Type an address and Draftly returns the planning zone from the government cadastre, plus every overlay your council and state publish — in one pass, on one screen.
Free, no account, not metered. Runs the full site brief — zone, overlays, verified lot boundary, easements and design wind — and gives you the PDF.
Every free brief returns the whole picture — not just the one line you came for. (Your check lands in the brief's Overlays & Controls section.)
| Check | Property-data platforms | Draftly site brief |
|---|---|---|
| Flood report | $39–$69 | Free |
| Bushfire pre-screen | $39–$69 | Free |
| Planning PDF | around $9 | Free |
| Geotechnical desktop study | around $119 | Free |
| State heritage certificate | $63.04 | Free |
Source: Draftly's public comparison audit, last updated 2026-08-12 — the same figures shown at /compare/. Figures are point-in-time and describe the property-data category generally, not any one named vendor; verify current pricing with the vendor. A state heritage certificate fee is set by the state heritage body.
"What zone am I in?" is the first question of every project and the one most likely to be answered wrongly by a neighbour, a forum post or a real-estate listing.
The authoritative answer is free and public. Every state publishes zoning, and the councils and state services expose it. What does not exist anywhere is aggregation: every jurisdiction has its own portal, its own terminology and its own map interface, and none of them were built for someone standing in a backyard with a phone.
Knowing the zone tells you the primary control. It does not tell you what you may build, because the overlays sitting on top of it are usually what trigger a permit for a small residential structure — and because the setback and siting rules that actually shape the design live further down in the scheme.
Draftly returns the zone, the overlays, the verified lot boundary and the easements together, because in practice they are one question. Then it carries them forward: the same verified boundary you see in the brief is the boundary your structure gets sited against, and the same overlays feed the compliance check.
It will not issue a statutory planning certificate, and it does not claim national overlay completeness. Where a government service does not expose a layer, the brief says the layer is unavailable rather than implying the site is clear.
| Dimension | Draftly | Canibuild | Buildertrend / CoConstruct | Archistar | Property-data platforms | ClearCalcs | Council & state portals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Address-to-answer speedType an address → a useful answer, with nothing in between. | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 1 |
| Planning data reliabilityHow much of the planning answer is real government data vs inference. | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4.5 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Visual UXMap, drag-and-drop, live feedback — how it feels to use. | 4 | 5 | 3.5 | 4 | 3 | 3.5 | 1 |
| Drafting & exportDrawings, DXF/PDF sets, documents a council or certifier accepts. | 4.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | 1 |
| Engineering defensibilityStructural calculations, member schedules, AS/NZS-referenced outputs. | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Commercial readinessPricing clarity, payments, onboarding, market maturity. | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | — |
| Partner / trade ecosystemPartner programs, integrations, API access, white-label. | 4.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Running the buildSchedule of works, trade dispatch, purchase orders, and what the homeowner can see. | 3 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — |
| What you get before payingHow much of a usable answer arrives without a subscription, a per-report fee, or a sales call. | 5 | 1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 3 |
Scores are calibrated for ONE job: the address-to-permit-to-built workflow for Australian backyard structures and small residential builds (pergolas, decks, sheds, carports, granny flats) — for trades, builders and homeowners. They are not a verdict on general construction software. A tool can score low here and be excellent at what it is actually built for.
Scored 1–5. “—” means the dimension does not apply to that product. Last updated 2026-08-12. See the full comparison · Report an error.
This table is an audit, not a brochure. These are our own limitations, published because a comparison that only flatters us is worth nothing.
Free, no account, not metered. Runs the full site brief — zone, overlays, verified lot boundary, easements and design wind — and gives you the PDF.