HomeWeb Soil Survey alternatives
Web Soil Survey alternatives
Foundation Soils · checked October 6, 2026
Web Soil Survey is the USDA NRCS web app for soil maps and data produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. If it does not fit what you are checking, these are the 5 other lookups we read on October 6, 2026. Foundation Soils is one of them and earns referral fees, so it is listed with the same facts as the rest and its limits stated.
Pick by the question: Foundation Soils, when you want expansive clay, water table, drought and flood losses for a county, city or ZIP on one page; SoilWeb, when you want the soil map unit at a point, with profile sketches; SoilByCounty, when you want county sand, silt, clay and pH, or a 3-county comparison; MySoilType, when you are gardening and want pH, drainage and hardiness zone by ZIP; ShrinkSwellCheck, when you want one expansive clay band per county.
Web Soil Survey: what it does
| What it covers | Soil maps and data for more than 95 percent of the nation's counties, per its home page |
|---|---|
| You search by | An area of interest you outline on a map, or import from a shapefile |
| Soil measures shown | A soil map with detailed soil descriptions, and a Soil Data Explorer to "determine the suitability of the soils for a particular use" |
| Water table or basement wetness | Individual ratings are not listed on the pages read; the app needs JavaScript to show them |
| Drought | Not on the pages read |
| Flood losses | Not on the pages read |
| Price | Its shopping cart is labeled "Free"; custom reports print or download |
| One lot or one place | One lot or any area you outline. Its home page says onsite investigation is needed in some cases |
| How it says it is funded | Operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service |
Stay with Web Soil Survey when
- You need the soil map units for one specific lot. You outline the lot; the other sites on this page stop at the county, ZIP or city.
- You want to download the soil data or print a report for an area of your own.
- You need the survey itself. Most of the other sites here are built from the same USDA soil survey data, so Web Soil Survey is the original they summarize.
The alternatives
| Site | Better pick when | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation Soils | You want expansive clay, water table, drought and flood losses for a county, city or ZIP on one page | Free to read. No account, no form |
| SoilWeb | You want the soil map unit at a point, with profile sketches | No price on the page read |
| SoilByCounty (vs) | You want county sand, silt, clay and pH, or a 3-county comparison | Free USDA soil reports, per its home page |
| MySoilType (vs) | You are gardening and want pH, drainage and hardiness zone by ZIP | Free (its page title: "Free USDA Soil & Zone Map") |
| ShrinkSwellCheck (vs) | You want one expansive clay band per county | Free, per its home page |
Foundation Soils limits: county, city and ZIP level only; a share of land, never a depth in feet; USDA data for one lot can differ.
Read October 6, 2026 from each site's own pages, linked above. "Not on the pages read" means the page we read did not show it. See also best websites to look up the soil under a house and what soil is my house built on.