Felt

Felt is a cloud GIS for teams that need to analyze spatial data, collect it in the field, and collaborate on maps. It is strongest for organizations bringing data connections and shared workflows together; its free Personal plan is too restricted for business or custom data.

Overview

Felt brings mapping, dashboards, apps, and spatial analysis into one platform. Teams can use spatial SQL, compare data across tables, or ask Felt AI for analysis in plain language. Live connections cover services such as Amazon S3, BigQuery, Databricks, Esri, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Postgres, Snowflake, and WFS. That breadth is useful when spatial information is spread across systems, though it does not make Felt a no-cost option for serious personal projects.

Publishing from QGIS retains styling, symbology, and layer structure, a practical advantage for teams moving established GIS work into a collaborative cloud environment. Felt also supports map sharing, iframe embeds, custom branding, and role-based access controls.

Key features

• Analysis and data connections: Spatial SQL, cross-table analysis, and plain-language Felt AI give analysts several ways to explore data. Live connections span databases, cloud platforms, and mapping services.
• QGIS publishing: The plugin preserves project appearance and organization when publishing to Felt, reducing the need to rebuild map styling after transfer.
• Field collection: The iOS and Android Field App handles surveys, GPS capture, and geotagged photos. Offline work with later syncing suits crews in areas with unreliable connectivity.
• Collaboration: Real-time map work, threaded comments, sharing, and permission controls support teams coordinating around the same geographic material.
• Developer and deployment options: Enterprise includes a REST API and JavaScript SDK; Felt's app development page also describes a Python SDK and webhooks. Enterprise customers can use regional hosting, data residency options, or customer VPC deployment.
• Security: Felt states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant, encrypts web traffic and credentials, and monitors systems around the clock.

Pricing

Felt is freemium, with a free plan and a 7-day Professional trial. Both paid plans use annual contracts and custom pricing, so the commitment is more substantial than a simple monthly team subscription.

• Personal — free, forever: Unlimited maps and sharing cost nothing, but users cannot upload their own data and the plan is personal-use only. It is suitable for exploring the product or making maps without business needs, not for a working GIS team.
• Professional — custom pricing, annual contract: Includes 10 full seats, unlimited free viewers, 25 GB monthly data processing, 100K monthly map views, a one-hour onboarding session, and a 7-day trial. Priority email and chat support make it the team option for organizations that need assistance and defined usage allowances. Felt says it does not automatically bill overages or throttle maps.
• Enterprise — custom pricing, annual contract: Includes 10 full seats, unlimited free viewers, usage scaled to the plan, live cloud sources, REST API and JavaScript SDK, SSO/SAML, regional hosting, and VPC deployment. Its dedicated customer success manager, technical support, and custom onboarding suit larger GIS organizations with deployment or identity requirements.

Professional's fixed processing and view quotas offer clearer boundaries, while Enterprise scales usage and adds deployment and developer capabilities. The free plan gives up data uploads entirely, which is the decisive limitation for many GIS users.

Platforms

Felt lists web, Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, API, and self-hosted availability. The field app is specifically described for iOS and Android; the broader platform list gives teams flexibility across devices and environments.

Who it's for

Felt is a strong fit for GIS teams, field and operations crews, data science and analytics groups, and product or engineering teams that need maps tied to analysis and collaboration. Large GIS organizations can benefit from the Enterprise deployment and support options. Individuals looking for a free GIS to upload and analyze their own files should look elsewhere.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Broad live data connections and several analysis approaches suit teams whose spatial work draws on multiple systems.
• Pro: QGIS publishing preserves styling and layer structure, while offline mobile collection supports fieldwork beyond reliable network coverage.
• Pro: Unlimited free viewers on paid plans let organizations share maps without consuming full seats.
• Con: Personal users cannot upload their own data, and the free plan excludes business use.
• Con: Professional processing and map-view quotas may constrain heavier workloads, even though Felt says it will not automatically bill or throttle overages.
• Con: Paid plans require annual contracts and custom pricing, making costs harder to compare before contacting sales.

Alternatives

• QGIS is a free, open-source choice for users who want GIS software without an annual cloud-plan contract.
• QGIS Cloud is another freemium option for readers considering a QGIS-focused cloud service.
• GIS Cloud is worth considering for teams looking at publisher plugins for QGIS or ArcMap, including symbology preservation, or its per-asset Track plan.
• GRASS GIS is a free and open-source alternative for users seeking a GIS tool across desktop and web platforms.
• StatSilk is an option for readers comparing cloud mapping plans with published annual pricing and unlimited users.
• Google Earth Engine is a freemium alternative for readers evaluating usage-priced storage and compute.
• NextGIS Web is a freemium alternative with annual plans that specify storage, users, layers, trackers, and collectors.
• geemap is a free option for readers seeking software across Linux, macOS, web, or Windows.

Browse GIS Software, Interactive Map Software, and Map Creation Software for more choices.

Verdict

Choose Felt if your organization needs connected spatial analysis, mobile field collection, and collaborative maps in one cloud GIS. Its best case is a team that can use the QGIS workflow and paid-plan collaboration and support; the main reason to look elsewhere is the free tier's ban on data uploads and the annual, custom-priced commitment for business use.