PVGIS
by European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) · JRC Ispra, Italy (PVGIS is published by the JRC; no PVGIS-specific address given)
Design & simulation · Open source
- Entry price
- Could not verify
- Charged
- Free
- Try before buying
- Free tier
- Runs on
- Web
- Built for
- Residential · C&I · Utility-scale
- Named integrations
- 0
- Last verified
- Could not read
Surface unreadable
see note below
We could not fully read this vendor’s site
What happened: JS application shell — database names, year ranges and results render dynamically
This is a fact about our access, not about the product. Nothing below is inferred from the failure — fields we could not read are marked “could not read”, which is a different state from “not offered”. This page is excluded from search indexing until the gap closes.
What is PVGIS?
The European Commission's free web tool and API for solar radiation and PV performance anywhere on Earth — grid-connected, tracking and off-grid performance, monthly, daily and hourly radiation, and a downloadable TMY — with no account, no key and no usage restriction.
Its pricing could not be verified. We recorded 20 verified capabilities.
Verified against the vendor’s own pages.
The two questions vendors rarely answer
Free or paid?
Free
Could not verify
Dependencies & lock-in
None recorded
We did not establish a hard third-party dependency. That is not the same as confirming there is none.
Our editorial assessment — not a user review
Who it is for — and who it is not for
For anyone who needs a defensible, citable, zero-cost irradiance or yield figure, and for developers who want a free API to build on. Not for array layout, 3D shading from buildings, electrical design, proposals or bankable project finance — PVGIS is a resource and performance calculator, not a design tool, and several commercial products in this batch consume it as a data source rather than compete with it.
Editorial assessment from the research recordSourcere.jrc.ec.europa.euVerified
Pricing
We could not read this vendor’s pricing surface.
What happened: JS application shell — database names, year ranges and results render dynamically
This says nothing about whether a price exists — it is a fact about our access, not about the product. It is recorded as unverifiable rather than guessed at.
Sourcere.jrc.ec.europa.euVerifiedfirst-hand
Prices are shown exactly as the vendor writes them and are never converted between currencies — a converted figure would be a number we invented. How we verify pricing
Feature detail
27 normalised data points across 8 capability areas. Every row carries its evidence state; hover any chip for what that state means.
Solar design & simulation 6 verified 2 not found
| Capability | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Array design | ||
| Ground-mount / tracker layout ⓘ | Advanced | Verified |
| Interoperability | ||
| CAD export (DXF/DWG) ⓘ | — | Verified |
| Shading & irradiance | ||
| Shading analysis ⓘ | Advanced | Verified |
| Storage design | ||
| Battery sizing and modelling ⓘ | Advanced | Verified |
| Yield simulation | ||
| Annual energy yield simulation ⓘ | Advanced | Verified |
| Bankable / IE-accepted simulation report ⓘ | — | Not found |
| Loss and uncertainty modelling (P50/P90) ⓘ | — | Not found |
| Named weather / irradiance data source ⓘ | advanced | Verified |
CRM & lead management 1 verified
| Capability | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Reporting | ||
| Commission tracking ⓘ | — | Verified |
Estimation & financial modelling 1 verified
| Capability | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Financial modelling | ||
| ROI / payback calculation ⓘ | Advanced | Verified |
Reporting, data & BI 1 verified
| Capability | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Output | ||
| Report / deliverable export ⓘ | Advanced | Verified |
Integrations & extensibility 2 verified
| Capability | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Extensibility | ||
| Public API ⓘ | Advanced | Verified |
| Named integrations | ||
| Named, documented integrations ⓘ | 0 | Verified |
Platform & deployment 2 verified
| Capability | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | ||
| Delivery model | open-source | Verified |
| Web application | — | Verified |
Pricing & commercial terms 2 verified
| Capability | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | ||
| Price published ⓘ | — | Could not read |
| Pricing model | free | Verified |
| Trial | ||
| Free tier | free-forever | Verified |
Market fit & availability 5 verified
| Capability | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | ||
| Geographic availability | EU; global | Verified |
| Lifecycle | ||
| Product status | active | Verified |
| Segment | ||
| C&I ⓘ | — | Verified |
| Residential ⓘ | — | Verified |
| Utility-scale ⓘ | — | Verified |
4 further data points are not applicable to this product and are hidden here. They are excluded from any score rather than counted as zero — a residential tool is not deficient at ground-mount layout, it is out of scope.
AI capabilities
No AI claim on the vendor’s own pages
We found no explicit AI or machine-learning claim. Words like “smart”, “one-click automatic” and “magic” are automation claims and are deliberately not counted as AI — coding them as AI would fabricate a capability the vendor never asserted.
Integrations
No integration named on the vendor’s own site
We searched and found no named third-party product. Integration information has not been verified for PVGIS.
Collected from users — none yet
Verified user reviews
No verified user reviews yet
We publish only reviews we collect and verify ourselves. No review of PVGIS has cleared identity verification and moderation yet, so there is no score — and there will be none until eight verified reviews exist.
Third-party ratings from G2, Capterra and TrustRadius are never mixed into our score or our structured data; where we cite them they are attributed and dated. How our review system works · Write a review
Third-party review presence recorded during research: G2 / Capterra / TrustRadius. Cited in prose only, never in our markup.
PVGIS alternatives
Products in Design & simulation, free and lower-cost options first.
Easy PV
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SolarEdge Designer
SolarEdge Technologies
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SAM (System Advisor Model)
National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) — formerly the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Design & simulation · Desktop
Explore what PVGIS does
Each link shows every product we researched with that capability or selling to that buyer, so you can see who else is in the running.
Capabilities it carries
Frequently asked
How much does PVGIS cost?
We could not read PVGIS's pricing surface. JS application shell — database names, year ranges and results render dynamically
Is PVGIS free?
Free tier, no time limit.
What does PVGIS integrate with?
No third-party integration is named on PVGIS's own site. A logo wall is not an integration list.
Sources and verification
Primary source
https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools
Pricing read from https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/
Data coverage
20 verified · 0 vendor-claimed · 2 not found
87% of the 23 applicable data points were confirmed on European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)’s own pages.
Last verified
Vendors change pricing and features without notice. Check the vendor’s own page before deciding.