Space by Tinybop vs StellarVana
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Space by Tinybop
Explore our solar system and visit each planet up close. Discover their surfaces, characteristics, and orbits through interactive play. Test atmospheres, gravity, and observe planetary spins and seasons.
- Visit 8 planets and the sun
- Study planet surfaces up close
- Discover planet characteristics
- Test atmospheres and gravity with meteorites
- Compare planet sizes and masses
- Observe planetary orbits and moon phases
- Explore Mars with rovers and chopper
Read full descriptionHide full description
Travel into space and visit tiny Mercury, fierce Venus, friendly Earth, dusty Mars, stormy Jupiter, elegant Saturn, hazy Uranus, and mysterious Neptune. Perfect for future astronomers everywhere. "Space should more accurately be called "Hands On With the Solar System." — Children's Technology Review *** KAPi Best App for Older Children *** *** Children's Technology Review Editor's Choice *** Hurl meteorites through the atmosphere. Spin around the sun and zoom onto its surface. Jump into a whirling space storm. Boldly go where no kid has gone before in 3, 2, 1…. liftoff! Space is No.8 in Tinybop’s award-winning Explorer’s Library. Kids can discover new worlds in other Explorer’s Library apps, including The Human Body, Plants, Simple Machines, The Earth, Weather, Homes, and Skyscrapers. FEATURES + Visit 8 planets and the sun! + Study the surface of each planet and the sun up close. + Discover the characteristics of each planet with a helpful snowman. + Throw meteorites at each planet to test their atmospheres and gravity. + See how big and massive each planet and the sun are by comparing them side-by-side. + Play with and observe each planet’s orbit around the sun. + Follow the moon’s orbit to discover the phases of the moon. + See how quickly or slowly each planet spins on its axis and how long each day is. + Peek inside each planet’s rocky crust or gassy outer layer. + Move the Earth’s axis to see how it affects seasons. + Explore Mars’ rocky surface with NASA’s Curiosity, Pathfinder rovers. + Fly the Ingenuity Chopper on Mars. + Experience wild weather and more on Venus. + Find out why Mercury has so many craters. + See what Saturn’s rings are made of and make them spin. + Discover diamonds on Neptune and Uranus. + Interactive text labels in 50+ languages teach vocabulary. + FREE Space Handbook has technology tips and basic info for teachers and parents. + Original artwork by Jessie Sattler. + Original sound design. + Open-ended activities with no rules. Curiosity and creativity are rewarded. + Multi-user system. + Fun for all ages. + No third-party advertising. FREE handbook Our expert-reviewed handbook is full of facts, interaction hints, and discussion questions to support learning in this app, in the classroom, or at home. Download in your app or at: http://tinybop.com/handbooks. Privacy Policy We take your and your child’s privacy very seriously. We do not collect or share personal information about your child, nor do we allow any third-party advertising. When the camera, microphone, and other services are used within an app, your information is neither collected nor distributed outside of the app. Read our complete privacy policy at tinybop.com. Tinybop, Inc. is a Brooklyn-based studio of designers, engineers, and artists. We make toys for tomorrow. We’re all over the internet. Visit us: www.tinybop.com Follow us: twitter.com/tinybop Like us: facebook.com/tinybop Peek behind the scenes: instagram.com/tinybop We love hearing your stories! If you have ideas, or something isn’t working as you expect it to, please contact us: hi@tinybop.com. Psst! It's not Tiny Bop, or Tiny Bob, or Tiny Pop. It's Tinybop. :)
StellarVana
Explore the night sky with a dynamic celestial map. Identify stars, planets, and constellations in real-time. Plan observations and learn about astronomical events like eclipses.
- Live sky map identification
- Constellation and object search
- Eclipse countdowns and visibility
- Tonight's observation planner
- Educational astronomy topics
- Night-vision red mode
Read full descriptionHide full description
Open to a living sky. Identify what's overhead. StellarVana is an educational star map and celestial reference: the sky above your horizon, IAU constellations, Sun, Moon, and planets, plus eclipse countdowns with honest visibility. Sit with the map. Pan, pinch, and scrub time. The first screen is the sky itself. Hold-up uses the compass and gyroscope so the drawn map follows how you point your phone — there is no camera viewfinder. Search finds objects. Instruments sit on the map: Tonight, Eclipse, Learn, and Settings. WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT • Tonight Observe ranks targets for your horizon — twilight, best-now, and Moon-wash (what the Moon will drown tonight) • Eclipse honesty: local “visible here” versus a global candidate. A miss is not upgraded into a backyard forecast • Confirmed exoplanet-host stars on the map. The included sky keeps the brightest hosts. A subscription Search also finds famous systems, including TRAPPIST-1 (about 2,000 hosts). • Instruments on the map, not a tabbed planetarium. Graphics-first Learn — diagrams and Help, not a chat • Sky math on your iPhone (VSOP87, Meeus, SGP4). ISS TLE age is shown. No account. SKY MAP • Live stereographic sky for your location, or a manual latitude and longitude • Naked-eye catalog (magnitude 5) with all 88 IAU constellation names • Constellation stick figures on Free (Orion, Ursa Major, Crux, twelve ecliptic); sky colors that follow the time of day • Hold-up identify and night-vision red mode (night vision hides the normal dome tints) • Naked-eye Messier highlights: Andromeda (M31), Orion Nebula (M42), Pleiades (M45) • Deeper sky when you subscribe: about 42,000 stars to magnitude 8, about 120,000 to magnitude 9, zoom level-of-detail, Messier 110, illustrated art on the twelve ecliptic constellations, 6 more constellation figures — Andromeda, Canis Major, Cassiopeia, Centaurus, Cygnus, Pegasus — plus the Summer Triangle, optional IAU boundary lines, and the confirmed exoplanet-host layer (about 2,000) SATELLITES • Included: the ISS next pass for your horizon. No clock and no path on the map. • With a subscription: the ISS path and timetable, Hubble, Tiangong (the Chinese space station), and a Starlink-train card when a train passes tonight. Not every satellite in orbit. TONIGHT OBSERVE • Meteor-shower peaks and bright conjunctions as factual event cards • With a subscription: around each shower's peak, a meteor radiant on the map, plus radiant height, twilight and Moon glare on Tonight's meteor cards and where to hold up your phone. Peak facts, not a local rate forecast • Observation planning for your horizon: twilight bands, ranked targets, best-now, and Moon-wash — what the Moon will drown tonight ECLIPSES • Next solar and lunar geocentric candidates, countdown, diagrams, show on map • Local circumstance when you subscribe: visible here, magnitude, path-vs-you, and a NASA GSFC / Espenak Earth path ribbon on a dedicated Earth card. A miss is not upgraded into “you will see it.” LEARN • Graphics-first topics from the live sky — diagrams and short Help popups, not encyclopedia essays • Positions use VSOP87 (Sun and planets) and Meeus (Moon). ISS uses SGP4 from a TLE; age is shown. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Sky math runs on your iPhone. Location is used to draw your horizon (or set coordinates manually). EDUCATION ONLY StellarVana is astronomy education and observation planning. It is not a photographer’s shot planner, and not medical or professional advice. Privacy Policy: https://stellarvana.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://stellarvana.com/terms Support: support@stellarvana.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: StellarVana at Free against Space by Tinybop's $3.99. StellarVana also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (100% vs 67%). Space by Tinybop's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (72 vs 4). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
StellarVana is free to download; Space by Tinybop costs $3.99 up front. StellarVana sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Space by Tinybop asks for nothing beyond the download.
StellarVana holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Space by Tinybop has 72 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Space by Tinybop's written reviews are positive against 100% of StellarVana's.
Space by Tinybop ships an update every 6 months, StellarVana fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Space by Tinybop | StellarVana |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (72 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 72 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 255 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tinybop Inc. | Gary Saggu |
Customer experience
Space by Tinybop
StellarVana
In-app purchases
Space by Tinybop
No in-app purchases
StellarVana
- StellarVana Premium monthly$4.991 Month
- StellarVana Premium Annual7 Days trial$39.991 Year
Questions
Is Space by Tinybop free?
Is StellarVana free?
Which has better reviews, Space by Tinybop or StellarVana?
Do Space by Tinybop or StellarVana have ads?
Which is updated more often, Space by Tinybop or StellarVana?
Other comparisons















