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, Meteonorm, Vaisala, NREL, 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 | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
Test now, free
Get free historical data credits when you sign up, so you can try our data for yourself. You can download data automatically within around 1 to 9 minutes of submitting your request.
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