Softwr

Maritime · head to head

Danaos vs ORBCOMM

Danaos logo

Danaos

Maritime

Ship management suite covering purchasing, maintenance, crewing and safety in one database

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ORBCOMM logo

ORBCOMM

Maritime

IoT solutions for maritime asset tracking

From
$25/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Danaos sales, implementation and support are concentrated in Greece and Cyprus, so an owner elsewhere gets a thinner local bench and has to rely on remote support across time zones.; ORBCOMM satellite latency of approximately 600 milliseconds limits real-time applications
  • They diverge on capability: Danaos covers Planned maintenance, ORBCOMM covers Satellite tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Danaos and ORBCOMM actually diverge.

Attributes where Danaos and ORBCOMM differ
AttributeDanaosORBCOMM
Starting priceOn request$25/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWindows, Web, On-premiseSatellite, Web
FoundedUnknown1995

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

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 Danaos

  • Planned maintenance
  • Purchasing
  • Inventory
  • Crewing
  • Safety and quality
  • Dry-docking
  • Budgeting
  • Ship to shore replication

Only in ORBCOMM

  • Satellite tracking
  • Container monitoring
  • Cold chain monitoring
  • Fleet telematics
  • TMS systems
  • ERP platforms
  • Warehouse management
  • Web support

What people use each for

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

Danaos

  • A Greek or Cypriot owner replacing a mix of legacy planned maintenance and purchasing systems with one databasenot ORBCOMM
  • A third-party ship manager that must report vessel operating expenditure to multiple owners in a consistent structurenot ORBCOMM
  • An owner whose procurement and maintenance data never reconcile because they sit in separate productsnot ORBCOMM
  • A fleet needing full function on board when the satellite link is slow or intermittentnot ORBCOMM

ORBCOMM

  • Tracking shipping container temperatures for refrigerated cargonot Danaos
  • Detecting vessel AIS spoofing to identify anomalous maritime activitynot Danaos
  • Monitoring fuel consumption patterns across fleet operationsnot Danaos
  • Screening shipments for sanctions compliance violationsnot Danaos

Where each one falls short

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

Danaos

  • Sales, implementation and support are concentrated in Greece and Cyprus, so an owner elsewhere gets a thinner local bench and has to rely on remote support across time zones.
  • The suite is configuration-heavy, and a superintendent generally cannot change a maintenance form or approval route without vendor involvement, which turns small changes into chargeable requests.
  • The architecture is traditional, with vessel-side installations replicating to shore, so the browser experience trails newer cloud entrants and IT carries software to maintain on every ship.
  • Public documentation and product information are sparse, so a buyer cannot evaluate the product independently and is dependent on vendor demonstrations and reference calls.
  • Because everything shares one database, partial adoption gives away most of the benefit and replacing a single module later means unpicking the whole suite rather than swapping a component.

ORBCOMM

  • Satellite latency of approximately 600 milliseconds limits real-time applications
  • Higher cost per message compared to terrestrial cellular IoT solutions
  • Coverage remains near-global rather than fully global in all remote regions

Pricing, plan by plan

Danaos

On request
  • WAVES$undefined/year
    • Quoted by fleet size and modules licensed
    • Vessel installations and shore server scoped separately
    • Implementation, data migration and training charged as services

ORBCOMM

$25/month
  • Fleet Manager$99/month
    • Real-time tracking
    • Geofencing
    • Reporting

Which should you pick?

Choose Danaos if

  • You need planned maintenance.
  • You work on Windows, Web, On-premise.
  • You also want purchasing.
Danaos review

Choose ORBCOMM if

  • You need satellite tracking.
  • You work on Satellite, Web.
  • You also want container monitoring.
ORBCOMM review

Questions people ask

Is Danaos or ORBCOMM better?
Neither clearly leads. Danaos starts at On request and ORBCOMM at $25/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Danaos or ORBCOMM?
Danaos starts at On request and ORBCOMM at $25/month.
Does Danaos or ORBCOMM run on more platforms?
Danaos runs on Windows, Web, On-premise. ORBCOMM runs on Satellite, Web.
What is Danaos best used for?
Danaos is most often used for a greek or cypriot owner replacing a mix of legacy planned maintenance and purchasing systems with one database, a third-party ship manager that must report vessel operating expenditure to multiple owners in a consistent structure, an owner whose procurement and maintenance data never reconcile because they sit in separate products, a fleet needing full function on board when the satellite link is slow or intermittent. Of those, a greek or cypriot owner replacing a mix of legacy planned maintenance and purchasing systems with one database and a third-party ship manager that must report vessel operating expenditure to multiple owners in a consistent structure are not what ORBCOMM is typically brought in for.
What can Danaos do that ORBCOMM cannot?
Danaos covers Planned maintenance, Purchasing, Inventory, Crewing. ORBCOMM covers Satellite tracking, Container monitoring, Cold chain monitoring, Fleet telematics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Danaos: Is this the same company as the listed shipowner Danaos Corporation?

No. Danaos Management Consultants is the software business and a separate entity, although the names are shared and both are based in Piraeus.

ORBCOMM: What is ORBCOMM's satellite coverage?

ORBCOMM's OGx service provides nearly global coverage across over 160 countries using a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites for two-way messaging and IoT data services.

Source
Danaos: Does it run on board with poor connectivity?

Yes. Vessels run local installations that replicate to shore, which is a deliberate design choice for constrained satellite links.

ORBCOMM: How does satellite IoT compare to cellular connectivity?

ORBCOMM satellite offers immunity from cellular blind spots, network outages, congestion, and weather-related disruptions. However, satellite connectivity introduces approximately 600 milliseconds of round-trip latency.

Source
Danaos: Can I license only the planned maintenance module?

Technically yes, but the value comes from the shared database linking maintenance, purchasing and budgets, so partial adoption is uncommon.

ORBCOMM: What can ORBCOMM monitor in containers?

ORBCOMM's CT 1010 device provides sensor-based monitoring for container fire detection, unauthorized access alerts, damage detection, and asset visibility, with real-time satellite-based tracking.

Source
Danaos: Is pricing published?

No. Everything is quoted by fleet size and by the modules licensed.

Share

Related pages

More on Danaos

More on ORBCOMM

Keep looking

Other head to heads