Felt

Felt is a cloud-based GIS platform for building maps, dashboards, and apps from spatial data. It supports spatial SQL, analysis across tables, and plain-language analysis through Felt AI. Listed connections include Amazon S3, BigQuery, Databricks, Esri, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, MS SQL, Postgres, Snowflake, STAC, WFS, WMTS, Wherobots, and Amazon Redshift. Its QGIS plugin carries styling, symbology, and layer structure into Felt when publishing. Field teams can use the iOS and Android app for surveys, GPS capture, geotagged photos, offline work, and later syncing. Teams can collaborate in real time, use threaded comments, share maps, and set permissions. The free Personal plan allows unlimited maps and sharing but excludes uploads of users’ own data files and is limited to personal use. Professional costs are not published and has annual billing; it lists 25 GB of monthly data processing, 100K monthly map views, and a seven-day trial. Enterprise pricing is also not listed and is based on an annual contract.

Felt brings mapping, spatial analysis, field collection, and team collaboration into one GIS platform. Check the Personal plan’s upload and use limits, or request pricing details for annual paid plans.

Felt lists GIS, field and operations, data science and analytics, product and engineering teams, and large GIS organizations as intended users. Its free Personal plan is for personal use, not business.

Felt is a cloud GIS for teams building maps, dashboards, and apps from spatial data. It best suits organizations that need analysis, field collection, and shared map workflows in one platform. Its free plan is deliberately narrow, while paid plans are structured around team seats and usage.

Overview

Felt combines map creation with spatial SQL, analysis across tables, and plain-language analysis through Felt AI. Its connections span cloud services, databases, GIS services, and imagery catalogs, including Amazon S3, BigQuery, Databricks, Esri, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, MS SQL, Postgres, Snowflake, STAC, WFS, WMTS, Wherobots, and Amazon Redshift; data refresh is live. This breadth can suit teams bringing varied spatial sources together, though the platform’s business-oriented plans are a poor match for personal users who need to upload their own files.

Maps support real-time collaboration, threaded comments, sharing, and role-based permissions. Iframe embedding and custom branding help teams distribute finished work. Felt’s QGIS plugin preserves styling, symbology, and layer structure when publishing, a practical advantage for teams already organizing projects in QGIS.

Key features

• Spatial analysis: Spatial SQL, analysis across tables, and natural-language prompts through Felt AI give technical and less technical users different ways to examine geographic data.
• Field collection: The iOS and Android Field App supports surveys, GPS capture, geotagged photos, and offline work, then syncs when connectivity returns. That makes it useful for field teams working beyond reliable network coverage.
• Team collaboration: Live map collaboration, comments, sharing, and permission controls support joint work without relying solely on static exports.
• Developer tools: Enterprise includes a REST API and JavaScript SDK; Felt’s app-development materials also describe a Python SDK and webhooks. These options matter most to teams integrating maps into products or workflows.
• Security and hosting: Felt states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant, encrypts web traffic and credentials, and monitors systems around the clock. U.S. hosting is the default; enterprise customers can arrange regional hosting, data residency options, or customer VPC deployment.

Pricing

Felt uses a freemium model, but the free tier is for personal use rather than business. Personal costs nothing, billed Free, forever, and includes unlimited maps and sharing. It does not allow uploads of your own data files, a significant restriction for anyone evaluating Felt with real GIS datasets.

Professional uses an annual contract with custom pricing and a 7-day trial. It includes 10 full seats, unlimited free viewers, 25 GB of monthly data processing, and 100K monthly map views. A one-hour onboarding session plus priority email and chat support add a useful start for teams moving work into the platform. The processing and view quotas make this the clearest fit for teams with predictable workloads; Felt says it does not automatically bill overages or throttle maps.

Enterprise also requires an annual contract and custom pricing. It includes 10 full seats, unlimited free viewers, usage scaled to the plan, live cloud sources, a REST API and JavaScript SDK, SSO/SAML, regional hosting, and VPC deployment. It is the stronger option for larger GIS organizations with integration, identity, or hosting requirements, but the annual contract and sales-led pricing are less suited to small teams seeking a low-commitment purchase.

Platforms

Felt lists Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, web, API, and self-hosted platforms. The Field App is specifically available for iOS and Android.

Who it's for

Felt is a strong candidate for GIS teams, field and operations teams, data science and analytics groups, and product or engineering teams that need spatial data to move between analysis, collection, and shared applications. Large GIS organizations may value the Enterprise hosting and identity options. It is not the right choice for a business user who expects the free plan to accept uploaded data, or for someone who only needs a basic personal map.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Broad data connections and live refresh can bring diverse spatial sources into a shared mapping workflow.
• Pro: Offline mobile collection, GPS capture, and later syncing support field work in areas with unreliable connectivity.
• Pro: QGIS publishing preserves project styling and layer organization, reducing disruption for teams already using QGIS.
• Pro: Enterprise offers SSO/SAML, API and SDK access, and regional or VPC deployment for organizations with integration and hosting needs.
• Con: Personal prohibits business use and uploading your own data, so the free plan is not a practical trial with a team’s own GIS files.
• Con: Professional and Enterprise require annual contracts and custom pricing, which makes costs harder to compare before engaging sales.
• Con: Professional has monthly processing and map-view quotas; teams with higher demand need to consider Enterprise’s usage-scaled plan.

Alternatives

• Mapotic is a freemium alternative with a free plan that allows 100 places and includes custom fields, layers, filters, ratings, and comments; unlike Felt, it has no free trial.
• Scribble Maps offers a free tier limited to five lifetime map saves, one user, and 450×450px images, making it a more constrained option for users whose needs fit those caps.
• MapTiler Cloud has a free tier for testing, personal, and non-commercial use, capped at 5 GB storage, 5k sessions monthly, 100k API requests monthly, and 100 uploads monthly; choose it when those limits fit the project.
• BatchGeo is another freemium mapping option, with a Pro plan at $99 a month that includes 100,000 markers per map, password protection, 10 users, Street View integration, and several export formats.
• Datawrapper offers a free plan for charts, maps, and tables, with web publishing, embedding, and PNG downloads; it may suit readers focused on publishing those visual formats.
• Maptive offers a 45 Day Pass for $25,045, paid once, with one user, unlimited maps, and up to 100,000 locations per dataset; consider it if short-term access fits better than Felt’s annual contracts.
• Yandex Maps provides a free service for maps, place search, and routes.
• eSpatial is a paid alternative with a 45-day trial and a Mapping Pro plan at $499 a year, billed per user with a three-user minimum.

For more options, browse Interactive Map Software, Map Creation Software, or GIS Software.

Verdict

Choose Felt if your team needs a single GIS platform for spatial analysis, field collection, and collaborative map work, especially when QGIS continuity or enterprise hosting matters. Its strongest case is the breadth of connected workflows; the main reason to look elsewhere is that business use starts with an annual, custom-priced plan while the free tier cannot accept your own data uploads.