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Zorowatt vs SMA Sunny Design

Where Sunny Design is strong, where it falls short, and what changes if you switch. Every number can be checked on their site.

SMA Sunny Design is the inverter maker's PV design tool: free for PV design with your own load profile, with tariffs, peak shaving and time-series exports in Sunny Design PRO. Zorowatt does the battery economics only, brand-neutral, with the bill rebuilt from sourced tariffs. (sma.de)

Short answer
When to pick Sunny Design
Pick Sunny Design if you design SMA systems: the free plan covers PV design with your own load profile, and PRO adds tariffs and peak shaving for €600 a year.
When to pick Zorowatt
Pick Zorowatt if you want tariffs, peak shaving and the bill check on the free analysis and the €49 plan, with batteries from many makers and inverters of any brand.

Facts about the other tool read on 2026-10-30 from the pages linked in each cell. Prices and features change; check the vendor's page before you rely on one.

FeatureZorowattSMA Sunny Design
PriceFree €0 · Starter €49 / month · Pro €149 / month · Enterprise on requestFree, with registration for own load profiles; Sunny Design PRO €600 a year, net, with a one-month trialsma.de · 2026-10-30
Runs onThe browser; nothing to installWeb browser and tabletssma.de · 2026-10-30
Meter data import and checks15-minute or hourly data from CSV, Excel, German MSCONS or Green Button files, or a year of values with no dates; gaps, duplicates, daylight saving time and kW / kWh mix-ups flagged, never filled silentlyOwn load profiles on the free plan (a CSV from 1 January, 5 to 60 minutes); load-profile analysis on PROsma.de, manuals.sma.de · 2026-10-30
TariffsVersioned 2026 tariffs, each with its source: Netherlands (Liander, Stedin, Enexis, plus the ACM 2028 draft as a scenario), Germany (NEW Netz, Netze BW, RheinNetz, levies and Stromsteuer), Romania (ANRE zones). Any other country: a generic template where you enter the ratesCustom purchase and feed-in prices and dynamic tariffs from time series, on PROsma.de · 2026-10-30
Battery dispatchRule-based, with the optimal (LP) dispatch as the upper bound; every saving is billed by the same bill enginePeak-shaving simulation and multi-use with self-consumption, on PROsma.de, manuals.sma.de · 2026-10-30
Battery productsA database of commercial and industrial products, every spec with its sourceSMA battery inverters, with a compatibility list of batteriessma.de · 2026-10-30
SolarPlanned solar modelled from PVGIS (EU Joint Research Centre) and laid on the meter data; existing PV is in the meter data (import and export)PV design with shadingsma.de · 2026-10-30
Client reportPDF report for the client; white-label on ProProject documentation; PRO adds a PowerPoint project exposésma.de · 2026-10-30

In short

Sunny Design is a free PV design tool with paid storage economics, built around SMA inverters. Zorowatt does the battery economics only, brand-neutral, with the bill rebuilt from sourced tariffs and checked against the invoices; it does not design the PV array.

Price per year

SMA Sunny Design
Sunny Design PRO €600 a year, net
Zorowatt
Starter €588 a year (€348 at the founding price) · Pro €1,788 a year for 3 seats · single analyses €15

As each vendor's page states it; prices in other currencies are not converted.

How to switch

Upload the load-profile CSV you used in Sunny Design: Zorowatt reads a year of values with no dates from 1 January, or the dated export from the portal.

  1. Upload the site's meter data to the free data checker or the Workspace: every assumption made reading the file is listed.
  2. Pick the site's tariff and enter the invoices: the bill check shows whether the baseline matches before anything is sized.
  3. Size the battery, compare it with your earlier study, and send the client the PDF report.

Questions

How much does Sunny Design PRO cost?
€600 a year, net, with a one-month free trial; the basic Sunny Design is free (sma.de, read on 2026-10-30). Zorowatt Starter is €49 a month for 3 site analyses, then €15 each; Pro is €149 a month with a white-label report and 3 seats. Your first site analysis is free, with no card.
Does the free Sunny Design do peak shaving?
No: tariff management and the peak-shaving simulation are listed for PRO (read on 2026-10-30). Zorowatt's free analysis rebuilds the peak charge under the operator's tariff and sizes the battery to cut it.
Does Zorowatt design the PV array?
No. Zorowatt models planned solar from PVGIS to size the battery; keep Sunny Design or another PV tool for the array itself.
Free tools

Try it on your own file first

Both tools run in the browser with no account; the file is not uploaded.

Looking for a Sunny Design alternative?

Zorowatt runs in the browser, reads the site's own meter data and rebuilds its bill before it sizes anything.

Sunny Design alternative for C&I battery studies in Europe →

Switching?

Bring a site you already studied: upload its meter data and bills, and set the result next to your old one.

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