HiTools is fine for designing pure-Hikvision systems. The moment a tender requires NDAA Section 889 compliance, multi-vendor parity, or simply mixing Hikvision cameras with Axis or Bosch on the same building, HiTools goes blind. CCTVplanner runs all 65,000+ cameras across 113 brands on one canvas — flagging NDAA exposure per camera and suggesting compliant swaps in one click.
Free tier · No credit card · Browser-based
HiTools renders only Hikvision and HiLook hardware. Public-sector tenders increasingly require multi-vendor designs, NDAA-compliant alternatives, or Bosch/Axis cameras alongside Hikvision. HiTools cannot draw what is not in its catalog.
US federal procurement and many private-sector RFPs now require NDAA Section 889 compliance — which excludes Hikvision. HiTools is silent about this. CCTVplanner flags NDAA exposure per camera, lets you swap to compliant alternatives in one click, and exports an NDAA-clean BOM.
HiTools covers the Hikvision catalog. CCTVplanner covers Hikvision (3 758 models including the new ColorVu, AcuSense and DeepinView lines) plus 79 other brands — Dahua, Axis, Bosch, Hanwha, Uniview, Pelco, Vivotek, i-PRO and more.
HiTools is a desktop suite that needs a Hikvision portal account, periodic updates, and a Windows machine with admin rights. CCTVplanner runs in any browser tab — Mac, Linux, Chromebook, tablet, kiosk — with zero install.
Drop a Hikvision DS-2CD2T87 next to a Dahua IPC-HFW3849 next to an Axis P3265. Same canvas, same EN 62676-4 lens math, same DORI rings. The BOM consolidates Hikvision SKUs with non-Hikvision SKUs cleanly for procurement.
Click any Hikvision camera in your design and CCTVplanner suggests NDAA Section 889 compliant alternatives with matching sensor, lens range, IR distance and IP rating — Bosch, Axis, Hanwha or i-PRO equivalents. One-click swap, BOM updates automatically.
Stack unlimited floors, route cabling between them, and the topology graph computes PoE budget and full BOM for the whole building. HiTools handles each plan in isolation.
Import the architect's DXF floor plan with full BLOCK/INSERT/SPLINE/HATCH coverage, calibrate scale with two clicks, and export DXF or branded PDF. Works with any VMS — Hikvision iVMS, BriefCam, Genetec, Milestone, Avigilon — no vendor lock.
| CCTVplanner | Hikvision HiTools | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera catalog | 65,000+ models · 113 brands | Hikvision + HiLook only |
| NDAA 889 compliance flagging | Per-camera flag + swap suggestions | Not addressed |
| Multi-floor topology | Yes — unlimited floors with cabling | One floor at a time |
| Install | Browser tab — zero install | Windows installer + Hikvision login |
| Languages | 33 (incl. Arabic RTL, Hindi, Vietnamese) | ~12 languages |
| DXF import/export | Yes — full BLOCK/INSERT/SPLINE/HATCH | Limited PDF only |
| Hosting | EU (Poland frontend, EU-West backend) | Hikvision cloud (China + global) |
Everything below is in the product today, on the free tier, and none of it needs an install. Open it in a browser and check it against Hikvision HiTools on a job you already know.
No install and no workstation. Walk the site from any camera point of view, with DORI silhouettes standing at the Detect, Observe, Recognize and Identify distances so the customer sees what the camera sees. Sun and shadow study for the time of day that matters, and one-click 3D PDF export for the people who will never open a design tool.
Every cone is computed from the sensor, resolution and focal length at the mounting height (1 to 20 m) and tilt you set, then clipped by buildings, fences and real ground elevation on satellite imagery. On a flat indoor floor a 2D tool agrees with us. On a sloped yard or a sunken loading dock it does not, and that gap is exactly where the blind spots are.
Racking, containers, concrete blocks, scaffolding, solar panels, trees, and the machinery a live construction site actually parks in the shot: excavators, cranes, concrete mixers, bulldozers, vans and pickups. Each one carries real dimensions and a vertical range, and the field of view clips against it with the shadow drawn on the plan.
Stack ground floor, mezzanine, plant room and roof as separate levels. Draw walls, close rooms and read the floor area back in square metres. Cabling routes between levels, the topology graph carries across them, and each floor exports as its own DXF sheet and PDF page.
Predictive coverage for access points using ITU-R P.2040 wall transmission and a P.1238 margin, drawn as a heatmap over the same plan the cameras sit on. Point-to-point links are checked for line of sight against the buildings and terrain, so the wireless leg of the design fails on screen rather than on site.
51 specified cable types with PoE budget from loop resistance, DC voltage drop, fibre loss budget with splice and connector allowances, coax attenuation per format, speaker line loading and conduit fill. Route length is measured on the drawn route and carries straight into the bill of materials, the cable schedule and the customer offer.
The plan is validated while you draw it: DORI shortfall, blind spots, perimeter gaps, PoE budget and class escalation, cable length and category headroom, conduit bundling, fibre loss, thermal lens and pairing, EMC and environmental class, lightning protection zones, ONVIF profile mixing, NDAA compliance, bandwidth headroom and switch port capacity.
CAD-grade DXF (AutoCAD R2018 / AC1021) on named layers with BLOCK, INSERT, SPLINE, ELLIPSE, HATCH and DIMENSION preserved, inside an ISO 5457 sheet frame with an ISO 7200 title block. Multi-page PDF with bill of materials, cable schedule, equipment list, elevation views, coverage analysis, acceptance test protocol, maintenance schedule and the GDPR Article 35 DPIA worksheet.
Yes. CCTVplanner ships 3 758 Hikvision models — the full ColorVu, AcuSense, DeepinView, EasyIP, Pro Series and TandemVu lines, plus HiLook OEM equivalents. Sensor active widths, lens ranges, IR distances and IP/IK ratings come from Hikvision datasheets. A pure-Hikvision project on CCTVplanner gives you the same FOV math as HiTools, with the option to mix in non-Hikvision cameras when a tender requires it.
We export branded PDF, DXF and CSV BOM — every iVMS / HikCentral workflow accepts these. The CSV BOM lists Hikvision SKU + accessories you paste into HikPartner quote tooling. Direct iVMS project import is on the roadmap. For the design phase itself you do not need iVMS at all — design in CCTVplanner, deploy in iVMS.
Each camera in the catalog carries an NDAA Section 889 flag based on the manufacturer and component sourcing. Hikvision is flagged non-compliant for US federal use. CCTVplanner highlights non-compliant cameras in the BOM and suggests equivalent NDAA-clean alternatives — typically Axis, Bosch, Hanwha or i-PRO models with matching sensor, lens range, IR distance and IP rating. One-click swap updates the design and BOM. See our NDAA reference for the full picture.
HiTools is free because it sells Hikvision cameras. The moment your tender requires NDAA compliance, multi-vendor parity, or simply mixing Hikvision with Axis/Bosch on the same building, HiTools becomes blind. CCTVplanner stays free for small projects (2 projects, 6 cameras) and unlocks unlimited at €5/mo. Pay €60/year for tool independence and NDAA-aware swap suggestions, or stay locked to one vendor.
Full NDAA list, swap matrix, audit-ready BOM.
How design (CCTVplanner) and operate (iVMS) split cleanly.
Honest comparison of the two market leaders.
Detect / Observe / Recognize / Identify per EN 62676-4.
65,000+ cameras, 113 brands, NDAA-aware swaps. Free tier covers 2 projects and 6 cameras. No credit card.
