Heat Engineer vs Alpha Draw
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Heat Engineer
This app assists heating engineers and surveyors in collecting property data for heating system installations. It supports heat loss reports for various technologies and includes tools for sound assessments and quick estimations. Data is automatically saved for later review and amendment.
- Heat loss survey for BS EN 12831, CIBSE, and MCS standards
- MCS 020 sound assessment for Air Source Heat Pumps
- Quick heat loss estimator tool
- Automatic data saving and history for amendments
- Room-by-room heat loss calculation
- Photo capture for rooms and installation locations
- Fuel comparisons and running cost calculations
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Heat Engineer has been designed to help heating engineers and surveyors gather information about a property for the installation of a heating system. The options available for heat loss reports are renewable technologies such as Air Source Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Biomass or conventional fossil fuels. Please visit our website to create an account and watch our training videos. www.heat-engineer.com Heat Engineer Software Ltd is an Industrial Associate Supporter of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering. ----Heat Engineer has three functions ---- 1 - Heat Loss survey, designed to meet BS EN 12831, CIBSE Domestic Heating Design Guide and MCS standards. When the survey is completed you can send it to your account at www.heat-engineer.com 2 - MCS 020 Planning Standards, sound assessment for Air Source Heat Pumps. 3 - A quick heat loss estimator tool. -----Important useful feature---- Every entry made is automatically saved in the app’s history so you can revisit any time to amend either your sound assessment or heat loss survey. For MCS 020 Sound assessments this is particularly useful if you don’t know the sound power decibel rating whilst on site and haven’t yet decided which manufacturer to use. You can use the app on site to record data you have and revisit your history to update the project once you’re back in the office. We now have a LiDAR feature. 1----Heat Loss Survey---- Complete a site survey for a room by room heat loss calculation. The parameters within this app are detailed so calculations can be carried out following the domestic heating design guide and requirements to meet MCS standards. This tool is for collecting details of a property so you can then send it to an online Heat Engineer account. If you are a Heat Engineer account holder at www.heat-engineer.com then you can review your survey and produce a detailed heat loss report. Take photos for each room and installation locations. • Pre-populated drop down lists for room names and options to add custom names. • Pre-populated drop down lists and options to add custom description and U values for all building materials, walls, floors, windows, doors, ceilings and roof. • For ‘complex rooms’, rooms with lofted/vaulted ceilings and roof an option to select which image profile, so measurement and wall types can quickly be entered. • Current Emitter selection, quickly select the radiator profile image from our list and enter the height and length. Heat Engineer online www.heat-engineer.com will calculate the output based on the designed flow temperature in the final report. • Send completed survey to a Heat Engineer account online at www.Heat-Engineer.com • Surveys submitted for the heat loss calculation the ‘internal room design temperatures’ and ‘air changes per hour ‘will be based on the room name and age of the room. Energy kWh demand and running costs is calculated using degree day data. Fuel comparisons are also available. 2----MCS 020 Planning Standards, sound assessment for Air Source Heat Pumps- To ensure a proposed Air Source Heat Pump installation is a ‘permitted development’ for sound conditions use this app if you’re an MCS installer for the handover pack. • Enter any manufacturer and model name • Enter the A weighted sound power (dB) level for the chosen model (you can change this information in the history when you decide which model you want to install) • Enter a description of assessment position • Take and add a photo of the assessment position for your final PDF report • A clear indication of assessment results • Send a two page PDF report of the completed MCS 020 assessment to your office via email 3----Heat Loss Estimator---- This heat loss estimator tool has been designed to provide heating estimations on Power kW and Energy kWh demands for domestic and commercial properties. The tool provides approximations to aid the quotation / tendering process before a project is accepted.
Alpha Draw
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Alpha Draw is the companion site plan drawing tool for the Alpha Tracker asbestos software. It enables site and office users to simply and easily create site plans to use alongside their Tracker Mobile asbestos data. We have created Alpha Draw to work best on tablet devices so that the asbestos surveyor has enough "work space" to draw plans of different sizes. You can quickly draw the shape of a room, add windows, doors and other features, and even furniture too! Finally add your sample points before automatically uploading the drawing the Alpha Tracker project folder. Alpha Draw is available for use on most tablet devices and by all Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy users at no charge.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Alpha Draw at none against Heat Engineer's 1. Alpha Draw also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Heat Engineer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Alpha Draw asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 5, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Heat Engineer | Alpha Draw |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | 78.9% of reviews | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Heat Engineer Software Ltd | Start Software |
In-app purchases
Heat Engineer
- MCS 020 PDF Report Token$2.99
Alpha Draw
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Heat Engineer free?
Is Alpha Draw free?
Do Heat Engineer or Alpha Draw have ads?
Which is updated more often, Heat Engineer or Alpha Draw?
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