Drone service prices and pilot payouts

The four packages

Each row shows what you get, how long the pilot is on site, what you pay and what your pilot earns.

Package	What you get	On site	You pay	Pilot earns	Book
Aerial Photos	12 to 15 edited stills	Up to 30 min	$179	$143	Book Aerial Photos
Aerial Video	60 to 90 second edited 4K clip plus 5 stills	Up to 45 min	$299	$239	Book Aerial Video
Listing Bundle	15 stills plus a 60 to 90 second clip	Up to 60 min	$349	$279	Book the Listing Bundle
Roof Check	30 to 50 stills of every slope plus a short written note	30 to 50 min	$229	$183	Book a Roof Check

Book a pilot How quoted jobs are priced

Prices in US dollars. The 20% platform fee is $36 on Aerial Photos, $60 on Aerial Video, $70 on the Listing Bundle and $46 on a Roof Check. Every package is daylight only, flown at or below 400 ft, from the street or the lot with your permission.

What each package includes

The full shot list for each package. Anything outside the list, including twilight and night work, is a quoted job.

Aerial Photos
- Front elevation at about 50, 150 and 300 ft
- All four corners at 100 to 150 ft
- Straight-down view of the whole lot
- Backyard and any pool or outbuilding
- Two neighborhood context shots from 300 to 400 ft
- Two lot-line shots
Aerial Video
- Slow push-in to the front
- Orbit of the house
- Reveal from behind the house
- Backyard pass
- Neighborhood pull-back
- Five edited stills
Listing Bundle
- Everything in Aerial Photos
- Everything in Aerial Video
Roof Check
- Overview of the whole roof from about 100 ft
- Each slope straight down and at 45 degrees
- Every ridge, hip and valley
- Every penetration, vent, flashing and skylight
- Gutters and eaves on each side
- A short note on what the pilot saw

What the price includes

A package is defined by its shot list and its time on site, not by the size of the house. If your property needs more than the list covers, ask for a quote instead.

The pilot's time on site up to the minutes shown, including setting up, any FAA airspace authorization and a pre-flight check.
Travel inside the pilot's radius. Pilots take jobs within 10 to 50 miles of their own base, so there is no travel fee.
Editing and delivery. Edited files on a private page that only you, your pilot and Astral Pic staff can open, within 48 hours of the flight.
One round of changes requested within 48 hours of delivery.
No add-ons, no rush pricing, no twilight surcharge. Anything outside the shot list, including twilight and night work, is a quoted job.

The platform fee, in full

We publish the fee because the pilot's payout is printed on every offer. There is nothing to work out.

20% of the price at launch. The payout is the price minus the fee, rounded to the dollar. On a $179 package the fee is $36 and the pilot earns $143.
The fee can change only with 30 days' written notice to pilots. The planned step is 25% once a metro's weekly fill rate passes 90% for four weeks, and the pilot agreement says so.
Pilots do not set package prices. They choose which packages they take, their base and radius, which jobs they accept, their hours, and their aircraft and insurance. They can decline or release any job with no penalty and no acceptance score.
Pilots are paid within 7 days of your approval, or 7 days after the pilot or Astral Pic approves on your behalf, which they can do 48 hours after delivery if you have said nothing.
Astral Pic keeps nothing from a cancellation. Any cancellation fee goes to the pilot who held the time. Cancellation and weather.

How you pay

You pay only after a pilot accepts your job. Stripe handles your card. We never see or store the number.

Booking is free. Nothing is charged when you place a job. If no pilot accepts by the end of your window, you were never charged.
After a pilot accepts, you pay through a Stripe payment page. A person at Astral Pic confirms the payment, usually within a few hours, and your pilot is told when it is confirmed. The pilot flies only after that.
Your pilot is paid only after you approve the files, or 48 hours after delivery if you say nothing.
Refunds reach your card in 5 to 10 business days.
Quoted jobs are paid by Stripe invoice after you accept a pilot's price.

Cancellation and weather

The full policy is in the customer terms. This is the whole of it in five short paragraphs.

Changing your mind. You can cancel or move your booking free until 5 pm the day before your window starts. After that, half of your pilot's payout is kept and paid to the pilot, because they held the time. Inside 4 hours of your window, or if the pilot arrives and cannot get access, the full pilot payout is kept and paid to the pilot. Astral Pic keeps nothing from a cancellation.

Weather and airspace. Your pilot decides whether it is safe and legal to fly. FAA rules require 3 miles of visibility and clear distance from clouds; our pilots also do not fly in rain, in sustained wind over 20 mph, or under a temporary flight restriction. If your pilot calls it off for weather or airspace you pay nothing extra and you pick a new window within 14 days.

Nobody accepts. If no pilot accepts by the end of your window, you were never charged. Close the job or book again.

Pilot cancellations. If your pilot releases the job for a reason other than weather or airspace, it goes back to other pilots at the same price, you pay nothing extra, and the pilot gets a mark on their record.

Refunds reach your card in 5 to 10 business days.

Quoted jobs: construction, events and anything off the menu

Some work has no fixed price because no two jobs are alike. For those, the pilot who would fly names the price, and you see it before you accept.

What goes through a quote

Construction progress flights, one-off or repeating
Events and weddings
Commercial roofs and multi-site jobs
Anything that would run over about $600
Anything outside a package shot list, including twilight and night work

How the price is set

Describe the job and give the address and a window. Verified pilots nearby each name their payout, from $50 to $5,000, with a note on how they would fly it. Your price is the pilot's payout divided by 0.8, rounded up to the next dollar, so the 20% platform fee is already inside the number you see.

For example, if the pilot names $400, you pay $500 and the platform fee is $100.

Pick the quote you like. We email you a Stripe invoice, and once a person at Astral Pic confirms the payment the job runs like any other: the pilot flies, the files land on your private page, and you approve them.

Events and weddings

Tell us the venue, the date and the hours. Typical aerial add-ons for a wedding run $200 to $500; longer coverage is quoted. Flights over people require an aircraft that meets one of the FAA's Category 1 to 4 standards, or an FAA waiver, and hovering over an outdoor crowd is limited to Category 1, 2 or 4 aircraft broadcasting Remote ID. The pilot confirms this, along with venue permission, airspace and time of day, before naming a price. Drone coverage for weddings and events.

Request quotes Get event quotes

Questions about prices

Why do you print the pilot's payout?

Because it is the promise. You know what the pilot is paid to show up and do the shot list, and the pilot knows what you paid. There is no haggling on either side and nothing hidden in the middle.

Does a large house or lot cost more?

No. A package is a shot list and a time on site, and the price is the same for every house that fits it. If your property needs more flying than the list covers, such as a large commercial roof or several buildings, request a quote and a pilot will name a price for the whole job.

Are there travel, rush or weekend fees?

No. Pilots take jobs inside their own radius, so there is no travel fee, and there is no rush or weekend pricing. You give a window of days and your pilot picks the exact daylight time inside it.

Book a pilot

Nothing is charged until a pilot accepts. How we check pilots, and how your money moves.

One price for you. One payout for your pilot. Both printed here.