Mining · head to head
CorePlan vs Imago
CorePlan
Mining
Drilling programme management for mineral exploration teams and drilling contractors
- From
- $1350/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: CorePlan pricing is usage based on plods or shifts and billed annually with overage calculated monthly, so an intense drilling quarter generates an unbudgeted overage invoice, and finance teams that need a fixed annual number will struggle to get one.; Imago no pricing amounts published on vendor website; specific tier costs must be obtained by contacting sales
- They diverge on capability: CorePlan covers Digital plods, Imago covers Geological database.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which CorePlan and Imago actually diverge.
Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Mining).
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 CorePlan
- Digital plods
- Rig scheduling
- Contractor reconciliation
- Sample and core tracking
- Field Operations module
- Advanced Analytics
- Forms subscription
- Interoperability service
Only in Imago
- Geological database
- Drill hole management
- Sample tracking
- Data validation
- Reporting tools
- Leapfrog
- Vulcan
- Excel
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
CorePlan
- A junior explorer running a two rig programme that wants cost per metre visible weekly instead of when the contractor invoice arrivesnot Imago
- A drilling contractor with crews across several client sites submitting plods digitally to cut invoice disputesnot Imago
- An exploration manager reconciling contractor billing against recorded shift hours before approving paymentnot Imago
- A multi project mid tier miner consolidating hole planning and sample dispatch across sites that currently each run their own spreadsheetnot Imago
Imago
- Digitising and managing drill core photographynot CorePlan
- Linking core imagery to geological logging datanot CorePlan
- Streaming high-resolution core imagery into Leapfrog modelsnot CorePlan
- Sharing geoscientific imagery across a distributed exploration teamnot CorePlan
- Capturing core images in the field with the mobile appnot CorePlan
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
CorePlan
- Pricing is usage based on plods or shifts and billed annually with overage calculated monthly, so an intense drilling quarter generates an unbudgeted overage invoice, and finance teams that need a fixed annual number will struggle to get one.
- Only the Starter tier price is published; Professional, Enterprise and Corporate are all quote only, so comparing CorePlan against a competitor requires entering a sales process before you know the number.
- Core modules are unbundled: field operations, advanced analytics and custom forms are separately priced add-ons that each start in the hundreds of dollars per month, so the realistic monthly cost is well above the advertised entry price.
- It is a drilling operations system, not a geological database or modelling package, so it must sit alongside acQuire, Datashed or equivalent and the integration between them is a project rather than a switch.
- The customer base and support depth are concentrated in Australia and the company is small and venture funded, which means teams in the Americas or Africa get thinner local implementation support and carry the usual supplier concentration risk on a system that sits in the middle of drilling spend.
Imago
- No pricing amounts published on vendor website; specific tier costs must be obtained by contacting sales
- Tiers are designed for mining operations (each mine site requires separate subscription)
Pricing, plan by plan
CorePlan
$1350/month- Starter$1350/month
- One project
- Up to two rigs
- Digital plods and rig scheduling
- Professional$undefined/month
- Multi-project management for mid-tier explorers
- Higher rig and shift allowances
- Priced on quotation
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Large-scale operations
- Complex data integration
- Priced on quotation
- Field Operations add-on$800/month
- Pre-starts and inspections
- Field compliance forms
- From this price
Imago
On request- Imago Professional$6500/year
- Database management
- Drill hole tracking
- Sample management
Which should you pick?
Choose CorePlan if
- You need digital plods.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want rig scheduling.
Choose Imago if
- You need geological database.
- You work on Windows.
- You also want drill hole management.
Questions people ask
- Is CorePlan or Imago better?
- Neither clearly leads. CorePlan starts at $1350/month and Imago at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, CorePlan or Imago?
- CorePlan starts at $1350/month and Imago at On request.
- Does CorePlan or Imago run on more platforms?
- CorePlan runs on Web, iOS, Android. Imago runs on Windows.
- What is CorePlan best used for?
- CorePlan is most often used for a junior explorer running a two rig programme that wants cost per metre visible weekly instead of when the contractor invoice arrives, a drilling contractor with crews across several client sites submitting plods digitally to cut invoice disputes, an exploration manager reconciling contractor billing against recorded shift hours before approving payment, a multi project mid tier miner consolidating hole planning and sample dispatch across sites that currently each run their own spreadsheet. Of those, a junior explorer running a two rig programme that wants cost per metre visible weekly instead of when the contractor invoice arrives and a drilling contractor with crews across several client sites submitting plods digitally to cut invoice disputes are not what Imago is typically brought in for.
- What can CorePlan do that Imago cannot?
- CorePlan covers Digital plods, Rig scheduling, Contractor reconciliation, Sample and core tracking. Imago covers Geological database, Drill hole management, Sample tracking, Data validation.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
CorePlan: Is CorePlan a geological database?
No. It manages drilling operations, plods, scheduling and sample dispatch. Geological data still lives in acQuire, Datashed or similar.
Imago: What are the Imago subscription tiers?
Imago offers three subscription tiers: Standard (single workspace, unlimited users, 3TB storage), Enterprise (multiple workspaces, unlimited users, 6TB shared storage, SSO and user group management), and Junior (single workspace, unlimited users, 500GB storage, for non-producing companies or academic licensing only). All tiers are contracted on 12-month agreements.
SourceCorePlan: Can drilling contractors use it too?
Yes, and that is the point. Contractors submit plods on the same platform their client uses, which removes the invoice reconciliation argument.
Imago: What add-on options are available for Imago?
Imago offers add-on subscriptions including Chip Shot (RC chip tray capture control), Mobile Capture X (smartphone field capture workflows), and Storage (additional capacity in 1TB increments). Each additional mine site requires a separate Imago subscription.
SourceCorePlan: What does it actually cost?
Starter is 1,350 US dollars a month for one project and two rigs, billed annually. Everything above that is quoted, and the analytics and field modules add several hundred dollars a month each.
CorePlan: Does it work without mobile signal?
Yes, field capture works offline and syncs when the rig comes back into coverage.
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