Overview

Felt combines mapping with spatial SQL, analysis across tables, and plain-language analysis through Felt AI. Live connections span cloud storage and databases such as Amazon S3, BigQuery, Databricks, Google Cloud, Azure, Postgres, Snowflake, and Amazon Redshift, alongside Esri and standards-based sources including WFS and WMTS. That breadth suits teams whose data already lives across several systems, while the platform's value is less clear for someone who only needs to make a simple standalone map.

Maps support real-time collaboration, threaded comments, sharing, role-based permissions, custom branding, and iframe embeds. The QGIS plugin retains styling, symbology, and layer structure when publishing a project, a practical advantage for teams that have already organized work in QGIS. Felt also provides an iOS and Android Field App for surveys, GPS capture, and geotagged photos; offline collection and later syncing help keep field work moving without a connection.

Key features

Spatial analysis: Spatial SQL, cross-table analysis, and Felt AI's plain-language analysis cover different ways teams may explore geographic data.
Data connectivity: Connections include cloud platforms, databases, GIS services, and STAC. Live refresh helps keep connected data current without making Felt only a static-map tool.
QGIS publishing: Preserving layer structure and styling reduces the work of recreating an existing project's presentation in Felt.
Field collection: Surveys, GPS capture, photos, offline work, and later syncing make the mobile app relevant to operations teams gathering information in the field.
Development and deployment: Enterprise includes a REST API and JavaScript SDK; Felt's app development offering also describes a Python SDK and webhooks. Enterprise additionally offers regional hosting, data residency options, and customer VPC deployment.
Security: Felt states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant, encrypts web traffic and credentials, and monitors systems around the clock.

Pricing

Felt uses a freemium model, but its free tier is a narrow personal option rather than a starter business plan. Personal costs 0.00 USD per free, forever. It includes unlimited maps and sharing, but prohibits business use and does not allow your own data file uploads. That makes it suitable for personal exploration, not for evaluating a team workflow with business data.

Professional has custom pricing on an annual contract, with a 7-day trial. It includes 10 full seats, unlimited free viewers, 25 GB of monthly data processing, and 100K monthly map views, plus a one-hour onboarding session and priority email and chat support. The seat count and monthly quotas make it a defined team tier; Felt says it does not automatically bill for overages or throttle maps, so exceeding those thresholds does not trigger either of those stated consequences.

Enterprise also uses custom pricing and an annual contract. It includes 10 full seats, unlimited free viewers, usage scaled to the plan, live cloud sources, a REST API and JavaScript SDK, SSO/SAML, and regional hosting and VPC deployment. It is the better fit for large organizations needing identity controls, deployment options, or developer access beyond the Professional package. Both business plans require an annual commitment, and neither has a published price.

Platforms

Felt supports web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux, as well as API and self-hosted options. The dedicated Field App runs on iOS and Android, where its offline capture and syncing support mobile collection. This wide platform coverage is useful for mixed-device teams, though the platform list alone does not establish what self-hosted deployment entails.

Who it's for

Felt is a strong candidate for GIS teams that need analysis and map collaboration, field and operations teams collecting geospatial information, and data science, analytics, product, or engineering groups building on spatial data. Large GIS organizations are the clearest audience for Enterprise's SSO/SAML, API, and hosting controls. It is a weaker fit for individuals who need to upload their own data for free or businesses that want a low-commitment, transparently priced entry tier.

Pros and cons

Pro: Analysis, live data connections, QGIS publishing, and map collaboration sit in one platform, reducing the need to separate those parts of a team workflow.
Pro: Offline field capture with later syncing supports collection where connectivity is unreliable.
Pro: Enterprise offers SSO/SAML and regional or VPC deployment for organizations with access and hosting requirements.
Con: The free plan bars business use and own-file uploads, so it cannot serve as a free business pilot with company data.
Con: Professional and Enterprise both require annual contracts with custom pricing, making costs harder to compare before speaking with sales.
Con: Professional has monthly processing and map-view limits, which teams with heavier usage must account for even though overages are not automatically billed and maps are not throttled.

Alternatives

For lighter chart-and-map publishing, Datawrapper is worth considering: its free plan includes charts, maps, and tables, web publishing and embedding, and PNG downloads, with attribution shown. Choose it when those presentation needs matter more than Felt's GIS analysis, QGIS workflow, and field collection.

BatchGeo may suit a simpler marker-mapping need: its Pro plan costs 99.00 USD per month and includes 100,000 markers per map, password protection, 10 users, Street View integration, and PDF, PNG, and KML exports. MapTiler Cloud is another freemium option for readers comparing cloud mapping services.

For map drawing, Scribble Maps offers a Pro Basic monthly plan at 19.00 USD per month, while its free plan is capped at five lifetime map saves, one user, and 450×450px images. That makes it a more focused option when those map-creation limits and price suit the task better than Felt's team GIS plans. NextGIS Web is an alternative for readers considering a GIS service with self-hosted support.

Maptitude is a paid alternative with a 1095.00 USD one-time desktop option for one user and a 10-year term, or an online plan at 795.00 USD per year; consider it when those licensing formats fit better than Felt's annual custom-priced contracts. MapHub is another freemium mapping option, and Mapotic offers a free Map Builder plan capped at 100 places, with ads potentially shown.

Verdict

Choose Felt if your team needs GIS analysis, collaborative maps, and field collection tied together, especially when QGIS continuity or enterprise deployment controls matter. Its free tier is not a business on-ramp, and annual custom-priced contracts make it a poor choice for buyers who need to test with their own business data or compare clear prices before committing.

	DroneDeploy Aerial	Felt
Free plan	No	Yes
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Paid from	$159/mo	Free
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Android, api, iOS, Web	Android, api, iOS, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, Web, Windows
Free plan	No	Yes

DroneDeploy Aerial vs Felt

DroneDeploy Aerial

Felt