If you are evaluating rod pump design software right now, you are probably looking at some combination of RODSTAR, SROD, XROD, QRod, and PetroBench. Each one solves the wave equation. Each one produces dynamometer cards and rod stress profiles. The differences are in everything around the solver - how you access it, how your team collaborates on designs, what happens to your work after the simulation runs, and what it costs.
RODSTAR
RODSTAR is the software most rod lift engineers learned on. It has been the de facto standard for over 25 years, and for good reason - the simulation engine is thoroughly validated against real wells across thousands of installations worldwide. Theta Oilfield Services built it, Dover acquired Theta, and now it lives under the ChampionX umbrella. The latest release is 2025 Rel 5.
The product ships as two separate Windows executables: RODSTAR-V for vertical wells and RODSTAR-D for deviated wells. Each requires its own license. If you need both - and most operators running deviated wells do - that is two licenses. RODSTAR sits within a broader ecosystem that includes XDIAG for diagnostic card analysis, XBAL for counterbalance calculations, XROD for AI-optimized design, XTOOLS for utility calculations, and XSPOC for production surveillance. Each is a separate product with separate licensing.
The trade-offs are structural rather than technical. RODSTAR is a desktop application that stores designs as local files. Collaboration means emailing .rsdx or .rsvx files back and forth, or saving them to a shared network drive. There is no built-in version control, no audit trail of who changed what, and no way to access your designs from a browser or mobile device. For a single engineer working from one office, these constraints may not matter. For a team of fifteen engineers spread across three basins, they add up.
XROD
XROD comes from the same ChampionX/Theta ecosystem but takes a fundamentally different approach to the design process. Instead of the traditional RODSTAR workflow where you set parameters, run the simulation, review results, adjust, and re-run, XROD uses AI optimization to explore the design space systematically. You define your constraints and objectives, and the software generates complete system designs for up to eight pumping unit manufacturers simultaneously.
ChampionX reports that XROD can generate optimized designs 10 to 50 times faster than manual iteration in RODSTAR. The AI learns from its own runs and gets faster over time. It also includes batch mode for processing multiple wells, IPR integration for production-driven design, and automatic sinker bar sizing.
There is one important caveat: the AI features only work for vertical wells. If you are designing for deviated wells, XROD falls back to a standard solver without the optimization capabilities. It is also a separate license from RODSTAR, which means additional cost on top of whatever you are already paying for the base product.
SROD
SROD is Lufkin's rod pump design tool, carrying nearly 100 years of rod lift manufacturing expertise behind it. Lufkin is now part of NOV (National Oilwell Varco). The latest release is v9.2.0 from October 2025, and it runs on Windows with a .NET Framework 4.5.1 dependency.
The standout feature is the Multi-Case Generation Wizard introduced in v9.2.0. You define your design criteria - pump depth, rod string configuration, production targets, failure thresholds - and the wizard generates up to 20 unique design scenarios automatically. Lufkin's press release for this version estimated that creating 20 manual design iterations could take up to 20 hours of engineering time, and the wizard collapses that into minutes.
SROD is licensed per seat with desktop and network options. Volume discounts are available. Contact NOV/Lufkin for current pricing. If your operations run Lufkin pumping units and sucker rods, SROD's equipment libraries are built around that hardware, and the integration between the design tool and the manufactured equipment is tight.
QRod
QRod is free. Echometer offers it as a downloadable desktop application for basic rod pump design and performance prediction. It pairs naturally with Echometer's fluid level measurement equipment - the Model M, Model H, and Well Analyzer units that many operators already use for acoustic fluid level surveys.
It will not match the simulation depth of RODSTAR or SROD for complex deviated wells, and it does not have the team collaboration or version control features of a cloud platform. But the price is zero, which removes the financial barrier entirely. For smaller operators, consultants who need a quick sanity check, or engineers learning the fundamentals, QRod fills a genuine gap.
PetroBench
PetroBench is a cloud-based rod pump simulation platform that runs entirely in the browser. No Windows dependency, no local installation, no license files. Engineers access the same wells and simulations from any device in a shared environment.
The platform supports 10 languages with full Arabic right-to-left layout, three unit systems (Imperial, Metric, International) with per-user preferences, and an organizational hierarchy that maps to how large operators actually structure their teams - headquarters, divisions, and regions with scoped permissions and equipment libraries at each level. Every simulation change is automatically versioned, so you can see who modified a design, when, compare any two versions with a diff view that highlights every changed field, and restore a previous state if needed.
On the simulation side, PetroBench offers configurable step length with cubic spline interpolation - you can run at 10-foot steps instead of the industry-standard 50 feet, which gives significantly higher resolution on side load calculations in deviated wells. The comparison view lets you place up to five rod string designs side by side to evaluate loads, stresses, and production estimates in a single view. And it imports both RODSTAR files (.rsdx, .rsvx) and SROD files (.inp6e, .inp7) directly.
PetroBench is used by production engineering teams at operators across the Americas, Middle East, and Asia. Pricing is transparent and available at petrobench.com/pricing. The platform is actively developed with regular releases, and the engineering team works directly with customers on simulation accuracy and feature requests.
Which one fits your situation
If you are a single engineer working from one office on mostly vertical wells, RODSTAR is the proven standard and QRod is free. Either one will get the job done without overcomplicating things.
If your team is spread across multiple offices or basins and you are tired of emailing simulation files back and forth, the choice is really between SROD's network licensing and PetroBench's cloud model. Both solve the sharing problem, but in fundamentally different ways - SROD keeps the desktop paradigm with network access, while PetroBench moves the entire workflow to the browser.
If you operate internationally with teams in the Middle East, Latin America, or Asia, PetroBench is currently the only option with built-in multilingual support, multiple unit systems, and right-to-left layout. The desktop tools operate in English with limited regional settings.
If you are designing at high volume and want to minimize manual iteration, XROD's AI optimization and SROD's Multi-Case Wizard both automate what would otherwise take hours of parameter sweeping. XROD is faster but limited to vertical wells. SROD works for both but is more expensive.
Pricing
All five tools are licensed per seat. RODSTAR and SROD are desktop licenses with separate pricing for vertical and deviated well support. XROD is an additional license on top of RODSTAR. QRod is free. PetroBench is SaaS-priced with plans starting at $200/mo - see petrobench.com/pricing for current rates. Contact each vendor directly for their latest pricing.
The sticker price is only part of the picture. Factor in the total number of licenses you need (especially with the RODSTAR V/D split and the separate XDIAG, XBAL, XTOOLS add-ons), IT support for desktop installations and updates, and the collaboration friction that comes with file-based workflows at scale.
The best way to evaluate any of these tools is a practical one: take a well you have already designed in your current software, run it through whichever alternative you are considering, and compare the output. The numbers should be close. The experience of getting there will tell you everything you need to know about which tool fits how your team actually works.
