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Weather · head to head

Planet Labs vs Visual Crossing Weather

Planet Labs logo

Planet Labs

Weather

Daily satellite imagery for environmental monitoring

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Visual Crossing Weather logo

Visual Crossing Weather

Weather

Historical and forecast weather data for any location

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Visual Crossing Weather has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Planet Labs planet publishes no price for its monitoring subscriptions: no rate per square kilometre, no minimum area and no commitment length appears on the product page; Visual Crossing Weather sub hourly weather history, solar and wind energy elements, soil and evapotranspiration data and degree day calculations are excluded from the Professional plan
  • They diverge on capability: Planet Labs covers Daily satellite imagery, Visual Crossing Weather covers Historical weather.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Planet Labs and Visual Crossing Weather actually diverge.

Attributes where Planet Labs and Visual Crossing Weather differ
AttributePlanet LabsVisual Crossing Weather
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotefreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, ApiApi, Web
Founded20102003

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

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 Planet Labs

  • Daily satellite imagery
  • Change detection
  • Agriculture monitoring
  • Forest tracking
  • Climate data
  • GIS platforms
  • Cloud services

Only in Visual Crossing Weather

  • Historical weather
  • 15-day forecasts
  • Weather query builder
  • Bulk downloads
  • REST API
  • Excel add-in
  • Python library

Both cover

  • API access
  • Web support
  • Api support

What people use each for

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

Planet Labs

  • Daily satellite imagery monitoring of a defined area of interestnot Visual Crossing Weather
  • Detecting change in land use, agriculture and infrastructure over timenot Visual Crossing Weather
  • Feeding satellite imagery into analytics and machine learning pipelinesnot Visual Crossing Weather

Visual Crossing Weather

  • Pulling historical weather records for analysis and modellingnot Planet Labs
  • Adding forecast data to applications through a weather APInot Planet Labs
  • Weather driven analytics for energy, agriculture and logisticsnot Planet Labs

Where each one falls short

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

Planet Labs

  • Planet publishes no price for its monitoring subscriptions: no rate per square kilometre, no minimum area and no commitment length appears on the product page
  • Access is sold only through a subscription scaled by sales to the customer's stated needs, so there is no self service purchase
  • Every pricing route on the page is a contact sales button

Visual Crossing Weather

  • Sub hourly weather history, solar and wind energy elements, soil and evapotranspiration data and degree day calculations are excluded from the Professional plan
  • Removing the attribution requirement needs the Corporate plan or above
  • Usage is metered in records rather than API calls, and the metered plan requires a cost calculator to work out the bill
  • Per record rates are not stated on the editions page
  • Enterprise terms are custom rather than published

Pricing, plan by plan

Planet Labs

On request
  • ExplorerFree
    • Limited imagery
    • Basic tools
    • Entry tier
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Full archive
    • API access
    • Custom analytics

Visual Crossing Weather

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1,000 records/day
    • 15-day forecast
    • Historical data
  • Professional$35/month
    • 10,000 records/day
    • Full API
    • Support

Which should you pick?

Choose Planet Labs if

  • You need daily satellite imagery.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want change detection.
Planet Labs review

Choose Visual Crossing Weather if

  • You need historical weather.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Api, Web.
  • You also want 15-day forecasts.
Visual Crossing Weather review

Questions people ask

Is Planet Labs or Visual Crossing Weather better?
Neither clearly leads. Planet Labs starts at On request and Visual Crossing Weather at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Planet Labs or Visual Crossing Weather?
Visual Crossing Weather has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Planet Labs and Free for Visual Crossing Weather.
Does Planet Labs or Visual Crossing Weather run on more platforms?
Planet Labs runs on Web, Api. Visual Crossing Weather runs on Api, Web.
Can I use Visual Crossing Weather for free?
Yes. Visual Crossing Weather has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Planet Labs starts at On request.
What is Planet Labs best used for?
Planet Labs is most often used for daily satellite imagery monitoring of a defined area of interest, detecting change in land use, agriculture and infrastructure over time, feeding satellite imagery into analytics and machine learning pipelines. Of those, daily satellite imagery monitoring of a defined area of interest and detecting change in land use, agriculture and infrastructure over time are not what Visual Crossing Weather is typically brought in for.
What can Planet Labs do that Visual Crossing Weather cannot?
Planet Labs covers Daily satellite imagery, Change detection, Agriculture monitoring, Forest tracking. Visual Crossing Weather covers Historical weather, 15-day forecasts, Weather query builder, Bulk downloads. Both handle API access, Web support, Api support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Planet Labs: How can I access Planet Labs satellite imagery pricing?

Planet Labs offers flexible and transparent pricing but does not publish rates on their public website. Visit planet.com/pricing/, contact their sales team via the Contact Sales link, or log into the Planet Insights Platform to view pricing.

Source
Visual Crossing Weather: Does Visual Crossing offer free weather data?

Yes, the first 1,000 daily records are free and include both historical and forecast data for commercial use.

Source
Visual Crossing Weather: Can I use Visual Crossing weather data for commercial purposes?

Yes, all Visual Crossing subscription tiers include commercial use rights.

Source
Visual Crossing Weather: What is the difference between the Metered and Corporate plans on Visual Crossing?

The Metered plan charges pay-as-you-go for unlimited records with 5 locations per query. The Corporate plan has unlimited records with fair use policy, 1,000 locations per query, advanced features like solar and wind energy, and premium support included.

Source
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