How does Solcast compare to other data sources?

Our goal is to make your work easier. Part of this is making the best data, making it fast and easy for you to download, and giving you free credits to get you started. But we also want to make it easier for you to understand how we compare to some other data providers.

Here’s a comparison of Solcast against some commonly used datasets in the solar development community; Solargis, SolarAnywhere, Meteonorm, Vaisala, NSRDB, and PVGIS.

Paid sources comparison

	Solcast	Solargis	Meteonorm	Vaisala
Free trial with instant access and data download?	✔	✘	✔	✘
Price point	$$	$$$$	$	$$
Download wait time	1-9 minutes	5 minutes to 48 hours	1 minute	5 minutes to 24 hours
Mean Bias Error (GHI)	0.0%	0.0%	N/A	3.1%
Standard Deviation of Bias (GHI)	± 2.0%	± 2.9%	N/A	± 4.9%
90% of sites have bias (GHI) smaller than	± 2.5%	± 4.6%	N/A	Not published
Mean RMSE (GHI)	16.5%	18.0%	N/A	18.47%
Comprehensive, global, independent validation	✔	✔	✘	✔
Validation Sites	46	220	N/A	196
Satellite based estimation as primary method	✔	✔	✘	✔
Global Coverage	✔	✔	✔	✔
Resolution of satellite data used	1-2 km	3-4 km	2-8 km	3 km
10+ years of satellite data at full temporal resolution	✔	✔	✘	✔
Ignores older, less reliable satellites	✔	✘	✘	✘
Suitable for use in steep mountain terrain with local relief over 1000m	✘	✔	✘	✘

Free sources comparison

	Solcast	NSRDB	PVGIS
Download wait time	1-9 minutes	1 minute	1 minute
Mean Bias Error (GHI)	0.0%	0.3%	0.7%
Bias Deviation (GHI)	± 2.0%	± 2.7%	± 3.2%
90% of sites have bias (GHI) smaller than	± 2.5%	Not Published	Not Published
Mean RMSE (GHI)	16.5%	22.9%	Not Published
Comprehensive, global, independent validation	✔	✘	✘
Validation Sites	46	9	22
Satellite based estimation as primary method	✔	✔	✔
Global Coverage	✔	✔	✔
Resolution of satellite data used	1-2 km	4-10 km	4 km
10+ years of satellite data at full temporal resolution	✔	✔	✔
Ignores older, less reliable satellites	✔	✘	✘