A fair comparison
Custodia vs Landscape vs LOCATE.
The incumbents have served the field well. We built Custodia for what comes next — narrative intelligence, modern GIS, and a migration path that's easier than staying.
Comparison reflects publicly documented capabilities as of 2026. We update this page when competitors ship parity.
Mapping & GIS
| Feature | Custodia | Landscape | LOCATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native interactive map (draw + import) | partial | ||
| GeoJSON / Shapefile / KML import | partial | ||
| PostGIS-powered acreage & geometry | partial | ||
| Auto-fetch USDA SSURGO soils | |||
| Habitat features as point geometry | partial |
Monitoring & Stewardship
| Feature | Custodia | Landscape | LOCATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recurring monitoring protocols | |||
| Offline-friendly visit capture | partial | ||
| Per-site health score | |||
| Overdue badges that nudge, not nag | partial | partial | |
| Photo-rich field notes timeline | partial |
People & CRM
| Feature | Custodia | Landscape | LOCATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landowner / contact CRM | partial | ||
| Volunteer hours & skills | partial | ||
| Certification expiry alerts | |||
| Public stewardship event sign-ups |
Intelligence & Storytelling
| Feature | Custodia | Landscape | LOCATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Narrative Relational Intelligence (NRI) | |||
| AI weekly hero summary | |||
| Wonder Letters (seasonal long-form letters) | |||
| Listening Room (cross-source signal feed) | |||
| Resonance scoring per site | |||
| Watchtower thresholds (FIRMS, USGS, GBIF) | |||
| Wilderness Pulse dark-sky view | |||
| Auto-cited grant report exports | partial | partial | |
| iNaturalist / GBIF / USGS / NOAA signals |
Fundraising & Engagement
| Feature | Custodia | Landscape | LOCATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsor-a-Preserve recurring memberships | |||
| Threshold campaigns tied to ecological signals | |||
| Annual print Almanac (Lulu fulfillment) | |||
| Stripe Connect — funds direct to your bank | |||
| 5% platform fee, $0 setup | — | — |
Integrations
| Feature | Custodia | Landscape | LOCATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive (live link + snapshot) | partial | ||
| Dropbox (live link + snapshot) | |||
| NRI document sniffing (auto-classify) | |||
| Open API / webhooks | partial | ||
| Stripe-native billing & self-serve plans |
Migration & Onboarding
| Feature | Custodia | Landscape | LOCATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-serve CSV import wizard | partial | ||
| Landscape preset (one-click column map) | — | ||
| LOCATE preset (one-click column map) | — | ||
| ConservationTrack preset | |||
| Per-row import provenance & rollback | |||
| White-glove concierge migration | partial | partial |
Pricing & Access
| Feature | Custodia | Landscape | LOCATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier for solo stewards | |||
| Transparent published pricing | |||
| Modern web stack (no installs) | partial | ||
| Open data export anytime | partial | partial |
Where Custodia wins
- Narrative Relational Intelligence — no one else writes the story
- Wonder Letters & Listening Room — the watershed has a voice
- Fundraising rails included — Sponsor-a-Preserve, threshold campaigns, Almanac
- Modern GIS with PostGIS, SSURGO, and habitat polygons baked in
- Self-serve migration with Landscape & LOCATE column presets
- Live Google Drive & Dropbox links with snapshot fallback
- Transparent pricing with a free tier for solo stewards
Where the incumbents still shine
- Decades of accreditation-aligned templates (Landscape)
- Established CE-monitoring workflows for very large portfolios
- Trusted brand inside the Land Trust Alliance ecosystem
Switching is easier than staying.
Drop in your Landscape or LOCATE export — our import wizard maps the columns for you, with full provenance on every row. Concierge migration included on Steward and above.