. The user interface is friendly and make usage easy and quick to obtain all the information I need to properly quote and plan my driver's routes.
Read full review
Support Rating
Esri
Unlike other platforms (ex: EMSI), there is no "help desk" new users can easily call into for troubleshooting or errors, and so you have to spend LOTS of time trying workarounds. This is also because the help center blog posts are usually pretty confusing, and many times do not include images or videos to help you along. Any such changes would be immensely useful!
Read full review
CARTO
No answers on this topic
Google
It does everything I need it to do and hasn't let me down yet. It has been a lifesaver for my roofing accounts. Most of my clients for the roofing belong to an Amish community with no computers and so forth. So being able to search the maps and look at the rooftops is imperative for those campaigns.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Esri
My students love the "drop" feature in Google Maps, but besides that it truly doesn't compare. I love that you can add, delete, or change layers to this map to better understand its larger affect. There are many more ways to manipulate maps on ArcGIS than on Google Maps. I can also add personal details and information if I want to create a specific map, something that I am unable to do with Google
Read full review
CARTO
CartoDB is more user friendly and quicker to learn than ArcGIS Online and Mapbox
Read full review
Google
Google MAP API is one of the prominent ones as compared to others. In the selection process also we are [complete] with the API provider by Google MAP as it is quite stable.No doubt it is one of the best methods to implement or integrate as compared to any others which is available in the competition.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Esri
  • ArcGIS saves us countless hours of manual paperwork by allowing us to conduct inspections in the field.
  • Due to the high upfront costs, the ROI will definitely take longer than other competing products
  • The PDF export feature allows us to share our maps with the public while maintaining control of the data associated with the map.
Read full review
CARTO
  • CartoDB definitely saves a lot of time when creating visualizations. Previously, I would use different software and have to make edits manually (or just create the visualizations manually to start with). I would say that the software definitely cuts the time required to create certain visualizations by a half or two-thirds.
Read full review
Google
  • Definitely it gives optimum ROI to my organization which is positive sign.
  • My company overall business showed a positive growth rate.
  • I now get more no of people visiting my office .
Read full review
ScreenShots