Landsat vs Sentinel-2: Choosing the Right Satellite for Your Analysis
Both Landsat and Sentinel-2 are free, publicly available, multispectral satellite programs, and both are commonly used in the same kinds of analysis — land-cover classification, NDVI time series, change detection. The choice between them isn't about one being "better"; it's about which trade-off matches your question.
The Core Trade-Off: Resolution vs History
Sentinel-2 has finer spatial resolution (10m for its visible and near-infrared bands) than Landsat (30m), which matters when your unit of interest — a farm plot, a small wetland, an individual urban block — is small relative to a 30m pixel [1]. Landsat's advantage is depth: with Landsat 5, 7, 8, and 9 harmonized into a single series, consistent optical observation stretches back to 1984 [2] — four decades before Sentinel-2 existed (its first satellite launched in 2015 [3]).
Revisit Frequency
Sentinel-2 (with both its A and B satellites operating together) revisits a given location roughly every 5 days at the equator, compared to Landsat's 16-day repeat cycle for a single satellite [3][4]. For anything sensitive to short-term change — flood mapping, crop stress during a critical growth window — that revisit gap can be the difference between catching an event and missing it entirely under cloud cover.
Practical Guidance
| If your priority is… | Lean toward |
|---|---|
| A long historical baseline (decades) | Landsat |
| Fine spatial detail (small parcels, urban blocks) | Sentinel-2 |
| Frequent revisit (cloud-prone regions, fast-changing events) | Sentinel-2 |
| Consistency across a multi-decade trend analysis | Landsat |
In Spatial Research Suite, this choice happens automatically based on your selected date range — requests before Sentinel-2's 2015 launch fall back to Landsat, and both are harmonized into the same feature so the underlying satellite switch doesn't require any extra configuration.
They're Not Mutually Exclusive
Increasingly, research combines both — using Landsat for the long baseline and Sentinel-2 to densify recent observations. Harmonized Landsat-Sentinel (HLS) products exist precisely for this purpose [5], though harmonizing the two yourself requires accounting for differences in spectral band definitions and atmospheric correction approach.
Analyze Landsat and Sentinel-2 without picking manually
Spatial Research Suite harmonizes both into one workflow and selects the right sensor for your date range automatically — no code, no downloads. New to the terms? Check the GIS glossary.
Start Analysis →References
- European Space Agency. Sentinel-2 User Handbook. ESA Standard Document, 2015.
- Wulder, M.A., Loveland, T.R., Roy, D.P., et al. (2019). Current status of Landsat program, science, and applications. Remote Sensing of Environment, 225, 127–147.
- Drusch, M., Del Bello, U., Carlier, S., et al. (2012). Sentinel-2: ESA's Optical High-Resolution Mission for GMES Operational Services. Remote Sensing of Environment, 120, 25–36.
- Roy, D.P., Wulder, M.A., Loveland, T.R., et al. (2014). Landsat-8: Science and product vision for terrestrial global change research. Remote Sensing of Environment, 145, 154–172.
- Claverie, M., Ju, J., Masek, J.G., et al. (2018). The Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 surface reflectance data set. Remote Sensing of Environment, 219, 145–161.