Comparison

Galaxy Map vs Cosmic Journey Into Space

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Galaxy Map

Explore the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies in an interactive 3D map. Discover nebulae, supernovae, and planets, with stunning visuals based on NASA data. Ideal for education and space enthusiasts.

Highlights
  • Interactive 3D galaxy map
  • Explore nebulae and supernovae
  • Fly through planetary atmospheres
  • Land on planets
  • Based on NASA data
  • Available in 100+ languages
Features
Read full description

The galaxy map is an interactive map of the Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda and their satellite galaxies. Explore the Orion Arm's nebulae and supernovae from the comfort of your spaceship. Fly through the atmosphere of Mars and many other planets and you can even land on them. Discover the galaxy in a stunning three dimensional map based on NASA's artistic impression of the Milky Way galactic structure. Photos are taken by NASA spacecraft and ground based telescopes like Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray, Herschel Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope. This interactive 3D map is excellent for teachers to use for instruction, and it is a great astronomy resource for students to explore the Milky Way galaxy and space as they learn more about the universe we live in. Available in over 100 languages! You can also From the outskirts of the galaxy, in the Norma-Outer spiral arm to the galactic center's supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, discover a galaxy full of amazing facts. Notable structures included: the Pillars of Creation, Helix Nebula, the Engraved Hourglass Nebula, the Pleiades, the Orion Arm (where the solar system and the Earth are located) with its Orion belt. Check out neighboring dwarf galaxies such as Sagittarius and the Canis Major Overdensity, stellar streams as well as internal galactic components such as a variety of nebulae, star clusters or supernovae. Explore space and get a little closer to our wonderful universe with this awesome astronomy app! The Galaxy Map requires internet access to retrieve information from the wiki.

About

Cosmic Journey Into Space

Features
Read full description

Start where you are on Earth. Look up at your own sky, choose something in it, and fly there. Every flight is a straight line through one map of the universe, and what you see on the way is what is there. YOUR SKY IS THE STARTING POINT Use your location, or pick a launch site on a map. The sky above you is drawn for this moment: blue by day, stars coming out through twilight, the Moon in its real phase, the planets where they are. A strip shows what is above you right now. Point your phone at the sky, or drag to look around. Keep something in the circle for a moment, or tap it, and it is chosen. Then press Go. FLIGHTS THAT TAKE SECONDS The app sets the pace: about six seconds to the Moon, never more than fourteen to the farthest galaxy. Lift-off and arrival are gentle, and the middle is as fast as it needs to be. One quiet line names the real distances you pass: the edge of space, the Moon's distance, the nearest star. Pause anywhere, look back toward home, and read how old the light from Earth is where you are. THEN GO OUTSIDE AND FIND IT When you arrive, the app tells you where that place is in the real sky over your launch site at that moment: how high, in which direction, whether your own eyes could see it, or when it rises. One tap stands you back on the ground facing it. WORLDS AS THEY ARE Earth, the Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune wear maps made from spacecraft images, turned the way they really face and lit from where the Sun really is. Look up Europa, Titan or Triton through NASA and they do too. Stars are coloured by their temperature. Black holes bend the light around them. Where a surface is not known, as for Venus under its clouds or any exoplanet, the app says it is a model. A UNIVERSE OF REAL PLACES More than 400,000 destinations work offline: the stars you can see and hundreds of thousands you cannot, 6,344 exoplanets, and 53,914 galaxies at their catalogued distances. Search by name or catalogue number. Leave the Galaxy and the stars thin out to nothing, because that is where the stars are not. Each faint glow ahead is a whole galaxy. SEE WHERE YOU WENT Finish a journey and your route is drawn on a map that is to scale. Flights can differ in length by a factor of trillions, so the map pulls back through each in turn, and its scale bar always says the real length it shows. A journey log keeps the places you have reached. BEYOND THE BUNDLED CATALOG Request more Solar System bodies from NASA JPL Horizons, and distant objects from SIMBAD when a usable distance is known. Results are kept for offline use. Lookups and the launch-site map need an internet connection. Everything bundled works without one. WHAT IS REAL AND WHAT IS NOT Positions, distances, sizes, phases and orientations are measured or computed. Travelling faster than light is fiction, and the app says so while you do it. Star surfaces, ring detail, exoplanets and the shapes of most galaxies are models and are labelled as such. Earth is a smooth globe without terrain or buildings. Sky colours are a display model. Phone aiming depends on your compass. What the app says about your own sky cannot know about cloud, hills or city lights. No account is required. Location and motion access are optional. Your launch site and journeys stay on your device. The original guided journeys remain in the menu.

Screenshots

Galaxy Map4 screens
Cosmic Journey Into Space4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cosmic Journey Into Space at none against Galaxy Map's 10. Cosmic Journey Into Space also leads on ads (none vs shown). Galaxy Map's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Galaxy Map sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Cosmic Journey Into Space asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Galaxy Map versus Cosmic Journey Into Space: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGalaxy MapCosmic Journey Into Space
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (613 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews79.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings613 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size655 MB84 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAndrei NistorescuAndrew Marc

Bugs and requests

Galaxy Map

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • App crashes on startup
  • Explore button shows nothing
  • Pinch-to-zoom doesn't work
  • App won't load on iPad
  • Text displays as boxes in language settings
Show 4 more
  • Mars moon orbital speed incorrect
  • App kicks users out during exploration
  • Loading issues and incomplete functionality
  • Inconsistent performance across platforms

Requested features

18 requests
  • Search button to find galaxies and objects
  • More diverse and realistic black hole designs
  • AR feature to identify stars/planets in real sky
  • More free content and objects
  • Exoplanet additions (TRAPPIST-1e, J1407B)
Show 13 more
  • Ability to click on stars within galaxies for details
  • Generated planets around stars
  • Sandbox/creation mode for user-generated content
  • Animation for Milky Way and Andromeda
  • More galaxy variety in the app
  • Coordinates filter for objects
  • Space-Engine style gameplay
  • Flying through galaxies feature
  • More female character customization options
  • VIP version option
  • Brown dwarfs addition
  • Photosphere viewing mode
  • More detailed star information

Cosmic Journey Into Space

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Galaxy Map

One-time10
  • Remove ads$1.99
  • Buy ship - Alien Destroyer$1.99
  • Buy ship - Alien fighter$1.99
Show 7 more
  • 3D Visualization Pack$1.99
  • Buy ship - Dragon Frigate$1.99
  • Remove ads$3.99
  • 3D Visualization Pack$3.99
  • Ultimate bundle - SALE$4.99
  • Essentials bundle$4.99
  • Ultimate bundle$8.99
None

Cosmic Journey Into Space

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Galaxy Map free?
Galaxy Map is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cosmic Journey Into Space free?
Cosmic Journey Into Space is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Galaxy Map or Cosmic Journey Into Space have ads?
Galaxy Map shows ads; Cosmic Journey Into Space does not.
Which is updated more often, Galaxy Map or Cosmic Journey Into Space?
Galaxy Map ships an update every 3 weeks, and Cosmic Journey Into Space every 3 weeks. Most recently, Galaxy Map was updated on November 2, 2026 and Cosmic Journey Into Space on November 2, 2026.

Other comparisons