2 Installing ODM

There are two options for installing WebODM.

Option #1: Manual installation.

The good news with the manual installation is that the software is free. The bad news is that it does require a bit of finagling. You need to follow the directions closely. Plenty of resources (available online) will walk you through this process. Piero Toffanin (Toffanin, 2023) wrote the most comprehensive manual. That said, I suspect that most educators should opt for Option #2.

Option #2: Downloading the Installer.

This option does all the setup, configuration, and installation work. Simply download the installer to your local machine, open the WebODM Setup file, and voila, mission accomplished! Within a few minutes, you are up and running. The bad news is that this user-friendly installation option costs a one-time fee of around $50 (not an annual expense). In my opinion, the $57 USD investment is well worth it.