Deep audit · updated July 20, 2026

The 2022 microgrid-software scorecard, rebuilt for 2026

Mayfield’s four questions still hold: price, modeling power, tariffs and incentives, and ease of use. This comparison adds the missing fifth: can another analyst reproduce and challenge the decision?

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Bottom line. There is no honest “number one in every way.” MicrogridModeler now leads this field in low-friction reproducibility for single-bus feasibility; SAM, REopt, DER-VET, HOMER, and Xendee retain clear leadership in important scopes listed below. The product roadmap should erase gaps, not erase boundaries.
Current advantage

#1 entry cost

$0 complete local workflow during development, without a seat, install, or account.

Current advantage

#1 reviewability

Full load series, source provenance, hourly balance, cash flow, evidence grade, and input fingerprint travel together.

Current advantage

New from this audit

Strict historical NSRDB/user-record ingestion now drives fixed-design risk and the optimizer’s feasible-year/P90-cost gate; complex URDB tariff import remains intact.

Article criteria, product by product

Concise buyer outcomes, not a checkmark count. Prices are public U.S. list prices reviewed on the date above.

Six-product microgrid modeling software comparison across the Mayfield article criteria
ProductPrice / accessModeling powerTariffs / incentivesEase of useReporting / auditBest fit
MicrogridModelerComplete local modeler: free during development. Published Solo plan: $199/user/month.PV, wind, battery, diesel, grid, four EMS controls, lifecycle economics, hard-constraint Pareto sizing, component disturbance/repair, resilience, and exact historical weather-year probability/P90-cost sizing.Simple TOU/demand builder, location-seeded NREL average rates, and full OpenEI URDB JSON import for tiered energy, monthly/TOU demand, fixed/minimum charges, and export rules.No install or account; guided and expert workflows; PVWatts TMY plus 10-year historical NSRDB fetch; multi-file weather/load import; live guardrails.Print/PDF, selected-window and full hourly CSV, cash flow, complete JSON run package, evidence grade, and content fingerprint.Fast, auditable single-bus feasibility and sizing that another analyst can reproduce.
NREL SAMFree desktop software.Deep renewable performance and financial models, detailed storage, parametric/statistical analysis, scripting, and measured multi-year PV uncertainty.Retail-rate and bill modeling are supported; rate and incentive inputs require careful project setup.Mature desktop UI on Windows, macOS, and Linux; broad input surface and specialist workflows.Detailed plots, tables, cash flows, Excel export, and scripting outputs.Technology-specific renewable performance, finance, and bankable multi-year solar uncertainty workflows.
NREL REoptFree web tool and open API/model.MILP capacity and dispatch optimization for electric and thermal DERs, lifecycle cost, emissions, clean-energy goals, and resilience.Automatically queries the Utility Rate Database and supports detailed tariff economics.Guided public web workflow with strong defaults, tutorials, and API access.Readable scenario results, charts, downloads, and API output; NREL cautions against using results alone for investment decisions.Formal facility/campus DER optimization using NREL data and resilience objectives.
EPRI DER-VETFree, publicly accessible, open-source desktop/CLI software.Storage-centric DER sizing and value stacking across PV, wind, demand response, EV charging, generators, CHP, and microgrids.Customer bill reduction and market/value-stream inputs; generally more analyst-supplied data than a maintained commercial tariff service.Desktop GUI plus Python CLI; pre-defined cases help, but advanced valuation remains specialist work.Design, dispatch, reliability, and financial results with inspectable open-source methods.Unbiased storage/DER valuation, stacked services, and research or regulatory analysis.
HOMER Pro / GridPro: $1,575–$4,650/user/year. Grid: $4,200/user/year annual plan; modules and terms vary.Mature hybrid simulation, optimization, sensitivity, broad components, 1-minute to hourly steps; Grid adds BTM, EV, resilience, and value stacking.HOMER Grid advertises 35,000+ C&I tariffs plus an advanced tariff builder and incentive/demand-response data.Established desktop workflow, component libraries, support, and training; license/module choices add setup overhead.Rich technical results and instant client-facing proposals in HOMER Grid.Broad hybrid configuration and sensitivity studies in a mature commercial workflow.
Xendee DESIGNGold: $440/user/month; Platinum: $540/user/month, billed annually. Enterprise quoted.25+ DERs, electric and thermal domains, hydrogen, mobility, multi-node optimization, power flow, one-lines, cable/transformer sizing, and 15-minute analysis.Built-in utility/tariff/incentive data, NEM 3.0 access, and paid/custom tariff modeling support.Cloud team platform spanning discovery, proposals, design, and operations, with onboarding and modeling services.Unlimited detailed reports, branded/white-label options, sharing, API, and expert-produced PowerPoint reporting.Enterprise multi-site and multi-energy programs that need network design, collaboration, proposals, and operations.

Feature availability can depend on plan, module, geography, data license, and implementation services. Verify procurement terms and run a controlled bake-off with identical inputs before selecting software.

Who actually leads each hard category?

A useful comparison preserves the incumbent’s strongest evidence—even when it is inconvenient.

Lowest-friction audit trail

MicrogridModeler

The complete local workflow runs without an install or account and exports the full input series, provenance, outputs, evidence grade, and deterministic fingerprint.

Bankable solar uncertainty

SAM

MicrogridModeler now ingests exact historical years and sizes to an empirical probability gate, but SAM retains the deeper loss-uncertainty and finance-grade workflow.

Open formal optimization

REopt

REopt’s published MILP and automatic NREL/URDB integrations remain the stronger formal facility-DER reference. MicrogridModeler can also submit a REopt case and map the result.

Storage value stacking

DER-VET

DER-VET remains a strong open platform when market services and storage valuation—not only site adequacy—drive the decision.

Hybrid breadth and sensitivity

HOMER

HOMER’s component breadth, subhourly simulation, mature sensitivity workflow, training, and installed user base remain material strengths.

Enterprise breadth

Xendee

Power flow, one-lines, thermal and hydrogen systems, multi-node design, mobility, collaboration, proposals, and operations are outside today’s MicrogridModeler boundary.

The path to category leadership

What must be true before a broader “best microgrid platform” claim becomes defensible.

PriorityWhy it changes the buying decisionStatus
Historical multi-year resource ingestionExact 8,760-hour NSRDB/user years now drive empirical feasibility and P90-cost sizing. Loss-uncertainty budgets and independent engineering review are still required for bankability.Implemented · planning grade
Maintained tariff discoveryURDB import now preserves complex rate physics; automatic rate selection/versioning is still easier in REopt, HOMER Grid, and Xendee.Partial
Subhourly dispatchRequired when 15-minute peaks, short storage events, or controls materially change economics and adequacy.Roadmap
Multi-node power flow and one-linesRequired to compete with Xendee beyond single-bus planning and into electrical network design.Roadmap
Thermal, hydrogen, flexible EV, and CHP domainsRequired for campus decarbonization and sector-coupled DER portfolios.Roadmap
Shared cloud projects and branded proposalsRequired to beat commercial platforms for multi-person sales, review, approval, and delivery workflows.Published plan

Sources and review record

Primary vendor and laboratory documentation was used wherever available. No paid-access competitor test is implied.

Mayfield Renewables — Microgrids Part 3 (2022 comparison)Official article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.NREL NSRDB — direct CSV download documentationOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.NREL NSRDB — GOES Aggregated PSM v4 datasetOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.SAM — parametric, statistical, and P50/P90 analysisOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.SAM — battery storage modelsOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.SAM — financial modelsOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.REopt — current web tool user manualOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.DER-VET — platform and current releaseOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.DER-VET — software downloads and version recordOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.HOMER Pro — capabilitiesOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.HOMER Pro — current pricingOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.HOMER Grid — capabilities and tariff databaseOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.HOMER Grid — current pricingOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.Xendee — platform capabilitiesOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.Xendee DESIGN — current pricing and feature matrixOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.Xendee — product FAQOfficial article, product, documentation, pricing, or release page reviewed July 20, 2026.