Software Alternatives & Reviews

GRASS GIS VS QGIS

Compare GRASS GIS VS QGIS and see what are their differences

GRASS GIS logo GRASS GIS

GRASS GIS is a free Geographic Information System (GIS) software used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics/maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization.

QGIS logo QGIS

QGIS is a desktop geographic information system, or GIS.
  • GRASS GIS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-18

GRASS GIS offers powerful raster, vector, and geospatial processing engines in a single integrated software suite. It includes tools for terrain and ecosystem modeling, hydrology, visualization of raster and vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of satellite and aerial imagery. It comes with a temporal framework for advanced time series processing and a Python API for rapid geospatial programming. GRASS GIS has been optimized for performance and large geospatial data analysis.

  • QGIS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-23

GRASS GIS

Categories
  • Maps
  • Maps & Navigation
  • Mapping And GIS
  • Data Analysis
  • Image Processing And Management
  • Earth Observation
  • Hydrologic Modelling
  • Terrain Modelling
  • Network Analysis
Website grass.osgeo.org
Details $
Platforms
Windows Mac OSX Linux Docker

QGIS

Categories
  • Mapping And GIS
  • Maps
  • Heatmaps
  • Developer Tools
Website osgeo.org
Details $
Platforms
-

GRASS GIS videos

GRASS GIS Tutorials - Tutorial 2 - Understanding GRASS GIS Data Structure

More videos:

  • Tutorial - GRASS GIS Tutorial 2 - Understanding GRASS GIS Data Structure
  • Tutorial - GRASS GIS Tutorials - Tutorial 1 - Installation - REVISED

QGIS videos

QGIS vs ArcGIS

More videos:

  • Review - QGIS User 0020 - New features in QGIS 3.10
  • Review - Comparing ArcGIS Desktop and QGIS

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GRASS GIS and QGIS)
Maps
15 15%
85% 85
Mapping And GIS
16 16%
84% 84
Maps & Navigation
47 47%
53% 53
Web Mapping
9 9%
91% 91

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing GRASS GIS and QGIS.

How would you describe your primary audience?

GRASS GIS's answer

GRASS GIS primarily caters to geospatial professionals, researchers, and students in fields like geography, environmental science, urban planning, and geology. It is also used by government agencies and non-profit organizations for spatial data analysis and environmental modeling.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

GRASS GIS's answer

As an open-source tool, GRASS GIS doesn't have "customers" in the traditional sense. However, it is widely used by various government agencies, academic institutions, and environmental organizations worldwide. Notable users include space agencies, numerous universities and research institutions as well as companies involved in geospatial studies and analysis.

What's the story behind your product?

GRASS GIS's answer

GRASS GIS was initially developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a tool for land management and environmental planning. It was first released in the early 1980s and has since evolved into a robust, multi-functional GIS platform, largely due to contributions from a global community of developers. GRASS GIS is a founding member project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo.org).

What makes your product unique?

GRASS GIS's answer

  • Open-Source and Free: GRASS GIS is completely open-source, allowing users to freely use, modify, and distribute it.
  • Advanced Geospatial Capabilities: It offers a wide range of tools for spatial modeling, geostatistics, and data management, making it suitable for advanced geospatial analysis.
  • Strong Community Support: Being open-source, it has a strong community of developers and users contributing to its continuous improvement.
  • Integration with Other Open-Source Tools: It can be integrated with other open-source GIS software like QGIS, providing a comprehensive GIS solution.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

GRASS GIS's answer

  • Cost-Effectiveness: Being free and open, it is an excellent choice for those with a strong need for quality.
  • Customizability: Users can customize and extend its functionalities to suit their specific needs.
  • Comprehensive Geospatial Functions: It offers a wide range of geospatial functions that are comparable, and sometimes superior, to those in proprietary GIS software.
  • Strong Data Handling: It can handle large datasets efficiently, which is beneficial for complex geospatial analyses.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

GRASS GIS's answer

GRASS GIS is primarily written in C, Python, and C++. It uses a range of geospatial libraries and technologies, including GDAL for data conversion, PROJ for coordinate transformations, and can interface with SQL databases.

User comments

Share your experience with using GRASS GIS and QGIS. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GRASS GIS and QGIS

GRASS GIS Reviews

The Top 10 Alternatives to ArcGIS
Grass GIS is a spatial database and software suite used for creating and managing maps, editing data, conducting spatial analysis, and sharing information. It is an open source software that runs on all major platforms, making it a convenient option for a variety of different users. There are many plugins and extensions available for Grass GIS, allowing you to customize it...
30 Best GIS Software Applications [Rankings]
GRASS GIS is one of those suites that let you geoprocess until the night falls. It’s a loaded gun with sophisticated tools. It’s so powerful that you can unleash GRASS GIS in QGIS as a separate toolbox. But its clunky interface and stubborn map projection rules hold it back.
Top 6 Free and Open-Source GIS Software
The free, open-source, and cross-platform compatible solution is the best GIS software solution that comes with the most enhanced features. GRASS was developed by the US government and is well-known by companies across the globe. The raster-based GIS software provides users advanced features such as an image processing system, vector GIS, graphics production system, spatial...
Source: linuxways.net
3 open source alternatives to ArcGIS Desktop
Let's begin with GRASS. GRASS, which stands for Geographic Resources Analysis Support System). It has a very long history, dating back to original development which began in 1982 under the US government. In the time since, GRASS has been adopted by the academic community, where its development continues today.
Source: opensource.com

QGIS Reviews

The Top 10 Alternatives to ArcGIS
QGIS is the #1 completely free (& open source!) GIS software solution available right now. We use it daily at Equator as a benchmark for what we do. While not always the most user-friendly solution, QGIS can probably do it if you’re willing to dig deep enough through it’s massive library of menus, functions, and plugins.
27 Differences Between ArcGIS and QGIS – The Most Epic GIS Software Battle in GIS History
6. QGIS have another plugin called QuickMapServices that along side with Open Layers gives you a variety of base maps. Still won’t win ESRI Online; 14. A huge advantage of QGIS is to allow several print compositions in one single project. Also, since version 2.8, each layer can have more than one style, and you can choose what style to use in a particular map; 19. On QGIS...
30 Best GIS Software Applications [Rankings]
QGIS 2 was one of the largest community efforts and open source progress in the history of GIS. And because it was community-driven, it became wildly innovative and inventive. Even though QGIS 2 is completely open source, it still rivals the best. But now, full support has shifted to QGIS 3.
10 Best GIS Software In 2022 (Geographic Information Systems)
QGIS is consummate for working with geospatial data. It is open-source software used to create, edit, visualize, and analyze geospatial data. This software is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
Source: cofes.com
Top 6 Free and Open-Source GIS Software
QGIS is a cross-platform compatible GIS software solution that comes under the GNU license. The open-source GIS software solution is adopted by many organizations around the globe and is one of the most popular GIS solutions. The software offers many features such as the ability to view data, explore data and compose maps, create, modify, manage, and export data, the...
Source: linuxways.net

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GRASS GIS seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GRASS GIS mentions (8)

  • Geospatial Nix – create, use and deploy today
    Https://grass.osgeo.org/
        GRASS GIS offers powerful raster, vector, and geospatial processing engines in a single integrated software suite. It includes tools for terrain and ecosystem modeling, hydrology, visualization of raster and vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of satellite and aerial imagery. It comes with a temporal framework for advanced time series...
    - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • What's missing from C# in Godot 4?
    We haven't looked at integrating GRASS yet, as we're more interested in data display, not deep analysis. Just another example of a C/C++ library with front end bindings for Python. Numbers are crunched in C/C++, results returned to Python. Source: 11 months ago
  • Discussion Thread
    Anyone have good advice for where to learn how to use GRASS. Source: 11 months ago
  • GIS Developer career path
    Outside of personal experience, based on second-hand insight: GRASS is an extremely powerful tool, if you're not familiar with it already, and you can use it from the CLI and from Python. If you'd like to step out of Python at some point, I hear Java is used a lot for enterprise GIS, while Julia looks like the language of the future (especially now with JuliaGeo), but that still remains to be seen. Source: over 1 year ago
  • What other tools do you use to help you do GIS?
    Sometimes some modules from GRASS like r.lake at the moment. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

QGIS mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of QGIS yet. Tracking of QGIS recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GRASS GIS and QGIS, you can also consider the following products

ArcGIS - ArcGIS software is a data analysis, cloud-based mapping platform that allows users to customize maps and see real-time data ranging from logistics support to overall mapping analysis.

SAGA GIS - SAGA - System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses - is a Geographic Information System (GIS)...

Google Maps - Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

Garmin BaseCamp - Garmin® BaseCamp® provides an interface for viewing Garmin map products and managing...

Mapbox - An open source mapping platform for custom designed maps. Our APIs and SDKs are the building blocks to integrate location into any mobile or web app.

gvSIG - gvSIG Mini Maps allows you to browse and navigate with GPS a full set of free on/offline maps from...