QGIS
Open SourceVerified
The free, open-source GIS that has become the default spatial platform for water engineers worldwide.
Geospatial & Hydro-GISActiveQGIS HydrologyTerrain Analysis
Arc Hydro
ActiveEsri's free hydrology framework for ArcGIS Pro — terrain preprocessing and the data model behind many agency workflows.
by Esri
- Pricing
- Free
- License
- Proprietary (free add-on)
- Commercial use
- Permitted
- Ecosystem
- ArcGIS Pro, Python (arcpy)
- Platform
- Windows
About Arc Hydro
Arc Hydro is Esri's water-resources framework: a data model plus a large toolbox for terrain preprocessing, watershed and stream delineation, characterisation and map-to-model handoffs, developed with the water community over two decades. Many US agency workflows (and datasets) are structured around Arc Hydro conventions.
The tools are free but require ArcGIS Pro, which defines its audience: if your organisation is Esri-native, Arc Hydro is the mature, supported path for GIS hydrology; if not, the open QGIS/WhiteboxTools stack covers equivalent ground without the platform dependency.
Where it fits in the workflow
TerrainCatchmentRainfallRunoffRoutingHydraulicsMappingReporting
Alternatives to Arc Hydro
Other geospatial & hydro-gis tools covering similar workflow stages.
WhiteboxTools
Open SourceVerified
500+ fast geospatial analysis tools with the best DEM hydrology toolkit in open source.
Geospatial & Hydro-GISActiveDEM ProcessingTerrain Analysis
Crayfish
Open Source
QGIS plugin for exploring mesh model results — animate TUFLOW, Telemac and HEC-RAS 2D outputs in the GIS.
Geospatial & Hydro-GISStableQGIS HydrologyFlood Mapping
GRASS GIS
Open Source
Four decades of geospatial engineering — r.watershed and the most battle-tested hydrology modules in GIS.
Geospatial & Hydro-GISActiveWatershed DelineationDEM Processing
Click anywhere on earth, get the upstream watershed in seconds — free delineation in the browser.
Geospatial & Hydro-GISActiveWatershed Delineation
Google Earth Engine
Freemium
Planetary-scale geospatial analysis in the cloud — the data catalogue and compute behind modern water remote sensing.
Geospatial & Hydro-GISActiveGoogle Earth EngineRemote Sensing