Geospatial & location analytics · Google LLC

Google Earth Engine

Cloud platform for planetary-scale satellite imagery analysis, free for research and paid through Google Cloud for commercial use.

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Earth Engine combines a multi-petabyte public archive of satellite and geospatial datasets, including Landsat, Sentinel and MODIS, with a cloud compute platform for running large-scale analyses through JavaScript and Python APIs, without downloading imagery locally. It is used heavily for land-cover change, deforestation, agriculture and climate monitoring research. Google states that Earth Engine remains free for academic and research use, while commercial use is now available and billed through Google Cloud on a usage basis; the marketing page does not publish flat commercial rates. This split between a genuinely free research tier and metered commercial access is Earth Engine's key distinguishing feature versus fully commercial imagery-analysis platforms.

At a glance

Vendor Google LLC
Pricing model Free tier + paid plans
Free tier Yes
Deployment Cloud
Open source No
Best for Researchers, and increasingly commercial teams, running large-scale satellite imagery analysis without managing infrastructure.

Pricing

Free for noncommercial research and education; commercial use is billed through Google Cloud on a usage basis, with specific rates not published on the marketing page.

Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.

Features

  • Multi-petabyte public catalog of satellite and geospatial data
  • Cloud compute for planetary-scale raster analysis
  • JavaScript Code Editor and Python API
  • Time-series and change-detection analysis tools
  • Integration with Google Cloud storage and compute
  • No local download required for large imagery analysis

Integrations

Profile last reviewed September 21, 2026

Alternatives

QGIS Free, open-source desktop GIS application for spatial data viewing, editing, analysis and cartographic map production. CARTO Cloud-native location intelligence platform that runs spatial analysis directly inside cloud data warehouses. kepler.gl Open-source, browser-based tool for visually exploring and animating large geospatial datasets without writing code.

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Terms to know

Satellite imagery analysis Extracting information such as land cover, change or object detection from images captured by orbiting satellites.

Related guides

How to choose a geospatial analytics tool Pick a location-intelligence tool by the question you're asking — desktop analysis, a shared map, an embedded feature, or warehouse SQL — not the demo map. How to start with geospatial analysis Coordinate systems, geocoding, spatial joins, and the map design choices that mislead — the fundamentals before you pick a GIS tool.