Comparison
Ritwerk and Aurora Solar, side by side.
Aurora Solar is a design and sales platform from San Francisco, with a German company for Europe. The designer comes from Karlskrona in Sweden and has the mounting and the loads in the same drawing.
Updated
What Aurora Solar is
Aurora Solar is a cloud platform for solar design and sales from Aurora Solar Inc. in San Francisco. In Europe there is Aurora Solar Germany GmbH, and the Munich office covers Germany, Austria and Switzerland. According to Aurora, over 7,000 organisations use the platform.
The base data is aerial imagery from Google HD and Vexcel, with Nearmap as an add-on, and LIDAR-assisted modelling in Premium. For commercial projects, Aurora refers to its sister product HelioScope. Aurora’s data processing agreement states storage in the USA and with sub-processors; storage within the EU is not mentioned.
Side by side
| Ritwerk | Aurora Solar | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs in | The browser, on a computer and iPad, with no account | Cloud platform with sign-in; quotes adapted for tablets |
| Components | Register of 570 products (120 panel models, 415 inverters, 35 batteries) from many manufacturers, with product sheets and datasheets; you can add your own panels | Global component database; size not stated |
| Base data | Aerial imagery from Esri; the outline is traced on the photo and Inner edges raises the roof in 3D | Google HD and Vexcel, Nearmap as an add-on; LIDAR-assisted modelling (Premium) |
| Shading | The sun’s path every month plus sky view, at nine points per panel; the loss per panel | LIDAR-based shading analysis of trees and buildings, irradiance map |
| Strings | Longest strings within Voc at −25 °C, Vmp at 70 °C and the current per MPPT, with an explanation | Automatic stringing; check against the inverter: not stated |
| Yield data | PVGIS 5.3 from the European Commission, simulated hour by hour | Weather data source: not stated |
| Mounting and loads | Snow and wind loads to the Swedish BFS 2024:6 in the designer: zones, fixings and largest c/c spacing for 12 systems from Nordmount, SOLTOP and Weland; ballast in the manufacturer’s software | The design is transferred to K2 Base for the mounting system; own load calculation: not stated |
| Battery | Battery sizing tests every size hour by hour; control by hourly price in SE1–SE4 | Backup, self-consumption and arbitrage (Premium) |
| For the customer | PDF report in A4 at three levels, with a 3D view, strings, yield, shading and economics | Web and PDF quotes with financing, contracts and e-signature |
| Interface | Swedish, English and German | English, German, French, Spanish and Italian; Swedish: not stated |
| Price | Designer at no cost; Pro €49 per user per month excl. VAT, with volume discount (pre-order) | USD 159 per user per month (Basic), USD 135 with annual billing; VAT not stated |
The details on Aurora Solar come from the vendor’s own pages and were checked on 14 November 2026; the sources are listed at the end of the page. "Not stated" means the detail could not be verified there. The Ritwerk column describes the designer as it is today.
When Aurora Solar is the better fit
When selling is the main task and the quote is to be completed with the customer. Aurora has web and PDF quotes, financing options side by side, contracts and e-signature, and heat pumps and EV chargers can be part of the same quote.
Premium includes LIDAR-assisted modelling and battery modelling with backup power, self-consumption and arbitrage. Aurora also has a link to the mounting manufacturer K2, where the mounting system is planned in K2 Base from the Aurora design.
When Ritwerk is the better fit
When your company wants the mounting and the loads in the same drawing. The designer calculates snow and wind loads per zone to the Swedish BFS 2024:6, with the fixings per panel and the largest c/c spacing for systems from Nordmount, SOLTOP and Weland.
Yield comes from PVGIS 5.3, and the source is stated in the report together with the assumptions. The battery can be controlled against hourly prices in Sweden’s bidding zones SE1–SE4. The interface is available in Swedish, English and German, and the designer can be used with no account: projects are saved in the browser and can be saved as a file.
The roof in 3D
The roof is raised from the outline, and the ridge is dragged in 3D until it matches the house. Pitch, ridge height, roofing and facade are set in the same step, and the roof faces keep their pitch when the ridge is moved.
Sources
- Aurora Solar – Pricing – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Preise (German) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Press kit (cloud platform, number of organisations) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – component database (documentation) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Design Mode (LIDAR, shading, AutoStringer) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Sales Mode (quote, financing, heat pump and EV charger) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – press release 13 October 2026 on K2 Systems (German) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Intersolar Europe update (new languages) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Impressum (Aurora Solar Germany GmbH) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – press release 14 May 2024 (Munich office) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Data Processing Addendum – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Privacy Policy (Aurora Solar Inc., San Francisco) – checked 14 November 2026
- Aurora Solar – Europe (HelioScope for commercial projects) – checked 14 November 2026
Questions and answers
Questions and answers
What does Aurora Solar cost?
According to Aurora’s pricing page, Basic costs USD 159 per user per month with monthly billing or USD 135 with annual billing, and Premium USD 259 and USD 220 respectively. Both cover 50 projects per month. Enterprise is priced per project. VAT is not stated, and the German pricing page has the same dollar amounts.
Which languages is Aurora Solar available in?
Aurora writes that the platform has added German, French, Spanish and Italian. Swedish is not mentioned on the pages we could read.
Where is data stored in Aurora Solar?
Aurora’s data processing agreement states storage in the USA and wherever the sub-processors are located, under the EU’s standard contractual clauses. Storage within the EU is not mentioned.
Where are projects saved in Ritwerk?
In the no-cost designer, projects are saved only in your browser, not on any server. A project can also be saved as a file and opened again.
Read next
- The roof in 3DOutline on aerial imagery, Inner edges and the ridge in 3D – gable, hipped, mansard, flat and your own roof lines.
- Mounting and loadsSnow and wind loads to BFS 2024:6: wind zones, fixings per panel and the largest c/c spacing per roof face.
- Energy and batteryConsumption profile or hourly readings, PVGIS 5.3, an hour-by-hour simulation and the battery sized against hourly prices.
Try it on a real roof.
The designer opens in your browser, with no account. Search for an address and start drawing.