Libraries · pricing
PDAL pricing
PDAL publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the libraries tools listed alongside it.
As of 1 September 2026, PDAL pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Open source, no licence fee
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
PDAL plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDAL | Free | 5 | Entry tier |
Where PDAL stops being free
PDAL, Free
- BSD licence
- Library, command line tool and Python bindings
- No usage or seat limits
- Community support via GitHub and mailing list
- Paid support only by contracting Hobu Inc or a consultancy
No paid tier on record
PDAL lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full PDAL feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Format translation
- JSON pipelines
- Ground classification filters
- Reprojection
- Rasterisation
- Python bindings
- Streaming mode
- Cloud-native output
People bring PDAL in for a mapping agency building a repeatable pipeline that reprojects, classifies ground and tiles a national lidar dataset, a developer converting client-delivered las files into cloud-optimised copc for streaming to a web viewer, a researcher scripting outlier removal and dem generation from drone lidar inside a python notebook, a survey firm automating quality checks on incoming point cloud deliveries rather than opening each file by hand. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to PDAL are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Libraries
Too few libraries tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDAL (this page) | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | |
| Libby | Free | Free with a participating library card, no subscription | - | vs PDAL |
| Hoopla | Free | Free with a participating library card, capped by monthly borrow limit | - | vs PDAL |
| Leafmap | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs PDAL |
| daisyUI | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs PDAL |
| Mantine | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs PDAL |
| Ant Design | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs PDAL |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the PDAL badges page.
Before you pay for PDAL
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
PDAL runs on linux, windows, macos, and is published by PDAL contributors, development led by Hobu Inc of Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The full record is on the PDAL review, and the rest of the category is under best libraries tools.
PDAL pricing questions
- How much does PDAL cost?
- PDAL publishes a single tier, PDAL, at Free.
- Does PDAL have a free plan?
- Yes. The PDAL tier costs nothing and covers bsd licence, library, command line tool and python bindings, no usage or seat limits.
- Which libraries tools can I use without paying?
- 8 of the 8 libraries tools listed alongside PDAL have a free tier: Libby, Hoopla, Leafmap, daisyUI, Mantine.
- What am I actually paying for with PDAL?
- The record lists 8 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for a mapping agency building a repeatable pipeline that reprojects, classifies ground and tiles a national lidar dataset, a developer converting client-delivered las files into cloud-optimised copc for streaming to a web viewer, a researcher scripting outlier removal and dem generation from drone lidar inside a python notebook.
- Does PDAL charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these PDAL prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare PDAL against before paying?
- The closest libraries tools in this directory are Libby, Hoopla, Leafmap, daisyUI. Each has a side-by-side comparison with PDAL covering price, platforms and features.