Looking for an ESRI alternative?
CARTO is the leading Location Intelligence & GIS platform for cloud natives. See why modern analytics professionals are making the switch.
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Why choose CARTO over ESRI?
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CARTO vs ESRI at a glance
The cloud-native Location Intelligence platform for teams of all sizes
Proprietary enterprise GIS with a broad range of products and services
CARTO
Direct cloud connections with no limitations on multiple data warehouses and databases. All queries are run natively on the data warehouse and no data is stored in CARTO.
Alteryx
Connectors for BigQuery, Redshift and Snowflake for ArcGIS Pro. Data is queried then transferred and stored in ArcGIS Pro.
CARTO
CARTO leverages the same performance as in your data warehouse for queries and analysis, served via a simple API layer (no ODBC or JDBC connection). Our Analytics Toolbox runs and scales in the data warehouse. Flexible visualization options from simple to complex, including aggregations for large features.
Alteryx
Esri supports connectivity with BigQuery, Redshift and Snowflake, using legacy technologies like ODBC. Cloud support is limited, handling datasets with a few thousand features.
CARTO
CARTO Data Observatory provides over 12,000 public and premium datasets from a variety of vetted data providers.
Alteryx
Demographic data for 130+ countries through Esri Demographics, and other datasets available for purchase such as Traffic Counts.
CARTO
Analysis is run natively using Spatial SQL directly in the cloud data warehouse environment.
Alteryx
Proprietary analysis runs through toolbox services in ArcGIS Pro.
CARTO
Fully cloud-native with serverless connections and deployment.
Alteryx
Not cloud native. Esri Enterprise includes duplication services and containerized deployments.
CARTO
CARTO sets out clear pricing with no hidden fees. Our flexible license model allows for unlimited users and map viewers, without requiring named user accounts.
Alteryx
Esri has a complex consumption based pricing model that is difficult to predict and budget for. In addition, much of the advanced capabilities of the Esri system come at a significant additional cost to end users.
CARTO
SaaS cloud hosted or a self-hosted option deployed with Docker Compose or Kubernetes.
Alteryx
Esri Enterprise requires management by internal IT resources and some cloud managed services.
CARTO
CARTO provides a simplified, intuitive UX that is easy to learn and adopt for the non-GIS user. Users can derive location insights faster and easier.
Alteryx
Esri creates products and solutions aimed at serving their core audience, the traditional GIS user. Specialized training is required.
CARTO
Flexible enterprise pricing plans, with all inclusive pricing.
Alteryx
Limited migration capabilities. Complex product portfolio and a credit-based pricing system.
CARTO
Data is not stored in CARTO. A single API layer used across all platform elements.
Alteryx
Various APIs depending on the product.
CARTO
CARTO uses and contributes to open source libraries such as Deck GL, React, Geoparquet…
Alteryx
Closed-source product, but can integrate with some open source tools.
Rapidly carry out spatial analysis
Data Analysts starting out in location analytics or Data Scientists creating machine-learning models can use the CARTO platform to speed up insight generation. Workflows let you design, execute and automate analytics using a visual, no-code tool. Run advanced cloud-native analysis with our comprehensive Analytics Toolbox.
Easily connect your spatial data
CARTO integrates natively with the leading cloud data platforms and analytics tools, including Google BigQuery, Snowflake, Amazon Redshift and Databricks.
Build powerful Location Intelligence apps & visualizations
Visualization shouldn’t just be pretty maps, it should answer a business question. With CARTO, you can rapidly build Location Intelligence apps using our developer resources and templates. Our cloud native Dynamic Tiling technology provides a cost-effective and performant solution for visualizing spatial data at scale.
Access more than 12,000 geospatial datasets
Our Data Observatory makes it simple for enterprise organizations to access thousands of "always-on" public & premium datasets, enhancing their spatial analysis with data such as demographics, POIs, human mobility, financial and much more.
Get inspired by our customers
“CARTO makes map making easy. I can quickly pull the data in, get it on a map, do some light SQL & then share. Collaboration is easy & within a couple of hours we can have a really great visual product to share with decision-makers.”
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“Using CARTO has enabled us to analyze service qualification at a much larger scale due to its comprehensive support for a wide range of functions and libraries including spatial indexes. This is a gamechanger, modernizing our GIS stack.”
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