Mantle Place vs Equator
Equator clips North American lidar and parcels to a site on a monthly plan; Mantle Place delivers an imaged site anywhere on Earth for a one-time price.
Equator and Mantle Place both deliver real terrain for a site you choose. Equator is a web mapping platform for the United States and Canada that clips public lidar point clouds, DEMs, contours, parcels, and building footprints to a site boundary and exports them for Revit, Civil 3D, and other tools, on monthly plans from $67 for five sites or $30 per site pay-per-use, with imagery on its Pro plan. Mantle Place covers the whole globe and charges once per site, by area: imagery at every size (aerial in the US, 10 m satellite elsewhere), the finest native elevation as a GeoTIFF DEM, DXF contours for a Revit toposolid, a LandXML surface for Civil 3D, and more, free at 2 km² and under. Choose Equator for raw lidar and parcel workflows in North America; choose Mantle Place for an imaged site you keep anywhere.
Competitor details checked against equatorstudios.com.
Why Mantle Place
Imagery in every bundle
Aerial imagery comes with every Mantle Place order, free ones included: NAIP at 1 m or finer across the US, 10 m Sentinel-2 elsewhere. Equator reserves imagery for its Pro plan.
Any site on Earth
Mantle Place resolves the best available elevation for any area worldwide, elevation at 1 m wherever USGS lidar covers the site. Equator’s data covers the United States and Canada.
Free at 2 km² and under
A small site costs nothing, with the same data as a paid order; above that it is $5 plus $2 per km², once. Equator starts at $30 per site, or monthly plans from $67.
How they compare
| Dimension | Mantle Place | Equator | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Global, coverage-aware | United States and Canada | For North American sites both have strong public lidar behind them; outside it, only Mantle Place has data for the site. |
| Pricing | One-time by area, free at 2 km² and under | $30 per site, or $67 to $169 a month for 5 to 15 sites | Pay-per-use at $30 a site is simple; Mantle Place costs less on any site of 12 km² or under and nothing at 2 km² and under. |
| Aerial imagery | Included with every order | Pro plan only | Imagery is what lets a site plan or a render read as the real place, and teams on lower Equator plans source it separately. |
| Lidar point clouds | Not offered | Clipped to your site boundary | If the deliverable is the point cloud itself, for classification or survey checks, Equator is the right tool and Mantle Place does not compete. |
| Parcels | Free public-record parcels and zoning in some US areas | Parcels on its Plus and Pro plans | Both reach parcel data; Equator makes it part of a plan, while Mantle Place passes public records through free where a county publishes them. |
| Revit topography | Mantle Place for Revit imports a toposolid; DXF contours and an IFC site model too | Exported contours to import into Revit | Both end in a toposolid; Mantle Place for Revit builds it for you and drapes the imagery, where Equator hands you contours to import yourself. |
| Real-time engines | Unreal importer, glTF, and a heightmap | OBJ, STL, a PNG heightmap, and RAW | Both export heightmaps for engines; Mantle Place also ships an open-source Unreal importer that places the terrain and drapes the imagery for you. |
Frequently asked
Is Mantle Place an Equator alternative?
Yes, for teams who want an imaged site you keep without a monthly plan. Mantle Place delivers a georeferenced bundle with aerial imagery, the finest native elevation, DXF contours for Revit, and more, priced once by area.
Does Mantle Place cover the Revit work I would use Equator for?
Yes. Both end in a Revit toposolid. Mantle Place for Revit builds it from the bundle with the imagery draped, and the bundle also carries contours as a DXF to link by hand. The step-by-step Revit guide on this site has the full walkthrough.
How does pricing compare with Equator?
Equator charges $30 per site pay-per-use, or $67, $109, or $169 a month for 5, 8, or 15 sites. Mantle Place is free at 2 km² and under, then $5 plus $2 per km², paid once per order with no plan.
Does Equator work outside North America?
Equator describes its data as covering the United States and Canada. Mantle Place resolves elevation, imagery, and vectors for any area on Earth. Elevation is 1 m wherever USGS lidar covers the site, and the finest native source elsewhere.
When is Equator the better choice?
When you need raw lidar point clouds clipped to a site, parcel data on every order, or reports for civil engineering, and your projects sit in the United States or Canada. Those are its core strengths.
Keep every site you draw.
Draw an area and see it in a free Site Brief before you pay. Download a bundle for Unreal, Revit, Civil 3D, QGIS, and more. Every format is built with your order, at no extra cost. $5 plus $2 per km², and 2 km² and under is free. Paid bundles are yours for good. Free bundles keep 30 days, or keep one permanently at its normal price.
Native plugins: Mantle Place for Unreal and Mantle Place for Revit.