The solar design software that turns a five-minute drone flight into a 3D roof model accurate to within inches - so the panels fit on install day.
Every solar installer has a story about the day the panels did not fit. A roof pitch measured wrong. A chimney the satellite image missed. A change order that ate the margin, or a financing rejection that killed the deal. The common thread is a bad measurement made early and paid for late. Scanifly, a business-to-business software company based in Hightstown, New Jersey, was built to close that gap.
Its pitch is deliberately narrow: design instantly with AI, then verify with drones, all on one platform. A contractor flies any drone with a GPS and a camera over a property for about five minutes. Scanifly's proprietary photogrammetry and AI stitch the imagery into a to-scale 3D model of the roof, accurate to within one to three inches of hand measurements. That model becomes the canvas for panel layouts, shading reports, CAD exports, and permit-ready plan sets.
The company works with the solar companies, not the homeowners. Its customers are residential and commercial installers who live and die by accuracy. Scanifly says its users have reduced survey and design time by as much as 90 percent, and the platform has now been used across more than 150,000 projects.
What makes the approach distinctive is where the data comes from. Most design tools trace roofs from satellite imagery, which is cheap and fast but can be months or years out of date and too low-resolution to catch small obstructions. Scanifly flips the model: it captures the site as it actually is on the day of the flight. For complex roofs with multiple pitches and vents, that difference is the difference between a design that fits and a truck rolling back out.
"The only solar design software to integrate your aerial, field, design, and stamping data on one platform - from prelim to PTO."
Remote designs built from satellite, Nearmap, and LiDAR imagery for sales quotes - then drone-based designs using photogrammetry and AI for onsite accuracy and real-time shading.
An iOS and Android app purpose-built for solar field crews, with 10+ industry-standard checklist templates, photo annotation, and direct drone-image submission. Free with any design subscription.
Expert-provided design work delivering permit-ready, stamped plan sets - with turnaround as fast as 48 hours from survey.
Proprietary onsite shading analysis comparable to the Solmetric SunEye and Solar Pathfinder, and accepted by major regulators and lenders.
Connections to CRM, proposal, and racking partners including EnergySage, Enerflo, and Pipe Solar - plus a native proposal tool launched in 2025.
Scanifly pairs with any drone that has a GPS and a camera, so contractors buy whatever hardware fits their budget and workflow.
An inaccurate measurement upstream becomes a truck roll, a delay, and a financing rejection downstream. Scanifly's inch-accurate models are built to make the design match reality before anyone touches a roof.
Hand-measuring a roof means ladders, hours, and risk. A five-minute drone flight replaces the climb - safer for crews and faster for the pipeline.
Satellite imagery can be years old and miss recent additions or small obstructions. Drone capture reflects the site as it is today.
Aerial data, field checklists, design, and stamping often live in separate tools. Scanifly integrates them from prelim to permission-to-operate.
Note: comparison reflects publicly stated positioning. Many teams pair Scanifly's measurement output with a separate design or proposal tool.
B2B SaaS subscriptions sold to solar contractors and installers, plus expert design services and integration partnerships with proposal, CRM, and racking platforms.
Residential and commercial solar installers, contractors, and sales teams - not homeowners directly. The platform spans 150,000+ projects.
The measurement-and-verification layer of the solar design market, increasingly embedded inside partners' sales workflows rather than competing for the whole stack.
John J. Novak, Denis Kobozev, and Jason Steinberg start the company around drone-based 3D mapping for solar.
The former solar-finance banker takes the helm and sharpens the focus on solar design and field operations.
Purpose-built mobile field-operations tooling with checklists and drone-image capture rolls out.
SustainVC and Avenue Growth Partners lead a $10M round to scale drone-based solar design.
A remote sales-design tool built on the technical platform brings satellite and LiDAR designs to pre-sale quoting.
Partnerships with EnergySage, Enerflo, and Pipe Solar arrive alongside a native proposal tool, crossing 150,000+ projects.
Took the helm in 2018 after a career in the renewable-energy industry - from solar contracting to investment banking at CohnReznick Capital. A Muhlenberg College graduate in finance and sustainability studies.
John J. Novak and Denis Kobozev co-founded Scanifly in 2015, building the drone-and-photogrammetry foundation the platform runs on today.
Led by impact investor SustainVC with Avenue Growth Partners; Runway Venture Partners also among backers. Total funding to date is roughly $12.27M.
A team of about 23 supporting remote work, branded around software for "quality-obsessed contractors."
Scanifly is the software behind your neighbor's rooftop install - it sells to installers, not homeowners.
A single five-minute drone flight can replace hours of hand measurement on a roof.
The platform is drone-agnostic - any GPS-and-camera drone works.
CEO Jason Steinberg came from solar-finance investment banking before running the company.
Its Viewshed shading tech is generated from drone imagery yet rivals ground-based instruments.
Stamped, permit-ready plan sets can be turned around in as little as 48 hours.
Scanifly is B2B solar design and field-operations software that uses drone imagery, photogrammetry, and AI to build to-scale 3D roof models accurate to within 1-3 inches, then generates layouts, shading reports, and permit-ready plan sets.
Residential and commercial solar contractors, installers, and sales teams - not homeowners directly. The platform has been used on more than 150,000 solar projects.
No. Scanifly pairs with any drone that has a GPS and a camera, so contractors can choose hardware that fits their needs and budget.
Aurora and OpenSolar design mainly from satellite imagery, which can be outdated. Scanifly captures the site with a drone and builds an inch-accurate 3D model via photogrammetry, positioning itself as the measurement and verification specialist.
Scanifly raised a $10M Series A in 2022 led by SustainVC and Avenue Growth Partners, for roughly $12.27M in total funding.