Calculator

Drone or contractor: where the sum flips

Spraying or mapping by drone comes down to one figure: the cost per hectare, against what a contractor charges. Enter your assumptions, the page does the rest. Nothing is stored.

Treated area (hectares)Passes per yearContractor rate (CHF per hectare and pass)Operating cost per hectare (batteries, product, maintenance)Price of the drone and its equipment (CHF)Depreciation period (years)

The result

Cost per hectare with your own drone

CHF 113

Cost per hectare with a contractor

CHF 120

Annual difference

The drone saves you CHF 600 per year.

Break-even area

Below 74 hectares treated per year, the contractor stays cheaper.

Have my case costed

Public Swiss reference points for vineyards: in 2021 RTS put one treated hectare at about CHF 4,500 by helicopter against CHF 6,000 by drone, and an Agroscope–Proconseil estimate relayed by Vitisphere placed drone spraying at 50-55 euro cents per square metre for the season. Field crops sit far lower. Enter your own rate.

Default values are working assumptions, not a market survey: replace them with your own figures. Training, insurance and flight time are not included.