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Research · head to head

Terra vs Valispace

Terra logo

Terra

Research

Open biomedical research platform for genomic analysis, priced only by the cloud you consume

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Valispace logo

Valispace

Research

Requirements and systems engineering for hardware teams, with published per-seat pricing

From
$999/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Terra has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Terra the absence of a licence fee hides the real cost driver: an idle notebook virtual machine left running overnight, or a workspace bucket full of intermediate workflow outputs, quietly consumes grant money with no vendor invoice to prompt a review.; Valispace the three-seat minimum means a solo consultant or a two-person startup pays for a seat nobody uses, roughly 3,000 US dollars a year before anyone logs in.
  • They diverge on capability: Terra covers No platform licence fee, Valispace covers Live requirements.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Terra and Valispace actually diverge.

Attributes where Terra and Valispace differ
AttributeTerraValispace
Starting priceFree$999/year
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer user per year
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Google Cloud, Microsoft AzureWeb, On-premise, API

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

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 Terra

  • No platform licence fee
  • Cloud pass-through billing
  • WDL workflow execution
  • Notebook environments
  • Controlled-access data
  • Workspace sharing
  • Compliance posture
  • Multi-cloud

Only in Valispace

  • Live requirements
  • Budgets and margins
  • Component tree
  • Verification and validation
  • Python API and Jupyter
  • ValiAssistant
  • SSO and MFA

What people use each for

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

Terra

  • A genomics lab running whole-genome alignment and variant calling pipelines without provisioning or maintaining a local clusternot Valispace
  • A consortium sharing controlled-access human data across institutions where the data cannot be copied to each sitenot Valispace
  • A health system analysing patient genomic data under a HIPAA business associate agreementnot Valispace
  • A federal or federally funded project needing FedRAMP Moderate authorisation for its analysis environmentnot Valispace

Valispace

  • A small satellite team keeping mass and power budgets live across a design cycle instead of rebuilding spreadsheets before each reviewnot Terra
  • A drone manufacturer that needs requirement traceability for a certification authority but cannot justify an enterprise requirements databasenot Terra
  • A university engineering department teaching systems engineering with real traceability under the flat education ratenot Terra
  • An electronics-heavy hardware startup wanting requirements linked to the PCB design work happening in Altiumnot Terra

Where each one falls short

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

Terra

  • The absence of a licence fee hides the real cost driver: an idle notebook virtual machine left running overnight, or a workspace bucket full of intermediate workflow outputs, quietly consumes grant money with no vendor invoice to prompt a review.
  • Cost governance is entirely the customer responsibility, and grant-funded groups without a cloud engineer routinely overspend before anyone reads the Google or Azure bill in enough detail to find the cause.
  • It assumes genuine bioinformatics competence: writing or adapting WDL workflows, managing data tables and debugging failed tasks are all on you, so a wet lab without computational staff cannot use it productively.
  • Feature parity between the Google Cloud and Azure deployments is not identical, so a decision on cloud provider constrains which capabilities and datasets you can reach and is expensive to reverse later.
  • It is a research platform rather than a regulated clinical system: it is not a validated GxP environment and does not carry the qualification package a diagnostic or submission workflow would require, so clinical use needs additional infrastructure and validation you provide yourself.

Valispace

  • The three-seat minimum means a solo consultant or a two-person startup pays for a seat nobody uses, roughly 3,000 US dollars a year before anyone logs in.
  • Ownership has changed twice in two years, from independent to Altium to Renesas by way of the Altium acquisition, and the technology has been repackaged as the Altium Requirements Portal, so the standalone roadmap is genuinely uncertain.
  • It is not a certified DO-178C or ARP4754 toolchain component in the way established requirements databases are, so highly regulated aerospace programmes may still need a recognised tool alongside it.
  • The parametric model rewards teams who structure their data properly at the start; teams that import a flat requirement list get a slower version of a document tool and none of the budget automation.
  • Integration depth outside the Altium and Jira world is limited, so linking to an existing PLM or a CAD-driven mass properties source usually means writing against the Python API yourself.

Pricing, plan by plan

Terra

Free
  • Terra platformFree
    • No charge for the platform, administration, security controls or frontline support
    • Workspaces, workflow execution and notebook environments included
    • Available on Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure
  • Cloud consumption$undefined/month
    • Google Cloud or Azure charges passed through at cost with no markup
    • Running notebook virtual machines around 0.22 USD per hour, roughly 0.027 USD per hour when paused
    • Storage billed continuously on workspace buckets and intermediate workflow outputs

Valispace

$999/year
  • Valispace$999/year
    • Minimum three users
    • Requirements, components, V&V and analysis modules
    • ValiAssistant AI beta
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • On-premise deployment option
    • Staging servers with controlled update timing
    • Advanced support terms
  • Education$1000/year
    • Flat annual rate for an institution
    • Unlimited students and professors
    • Non-commercial projects only

Which should you pick?

Choose Terra if

  • You need no platform licence fee.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.
  • You also want cloud pass-through billing.
Terra review

Choose Valispace if

  • You need live requirements.
  • You work on Web, On-premise, API.
  • You also want budgets and margins.
Valispace review

Questions people ask

Is Terra or Valispace better?
Neither clearly leads. Terra starts at Free and Valispace at $999/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Terra or Valispace?
Terra has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Terra and $999/year for Valispace.
Does Terra or Valispace run on more platforms?
Terra runs on Web, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure. Valispace runs on Web, On-premise, API.
Can I use Terra for free?
Yes. Terra has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Valispace starts at $999/year.
What is Terra best used for?
Terra is most often used for a genomics lab running whole-genome alignment and variant calling pipelines without provisioning or maintaining a local cluster, a consortium sharing controlled-access human data across institutions where the data cannot be copied to each site, a health system analysing patient genomic data under a hipaa business associate agreement, a federal or federally funded project needing fedramp moderate authorisation for its analysis environment. Of those, a genomics lab running whole-genome alignment and variant calling pipelines without provisioning or maintaining a local cluster and a consortium sharing controlled-access human data across institutions where the data cannot be copied to each site are not what Valispace is typically brought in for.
What can Terra do that Valispace cannot?
Terra covers No platform licence fee, Cloud pass-through billing, WDL workflow execution, Notebook environments. Valispace covers Live requirements, Budgets and margins, Component tree, Verification and validation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Terra: Is Terra really free?

The platform is. There is no licence fee. Everything you pay is Google Cloud or Azure compute, storage and egress, passed through at cost.

Valispace: Who owns Valispace?

Altium acquired it in December 2023, and Renesas Electronics acquired Altium in 2024. It is therefore a Renesas-owned product, despite frequent reports elsewhere linking it to defence groups.

Terra: What actually drives the bill?

Running virtual machines and stored data. Pausing notebooks drops a virtual machine from about 0.22 to about 0.027 dollars an hour, and deleting intermediate workflow outputs is the other main saving.

Valispace: Is it the same thing as the Altium Requirements Portal?

They share a lineage. Requirements Portal is the Altium 365 packaging of Valispace technology. The standalone Valispace product is still sold with its own pricing.

Terra: Can I use it with protected health information?

Yes. Terra signs HIPAA business associate agreements and GDPR data processing agreements, and the Azure deployment holds FedRAMP Moderate authorisation.

Valispace: What does it actually cost?

999 US dollars per user per year with a minimum of three users, billed annually. Enterprise with on-premise deployment is quoted separately.

Terra: Is it validated for clinical or GxP use?

No. It is a research platform. Regulated clinical or submission workflows need validation and controls you build yourself.

Valispace: Can it replace a requirements database like DOORS?

For small and mid-sized hardware programmes, often yes. For programmes with contractual tool mandates, no.

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