Question 1

Why move from ALOHA to TekRisk?

Accepted Answer

ALOHA is an excellent free tool for emergency response, but it computes consequences, not risk. TekRisk adds the SLAB dense gas model, substance mixtures, several scenarios in one project, fault and event trees, and, on Pro, probits, individual risk and F-N curves, with the results on an interactive map and in PDF reports.

Question 2

What are ALOHA's limitations?

Accepted Answer

NOAA documents them itself: ALOHA does not predict beyond one hour after release or beyond 10 km, its property library is not valid for mixtures, and it does not model fire or explosion by-products or reactions with air or water. It also reports consequences only: it does not combine scenarios with frequencies into individual or societal risk.

Question 3

When should I move beyond ALOHA?

Accepted Answer

When you need quantitative risk analysis rather than a single consequence: mixtures, several scenarios in one project, frequencies from fault or event trees, probit-based effects, individual risk or F-N curves. ALOHA remains useful for quick emergency response estimates.

Question 4

How does TekRisk compare with ALOHA?

Accepted Answer

In three ALOHA 5.4.7 jet fire runs, TekRisk matches the flame length within 0.5 m, but not the radiation zones: that difference is still unexplained and is published on the model validation page (tekrisk.com/en/docs/validation). For dispersion, TekRisk uses SLAB (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), a dense gas model that is also listed among the EPA alternative models.

Feature	TekRisk	ALOHA	Advantage
Cloud-Based	Included	Not included	TekRisk Advantage
Multi-Platform	Included	Windows / macOS ≤ 10.11	TekRisk Advantage
Multi-Language Support	Included	Not included	TekRisk Advantage
Pool Fire Model	Included	Included	Equal
Jet Fire Model	Included	Included	Equal
Fireball / BLEVE	Included	Included	Equal
Vapor Cloud Explosion (VCE)	Included	Included	Equal
Flash Fire	Included	Included	Equal
Dense Gas Dispersion	SLAB	DEGADIS	Equal
Substance Mixtures	Included	Not included	TekRisk Advantage
QRA Capabilities	Included	Not included	TekRisk Advantage
F-N Curves	Included	Not included	TekRisk Advantage
Multi-Scenario Analysis	Included	Not included	TekRisk Advantage
Probit Functions	Included	Not included	TekRisk Advantage
Interactive Maps	Included	Not included	TekRisk Advantage
Pricing	Free · Pro US$59.99/mo	Free	Advantages ALOHA
Free Tier Available	Included	Included	Equal

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TekRisk vs ALOHA: Feature Comparison

Frequently Asked Questions: ALOHA vs TekRisk

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