Softwr

Maritime · head to head

exactEarth vs Helm Operations

exactEarth logo

exactEarth

Maritime

Advanced satellite AIS data services

From
$1000/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Helm Operations logo

Helm Operations

Maritime

Dispatch, maintenance, compliance and crewing software built for tug, barge and workboat fleets

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: exactEarth company acquired and redirected; no pricing published on successor site; Helm Operations the product is built for workboat and towage operations, so a deep-sea owner running bulkers or tankers gets no chartering, voyage accounting or cargo handling and should not shortlist it.
  • They diverge on capability: exactEarth covers Satellite AIS data, Helm Operations covers Dispatch.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which exactEarth and Helm Operations actually diverge.

Attributes where exactEarth and Helm Operations differ
AttributeexactEarthHelm Operations
Starting price$1000/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsApi, WebWeb, iOS, Android
Founded2009Unknown

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 exactEarth

  • Satellite AIS data
  • Global vessel tracking
  • Historical data archive
  • Anomaly detection
  • API
  • Data feeds
  • GIS platforms
  • Api support

Only in Helm Operations

  • Dispatch
  • Job billing
  • Planned maintenance
  • Compliance and safety
  • Crew scheduling
  • Customer portal
  • Vessel applications
  • Reporting

What people use each for

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

exactEarth

No use cases recorded yet. See the exactEarth review.

Helm Operations

  • A harbour towage company that dispatches dozens of jobs a day and wants invoices generated from the dispatch recordnot exactEarth
  • A barge operator tracking maintenance and certificates across assets that rarely visit the same port twicenot exactEarth
  • A ferry or passenger vessel fleet that must evidence drills, audits and crew certification to a regulatornot exactEarth
  • An offshore support operator replacing a mixture of spreadsheets, whiteboards and an accounting packagenot exactEarth

Where each one falls short

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

exactEarth

  • Company acquired and redirected; no pricing published on successor site

Helm Operations

  • The product is built for workboat and towage operations, so a deep-sea owner running bulkers or tankers gets no chartering, voyage accounting or cargo handling and should not shortlist it.
  • Modules are licensed separately, so the figure quoted for dispatch alone is not the figure a fleet ends up paying once maintenance, compliance and crewing are included.
  • There is no financial ledger, so job costs and payroll still post into a separate accounting system, and maintaining that interface is an ongoing task for the customer.
  • Vessel applications sync rather than run fully offline indefinitely, so boats operating with poor connectivity see a lag between what the crew recorded and what the dispatcher can see.
  • The company does not disclose its ownership publicly and is comparatively small, which leaves a fleet that standardises on Helm carrying concentration risk it cannot fully assess.

Pricing, plan by plan

exactEarth

$1000/month
  • Enterprise$5000/month
    • Global AIS data
    • Historical archive
    • Custom analytics

Helm Operations

On request
  • Helm platform$undefined/year
    • Quoted by fleet size and modules taken
    • Maintenance, Compliance, Logistics, Personnel and Portal licensed separately
    • Implementation and data migration quoted as services

Which should you pick?

Choose exactEarth if

  • You need satellite ais data.
  • You work on Api, Web.
  • You also want global vessel tracking.
exactEarth review

Choose Helm Operations if

  • You need dispatch.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want job billing.
Helm Operations review

Questions people ask

Is exactEarth or Helm Operations better?
Neither clearly leads. exactEarth starts at $1000/month and Helm Operations at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, exactEarth or Helm Operations?
exactEarth starts at $1000/month and Helm Operations at On request.
Does exactEarth or Helm Operations run on more platforms?
exactEarth runs on Api, Web. Helm Operations runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What can exactEarth do that Helm Operations cannot?
exactEarth covers Satellite AIS data, Global vessel tracking, Historical data archive, Anomaly detection. Helm Operations covers Dispatch, Job billing, Planned maintenance, Compliance and safety.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

exactEarth: How much does ExactEarth cost?

ExactEarth has been acquired and redirected to Kpler's maritime product. Kpler does not publish pricing information online and requires customers to request a demo to receive pricing quotes.

Source
Helm Operations: Does Helm handle chartering or voyage accounting?

No. It models dispatched jobs, not voyages, and has no commercial chartering capability.

Helm Operations: Will it work for a deep-sea fleet?

Poorly. The functional design assumes short repeated jobs on tugs, barges and workboats.

Helm Operations: Does it include accounting?

No. It produces invoices and job costs and passes them to a separate accounting system.

Helm Operations: Is pricing published?

No. It is quoted by fleet size and by which of the five modules are licensed.

Share

Related pages

More on exactEarth

More on Helm Operations

Keep looking

Other head to heads