ArcMap vs ArcGIS Pro

[#1]

There are currently two supported ArcGIS Desktop application environments.

	ArcMap	ArcGIS Pro
Release	First release (8.0): 1999  (10.0): 2010 "ArcGIS Desktop 10x"	First release: 2015 "Pro"
Development Cycle	ArcMap Continued Support (2026) Python 2.7 support and ArcMap end-of-life  (on the plus side, will not change)	Ongoing development  Frequent updates UI is stable (2.5+)
RAM	32-bit (4GB RAM limit), background geoprocessing (32-bit, 64-bit optional)	Native 64-bit, geoprocessing in its own thread (everything is in the background in Pro!)
Graphics hardware support	Graphics adapter hardware acceleration supported	Full support of external graphics adapter graphic processing unit (GPU) acceleration;  external GPU processing supported for some tools
User Interface	Windows OLE/COM (toolbars, wizards)	Windows WPF app (ribbons, windows, panes)
Graphics canvas	Standard Windows WMF graphics engine, tied to windows printer drivers	Esri high-performance graphics engine (same as ArcGIS Enterprise/Online)
Adobe CS support	Legacy Adobe Illustrator .ai export	Enhanced PDF export, also ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension
AGOL support	Online features added in (but quite functional)	Developed for "WebGIS" from beginning, full AGOL/Portal integration, mobile apps
Desktop applications	ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, ArcGlobe apps	ArcGIS Pro (single desktop app, Map, Scene, Catalog views)
Licensing	Single-use and Concurrent-use licensing	Named user (AGOL or Portal login), (Single-use, Concurrent-use licensing available too)
Legacy formats	Access to many legacy formats (.mdb, coverage [read-only], .e00 [import])	Coverages, .e00 personal GDB (.mdb) not supported (except through Data Interoperability ext)
Scripting	Python 2.7, large module stack .tbx (ModelBuilder, Python, +R), Python toolbox (.pyt)	Python 3.x, large module stack, + Anaconda  .tbx (ModelBuilder, Python, R), Python toolbox (.pyt), new toolbox coming at 2.8
Development and available tools	ArcObjects .NET SDK, .NET+Python add-ins.  Lots of legacy software built on this platform exists: e.g. HEC-GeoRas, ArcHydro, ArcSWAT, etc. Because of .NET dependencies, some add-ons are supported at older versions, (10.5, 10.6 etc)	ArcGIS Pro .NET SDK, .NET add-ins.  New tools are currently being built on the ArcGIS Pro platform and SDK. For example: ArcHydro in ArcGIS Pro
Simple networks	Geometric network	Utility network (requires ArcSDE) Trace network (supports file GDB)

[George_Thompson]

This is a great overview of the differences! Thanks!

[Franciscosainthilaire]

Thanks for this information.

[MehdiPira1]

@curtvprice ,

Awesome!

Thanks.

[BranislavBlagojevic]

Nice!

[josuedi]

Hello everyone!

Thanks for sharing. One thing I want to clarify is that ArcMap 10.x was released in 2010.

[KoryKramer]

Good catch @josuedi 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArcGIS

[josuedi]

Hi @KoryKramer!

Thanks for sharing.

I just want to clarify that point in case someone doesn't quite understand the difference between ArcGIS and ArcMap. Because when I talk to some people about Esri and its products, sometimes they get confused when we talk about these two topics.

[curtvprice]

ArcMap 8.x was released in 2000. (I was there in the beta class with Jorge that summer in Redlands!) My point of including that date was that the ArcObjects framework, the ArcMap display canvas, the geodatabase ... all those things are based on OLE/COM "Windows NT" technology as it existed back at the turn of the century...

[josuedi]

Hi @curtvprice 

Thank you very much for clarifying this point. I didn't know, thank you.