TL;DR: Stockpile measurement software tells a quarry what is still on the ground, which quarry management software cannot. The main options measure from drone surveys, phone scans or both. Choose on three things: the accuracy each vendor publishes and under what conditions, whether it converts volume to tons, and how often you can afford to measure.
Key takeaways
- The stakes are high per ton. According to the US Geological Survey, about 1.5 billion tons of crushed stone were produced in the US in 2025, at an average of $18.50 a ton.
- Quarry management software and measurement software do different jobs. One records what crossed the weighbridge, and the other measures what is left in the yard.
- Ground control drives accuracy more than the brand. According to a 2022 peer-reviewed quarry study, a drone survey with five ground control points came within 2.6% of the true stockpile volume.
- Repeat surveys vary more than single ones. Birdi (birdi.io) publishes 2 to 4 cm vertical accuracy with RTK and good ground control, but 2 to 5 cm between surveys.
- Measuring more often is often worth more than measuring more precisely. A number known twice a year cannot catch a stock loss in March.
What is stockpile measurement software, and how is it different from quarry management software?
Stockpile measurement software calculates the volume, and usually the tonnage, of material on the ground from survey data such as drone imagery or a phone scan. Quarry management software records sales, dispatch and weighbridge tickets. One knows what left the site, and the other knows what remains. A quarry needs both to reconcile its stock.
The search results for "quarry stockpile management software" are mostly management systems. QuarryLink, for example, describes one platform for production, weighbridge, stockpile, jobs and invoicing. E-Quarry covers sales, purchasing, inventory and weighbridge. Those systems track book stock: opening stock plus production minus sales.
Why book stock drifts from the real thing
Book stock drifts for ordinary reasons. Density changes with moisture, loaders spill, and weighbridge records miss internal transfers. So a quarry measures the piles to find out what is really there, then adjusts the books. That measurement is what the tools below do. For the reconciliation step itself, see our guide to reconciling stockpile volumes.
How did we choose and compare the options?
We chose tools that quarries and aggregates producers use to measure stockpile volumes, and compared them on five things: how the data is captured, published accuracy and its conditions, tonnage and density control, measuring change between surveys, and who can see the result. Birdi is listed first, and the order is not a ranking.
Every product fact was checked on the vendor's own website or help center on October 7, 2026. Where a vendor publishes a price, we quote it with the date. Where accuracy is published, we give the conditions it applies to, because a figure without its conditions cannot be compared with anything.
Why accuracy figures need their conditions
Independent research shows how much conditions matter. According to a 2018 study in Remote Sensing, accuracy improves as ground control points increase and are spread evenly across the site. In the 2022 quarry study in Frontiers in Built Environment, the 2.6% result used a 1.44 cm ground sample distance and 70% image overlap. Change either, and the error changes too.
The best stockpile measurement software for quarries in 2026
The stockpile measurement tools compared here are Birdi, Propeller, DroneDeploy, Stockpile Reports and Pix4D. Two measure from drones in a shared web map, one adds its own ground control hardware, one is built around phone capture, and one is a photogrammetry engine. Each entry carries the same fields, checked on October 7, 2026.
1. Birdi
Best for: Quarries that want the monthly stock number, the change since last survey and the tonnage in one map that site, finance and operations can all open.
Typical customer size / segment: Mid-sized quarry, mining and construction teams. Birdi focuses on organizations of roughly 30 to 500 staff.
Key strengths:
- AI Detect outlines stockpiles on a new map, and the result turns into a volumetric report. A person still checks each outline, since AI detections support expert review rather than replace it.
- A built-in material library, grouped into aggregates and quarry, earth and fill and other classes, plus custom densities saved for the whole team, adds tonnage beside the cubic meters on Growth and Ultimate.
- The Base DEM method sets an earlier survey as the base, to read material added or removed since then.
Capture method: Drone surveys you fly, or that you bring in already processed. Birdi's capture network covers Australian Ultimate customers, paid per capture.
Access for people outside the paid team: Guests view and download without using a paid seat. Plus includes 20 guest seats and Growth 50.
Data types in one view: Orthomosaics, elevation models, point clouds, 360 photos, video, PDFs and DXF overlays.
Processing: Cloud.
Watch-outs: Not for a surveyor who wants hands-on control of photogrammetry processing. It also does not suit a sole operator shopping on price alone.
Pricing: Growth is $287 USD a month, billed annually. Ultimate is priced by quote (checked October 7, 2026).
How accurate are Birdi's volumes?
Birdi publishes accuracy by capture method. With RTK and three to five well-distributed ground control points, it gives 2 to 4 cm vertical accuracy, and calls the setup survey-grade for most compliance work. Repeat surveys vary 2 to 5 cm with that setup, and 5 to 15 cm between RTK-only surveys with no ground control. Our guide to how accurate drone data is explains the difference.
2. Propeller
Best for: Survey-led quarries and mines that run frequent volumes against the haul fleet and want ground control hardware in the box.
Typical customer size / segment: Quarry, mining and earthworks operators whose survey team owns the workflow.
Key strengths:
- AeroPoints smart ground control and a PPK workflow, built for survey-grade capture.
- Stockpile volumes with several base options, plus material properties for mass and value.
- DirtMate telematics adds machine load counts between surveys.
Capture method: Your own drone, with Propeller's ground control and PPK hardware, or data processed elsewhere.
Access for people outside the paid team: New users get view-only permission by default. The annual platform fee covers 40 standard users, according to Propeller's help center.
Data types in one view: Surveys, point clouds, design surfaces, 360 photos and machine data.
Processing: Cloud.
Watch-outs: Pricing is by quote, and AeroPoints processing for standalone users costs $999 USD a year per AeroPoint group. The platform is built around the survey team, so plan how non-survey staff will use it.
Pricing: Contact for pricing.
Propeller's public reviews are strongly positive. It holds 4.8 from 20 reviews on Capterra, and 11 of the 20 praise its ease of use. For a side by side, see our comparison of Birdi and Propeller for mining.
3. DroneDeploy
Best for: Organizations that want one drone platform across many job types, from aggregates to construction and inspection.
Typical customer size / segment: Individual pilots on the Flight & Analysis plan, through to enterprise teams on quoted plans.
Key strengths:
- Stockpile reports and volume tools in the aerial product.
- Aerial Pro adds automated ground control tagging, accuracy alerts and cut and fill by region.
- Wide integrations, including Esri, Autodesk and Procore.
Capture method: Drones, including docked drones, with ground capture in its other products.
Access for people outside the paid team: View-only links to a single map date are available on paid accounts. Measuring and exporting follow the viewer's own account permissions.
Data types in one view: Orthomosaics, 3D models, panoramas, video and 360 walks.
Processing: Cloud.
Watch-outs: Team plans are by quote, and stakeholders who want to use the tools need a paid account. Cost appears in 2 of 9 Capterra reviews, plus 1 on the cost of view-only users.
Pricing: The Flight & Analysis plan for individual pilots is $4,188 USD billed annually, with a single admin user. Team plans are by quote (checked October 7, 2026).
4. Stockpile Reports
Best for: Aggregates producers and bulk material yards that want to measure piles with a phone, often, without flying a drone.
Typical customer size / segment: From individuals on a phone app to organizations with more than 200 stockpiles across several countries, according to its pricing page.
Key strengths:
- Measures freestanding piles from an iPhone, with drones and installed cameras for larger operations.
- Each report is a timestamped measurement with volume, tonnage, site and product, plus a coverage confidence score.
- Answers questions about your stockpiles from AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot, grounded in your own measurements.
Capture method: Phone, drone or installed camera.
Access for people outside the paid team: Business plans include unlimited users.
Data types in one view: Stockpile measurements and reports, by product and site.
Processing: Cloud.
Watch-outs: It is built around stockpiles, not the whole site, so other survey data lives elsewhere. Phone capture suits freestanding piles you can walk around.
Pricing: Professional from $20 a month. Business plans run $100 a month for up to 10 piles, $200 for up to 20 and $500 for up to 50. Larger accounts are by quote (checked October 7, 2026).
5. Pix4D
Best for: Surveyors who want control of photogrammetry processing on the desktop, or a cloud platform for small survey teams.
Typical customer size / segment: Individual surveyors to small and medium teams, according to its plan descriptions.
Key strengths:
- PIX4Dmapper and PIX4Dmatic give hands-on control of processing.
- PIX4Dcloud Pro adds a timeline and volume comparison.
- Design overlays in DXF and IFC on PIX4Dcloud Pro.
Capture method: Your own drone or camera.
Access for people outside the paid team: Sharing through PIX4Dcloud.
Data types in one view: Orthomosaics, point clouds, meshes and design overlays.
Processing: Desktop or cloud.
Watch-outs: Price appears in 3 of 10 Capterra reviews of PIX4Dmapper. In 3 of 4 community threads we read, users struggled to measure stockpiles against a custom or earlier base and were pointed to other software.
Pricing: PIX4Dmapper is $3,990 USD a year. PIX4Dcloud runs $1,290 to $4,490 a year (read September 21, 2026).
How often should a quarry measure its stockpiles?
Many quarries measure monthly to match month-end stock reporting, while others still measure only once or twice a year with an external surveyor. The right frequency is set by how much stock moves, what it is worth, and when the business needs the number. Monthly measurement makes a stock loss visible within weeks rather than at year end.
Frequency is often a bigger lever than precision. A survey accurate to 1% but done twice a year leaves months in which nobody knows the real stock. In contrast, a monthly drone or phone survey finds a drift while it is still small. Both drone and phone capture make that frequency affordable for a quarry that once paid for each survey.
When to measure more often
Measure more often when stock moves fast, when piles hold high-value products, or when finance closes the books monthly. Measure before a stocktake, a sale of the business or a change of contractor. Our guide to choosing stockpile volume software covers the questions to ask before you buy.
How do you get from volume to tons?
Tonnage is volume multiplied by bulk density, so it carries two errors: the survey's and the density's. According to Birdi's help center, a density of 1.6 against 1.8 t/m³ is a 12% swing in tons on the same volume. So the density you use matters as much as the drone.
For monitoring, a library density is fine. However, for an invoice, a royalty return or a sale, use a density measured from your own material, and keep it the same across the team. Software that saves one density per material for everyone avoids the spreadsheet where errors start.
Why surveys and the weighbridge disagree
A survey and the weighbridge measure different things. The weighbridge weighs what left the site. The survey measures the volume of what remains, then converts it with a density that changes with moisture and compaction. A small, steady gap is normal. A growing gap is the reason to measure. For more, see our guide to ground control in volumetric reporting.
Which stockpile measurement software should a quarry choose?
Choose by how the quarry works. Survey-led quarries running frequent volumes against the fleet lean to Propeller. For a yard of freestanding piles measured often by phone, Stockpile Reports fits. Surveyors who want processing control lean to Pix4D. Meanwhile, a quarry that shares the number, the change and the tonnage with finance and operations leans to Birdi.
Then test two tools on the same two surveys of your own site. Count how many people touch the number in each workflow, and check whether the result reaches finance without retyping. The tool that gives a repeatable figure with the fewest handoffs is usually the right one. For the wider field, see our list of stockpile volume software for mining.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best software for measuring stockpiles?
It depends on how you capture data. Propeller suits survey-led drone programs with ground control hardware, Stockpile Reports suits frequent phone measurement of freestanding piles, Pix4D suits surveyors who want processing control, and Birdi suits teams that share volumes and tonnage with finance and operations in one map. Test two on your own site.
How accurate are drone stockpile volumes?
With good ground control, drone stockpile volumes usually land within a few percent of the true volume. In a 2022 peer-reviewed quarry study, a drone survey with five ground control points came within 2.6%. Without ground control, errors grow, and two surveys of the same pile can disagree by more than either one's accuracy.
How do you convert stockpile volume to tons?
Multiply the volume by the material's bulk density: cubic meters times tons per cubic meter gives tons. Density changes with moisture and compaction, so a small density error moves the tonnage a lot. A density of 1.6 against 1.8 t/m³ is a 12% difference. Use a density measured from your own material.
How often should quarry stockpiles be measured?
Many quarries measure monthly, to match month-end stock reporting, and measure more often for fast-moving or high-value piles. Others still survey only once or twice a year with an external surveyor. More frequent measurement finds stock drift while it is small, which is often worth more than a more precise annual survey.
Can you measure stockpiles with a phone?
Yes, for freestanding piles you can walk around. Phone apps such as Stockpile Reports measure a pile from imagery taken on the phone and report volume and tonnage. Drones suit many piles, large sites and piles against walls or in bays. Many operations use phones for spot checks and drones for full counts.
About the author
This guide was written by the Birdi team. Birdi (birdi.io) is a geospatial AI workspace that quarry, mining and construction teams use to share drone surveys, volumes and site data in one map. We checked every product fact against each vendor's own website or help center on October 7, 2026, and read the research cited below.
Related reading
- Stockpile volume software compared: the wider set of stockpile platforms for mining.
- How to reconcile stockpile volumes: the month-end routine, step by step.
- Choosing stockpile volume software: seven questions to ask any vendor.
- Birdi vs Propeller: two platforms compared for mine and quarry sites.
Sources
Research and statistics
- U.S. Geological Survey. "Stone (Crushed)." Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, February 2026. https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-stone-crushed.pdf
- Matsimbe, J., Mdolo, W., Kapachika, C., Musonda, I. and Dinka, M. "Comparative Utilization of Drone Technology vs. Traditional Methods in Open Pit Stockpile Volumetric Computation: A Case of Njuli Quarry, Malawi." Frontiers in Built Environment 8, 1037487, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2022.1037487
- Sanz-Ablanedo, E., Chandler, J.H., Rodríguez-Pérez, J.R. and Ordóñez, C. "Accuracy of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and SfM Photogrammetry Survey as a Function of the Number and Location of Ground Control Points Used." Remote Sensing 10(10), 1606, 2018. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10101606
Vendor documentation (read October 7, 2026 unless stated)
- Birdi Help Center. "How accurate are my maps?" https://help.birdi.io/en/articles/13837409
- Birdi Help Center. "How to turn your stockpile AI Detect results into a volumetric report." https://help.birdi.io/en/articles/13456551
- Birdi Help Center. "How to calculate stockpile tonnage in Birdi." https://help.birdi.io/en/articles/16590329
- Birdi Help Center. "How to compare stockpile volumes between two surveys in Birdi." https://help.birdi.io/en/articles/16591511
- Birdi Help Center. "How accurate is the volumetric calculator?" https://help.birdi.io/en/articles/10504763
- Birdi. "Pricing." https://www.birdi.io/pricing
- Propeller Help Center. Annual Platform Access Fee, AeroPoints processing subscription and site sharing articles (updated February to July 2026). https://help.propelleraero.com
- DroneDeploy. "Pricing." https://www.dronedeploy.com/pricing
- Stockpile Reports. "Plans and Pricing." https://www.stockpilereports.com/pricing.html
- Pix4D. "Pricing." https://www.pix4d.com/pricing (read September 21, 2026)
- QuarryLink. https://www.quarrylink.com.au/
Reviews
- Capterra reviews of Propeller (20), DroneDeploy (9) and PIX4Dmapper (10), counted September 21, 2026; Pix4D community threads on stockpile volumes (4), read September 28, 2026. Reddit and G2's full review pages were not read.
