Aloft is an airspace and flight-operations platform: FAA-approved LAANC authorization, flight planning, logging and compliance records, with live streaming included on Enterprise accounts. Nebli is a live video layer for the drones and cameras a team already operates. As products these do different jobs. As vendors that changed: Versaterm acquired Aloft in February 2026 and is folding its airspace layer into DroneSense by Versaterm, a public-safety drone platform that does overlap with what we do. Worth knowing before you pick.
Which one fits depends on the problem you actually have.
The job: get live video and detections off the drones and cameras a team already operates, to whoever needs to watch, over the network already in the field. No aircraft sold, no airspace filings, and the pilot stays the customer’s certificated pilot.
Typical starting point: “We already fly. Our people cannot see the feed.”
The job: keep a flight operation legal and documented. FAA-approved LAANC authorization, airspace awareness, preflight checklists, flight planning and flight logging, with live streaming included on Enterprise accounts. Aloft also runs the FAA’s B4UFLY app.per public sources
Typical starting point: “We need authorization to fly here, and records that prove we did it right.”
Both put live video in front of an operator. If that is the only part you are evaluating, these are the differences that matter.
| Dimension | Neblilive video from what you already fly | Aloftlive streaming as an Enterprise feature |
|---|---|---|
| 01What carries the video | The Nebli relay you run yourself (CLI or desktop app), running next to the camera. Any RTSP source joins, so the feed does not depend on an app running on the pilot’s phone. | Video is streamed through the Air Control app on the pilot’s device, so which aircraft can stream depends on that app’s integration with each manufacturer.per public sources |
| 02Picture quality | The source stream is relayed as sent, without a re-encode step, so the ceiling is whatever the camera produces. | Aloft’s help center states the platform handles streams “up to 720p HD quality.”per public sources |
| 03When the link gets weak | WebRTC transport, with the Nebli cloud relay adding forwarding time rather than a re-encode. | Aloft’s published guidance is to reduce quality settings manually or switch to another network.per public sources |
| 04Sharing the feed | A PIN-gated link anyone can open in a browser, no install and no account, viewers not metered. | Aloft publishes concrete limits: up to 50 viewers on a single stream, and up to 4 streams watched at once.per public sources |
| 05Airspace authorization | Nebli does not file airspace authorizations and does not plan to. This is squarely Aloft’s job, not ours. | An FAA-approved LAANC provider, with airspace planning, waiver tracking and flight records built around it. Aloft also runs the FAA’s B4UFLY app.per public sources |
Aloft cells marked per public sources are summarized from Aloft’s own published material, reviewed July 24, 2026; the resolution, weak-link and viewer-limit figures come from an Aloft help-center article dated December 2, 2025. Not independently tested by Nebli. Vendors move quickly; re-check before a decision.
Aloft states it has passed a SOC 2 Type 2 security audit. Nebli holds no third-party security attestation today and is aligned to controls rather than certified.
Ownership, as of February 2026: Aloft was acquired by Versaterm (announced February 18, 2026) and its airspace capabilities are being folded into DroneSense by Versaterm. Aloft remains the FAA-approved LAANC provider described above, so the comparison on this page stands. Note that DroneSense is a public-safety platform that does carry live video, which this page does not compare. If you are evaluating the combined product rather than Aloft alone, tell us and we will speak to that directly.
LAANC requests, waivers and airspace checks stay in Aloft. Nebli files none of it.
Video rides the relay you run, next to the camera, rather than an app on the pilot’s phone, so the feed does not compete with the flying.
Partners and field teams watch on a PIN-gated link without needing a seat in your flight-ops platform.
Cameras already on site join the same view, which a flight-ops platform has no reason to carry.
A real comparison says where the other platform is stronger. Aloft is stronger in places that matter, and one of them is a gap we have not closed.
As products, only at the edges: Aloft is built around airspace authorization and flight compliance and is an FAA-approved LAANC provider, while Nebli carries live video and detections off drones and cameras already in the field. As vendors it is closer than that. Versaterm acquired Aloft in February 2026 and is integrating its airspace layer into DroneSense by Versaterm, a public-safety drone platform that streams and shares live video and does overlap with what we do. If you are evaluating Aloft Enterprise, ask whether DroneSense is part of the same conversation.
No. Nebli files no airspace authorizations, tracks no waivers and is not an FAA-approved LAANC provider. If that is what you need, Aloft does it and we do not compete for the job.
Aloft states it has passed a SOC 2 Type 2 security audit. Nebli holds no third-party security attestation today: we are aligned to recognized controls but not certified against them. If an independently audited vendor is a hard requirement in your procurement, that is a genuine reason to choose Aloft over us.
Aloft’s help center states the platform handles streams up to 720p HD quality, and its published guidance for a weak connection is to reduce the quality setting manually or switch networks. Nebli relays the source stream as the camera sends it, without a re-encode step. Figures reviewed July 24, 2026 from Aloft’s own documentation; test both on your own network before deciding.
No. Nebli does not fly, dispatch or plan missions, and it does not operate aircraft unattended. A certificated pilot is always in command; Nebli carries the picture and the detections to the people who need them.
If your problem is that your people cannot see the feed, that is the part Nebli does. Start free, on the drones and cameras you already run.
Already using Aloft for LAANC? Keep it. Tell us what you fly and we will show you where the video layer sits alongside it.
