Most teams we talk to already own Aspen HYSYS, EES or Mathcad, and reach for a vendor or free web calculator when they just need a quick number. This page lays out where Dynamica sits next to those tools — and where it doesn't try to.
FIG. C0
Saturation curve and three isobars for H₂O. Tools above are evaluated against this same property surface — Dynamica uses IF97; flowsheet stacks vary by vendor.
Hover or focus any column header for a one-line description of the tool.
One card per dimension — Dynamica first, then the alternatives.
| Dimension | Dynamica | Aspen HYSYS | EES / Mathcad | Free web tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breadth of modules | 12 working calculators (steam, psychro, refrigerants, cycles, combustion, heat tx, valves, pipe, insulation, biomass, boiler, fleet) | Full flowsheeting + equipment sizing across many unit ops | Property library + user-built symbolic models | Single-purpose calculators, scope varies by site |
| Team accounts & roles | Yes — projects, roles, shared libraries | Per-seat desktop; shared via files | Per-seat desktop | Anonymous web |
| Per-action audit log | Yes — every input, result and export | Case files + manual versioning | File-based | None |
| SAML SSO | Yes (Enterprise) | Via desktop SSO / corporate login | Desktop license server | Not applicable |
| Offline use | PWA, admin-set grace up to 7 days | Native desktop, fully offline | Native desktop, fully offline | Online only |
| Validation & provenance | IAPWS-IF97, CoolProp, NIST, EN 12952 — citation block on every result | Vendor-validated property packages | IF97 + user-supplied references | Varies by site |
| Time to first result | Minutes | Significant — formal training typical | Hours — write equations from scratch | Minutes |
| Pricing model | $0 free tier → Pro $49/mo → Team from $499/mo → Enterprise: custom | Enterprise license, quoted | Per-seat license | Free |
| AI co-pilot with tool-calling | Ask Dynamica — runs the same validated engines as the app, cites every tool call, provenance hash on PDF. Unique in the category. | — | — | — |
| Audit-grade PDF with provenance citation | Signed PDF + repro hash + AI citation block | Partial — manual export | Partial — manual export | — |
| Target user | Practicing thermal engineers and small/mid teams | Process engineers designing new plants | Academia and individual engineers building custom models | Anyone needing a quick one-off check |
| Where each tool is strongest | Working calcs, audit trail, AI-assisted exploration, team sharing | Rigorous flowsheeting + equipment sizing | Open-ended symbolic math | Speed of access (no signup) |
FIG. C1
Each row evaluates a single capability. Highlighted column is Dynamica; bordered cells mark a deliberate win.
Pro is a single-seat plan with one active session at a time. Team unlocks the workflow primitives a multi-person QA process actually depends on.
| Capability | Pro ($49/mo) | Team (from $499/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Per-project membership (silo calcs/boilers/fuels/files per client engagement) | — | Yes |
| Roles & approval workflow (reviewer sign-off required by QA processes) | — | Viewer · engineer · admin |
| 30-day audit log (who computed what, when, with which inputs) | — | Yes |
| White-label PDFs without the Dynamica watermark | Unwatermarked, but Dynamica brand | White-label · your letterhead |
| Multi-device sign-in | One active session — switching devices signs the other out | Per-seat — every reviewer signed in on their own device |
Just need 2 calculators? Buy 2 Pro seats ($98/mo) — Team is for firms that need roles, audit logs, and per-client project silos.
Energy balances, property look-ups, boiler checks, psychrometrics, steam-line losses and fleet trending — the calculations you do every week, with citations and an audit trail attached.
For multi-unit flowsheeting, distillation columns, reactor networks and rigorous equipment sizing, Aspen is the right tool. Pair it with Dynamica for the supporting working calcs your team runs every day around that design.
Most of our customers keep Aspen for flowsheeting and use Dynamica for the working calculations around it — property look-ups, energy balances, combustion, psychrometrics, refrigeration cycles, boiler performance and fleet management. Aspen remains the right tool for new process design, multi-unit flowsheets, distillation and reactor models; Dynamica handles the day-to-day calcs that don't justify firing up a flowsheet.
Ready to see it on your own data? Open the app → or talk to us about an Enterprise pilot.
