The flight is done. Batteries are on the charger. The client still doesn't have a map.
If you process that site on PIX4Dcloud, credits decide whether you hit go. Image count times megapixels, divided by a hundred. That's the meter. I fly mapping jobs out of Springdale, Arkansas, for Drones Inbound. I've been a commercial drone pilot for eight years. I am tired of pricing a job around a processing bill that shows up after I already flew.
Pix4D is not cloud only
Pix4D is not a cloud-only company. PIX4Dmapper and PIX4Dmatic are real desktop photogrammetry. You can process on your own machine in those tools. I am not going to pretend they don't exist, and I am not going to invent feature gaps.
The bill I'm talking about is PIX4Dcloud. Credits get consumed when processing runs on their servers. Upload the images there, or send a mapper or matic project up for cloud processing, and you spend credits. Reprocess and you spend them again.
If you already processed on the desktop and you only upload finished outputs, or you use Share to Cloud of finished results, credits are not consumed. That is Pix4D's own rule. I'm not dunking on the stack. I'm pointing at the meter that shows up when the work leaves your desk and runs on theirs.
I am not claiming SkyView beats Pix4D on features. It doesn't, not yet, and I won't write that.
How PIX4Dcloud credits actually work
I pulled Pix4D's credit FAQ on August 25, 2026. The formula is not a mystery.
Credits = (image resolution in megapixels × number of images) / 100.
Resolution is width times height. A 20 MP camera and 500 images is 100 credits. A 45 MP mapping camera and the same count is more than twice that. Bigger sensor, bigger draw.
Reprocessing costs again. Same site, same name, same image count, and you pay the meter a second time if you send it back to their servers. Deleting the project does not refund credits. Auto top-up exists, so the card can keep buying packs when the balance drops. Starter and Pro include a yearly credit allotment. When you run out, you buy more credits. I am not going to quote dollar plan prices. I will not invent a USD figure.
The trial includes 40 processing credits. PIX4Dcloud caps a project at 4,000 images.
That is a serious cloud processor. The cost is metered in credits when the processing happens on their infrastructure. If that is how you want to work, it is a real product. If you already flew the site and you don't want a second bill to turn the card into a map, that meter is the problem.
Process locally. No per-map cloud fee.
SkyView is the desktop processing and viewer tool on Pilot Ledger. The wedge is simple. Process drone maps locally on your PC. No per-map cloud processing fee.
It is a desktop app. The heavy photogrammetry stays on your machine. Orthomosaics, point clouds, DEM and DSM, planimetrics, profiles, sections, GCPs, thermal data, and Gaussian splats. Splats stay on the desktop. They are not in the web viewer.
Raw imagery does not leave the laptop unless you export something on purpose. That is the rule. When a layer is ready, you send the selected deliverable from Import/Export. Only the layer you chose uploads. Not the raw card. Not the whole project. Files at or under 100 MB go in one step. Larger files split and chunk. The upload can run in the background while you start the next site.
The client gets a unique share link. They open it in a browser. They do not need a Pilot Ledger login. They do not need the desktop app. The link expires in 90 days. It is not password-protected. They can download the file you uploaded.
I already wrote about processing drone maps on your own hardware. This post is the other half of that argument. The first one is the machine. This one is the PIX4Dcloud meter.
SkyView Desktop ships September 2026. It is on the waitlist. It is not in customers' hands. I will not write like you can take it home this week.
Local work is not free. It is yours.
Local photogrammetry uses your CPU, your GPU, your disk, and your afternoon. If the workstation is weak, it will be slow. If the dataset is large, you will feel it. That's honest.
Minimum spec is a 4-core CPU, an OpenGL 4.5 GPU, and 8 GB of RAM. 16 GB is recommended. Windows, macOS, and Linux. I am not going to tell you a laptop that meets the floor will chew a 2,000-image block before lunch. It might not. You are trading a credit invoice for time on a machine you already own.
What you don't feel is a new credit spend every time you fly another site for a contractor who already paid you. You don't hit a 4,000-image cloud cap because the processing never left the shop. You don't reprocess into another credit draw because the client wanted one more look at the west pile.
Your maps. Your hardware. No per-map processing fees.
The shop around the map
Quoting, jobs, and pay are live on Pilot Ledger today. You can bid the site, keep the job, and collect. That is not this post. Processing is the waitlist product. SkyView will be included with paid Pilot Ledger plans when it ships. The public page still shows a waitlist, because the desktop app is not shipping today. September 2026.
Join the waitlist on the pricing cards.
Process on the desk. Stop feeding the meter.
Most mapping software talks about GSD and tie points. Those matter. I care about them in the field. After the flight, the question is whether I process here or I buy credits to process there.
PIX4Dmapper and PIX4Dmatic will still be excellent desktop tools. PIX4Dcloud will still be a serious place to process if you want their servers to do the work. I am not dunking on that stack. I built a local processor because I want the heavy work on my PC, and I do not want a per-map cloud fee on a job I already flew.
Process locally. Share the finished layer. Watch for September. Join the waitlist at pilotledger.com/#pricing.