EVE Online industry cost index map

Every solar system in EVE Online carries an industry cost index for each kind of job, and that index feeds straight into what a job costs to install there. EO-Map paints it across New Eden as a heat map for the activity you choose, so you can see at a glance where industry is crowded and where it is cheap. It can also show how each system's index has moved over the last 7 or 28 days. It is free, it runs in your browser, and there is nothing to install.

What the colours mean

The index is a percentage, and most of New Eden sits on its floor, 0.14%. Roughly two thirds of systems are there for manufacturing, and more for the other activities, and those keep the ordinary star colour. Above the floor the map paints six steps, each about double the last:

• Faint, 0.14 to 0.5%.
• Low, 0.5 to 1%.
• Moderate, 1 to 2%.
• Busy, 2 to 4%.
• High, 4 to 8%.
• Peak, over 8%: the handful of hubs where the most building happens.

Brighter means busier. Hover a star for its exact index for the chosen activity. In the Star Coloring panel every step shows how many systems are in it, with a checkbox to paint it or not and a halo to ring all of its systems at once.

Six activities, six indices

Each kind of job has its own index. Pick one in the Star Coloring panel: Manufacturing, the default, or Reactions, Invention, Copying, TE research or ME research. A system can be crowded for one and quiet for another, so the map changes when you switch.

Why the cost index is a usage heat map

CCP has not published the exact formula. The community's working model is that a system's index follows its share of all the industry job hours run in New Eden for that activity, over a rolling 28-day window. The more of the universe's building happens in a system, the higher its index and the more every job there costs to install. It is the game's own push to spread builders out.

So a cost index map is, in effect, a map of where industry happens. Two things follow. It moves slowly: a 28-day window drifts over days rather than jumping, and a system that is quiet today has been quiet for weeks. And it is relative: a rising index means a system took a bigger share of the universe's jobs, not necessarily that more jobs ran there. It is not live.

Change over 7 days and 28 days

The Show control in the Star Coloring panel has three views: Cost index now, Change over 7 days and Change over 28 days. The change views compare today's index with EO-Map's own hourly record from that long ago, kept since 22 August 2026, and paint seven buckets.

Because the index is a share, the change views show where industry is moving to and away from, not a count of jobs. The panel says which hour it compared with. A system missing from either snapshot is left out rather than guessed at, and while the earlier snapshot loads, or if none was archived for that date, the change view paints nothing rather than falling back to the current index.

Where the data comes from

The indices are CCP's public industry data from EVE Online's official API (ESI). EO-Map's collector reads them about once an hour and publishes a compact snapshot, and the map downloads that snapshot; your browser never asks CCP for it. The Star Coloring panel says how old the snapshot is, and if it stops arriving the panel says so and the stars fall back to the ordinary colour rather than showing stale numbers as fresh. The change views read one archived hour of EO-Map's own record from the same host. Wormhole space is not covered by the data at all.

Picking where to build

A low index means cheaper job installation, and a high one means you are sharing the system with a lot of other builders. The map shows that next to the security, sovereignty and gate distance that decide whether a cheap system is practical for you. The index is one part of a job's cost, and it is not live, so check the figure in the game's Industry window before you commit.

How to open it

1. Open EO-Map with the button below: it opens with Industry cost already picked. On the map, the same choice is Color by at the bottom left, then Industry cost.
2. Choose Details at the foot of the Color by list to open the Star Coloring panel. Star Coloring is also in Tools Library, on the Map Visuals tab.
3. Pick the activity, and under Show pick Cost index now, Change over 7 days or Change over 28 days.
4. Hover a star for its index.

Part of EO-Map

Industry cost is one of the Color By modes on EO-Map's interactive 3D map of New Eden. Layers stack on top of it, so the cost index reads together with sovereignty, activity or Combat on one map, and the route planner can plan the gate route to the system you settle on.

Related tools

• Trade routes, for hauling bulk goods, including build materials, between the trade hubs.
• Market history, for what an item traded at by region, day by day.
• Regional economy, for official monthly production and mining totals by region.
• System finder, to shortlist systems by security, planets, belts and stations.
• Route planner, for the gate route to the system you pick.
• All EO-Map features.

Frequently asked questions