Best Solar Design Software in India (2026): SolarDraft, Solar Designer, Arka360, SolarLadder, Reslink & SurgePV Compared

PM Surya Ghar has turned rooftop solar into one of India’s fastest-moving markets, and the EPCs winning it are the ones who can design, quote and send a proposal before a competitor calls back. Choosing the right solar design software is now a sales decision as much as an engineering one.

This guide compares six tools Indian EPCs shortlist most often — SolarDraft, Solar Designer, Arka360, SolarLadder, Reslink and SurgePV — on price including GST, 3D design, drawings, proposals and CRM, with the strengths and gaps of each.

Quick verdict

• Best value for rooftop EPCs: SolarDraft and Solar Designer — full 3D design, drawings, proposals and CRM from ₹40,000 a year including GST.
• Most established design suite: Arka360 — mature design studio and proposals; India plans from ₹46,000 a year plus GST.
• Best for running operations: SolarLadder — CRM, project management, invoicing and O&M alongside 3D design.
• Best for monthly billing: Reslink — from ₹4,000 a month, with ground-mount in its Premium plan.
• Best for bankable simulation: SurgePV — AI roof modelling and 8,760-hour shading, priced per user in US dollars.

What a solar draft is — and why the software matters

A solar draft is the first layout of a PV system: the roof outline, obstructions, module placement, capacity and an early generation estimate. Every sale starts with one. Drawn by hand, it takes a day; in modern solar draft software it takes minutes, often while the customer is still in the room. That speed is why most tools here now sell themselves as pre-sales tools as much as design tools.

Pricing compared (incl. GST)

*Converted at roughly ₹85–90 per US dollar, before taxes. Prices from each vendor’s public pricing page; check the vendor before buying.

On published entry prices, SolarDraft and Solar Designer are about 26% lower than Arka360’s entry plan once GST is added (₹40,000 vs ≈ ₹54,280), and roughly 17% lower than a year of Reslink’s entry plan. SolarDraft also offers a free plan to start, and its higher tiers (Pro ₹60,000, Premium ₹2,00,000, all incl. GST) raise the project limit from 500 kW to 1 MW and 10 MW — the full breakdown is on its plan comparison page.

Feature-by-feature comparison

✓ = listed on the vendor’s public pages. “Check” = not confirmed from public pages; it may still exist, so ask the vendor.

1. SolarDraft

SolarDraft is a Delhi-based suite built for Indian EPCs and PM Surya Ghar installers, sold as separate products: Solar 3D Design, Solar Proposal, Solar CRM and a website builder. Every Solar 3D Design plan includes 3D design on the satellite map with LiDAR heights, advanced shadow analysis, structure BOM, PV array and string-route drawings, an SLD, a design and energy report, and a 3D-ready proposal with a shareable link — on RCC, tin-shed, petrol-pump and parking roofs.

Pros

• Free plan to start; Basic from ₹40,000 a year including GST.
• LiDAR heights and advanced shadow analysis on every plan.
• Proposals with PM Surya Ghar subsidy and payback built in.
• Android app plus web; site and guides in six Indian languages.

Cons

• Ground-mount, agrivoltaics, battery design and site survey start on the Pro plan.
• Full white-labelling and own-domain hosting are Premium features.

Best for: residential and commercial rooftop EPCs that want design, proposal and CRM from one Indian vendor.

2. Solar Designer

Solar Designer is a standalone rooftop design web app built around one idea: build the 3D in the first meeting. A guided six-step project setup captures the customer, state, DISCOM, site type, connection and sanctioned load, then you design on HD satellite imagery and choose panels, inverters, wiring and structure. Its drawing set is the most complete here for DISCOM paperwork — string-route plan, PV array drawing, SLD with editable ratings, earthing and lightning-arrester layout, structure drawing, cable routing, a site/key plan and a bill of materials in Excel and PDF.

Pros

• From ₹40,000 a year including GST.
• Full DISCOM drawing set, including earthing, LA and cable routing.
• Designs, proposals, CRM, site survey and a control panel in one workspace.
• Company profile auto-fills every proposal; shareable 3D link for customers.

Cons

• A newer name than Arka360 or SolarLadder, so fewer third-party reviews.
• Pricing for higher tiers is not published — ask the vendor.

Best for: EPCs that want drawings ready for the DISCOM file straight from the pre-sales design.

3. Arka360

Arka360 (formerly The Solar Labs) is the Bengaluru-built platform many Indian installers name first. Its design studio covers 3D modelling, energy simulation and an instant proposal generator, with lead management and CAD DXF exports. India plans are ₹46,000, ₹70,000 and ₹1,00,000 a year, each plus 18% GST. Read the SolarDraft vs Arka360 comparison →

4. SolarLadder

SolarLadder positions itself as a one-point solution: CRM, 3D design, proposals, tasks, invoicing, project management, an automated BOQ, a monitoring dashboard and an O&M module. Pricing was not published on the pages we checked. Read SolarDraft vs SolarLadder →

5. Reslink

Reslink offers satellite rooftop tracing, auto panel placement, 3D shadow simulation, generation estimates, BOM, PDF proposals shared on WhatsApp and a CRM, plus an Android app. Plans start at ₹4,000 a month, with Pro at ₹15,000 a month and ground-mount in Premium. Read SolarDraft vs Reslink vs SurgePV →

6. SurgePV

SurgePV focuses on engineering depth — AI 3D roof modelling, 8,760-hour shading, bankable yield reports, SLD auto-generation, BOQ, DXF/DWG export and a 70,000+ module database — priced at US$1,299–1,899 per user per year.

How to choose: a 7-point checklist

1. Yearly budget including GST — and how many users you really need.
2. Where you design — at a desk, or on a phone in front of the customer?
3. Roof and project types — RCC and tin-shed cover most Indian rooftops; ground-mount often sits in a higher plan.
4. Drawings you must submit — PV array, string route, SLD, earthing and LA, BOM.
5. Proposal needs — PM Surya Ghar subsidy, payback, your branding.
6. CRM depth — lead tracking, or full project and O&M management?
7. Project size limits — check the largest project each plan allows.

Our take

For most Indian rooftop EPCs, the shortlist comes down to value and workflow. SolarDraft and Solar Designer cover the full pre-sales flow — 3D, shading, drawings, proposal and CRM — at the lowest published price including GST, so they are the natural starting point; SolarDraft’s free plan makes it easy to test on live leads. Add Arka360 if you want the longest track record, SolarLadder if operations and O&M matter most, Reslink if you need monthly billing, and SurgePV if you sell bankable C&I projects.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• SolarDraft — compare plans (all prices incl. GST)
• Solar Designer — solardesigner.in
• Arka360 — India pricing
• Reslink — pricing
• SurgePV — pricing
• SolarLadder — CRM features