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Energy · head to head

Aurora Solar vs Avathon

Aurora Solar logo

Aurora Solar

Energy

The leading solar design and sales platform

From
$135/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Avathon logo

Avathon

AI

Industrial AI for asset performance and renewables, formerly SparkCognition

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Aurora Solar both published plans are single user, so a second designer means a second licence; Avathon the company rebranded from SparkCognition to Avathon and narrowed its focus after repeated reported layoff rounds, so reference checks and roadmap commitments made under the old name need reconfirming.
  • They diverge on capability: Aurora Solar covers 3D solar design, Avathon covers Renewable Suite.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Aurora Solar and Avathon actually diverge.

Attributes where Aurora Solar and Avathon differ
AttributeAurora SolarAvathon
Starting price$135/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, ApiWeb, Cloud
CategoryEnergyAI
Founded2013Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Aurora Solar

  • 3D solar design
  • Shade analysis
  • LIDAR integration
  • Performance simulation
  • Sales proposals
  • Financing options
  • Permit packages
  • NEC code compliance

Only in Avathon

  • Renewable Suite
  • Loss attribution
  • Predictive maintenance models
  • Computer vision
  • Digital twin models
  • Work order integration
  • Fleet benchmarking
  • Document intelligence

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Aurora Solar

  • Designing and simulating residential and commercial solar installationsnot Avathon
  • Producing shade analysis and sales proposals for solar projectsnot Avathon

Avathon

  • A wind fleet owner wanting underperforming turbines ranked by lost megawatt hours rather than by alarm countnot Aurora Solar
  • A solar independent power producer detecting inverter and string underperformance that falls below the SCADA alarm thresholdnot Aurora Solar
  • A manufacturer with years of historian data and failure records who wants failure prediction models trained on their own historynot Aurora Solar
  • A site using cameras to detect missing personal protective equipment or unauthorised entry into restricted zonesnot Aurora Solar

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Aurora Solar

  • Both published plans are single user, so a second designer means a second licence
  • Projects are capped at 50 a month on both Basic and Premium, so the tiers differ on features rather than volume
  • LIDAR assisted modelling, shade reports and battery storage modelling all require Premium at $259 a month
  • API access and integrations are Enterprise only, which is priced per project rather than per month
  • Paying monthly rather than annually costs $288 more a year on Basic and $468 on Premium

Avathon

  • The company rebranded from SparkCognition to Avathon and narrowed its focus after repeated reported layoff rounds, so reference checks and roadmap commitments made under the old name need reconfirming.
  • Headcount is in the low hundreds against a product portfolio spanning renewables, vision, predictive maintenance and document AI, which is thin coverage per product line for enterprise support expectations.
  • Model accuracy depends on having enough labelled historical failures, and sites with short data history or poor maintenance record-keeping get generic anomaly detection rather than useful failure prediction.
  • Nothing is published about pricing or asset-count thresholds, so there is no way to judge whether a small fleet is even a viable customer without entering a sales cycle.
  • It sits on top of your SCADA and CMMS rather than replacing them, so the integration and asset-hierarchy mapping work is a real project cost that the software subscription does not cover.

Pricing, plan by plan

Aurora Solar

$135/month
  • Basic$159/month
    • Tablet-friendly sales proposals
    • Industry-leading design accuracy
    • HD imagery
  • Premium$259/month
    • Tablet-friendly sales proposals
    • Industry-leading design accuracy
    • HD imagery
  • Enterprise$null/project
    • All Premium features
    • AI-assisted site models
    • APIs and integrations

Avathon

On request
  • Avathon$undefined/year
    • Annual subscription sized by asset count or installed megawatts for renewables
    • Separate pricing for vision, predictive maintenance and document products
    • Model development and data onboarding quoted as a professional services project

Which should you pick?

Choose Aurora Solar if

  • You need 3d solar design.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want shade analysis.
Aurora Solar review

Choose Avathon if

  • You need renewable suite.
  • You work on Web, Cloud.
  • You also want loss attribution.
Avathon review

Questions people ask

Is Aurora Solar or Avathon better?
Neither clearly leads. Aurora Solar starts at $135/month and Avathon at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Aurora Solar or Avathon?
Aurora Solar starts at $135/month and Avathon at On request.
Does Aurora Solar or Avathon run on more platforms?
Aurora Solar runs on Web, Api. Avathon runs on Web, Cloud.
What is Aurora Solar best used for?
Aurora Solar is most often used for designing and simulating residential and commercial solar installations, producing shade analysis and sales proposals for solar projects. Of those, designing and simulating residential and commercial solar installations and producing shade analysis and sales proposals for solar projects are not what Avathon is typically brought in for.
What can Aurora Solar do that Avathon cannot?
Aurora Solar covers 3D solar design, Shade analysis, LIDAR integration, Performance simulation. Avathon covers Renewable Suite, Loss attribution, Predictive maintenance models, Computer vision.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Aurora Solar: How much does Aurora Solar cost per month?

Aurora Solar Basic costs $159/month billed monthly or $135/month billed annually (save $288/year). Premium costs $259/month monthly or $220/month annually (save $468/year). Enterprise pricing is custom per project. Monthly plans have no minimum commitment and can be cancelled at any billing period end. Annual plans require a one-year commitment.

Source
Avathon: Is this the same company as SparkCognition?

Yes. SparkCognition rebranded to Avathon and refocused on industrial and government asset AI.

Aurora Solar: What features does Aurora Solar Premium add over Basic?

Premium adds LIDAR-assisted modeling, bankable shade reports, and battery modeling for backup, self-consumption, and arbitrage scenarios. Both tiers include 50 projects per month and support 1 user.

Source
Avathon: Which product is most mature?

The renewable energy suite for wind and solar underperformance, which has the longest production deployment history.

Aurora Solar: How many users and projects can I have on Aurora Solar?

Basic and Premium plans support 1 user with a 50-project monthly limit. Enterprise plans support unlimited users and custom project limits; Enterprise pricing and terms are custom and determined through sales.

Source
Avathon: Does it need my historian data in the cloud?

Generally yes for model training and ongoing scoring, which is a security review item for utility and defence customers.

Avathon: Can it work without historical failure records?

It will still do anomaly detection, but failure prediction models need labelled historical failures to be worth the deployment cost.

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