DroneDeploy Reviews & Product Details

DroneDeploy is like an iPhone, Macbook, or iPad; it is a polished and refined tool that centers the user in an ease-of-use, ready-to-go environment. The user interface is very intuitive, and Pilots can easily create and share plans, progress, and rough products. There have been a few minimal issues when we have used DroneDeploy, but those are likely related to user error.

The support team is top-notch and responsive. Andrea Ku from the support team was very helpful, very patient, and very understanding. Andrea even recorded a step-by-step video to demonstrate my mistakes and the solution and then directed me to resources that would ensure other issues wouldn't arise in the future. I don't remember another support experience that was as pleasant and helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

In another similar aspect of Apple products, DroneDeploy costs an arm and a leg. Remote pilots or their companies have to invest heavily to enter the DroneDeploy ecosystem. Customization is also limited to what DroneDeploy permits. While the cost and limitations ensure that the product is stable and users don't have constant issues, it really does limit DroneDeploy to large corporations, institutions, or already cemented remote pilots. Developing companies or new pilots will not be able to afford entry into this ecosystem. New pilots will likely use Litchi, Drone Link, or some other reality capture software that is more affordable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The platform offers a single pricing structure, eliminating unexpected charges at the end of the month. It features fast processing and a user-friendly interface, making it straightforward to use in most scenarios. With a solid range of features, it stands out as a reliable product. Moreover, the customer service team is exceptional—knowledgeable, responsive, and genuinely committed to resolving issues with personalized assistance, not just generic cookie cutter responses. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One major drawback of the platform is the amount of time required for tedious tasks. For instance, setting the crop area of a map over 3,000 images is incredibly time-consuming, with each vertex taking over 30 seconds to adjust. If a map has 100 vertices, that amounts to nearly an hour spent just moving points. This issue could be easily resolved with an 'upload/download/save KML' option, allowing users to avoid repetitive manual adjustments.

Additionally, every time a job needs to be retried due to potentially misaligned GCPs (Ground Control Points), the entire dataset must be reuploaded, wasting both bandwidth and time. A more efficient solution would be allowing users to reprocess the same map while redoing only the GCP process. The GCP workflow itself could also be improved significantly by enabling users to save sessions, so they can correct issues and reprocess without starting from scratch. At present, marking each GCP takes over a minute—marking 50 GCPs can take 1–2 hours.

An option to automatically exclude GCP images that don’t align properly within the selection box would also be a valuable addition. Often, these images are located on the edges and are prone to lens distortion, making them unreliable for marking. the same goes for blurry ones, Ignoring these in favor of better-quality images would streamline the process and improve accuracy.

Another critical improvement would be a feature to flag blurry images and suggest processing the map using the side overlap images to avoid incorporating poor-quality data into the orthomap. This would help prevent entire flight lines or even singles of blurry images from compromising the final product.

Lastly, one of the most frustrating aspects is that customers cannot use the measuring and volume calculation tools without a DroneDeploy account. Most of our customers only need to draw basic lines, measure polygons, or perform very basic volume calculations. They don’t require that the data be saved—just quick measurements. Requiring an account for this functionality is prohibitive, as accounts are expensive, and most customers aren’t willing to spend $1,000+ annually just to measure a line on their land a handful of times. Removing this restriction would greatly enhance usability and accessibility Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

DroneDeploy is an exceptional reality capture tool that integrates drone flight planning, map processing, tangible data collection, and 360-degree photography all in one platform. Its user-friendly interface makes flight planning intuitive, allowing for quick adjustments to cover any site effectively. The map processing delivers high-quality orthomosaics and 3D models rapidly, which is invaluable for project management. The ability to measure volumetrics and track progress visually enhances decision-making, while 360-degree photos provide immersive documentation. Overall, DroneDeploy has significantly streamlined our reality capture workflow and is a must-have for anyone in the construction industry. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I don't love the administrative interface to manage users and their permissions. I wish permissions were more granular. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Drone Deploy is extremely easy to use and learn for newcomers. It has a lot of extra capabilities and abilities to connect to various GIS systems which is a plus. The website is easy to manage as well and keep track of all projects. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The live streaming capabilites could be easier to implement for drones. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Drone deploy is a great tool for managing flights and mapping. Offering the ability to preplan flights and launch from within the app, or fly and upload at a later time. It's also easy to collaborate and share projects with my team/clients. Accurate measurement tools and volume calculations are intuitive and simple to use. Whenever we need help, the chat feature and phone support are quick and excellent! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Cannot think of any downsides. Not all drones are supported but they seem to add continously and update. LiDAR processing is in the works as well and I am hoping to see more from that as it develops. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Team collaboration, site logistical analysis with overlays, archiving crucial data, being known for being forward thinking and innovative. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Not much bad to say. Sometimes we are in a 400' controlled airspace and get the DJI unlock because DJI thinks it is a 200'. Get the unlock from DJI and can fly 400' in the Pilot 2 app in the smart controller but Drone Deploy will not allow missions to be conducted because of the elevation exceeding 200' (even though we have the unlock for 400'). Mission chaining could be more efficient if it moved the starting point based off of your location on large scale projects. It would be nice if when using GCP's, I could simply upload a txt or csv file and choose each coordinate to the GCP manually (as opposed to having to figure out scale factors and datum's). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like how user friendly DroneDeploy is. They make it very easy to navigate. I also have great response times from the Customer Support. The major factors that helped me decide to go with DroneDeploy were Customer Support, they were there helping me get through a couple of pretty technical issues, I like the fact they seem to always be trying to make their product better and suit the many needs of the customer. The reporting on many of these post processing software platforms is lacking, but I like the fact that DroneDeploy has implimented something. I hope that they continue to develop this. I also like the fact that they are trying to be well rounded with not only doing aerial shots, but have put in ground walks, indoor walks, 360 views, etc. From what I see, these guys are standing right beside you with Customer Support. This is HUGE for me because if I can't get something to work I am at a standstill. I also like the fact that they seem to be continually evolving for what the future demands and current demands are. This means I feel I have a long future with them. The appear not just trying to make a buck but really be a current and future platform for their customers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would like a couple of different types of secenarious added. I know they have serveral, but I feel the key 2 are Standard and Corridor. It would be cool if I could add some type of "no fly hole" in a flight path to avoid things such as towers in a standard flight path. I also need them to add my Matrice 350 RTK to their software. It is so convinient to create a flight path for my Mavic 3 Enterprise. I need this for my Matrice 350 RTK. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have to say the the most important reasons for me staying with Drone Deploy is becuase they are constantly innovating and growing as a company. I use to understand everything they offered, and then they just kept growing. As a small drone service company I have been very successful and use their ortho planning and processing platform extensively. I have enjoyed watching them grow, and even beyond my needs focused on their enterprise clients.

I will never use all they have to offer, but the mere fact that they have never stopped growing and sharing with their customers is a ture testament that they do not rest, they keep moving forward. The training materials and webinars are also something to be proud of. Their forums where people can post and ask questions is also a plus. So I would recommend without hesitation Drone Deploy. I love planning mission in their cloud software too. On a big screen makes it simple and easy to do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The down sides are things like we cannot set a default drone for our planning missions, I always have to change it to Mavic 3 Enterprise. Also when you open the App on the phone, pad, controller or online, the most recent missions are never the most recent missions. I have to always put Organization projects in alphabetical order to find my client's folders. Wish they go the bug on that worked out.

As they have grown, sometimes when chatting with someone on a problem, the problem is way over their head and they just reply with a canned response. So they need to be aware that some of us have more complex issues. A few times the software has been kinf of wonky in the field. But overall the good far out way the bad. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The seamlessness between flight, upload, and model creation is fantastic. I can quickly and easily share models to be used for a variety of use cases (project tracking, inspections, surveying) and the product fidelity is very impressive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

DroneDeploy's feature list is not always clear. For example, I have an Advanced License subscription and I cannot share a full project link with a client, I can only share individual scans. Therefore, if I have a project with multiple scans, I need to send multiple links to my client. This creates a risk of losing track of these links and my client does not get to access any of the comparison features. I was only told of this because I asked the right questions to their sales team, and if I want this feature, I need to pay for the next tier or on a project by project basis, which my client's are less likely to opt in for.

It's a great product when you know what is all included - and can sometime's be surprising when you find out where the feature wall pops up. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Being able to plan the flights and account for very steep terrain. Uploading is a breeze and the deliverables show up every time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Had some issues determining if Drone deploy was compatible with specific drone and the camera it had? Actually still don't know but I have since sold the Drone. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.