SoundPLAN builds 3D models of terrain, buildings and sources and calculates noise at receivers, on grids and on facades to national and international standards, including ISO 9613-2:2024 in the current releases. Consultants use it to design barriers, allocate noise quotas and produce strategic noise maps. Its Industry and Indoor Noise modules also cover workplace exposure levels and room acoustics.
Built from vendor sources checked ; AI-assisted drafting. Documentation review, not a hands-on test. How pages are made
Acoustic consultants, environmental planners and industrial noise engineers who must predict and map noise and design mitigation to recognised calculation standards. It is a specialist modelling tool: results depend on the chosen standard, the source data and the user's skill, and there is no native macOS version. Cloud licences must reach the internet at least every 30 minutes during use. Occupational-health fit is limited to modelled workplace exposure levels.
Worth evaluating for consultancies and engineering teams that produce noise predictions, maps and mitigation designs regularly, because the modular licence lets them pay only for the noise types they use. Occupational health teams that need to measure exposure should look at measurement software instead: SoundPLAN predicts levels but does not record them.
Free trial documented. Sources checked .
Vendor visuals—not a QHSEtech hands-on test.
SoundPLAN GmbH, based in Backnang, Germany, makes acoustics modelling software: SoundPLANnoise, a modular package for professional noise studies, and SoundPLANessential and essential+, compact editions for common road, rail, industry, parking and event noise studies. The company also sells expert reports and consulting.
| Capability | Evidence | Scope and source |
|---|---|---|
| Terrain and 3D modelling | Documented by vendor | The base module covers georeferenced bitmaps, coordinate transformation, digital terrain models, calculation, assessment and tabular or graphical documentation. SoundPLANnoise modules |
| Industrial and workplace noise | Depends on scope | Industry module: point, line and area sources, industrial halls, wind turbines, car parks, open-air concerts and noise at the workplace as exposure levels. SoundPLANnoise modules |
| Indoor noise and room acoustics | Depends on scope | Indoor Noise to VDI 3760 with a sound-particle model, and a Room acoustics tool for reverberation time and speech intelligibility (STI) to ISO 3382-3:2012 and VDI 2569:2019. SoundPLANnoise modules |
| Barrier optimisation | Depends on scope | The Wall design tool sizes noise barriers and walls for a planned structure using a cost-benefit analysis. SoundPLANnoise modules |
| Current calculation standards | Documented by vendor | SoundPLANnoise 9.1 (September 2024) adds ISO 9613-2:2024 and extended Nord2000 settings; SoundPLANessential 6.0 (December 2024) adds ISO 9613-2:2024 and sonROAD18:2024. SoundPLANnoise 9.1 release (September 2024)SoundPLANessential 6.0 release (December 2024) |
| Noise mapping at scale | Depends on scope | Noise Mapping Toolbox for EU strategic noise maps and action plans, and Distributed Computing across networked PCs from one licence. SoundPLANnoise modules |
| Licence types and connectivity | Depends on scope | Dongle single-user, network with seat borrowing, monthly or quarterly rental, or cloud licences that need an internet connection every 30 minutes during use. SoundPLANnoise maintenance, licences and rentEnd-user licence agreement (April 2024) |
| Road and rail traffic noise | Depends on scope | The Road and rail module enters or imports emissions for roads, railways and car parks through traffic data sets defined by the calculation standard in use. SoundPLANnoise modules |
| Aircraft noise assessment | Depends on scope | The Aircraft noise module calculates descriptors including Leq, maximum level, NAT exceedance frequency, wake-up probability and ANEF, with maximum-level statistics by aircraft class or for their sum. It is predictive assessment, not aircraft tracking or field measurement. SoundPLANnoise modules |
| Noise quota allotment | Depends on scope | The Noise allotment expansion module optimizes noise quotas for company sites within an area and presents the sectors and resulting noise map graphically; this does not establish regulatory approval or guaranteed compliance. SoundPLANnoise modulesSoundPLANnoise highlights |
Also watch for: No published licence, rental or maintenance prices. Windows only; Mac users need a virtual Windows environment. Cloud licences are limited to computers in one country. Updates after the first year need a separate annual maintenance contract.
Quote only (purchase, rental or cloud licence)
SoundPLAN publishes no licence, rental or maintenance prices; offers come from SoundPLAN or its distribution partners. SoundPLANnoise is sold as modules or suggested packages, as dongle-protected single-user or network licences, or rented monthly or quarterly. After the one-year warranty, an annual maintenance contract provides program updates and support. SoundPLANessential is a one-time dongle purchase or an annual cloud rental; essential+ is cloud-only, and cloud rentals include updates and new major versions. Converting a current essential purchase to essential+ carries a one-time conversion fee, and the first cloud year is then free of charge.
Pricing sources checked : Selected sources checked; no starting price recorded. The essential licence page, the SoundPLANnoise packages and maintenance pages and the April 2024 EULA were read on 25 September 2026; none shows an amount.
SoundPLANnoise has a base module for terrain, geometry, calculation and documentation; noise types for road and rail, industry (including workplace exposure levels), indoor noise and aircraft; and tools such as wall design, distributed computing, a noise mapping toolbox and room acoustics. It models and maps noise; it does not measure it.
Ask the vendor to identify the product, region, modules, billing unit, contract term and included services in writing.
Dongle and network licences run on the local machine or network, and a network seat can be borrowed to a notebook for work away from the network. Under the April 2024 EULA, cloud licences need an active internet connection at least every 30 minutes during use; a SoundPLANnoise cloud licence can be registered on two computers but run on one at a time, and an essential or manda cloud licence on one computer. Online map services such as Google Maps and OpenStreetMap also need a connection.
No. It predicts and maps noise from models; measured input data comes from separate instruments.
Not natively. SoundPLAN says Mac users can run it in a virtual Windows environment; it is 64-bit Windows software and needs a graphics card supporting OpenGL 4.1.
SoundPLANnoise is modular, with road and rail, industry, indoor and aircraft noise types and tools such as distributed computing. essential focuses on road, rail, industry, parking and open-air event noise in a simpler interface; essential+ adds further functions and is cloud-only.
Yes. SoundPLAN GmbH has a consultancy department for immission control, room acoustics and immission measurements alongside its software business.
Drawn from the profiles behind the Alternatives list above: most category tags shared with SoundPLAN first, then the closest overlap in documented capability names, then A to Z. Ratings, search demand and sponsorship are not used; rows are shown A to Z.
Shared category tags: 2 (Environmental Monitoring, Noise Monitoring).
Differs: trial on request (this profile: free trial documented).
Same: scope, offline and price.
Shared category tags: 3 (Environmental Monitoring, Noise Monitoring, others).
Differs: scope Occupational Health (this profile: Environmental Management); trial on request (this profile: free trial documented).
Same: offline and price.
No shared category tag.
Differs: scope Noise & Vibration Software (this profile: Environmental Management); trial not established (this profile: free trial documented).
Same: offline and price.
Star ratings and review counts from the old catalog are not shown: no source for them was recorded.
