Economic news these days has been a whirlwind — and for the most part it’s been pretty bleak. But here’s a bright spot of good news about the drone industry value in 2025.

New estimates project that the global drone market will be worth $57.8 billion by 2030. That’s a huge increase from previous forecasts, which had the drone industry worth $40.6 billion in 2025.

That’s according to a fresh report, dubbed the Drone Market Report 2025-2030. It’s put out by Drone Industry Insights, which is a German consulting group. DII has been putting out similar reports for years now — and this latest report starts by looking at the drone industry value in 2025. From there, it looks at where the commercial drone space is headed over the next five years. As it turns out, the numbers are bigger than experts previously expected.

So why is the forecast different (and better) than usual? After all, the consumer drone market has not been doing well. But as is the case with many industries, the money is in the business side — not the consumer side. And for the former, drones have become essential tools in industries like construction, agriculture, and energy. Plus, they are increasingly finding their way into fields like logistics (as evidenced by growing drone deliveries, such as a milestone 100 million miles clocked by Zipline) and public safety (proven by recent news like the Palm Springs Police Department expanding its DFR program).

Much of the doom and gloom in the drone industry has been centered around how drones have moved away from the hobby and early adoption community. And sure. much of the “new tech” hype is gone. Many realized that they didn’t actually want to pack a drone on their vacation, or mess around with drone registration and Remote ID requirements. That might have stopped hobbyists, but it’s not stopping the enterprise market.

The Drone Market Report 2025-2030 offers both a data-rich forecast and a reality check on the industry’s evolution. Here’s a deeper dive into the key findings — and what they mean for drone pilots and businesses.

What’s generating the most money in the drone industry?

As it turns out, most people are making money in drones not by building them, but by actually operating them. The commercial services segment is by far the largest within the drone industry. That’s people who fly for everything from wedding photography to making advanced maps. There’s also increasing military use of small, portable drones. That’s evidenced by groups like Dignitas fighting the war in Ukraine with drones. “Drones as a service” is a broad, widely-encompassing segment, but nonetheless it’s expected to reach $29.4 billion by 2025.

Behind that is the drone hardware industry. In 2025, drone hardware is worth $6.7 billion — but it’s also the fastest-growing segment. That’s likely fueled by recent innovations in BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) technology. It also has to do with growing trends like the proliferation of automated drone docking stations. For example, just this year DJI launched its new DJI Dock 3.

And though it’s not to say you shouldn’t get into software — software is the smallest segment of the drone industry. DII’s report has it worth an estimated $1.7 billion. Though it’s vital for tasks like automated flight planning and data analysis (think mapping with tools like DroneDeploy or Pix4D), there is little else in the way of drone software. We are seeing some growth in areas like at-home drone simulator software and even drone light show software. Still, drone software is in an early era that hasn’t seen any sort of massive, heavy-hitter yet.

Which regions are leading the drone industry?

Around the world, the number of global drone flights jumped 25% in 2024. Yes, takeoffs rose from an estimated 15.5 million to 19.5 million. Asia saw the most flights at 6.3 million, followed by North America (3.9 million) and Europe (3.8 million).

We’ve seen this trend of Asian dominance in all sorts of facets of the industry. There’s the continued growth of Japanese dronemaker ACSL. Meanwhile, it’s impossible to ignore to China’s dominance in drone manufacturing through DJI.

Of course, recent U.S. economic news around tariffs and free trade could upend this at any time. Just this month, China sanctioned a handful of companies, including some American drone companies such as Skydio and BRINC. The retaliatory move is China’s way of hurting the U.S. drone industry — but it could also upend who really is the leader. Drone pilots around the world even wonder what the news — which on the surface only impacts the U.S. — could mean for prices and availability of drones for sale in their own countries (even if there isn’t a formal ban on DJI drones imposed on those countries).

And with that, pay attention to the emerging role of Latin America and Africa. As drone accessibility improves and local ecosystems flourish, these regions could be the next big thing.

Old problems lead to evolving complexities

Despite recent (and broadly surprising) the progress, the drone industry isn’t without headwinds. Within the U.S., American drone companies cite regulatory challenges including the FAA’s sluggish rollout of Remote ID and ongoing BVLOS delays. These problems persist. Now, they’re joined by new and evolving issues:

• Lack of new money: Venture capital funding in 2024 fell 73% since 2022, according to Drone Industry Insights. That means fewer flashy startups and more strategic consolidation, including a number of mergers, acquisitions and ultimately some companies finally calling it quits.
• Overregulation: In the vein of regulation, DII says that compliance costs are up. That’s largely due to what it calls “excessive regulation of low-risk operations.
• Competition: While most economists agree that competition has a whole is a good thing for innovation, many drone companies are struggling with acquiring and retaining clients due to market saturation and low customer awareness.

Read the rest of DII’s report here.

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