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Fleet Management · head to head

NexTraq vs Potree

NexTraq logo

NexTraq

Fleet Management

US small-fleet telematics now absorbed into Michelin Connected Fleet

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Potree logo

Potree

Maps

Open source WebGL viewer for publishing very large point clouds in a browser

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Potree has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: NexTraq the NexTraq brand has been absorbed into Michelin Connected Fleet, so the product name, the account team and eventually the platform underneath you are all subject to a consolidation plan you have no say in.; Potree there is no vendor, no support contract and no service level, so anything you build on Potree is your organisation’s responsibility to maintain when a browser update breaks rendering.
  • They diverge on capability: NexTraq covers Vehicle tracking, Potree covers Octree streaming.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which NexTraq and Potree actually diverge.

Attributes where NexTraq and Potree differ
AttributeNexTraqPotree
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux
CategoryFleet ManagementMaps

Identical on both: 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 NexTraq

  • Vehicle tracking
  • Hours of service
  • Fuel and idling reporting
  • Maintenance scheduling
  • Job dispatch
  • Driver scorecards

Only in Potree

  • Octree streaming
  • Large dataset rendering
  • Measurement tools
  • Clipping and profiles
  • Annotations
  • Attribute colouring
  • PotreeDesktop
  • Self-hosting

What people use each for

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

NexTraq

  • A North American trades or field service fleet that wants tracking, dispatch and ELD compliance from one mid-market vendornot Potree
  • An operator already buying Michelin tyres and fleet services that can negotiate telematics into a wider commercial agreementnot Potree
  • A fleet replacing an ageing tracking system that values an owner with a large corporate balance sheet over a venture-funded challengernot Potree
  • A distribution business needing straightforward fuel and idling reporting to justify a driver behaviour programmenot Potree

Potree

  • A drone survey firm delivering a point cloud to a client who has no desktop software, by publishing a browser viewer link instead of a 40 GB LAZ filenot NexTraq
  • A heritage or archaeology project publishing a scanned site for public access without paying per-gigabyte hosting to a commercial platformnot NexTraq
  • An engineering consultancy embedding a point cloud viewer inside its own client portal without licensing a commercial web viewernot NexTraq
  • A university or research group that needs measurement and profiling in a shareable viewer for a dataset too large to emailnot NexTraq

Where each one falls short

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

NexTraq

  • The NexTraq brand has been absorbed into Michelin Connected Fleet, so the product name, the account team and eventually the platform underneath you are all subject to a consolidation plan you have no say in.
  • Michelin is merging three separately engineered telematics products, which historically means feature freezes on the older platforms and a migration that existing customers pay for in disruption rather than cash.
  • The feature set is mid-market and unexceptional, so it rarely wins a technical evaluation against Geotab or Samsara on capability alone.
  • Contracts bundle hardware into multi-year terms, so a fleet that shrinks or is acquired continues paying for devices, and early exit triggers hardware recovery costs.
  • The integration ecosystem is small and the API is not a selling point, so connecting telematics data to job costing or payroll usually means custom work or scheduled file exports.

Potree

  • There is no vendor, no support contract and no service level, so anything you build on Potree is your organisation’s responsibility to maintain when a browser update breaks rendering.
  • Conversion is a separate manual step with PotreeConverter, and building an automated publishing pipeline around it is engineering work the project does not provide.
  • Rendering quality and performance depend on the client machine and WebGL support, so a client on a locked-down corporate laptop with poor graphics may see a viewer that stutters or fails outright.
  • A WebGPU rewrite, Potree-Next, is in progress and is not a drop-in upgrade, so current integrations face an eventual migration with no vendor to manage it.
  • There is no access control, user management or audit layer; anyone with the URL sees the data unless you build authentication around the static files yourself, which is a real problem for confidential sites.

Pricing, plan by plan

NexTraq

On request
  • NexTraq$undefined/year
    • Per vehicle subscription with hardware bundled into the term
    • Multi-year agreements are standard
    • ELD and dispatch modules priced as tiers

Potree

Free
  • PotreeFree
    • BSD-style open source licence
    • Unlimited datasets and viewers
    • Self-hosted on any static web server

Which should you pick?

Choose NexTraq if

  • You need vehicle tracking.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want hours of service.
NexTraq review

Choose Potree if

  • You need octree streaming.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want large dataset rendering.
Potree review

Questions people ask

Is NexTraq or Potree better?
Neither clearly leads. NexTraq starts at On request and Potree at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, NexTraq or Potree?
Potree has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for NexTraq and Free for Potree.
Does NexTraq or Potree run on more platforms?
NexTraq runs on Web, iOS, Android. Potree runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
Can I use Potree for free?
Yes. Potree has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. NexTraq starts at On request.
What is NexTraq best used for?
NexTraq is most often used for a north american trades or field service fleet that wants tracking, dispatch and eld compliance from one mid-market vendor, an operator already buying michelin tyres and fleet services that can negotiate telematics into a wider commercial agreement, a fleet replacing an ageing tracking system that values an owner with a large corporate balance sheet over a venture-funded challenger, a distribution business needing straightforward fuel and idling reporting to justify a driver behaviour programme. Of those, a north american trades or field service fleet that wants tracking, dispatch and eld compliance from one mid-market vendor and an operator already buying michelin tyres and fleet services that can negotiate telematics into a wider commercial agreement are not what Potree is typically brought in for.
What can NexTraq do that Potree cannot?
NexTraq covers Vehicle tracking, Hours of service, Fuel and idling reporting, Maintenance scheduling. Potree covers Octree streaming, Large dataset rendering, Measurement tools, Clipping and profiles.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

NexTraq: Is NexTraq still a separate company?

No. Michelin bought it in 2017 and has folded it into Michelin Connected Fleet, together with Masternaut in Europe and Sascar in Brazil.

Potree: Does Potree cost anything?

No. It is open source and free. You supply the hosting, which for a static viewer is inexpensive.

NexTraq: Will my NexTraq system be migrated to a different platform?

Assume so, eventually. Ask directly what the migration timetable is, what happens to historical data, and who bears the cost of re-fitting or re-configuring devices.

Potree: Is there commercial support?

No. There is no vendor and no support contract. Support is GitHub issues and the community.

NexTraq: Does buying Michelin tyres get me a better telematics price?

It is worth testing. The commercial logic of the acquisition is bundling vehicle services, and that is where discounting is most likely to be available.

Potree: Who maintains it?

It originated at TU Wien and is maintained principally by Markus Schütz, with community contributions.

Potree: Can it handle very large clouds?

Yes, hundreds of millions of points, because PotreeConverter builds a multi-resolution octree that streams only what is visible.

Potree: Is my data private?

Only if you make it so. Potree serves static files with no built-in authentication, so access control is entirely your responsibility.

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