Is Electrisim a good ETAP alternative?

For the studies most projects run every week (load flow, short circuit, arc flash, motor starting, harmonics, OPF and dynamics), yes. It does not replace every ETAP module: ground grid design and real-time operation, for example, are not part of Electrisim.

How much does Electrisim cost compared to ETAP?

Cloud Personal is $10 per month and Company $40 per user per month, with every study included and no long contract. The open-source Community Edition is free. ETAP is sold as enterprise licences, usually per module. See pricing.

Can I import ETAP projects?

Not directly. Electrisim imports pandapower (.py) and OpenDSS (.dss) files. An ETAP network is redrawn in the browser editor, and a diagram template can give you a head start.

Does Electrisim support arc flash like ETAP?

Yes. Electrisim runs arc flash to IEEE 1584-2018 (incident energy, arc-flash boundary and PPE category) on top of IEC 60909 short-circuit results and shows the results on the diagram. See the arc flash documentation.

Can I run Electrisim offline?

Yes. The free Community Edition runs on your own computer; get it from GitHub. The cloud app needs only a browser.

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Looking for an ETAP alternative?

ETAP is a broad desktop suite for industrial plants, utilities and data centers, licensed by module. If most of your hours go into load flow, short circuit, arc flash and motor starting, Electrisim runs those studies in your browser on pandapower, OpenDSS and ANDES, with every study in one plan.

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Electrisim vs ETAP

ETAP covers a very wide range of modules. Electrisim focuses on the studies most projects run every week, at a fraction of the price.

Feature	Electrisim	ETAP (desktop suite)
Price	$10 per month Personal $40 per user per month Company	Enterprise licences, usually priced per module
Runs on	Any modern browser: Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows desktop
Load flow, balanced and unbalanced	pandapower + OpenDSS
Short circuit	IEC 60909; ANSI/IEEE C37 in beta
Arc flash (IEEE 1584-2018)	Incident energy, boundary, PPE category
Motor starting	Steady-state and dynamic
Protective device coordination	Fuses and overcurrent relays, TCC curves (beta)	With large device libraries
Harmonics	OpenDSS
Transient stability & eigenvalues	ANDES, included
Ground grid design		Available as a module
All studies in one plan		Modules licensed separately
Open source	Apache 2.0

Based on publicly available product information. Check the vendor for current editions and licensing.

Studies you can run instead of ETAP

Choose the engine per study — pandapower, OpenDSS, or ANDES. Full documentation →

Load flow — balanced with pandapower or unbalanced multiphase with OpenDSS, with the Network Health Dashboard after each run
Short circuit — IEC 60909 and ANSI/IEEE C37 (beta), or an OpenDSS fault study on all buses
Arc flash — IEEE 1584-2018 incident energy, arc-flash boundary and PPE category on every bus
Motor starting — voltage dip for DOL, soft-start, star-delta, autotransformer and reactor starting
Protection coordination — fuse melt and relay trip times with TCC curves (beta)
Harmonics — voltage and current THD with OpenDSS
Optimal power flow & N-1 contingency — dispatch within limits, then outage screening
Transient stability & eigenvalues — rotor angles after faults and oscillation damping (ANDES)
Engineering report — multi-page PDF with cover, diagram and result tables
Import — pandapower (.py) and OpenDSS (.dss) files become a single-line diagram

Validated against commercial software

Results are driven by mature open engines and checked against commercial tools and independent academic work.

Commercial-tool validation

pandapower power flow and short-circuit results are validated against DIgSILENT PowerFactory and PSS Sincal with strict tolerances — continuous CI on every change.

pandapower validation →

Independent thesis study

Master’s thesis work at the University of Palermo compared Electrisim with Neplan across load flow and short circuit.

Read the study →

Dual-solver checks

Offshore wind load flow is cross-checked through pandapower and OpenDSS on the same model — consistent results across two major solvers.

Read dual-solver article →

When Electrisim is the right ETAP alternative

Best fit for

Consultants and plant engineers who run load flow, short-circuit and arc-flash checks every week
Teams that need extra seats for occasional users, at $40 per user per month
Industrial and data center projects that want quick what-if studies before detailed design
Engineers on macOS or Linux, or anyone who would rather not install software

Still use ETAP when you need

Ground grid, cable ampacity or other specialist modules
Large manufacturer device libraries for protection coordination
Real-time monitoring and operator tools built on the same model
Existing ETAP projects, or clients who require deliverables in ETAP

You can run day-to-day studies in Electrisim and keep an ETAP seat only where a contract requires it.

ETAP alternative FAQ

For the studies most projects run every week (load flow, short circuit, arc flash, motor starting, harmonics, OPF and dynamics), yes. It does not replace every ETAP module: ground grid design and real-time operation, for example, are not part of Electrisim.
Cloud Personal is $10 per month and Company $40 per user per month, with every study included and no long contract. The open-source Community Edition is free. ETAP is sold as enterprise licences, usually per module. See pricing.
Not directly. Electrisim imports pandapower (.py) and OpenDSS (.dss) files. An ETAP network is redrawn in the browser editor, and a diagram template can give you a head start.
Yes. Electrisim runs arc flash to IEEE 1584-2018 (incident energy, arc-flash boundary and PPE category) on top of IEC 60909 short-circuit results and shows the results on the diagram. See the arc flash documentation.
Yes. The free Community Edition runs on your own computer; get it from GitHub. The cloud app needs only a browser.

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