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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    QGIS

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/AQGIS (formerly Quantum GIS) is a free and open source geographic information system.N/A
    Pricing
    QGIS
    Editions & Modules
    QGIS
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    QGIS
    Free Trial
    No
    Free/Freemium Version
    Yes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    No
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    QGIS
    Considered Both Products
    Open Source
    Chose QGIS
    ArcGIS is extremely expensive, especially for small businesses.
    The QGIS learning curve is smoother.
    ArcGIS demands more from the hardware.
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    QGIS is open source and freely available for Windows and Mac iOS Geographic Information System Software. QGIS is highly customizable as per project requirements and different application usage. QGIS has ample tools and plugins that are useful for the analysis of raster and …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    Handling ESRI licenses was not an easy task for our organization as we had a large number of users that needed access to GIS capabilities on a very occasional basis. R requires a lot of coding to get a decent-looking map. QGIS hits the spot when it comes to visual …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    We've used MapInfo, but it is expensive and lacks the wide support that QGIS has. It also doesn't slot in that well with the open-source stack that we use to develop our online GIS tools.

    We've also evaluated Esri's Arc products. Fantastic tools, but a) exorbitantly expensive, …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    Frankly, QGIS is an inferior tool as compared to ArcGIS as ArcGIS is a market leader in spatial data analysis, offers a family of GIS Suite catering to different needs, has a huge repository of training exercises and tutorials, an organized catalog of data if you need further …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    We explored ArcGIS a bit and realized that we couldn't afford this approach. We fully realize it's a more complete product offering, but QGIS offered all the needed features for our business requirements. We were able to do online mapping using QGIS exports and Mapbox.com for …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    I learned GIS with ArcGIS and have used ArcGIS longer than QGIS. Both programs have essentially the same functionality. However, QGIS is free, while users need a license for ArcGIS (individual licenses are available for a few hundred dollars). I really like that QGIS is open …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    ESRI programs like ArcGIS are the gold standard in planning, GIS, and digital data visualization, but QGIS stands up to the ArcGIS package at a lower price point and with excellent training information. ArcGIS has very little other components not found in QGIS, and QGIS has …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    Both tools are very powerful. The difference is that QGIS is open source. Experts can develop applications that suit the specific needs of certain users. A big advantage of QGIS is undoubtedly the economic cost, because Qgis is a software almost as powerful as ArcGIS. I could …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    First of all QGIS it is a free software in an are that has always been monopolized for big companies like ESRI, in that way QGIS bring the opportunity to know how to work with GIS and how we can manage data from so many formats in only one software. Qgis it is the best …
    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS

    Each of the products have their strong points and their weak points, as well as some products being particularly adept at certain analyses or workflows. That being said, QGIS can do nearly everything all of the above products can do, and it does them for free, with continual …

    Incentivized
    Chose QGIS
    QGIS vs. ArcGIS. The main reason is the price of ArcGIS. Most of the functionality is identical in both products, however, interfacing QGIS with external software allows it to dramatically increase processing capabilities.

    QGIS vs. ERDAS IMAGINE. It is quite good for satellite …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    QGIS
    Small Businesses
    ArcGIS
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    ArcGIS
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ArcGIS
    Score7.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    QGIS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.8
    (12 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    QGIS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Open Source
    Well suited:
    • To build beautiful and dynamic maps quickly.
    • To conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses.
    • To work cross-platform, as both the Windows version and the Linux version are identical in appearance and available resources.
    Less appropriate:
    • To use and import files from proprietary software such as ArcGIS and AutoCAD.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Open Source
    • Styling: the styling engine is fantastic with raster styling features that I recognize from apps like Photoshop.
    • Print layouts: I can set up custom print layouts, and even do automated multi-page atlas style reports that I use for cycling through detailed areas when providing my clients with pdf reports.
    • Extendable: the plugins are fantastic, and almost anything I need that isn't provided natively with QGIS is available as a plugin.
    • Community: the QGIS community is passionate about GIS, and are always ready to help. There are great training resources available online.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Open Source
    • Making maps in QGIS is a bit clunky. I also find it to be extremely unintuitive. For basic GIS, it is great, but I would much rather make maps (for publication purposes) in ArcGIS.
    • Editing and adding feature layers is not very intuitive. Changing colors of added point or line features is a rather convoluted process.
    • ArcGIS has a huge selection of online courses, and if you have the appropriate license, you can access most for free. I found these to be very helpful when dealing with map projections and other issues. However, QGIS does not have a large library of courses specifically made for that program.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Open Source
    I wasn't a GIS user at all when I started using QGIS, nor did I have any background working with data in anything other than Excel, and as a result, I struggled quite a lot in the beginning (it's not quite Google Maps). But having said that, I haven't come across anything that I couldn't do with a little help from the online community. I've done complex spatial analyses on large datasets of metropolitan cities, designed custom multi-page pdf reports that automatically cycle through different areas of an area, etc.
    And the GIS staff that I've appointed, after their initial resistance, took to the tool like a fish to water, and I haven't heard them complain after starting to use the tool for a week or two.
    But if you're new to GIS, be patient and invest some time to learn how to use the tool. It is absolutely worth it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Open Source
    Even though there is a no dedicated support team for QGIS (or at least we are not aware of it), there is a huge online community and a large number of forums catering to every question you may have regarding any particular functionality of QGIS. So, you have a lot of help available but you will have to sift through it on the web.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Open Source
    QGIS is open source and freely available for Windows and Mac iOS Geographic Information System Software. QGIS is highly customizable as per project requirements and different application usage. QGIS has ample tools and plugins that are useful for the analysis of raster and vector data. It also supports GRASS, GDAL, and SAGA tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Open Source
    • QGIS gives us more impactful data on children and maternal health issues, which in turn has helped us establish more programs, relationships, and funding opportunities because of the excellent data presentations we can give.
    • QGIS has allowed our staff to improve their data analysis skills, improving our workforce across the board, with or without the direct use of geographic data.
    • QGIS has required a lot of staff time to learn, but the ROI on time spent vs the reports we produced afterward has been well worth it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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