Softwr

Maps · head to head

Correlator3D vs Fused

Correlator3D logo

Correlator3D

Maps

SimActive photogrammetry with a published price list and a perpetual licence still on sale

From
$295/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Fused logo

Fused

Maps

Serverless Python for geospatial: write a UDF, get a map tile endpoint and an HTTP API

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Fused has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Correlator3D the standard licence caps at 61 megapixel sensors, so an operator moving to a medium or large format camera has to buy a different and separately quoted licence rather than paying an upgrade fee.; Fused the price steps are brutal: $20 to $200 to $2,000 a month with no intermediate tier, so a two-person team that outgrows Starter faces a tenfold increase for what is often a modest capacity gap.
  • They diverge on capability: Correlator3D covers Aerial triangulation, Fused covers User defined functions.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Correlator3D and Fused actually diverge.

Attributes where Correlator3D and Fused differ
AttributeCorrelator3DFused
Starting price$295/monthFree
Pricing modelOne-time purchasePer month by compute tier
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindowsWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Maps).

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 Correlator3D

  • Aerial triangulation
  • DSM and DTM generation
  • Orthomosaic production
  • Point cloud and 3D mesh output
  • Feature extraction
  • GPU acceleration
  • Satellite imagery support
  • Batch and unattended processing

Only in Fused

  • User defined functions
  • Instant tile endpoints
  • HTTP API
  • Caching
  • Workbench
  • Data stack connectors
  • Public UDF catalogue
  • Local execution

What people use each for

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

Correlator3D

  • An aerial survey company processing large photographic blocks where per-project cloud credits would be more expensive than owning a licencenot Fused
  • A national or regional mapping agency that needs software it can run offline on classified or restricted imagerynot Fused
  • A drone service provider producing bare-earth terrain models for volumetrics and corridor mapping at high throughputnot Fused
  • An organisation that wants a perpetual licence because a multi-year subscription cannot be justified against its capital budgeting rulesnot Fused

Fused

  • A data team that wants to publish a dynamic layer computed from a large Parquet dataset without standing up and operating a tile servernot Correlator3D
  • An analyst prototyping against Overture, Sentinel or Census data who needs a working map in an afternoon rather than a data engineering ticketnot Correlator3D
  • An application that needs a geospatial computation exposed as an HTTP endpoint, where the alternative is a container, a queue and an on-call rotanot Correlator3D
  • A consultancy delivering an interactive constraint or suitability map to a client, computed live from source data rather than pre-baked into static tilesnot Correlator3D

Where each one falls short

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

Correlator3D

  • The standard licence caps at 61 megapixel sensors, so an operator moving to a medium or large format camera has to buy a different and separately quoted licence rather than paying an upgrade fee.
  • It is Windows desktop only with no cloud processing option, so throughput is bounded by the workstation and GPU you buy, and there is no way to burst capacity for one large job.
  • There is no collaboration layer, client portal or field application, so deliverable sharing, review and version control all have to be handled by other software.
  • The interface and workflow are built for photogrammetry specialists; an occasional drone operator will find the learning curve steeper than a consumer-oriented mapping package.
  • The perpetual licence includes only one year of support and updates, and staying current afterwards means paying maintenance, so the headline $5,900 is not the whole long-term cost.

Fused

  • The price steps are brutal: $20 to $200 to $2,000 a month with no intermediate tier, so a two-person team that outgrows Starter faces a tenfold increase for what is often a modest capacity gap.
  • Published tiers do not state the actual compute, storage or request allowances, so the only way to know whether $200 covers your workload is to run it and find out.
  • Fused is at pre-seed stage with a small team, and putting a customer-facing map behind a startup’s serverless platform is a continuity risk that a procurement review will flag.
  • It is Python-only and assumes competence with cloud-native geospatial formats; there is no path for an analyst who works in a desktop GIS and not in code.
  • Serverless execution means cold starts and per-tile latency on uncached views, so a first load of a heavy UDF over a wide area is noticeably slower than a pre-rendered tile set.

Pricing, plan by plan

Correlator3D

$295/month
  • Monthly subscription$295/month
    • Unlimited images
    • Sensors up to 61 megapixels
    • All modules and tools
  • Yearly subscription$2950/year
    • Unlimited images
    • Sensors up to 61 megapixels
    • All modules and tools
  • Permanent licence$5900/one-time
    • Perpetual licence
    • Unlimited images up to 61 megapixels
    • All modules and tools
  • Permanent floating licence$6400/one-time
    • Perpetual floating licence shared across machines
    • Unlimited images up to 61 megapixels
    • One year of support and updates included

Fused

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Workbench access
    • AI assistant
    • Local UDF runs
  • Starter$20/month
    • Secrets management
    • Higher compute limits
    • Office hours support
  • Developer$200/month
    • Dedicated jobs
    • GitHub integration
    • Expanded compute, storage and AI token allowance
  • Professional$2000/month
    • Team collaboration
    • Dedicated training
    • Substantially increased usage limits

Which should you pick?

Choose Correlator3D if

  • You need aerial triangulation.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want dsm and dtm generation.
Correlator3D review

Choose Fused if

  • You need user defined functions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want instant tile endpoints.
Fused review

Questions people ask

Is Correlator3D or Fused better?
Neither clearly leads. Correlator3D starts at $295/month and Fused at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Correlator3D or Fused?
Fused has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $295/month for Correlator3D and Free for Fused.
Does Correlator3D or Fused run on more platforms?
Correlator3D runs on Windows. Fused runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Fused for free?
Yes. Fused has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Correlator3D starts at $295/month.
What is Correlator3D best used for?
Correlator3D is most often used for an aerial survey company processing large photographic blocks where per-project cloud credits would be more expensive than owning a licence, a national or regional mapping agency that needs software it can run offline on classified or restricted imagery, a drone service provider producing bare-earth terrain models for volumetrics and corridor mapping at high throughput, an organisation that wants a perpetual licence because a multi-year subscription cannot be justified against its capital budgeting rules. Of those, an aerial survey company processing large photographic blocks where per-project cloud credits would be more expensive than owning a licence and a national or regional mapping agency that needs software it can run offline on classified or restricted imagery are not what Fused is typically brought in for.
What can Correlator3D do that Fused cannot?
Correlator3D covers Aerial triangulation, DSM and DTM generation, Orthomosaic production, Point cloud and 3D mesh output. Fused covers User defined functions, Instant tile endpoints, HTTP API, Caching.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Correlator3D: Can I still buy a perpetual licence?

Yes. $5,900 for a permanent licence and $6,400 for a permanent floating licence, each including a year of support and updates.

Fused: What does Fused actually give me?

A Python function becomes a map tile endpoint and an HTTP API on managed infrastructure, with caching, without you running a server.

Correlator3D: What limits the standard licence?

Sensor resolution, up to 61 megapixels. Medium format, large format and satellite imagery need separately priced licences.

Fused: How much does it cost?

Free, then $20, $200 and $2,000 per month for Starter, Developer and Professional. Usage allowances are not itemised publicly.

Correlator3D: Is there a cloud version?

No. Processing runs on your own Windows workstation. SimActive offers a data processing service as an alternative to buying the software.

Fused: Can I run UDFs locally?

Yes, through the Python SDK, which is how most development is done before deploying.

Correlator3D: Does it handle satellite imagery?

Yes, under a separate satellite licence class quoted on request.

Fused: Does it replace PostGIS or BigQuery?

No. It reads from them. Fused is the compute and serving layer, not the store.

Fused: Is it a mature company?

No. It is a small pre-seed San Francisco company. The technology is real; the vendor risk is real too.

Share

Related pages

More on Correlator3D

More on Fused

Keep looking

Other head to heads