--- title: Surfer Reviews meta_title: 'Surfer Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 126 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Surfer works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.6 review_count: 126 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-12' parent_category: name: Oil and Gas url: https://www.g2.com/categories/oil-and-gas --- # Surfer Reviews **Vendor:** Golden Software **Category:** [Geology and Seismic Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/geology-and-seismic) **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 126 ## About Surfer Surfer® is a full-function 2D and 3D mapping, modeling, and analysis software package for scientists and engineers. Surfer's sophisticated interpolation engine quickly transforms XYZ and XYZC data into publication-quality maps. Virtually every aspect of the map is customizable. Enhance maps with profiles, legends, titles and labels, faults and breaklines, or external maps from any web mapping service. Surfer is used extensively by geologists, geophysicists, hydrologists, archaeologists, oceanographers, biologists, consultants, engineers, and many others across the globe. ## Surfer Reviews ### 1. Excellent software and user friendly for map making **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Mining & Metals | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 01, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** User Friendly. Customer support is excellent. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** I am still learning all the tricks of Surfer. There is nothing I particularly dislike. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** Surfer is excellent and user friendly for all things map making. Customer support is open to suggestions for improving the software. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Making maps for presentations, contour maps, volume calculations, isopach maps. ### 2. Two decades of use, still getting better **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Renewables & Environment | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Fine controls over gridding algorithms, seamless format exchanges with ArcGIS & CAD **What do you dislike about Surfer?** While automation of repetitive tasks is possible using Scripter, this functionality out to be included in the main program's tool kit. Grid comparisons are onerous due to need to match cell sizes and grid dimensions. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Good tool for comparisons of hydrographic data sets. ### 3. long time user **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Maritime | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 23, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** very easy to use, excellent option for kreaging, very fast good output excelent map **What do you dislike about Surfer?** shape output and input sometimes bad, cut and fills not easy to understand when all values are below zero, no option to calculate cut and foll for one line directly from the map **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** creating maps from multi beam echosounder ### 4. One of my go to programs **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Oil & Energy | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** It does what I need it to do. You want me to add more but that is the basic **What do you dislike about Surfer?** I have been happy with it for years, not much more to say **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it mostly to manipulate images and build montages although I do sometimes use it to manipulate xyz data ### 5. Excellent Product **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 08, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Its capabilities for 3d site analysis and surface modelling **What do you dislike about Surfer?** handling of mixed source referencing data **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Site analysis, Lane Use Planning. 3d representation of sites for clients ### 6. 25 years of satisfaction **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Mining & Metals | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Ease of use and comprehensive array of options to produce high quality images **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Difficult sometimes to interface with those who require full compatibility with ArcInfo. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** A cost-effective and versatile high quality product with excellent support **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Production of images in easily modified formats for assisting in mineral exploration ### 7. Surfer works for those difficult one-off jobs **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Oil & Energy | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** The ability to do easy calculations of volume and slope in 3D datasets. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** The amount of file formats Surfer can take is a bit limited compared to some of the competition. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Surfer works well for generating impressive marketing material and statistics. ### 8. Great visualisation software **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 06, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** very practical software Visuals, 2 D and 3D **What do you dislike about Surfer?** all is well so far with the software, still to explore more of it **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** its the way to visualisation software **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Hydrological data analysis and output ### 9. Surfer is the friend of mine **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Semiconductors | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** 1). 3D pictures. 2). Better computation of 2D maps relative to Surfer. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Long procedure to eliminate dashes and values from 2D map. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** There is never a dull moment with Surfer. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Impressive presentation of my results to higher bosses. ### 10. Surfer user **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** user friendly ,reliability, working as standalone **What do you dislike about Surfer?** continuous upgrades there is no local reseller **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** DTM, contours, raster to vector, volume and mass calculations ### 11. Groundwater Contouring and Contaminant Isocons **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Environmental Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 23, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Ease of use and quick to prepare GW elevation contour maps. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Somewhat difficult to learn for new user. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** More proficient review and presentation of data. Able to evaluate/understand site conditions in less time saving $. ### 12. A nice fast program. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** It provides a flexible platform that can be scripted for large projects. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Like everyone I wish it was free, but it's worth it. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** Better interoperability with Program R. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Primarily surface generation to address biological questions. ### 13. Excellent product - Does the job **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 23, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Profiling is a great feature and plotting 3D surface is an excellent addition. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Not able to export the profile data to excel for further processing. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** processing 3D cloud data to present in research papers. **Official Response from Kari Dickenson:** > Thank you for your review of Surfer! I wanted to be sure you were aware that if you select the profile, you can click the "Save to File" button in the Properties window to save the profile data (distance along section line and corresponding Z value) to a DAT file. That is a simple text file format that you can open in Excel. I hope that helps! ### 14. Surfer software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 27, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Flexibility and precision in geostatistical analysis. It is a high-quality software. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** (not applicable) In my view, the software is of high standard, in most respects. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** many applications in spatial analysis ### 15. Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Oil & Energy | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 23, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Easy to use. Autotmation is very useful. Range of outputs is good. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Nothing. It would be nice to be able to import dwg files as basemaps. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** It's good. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Producing risk contours. ### 16. Mine Geologist **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Chemicals | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 01, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** All gridding features. All mapping features. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Repetitive tasks can be time consuming. Panning large maps is slow. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating contour maps, mainly ore thickness and ore quality. ### 17. Works well **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Ease of use to contour limited data point. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** There is nothing about the program that I dislike. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** Works great. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Use for contouring estimated subsurface features. ### 18. 3-d volumes and contamination distribution **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Environmental Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** quickly get a distribution and a report on the grid **What do you dislike about Surfer?** A bit confusing to edit a specific graphic **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** likely concentration gradients and volume of contaminant ### 19. Excellent **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Functionality of producing graphics with ease. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Sometimes it takes too long to tweak the outputs to the graphics i like. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Display of information to customers. ### 20. Fairly intuative to use, and good results. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Environmental Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Relatively simple interface - but to be honest we don't use a lot of the functionality. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** still has a "old programing" feel............................. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** water level contouring ### 21. Great mapper **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Administration | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2018 **What do you like best about Surfer?** The ability to map various horizons and various chemical concentrations. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** cost is a concern with decreasing budgets. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mapping data. ### 22. My favourite mapping software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shane W. | WatHab Engineer, Non-Profit Organization Management, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2017 **What do you like best about Surfer?** It is very easy to use, highly adaptable and flexible. Surfer has a huge array of file types it can open and save to, plus it produces stunning maps with minimal effort. Surfer also has some of the best contouring algorithms available, plus offers unsurpassed tools for modifying and editing grids to produce sensible contours maps in a short time frame. It is also affordable. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Not a lot really. I find it very functional for my purpose. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** Use the software, watch the training videos, ask questions to the forum and use the excellent support services **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use it for catchment mapping purposes, groundwater flow problems, environmental mapping and mining. More recently in the humanitarian sector for various thematic maps. **Official Response from Blakelee Mills:** > Thank you for your kind words, Shane. Let us know if you need anything or have any Surfer suggestions. We are all ears! ### 23. A very useful piece of software for very quick rendering of 3D terrain models and gridding of 2D dat **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paul T. | Assistant Project Manager, Site Investigation, Construction, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 28, 2016 **What do you like best about Surfer?** A very large amount of file types are supported - I can't say I've ever had a problem when using different types. The overall functionality (that I used the software for at least) is limited but this plays to its strength - it's good at what it does. I've used it for very quick renderings of 3D terrain models with gridded data draped over to better visualise spatial data. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** The software's functionality is limited - you will probably not find yourself using this software as your main go-to piece. However what it does, it does well. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** Surfer does what many other pieces of software does too, but without all the bells, whistles and endless menus and sub-menus. It's a quick and efficient piece of software that does what it does well. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Rendering of 3D models with 2D spatial data draped over the model. ### 24. Creation of groundwater and bedrock elevation contouring maps **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** John W. | Geologist, Environmental Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2016 **What do you like best about Surfer?** The ability to manipulate data is very easy. It is much more cost effective than Arc Gis. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** I do not like the spreadsheet function in surfer when copy and pasting gridding reports, I wish it would auto fill into the X Y and Z fields, instead of placing it all in a single column. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** Upgrade to the most current product **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** groundwater flow direction - how to analyze contamination plumes I work for an environmental consulting firm, and Use this software to map groundwater flow direction, map and assist in geophysical reporting efforts to determine surface and subsurface topography. I have found it easy to overlay real time data in google earth with KML files. ### 25. Surfer is very useful for me! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** 福友 . | Chief Marketing Officer, Oil & Energy, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 16, 2016 **What do you like best about Surfer?** Simple and Convenient.It can Meet my demand for map. **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Edit counter line by manual is not flexible. **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** simple and flexible. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Can make what I need maps. ### 26. Great product and easy for mapping **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mark E. | Intellectual Property Law Clerk, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 18, 2015 **What do you like best about Surfer?** The ease of use and updating a file in a map **What do you dislike about Surfer?** Nothing as of now, I find all of the functionalities helpful **Recommendations to others considering Surfer:** Surfer is worth the price and functionality. **What problems is Surfer solving and how is that benefiting you?** General mapping ## Surfer Discussions - [What technical resources are available to me?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/technical-resources) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What license options are available?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/license-options) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [How much does Surfer cost? Are there ongoing maintenance and support fees?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/surfer-pricing) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [Do you offer a trial version of Surfer?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/1827-do-you-offer-a-trial-version-of-surfer) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Surfer pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/surfer/reviews?page=3§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-23+11%3A05%3A45+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=3872524c-3e1e-4d60-9d8f-1be2085489cc&secure%5Btoken%5D=8e0ebe3df0ad95ddd30c589c9ede7cc8c5bee9ccb2a7d847149a443b70054724&format=llm_user) ## Surfer Features **Data Management** - Data Capture - Data Storage - Data Manipulation - Data Visualization **Agentic AI - Geology and Seismic** - Multi-step Planning - Cross-system Integration - Adaptive Learning - Decision Making **Agentic AI - Oil and Gas Engineering** - Autonomous Task Execution - Multi-step Planning - Cross-system Integration - Adaptive Learning - Decision Making **Agentic AI - Oil and Gas Simulation and Modeling** - Adaptive Learning - Decision Making **Map Creation** - Geocoding - Buffer Zone Query - Overlaying - Publishing **Analysis** - Spatial Analysis ## Top Surfer Alternatives - [Esri ArcGIS](https://www.g2.com/products/esri-arcgis/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (516 reviews) - [GEOVIA Surpac](https://www.g2.com/products/geovia-surpac/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (22 reviews) - [Petrel E&P Software Platform](https://www.g2.com/products/schlumberger-petrel-e-p-software-platform/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (17 reviews)