Hire or Buy?
Here's the Honest Maths.
Real Australian pricing, a break-even you can calculate in your head, and a third option — the No-Obligation Demo-to-Buy Plan — that makes the wrong choice nearly impossible.
Roughly 40 Days. That's the Whole Secret.
Take the Lixel K2 — the scanner most Australian teams are weighing up. It costs $15,999 inc GST to own, or $400/day ($1,600/week) on standard dry hire. Divide one by the other: the break-even sits at roughly 40 hire days, or 10 hire weeks. Scan more than about 3–4 days a month across a year and ownership is cheaper — before counting the three permanent LixelStudio licences that come with a purchased unit, or the jobs you'll say yes to simply because the scanner is sitting in the ute.
Hiring wins everywhere else: one-off projects, seasonal peaks, a second unit for a big deployment, or proving a workflow to a sceptical client before capital gets committed. $1,600 a week with no depreciation, no idle asset and no capex approval beats a scanner gathering dust eleven months a year. Full fleet rates are on the hire page — PortalCam from $150/day, K1 from $200/day, K2 from $250/day, L2 Pro from $450/day on Demo-to-Buy rates, all inc GST.
Demo-to-Buy: Make the Trial Free If You Commit
The honest problem with the hire-vs-buy question is that you're answering it before you have the one piece of data that matters: how the scanner performs on your job, in your workflow, with your client looking at the deliverable. Our No-Obligation Demo-to-Buy Plan fixes the sequence.
Hire up to 5 days
At the discounted Demo Rate — K2 at $250/day instead of $400. Run it on a real project, not a car-park demo.
Decide within 90 days
Process the data, invoice the client, see whether the scanner paid for its week. No pressure from us either way.
100% credited
Buy any XGRIDS hardware or software within 90 days of return and every hire dollar comes off the price. All of it.
Worked example: five days of K2 at the Demo Rate is $1,250. Buy the K2 at $15,999 within 90 days and you pay $14,749 — the trial cost you nothing. Walk away instead, and you've run a full evaluation on a live project for $1,250. Either outcome is defensible in front of whoever signs off your capex. Book through the hire page, or start with the K2 hire details.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does buying a scanner beat hiring one?
At standard dry-hire rates the Lixel K2 costs $400/day or $1,600/week. Against its $15,999 inc GST purchase price, the break-even is roughly 40 hire days or 10 hire weeks. If you expect to scan more than 3-4 days a month over the next year, buying wins — especially since ownership includes three permanent LixelStudio licences.
When is hiring the better choice?
One-off projects, seasonal peaks, trying a workflow before committing, or adding a second unit for a big job. If your scanning is occasional or project-driven, $1,600/week with zero capital outlay, no depreciation and no idle asset beats ownership.
What is the No-Obligation Demo-to-Buy Plan?
Hire any XGRIDS scanner for up to 5 days at the discounted Demo Rate (from $150/day for PortalCam, $250/day for the K2). Buy any XGRIDS hardware or software within 90 days of returning the unit and 100% of your hire fees are credited against the purchase. It removes the risk from both paths: if the scanner earns its keep, the trial was effectively free; if not, you walk away.
Does hire include software licences?
Yes — every AECT hire includes a LixelStudio processing licence for the hire period, plus onboarding and support. Purchased scanners include three permanent LixelStudio licences.
Still on the Fence?
Tell us the job and we'll give you a straight recommendation — hire, buy, or Demo-to-Buy — with the maths shown.