StellarMate vs SynScan Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
StellarMate
Control your astrophotography equipment remotely. Capture images, stream video, and perform precise alignment. Automatically back up your photos to the cloud with rich metadata for easy searching.
- Remote equipment control
- Image capture and video streaming
- Polar alignment assistant
- Cloud image backup
- Metadata search and sorting
- Software updates
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Use StellarMate App to discover and connect to your StellarMate controller. Control StellarMate functions and access the Web Manager and Web based VNC Viewer. Join StellarMate to your home WiFi network. Use Ekos to capture images, stream video, guide, focus, and align. With Polar Alignment Assistant tool, get very accurate polar alignment using internal astrometry engine. Never lose your images again with EkosLive Pro. All captured images are automatically uploaded to the cloud with a rich set of metadata that enables powerful search and sorting. Use custom tags to uniquely tag important frames for later use. Check the health of your device, and use the software updater to keep it up to date.
SynScan Pro
Control motorized telescope mounts for celestial observation and astrophotography. Features include precise slewing, alignment, GOTO, and tracking of stars, planets, and deep-sky objects. Supports advanced functions like polar alignment and camera triggering.
- Control telescope mount (slew, align, GOTO, track)
- Point and Track celestial objects
- Gamepad navigation support
- Catalog of celestial objects
- Third-party app integration (ASCOM, SkySafari)
- Polar alignment (with or without polar scope)
- Camera shutter release control
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Use the SynScan app to control Sky-Watcher telescope mounts via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth LE. Mounts without built-in Wi-Fi can be supported via a SynScan Wi-Fi adapter. This is the Pro version of the SynScan app and contains features suited for expert users using equatorial mounts. Features - Control telescope mount to slew, align, GOTO and track. - Point And Track: track celestial objects (including the Sun and planets) without aligning. - Support gamepad navigation. - Browse a catalog of stars, comets, and deep sky objects. Or, save your own objects. - Provide access to mount for use by third-party apps, including ASCOM clients, SkySafari, Luminos, Stellarium Mobile Plus, Stellarium Desktop or customer-developed apps. Also set up mount alignment for Luminos, Skysafari. - Support access to the mount and the SynScan app from any platform that supports TCP/UDP connections. - Provide emulator mount for testing and practicing. - Track fast-moving earth satellites by working with the PreviSat app on Windows PC or the Lumios app on iOS devices. - Perform polar alignment with or without a polar scope. - Control shutter release (SNAP) port to trigger an attached camera. (Requires mount with SNAP port and adapter cable that matches camera.) - Use ASCOM to perform autoguiding on mounts that do not have autoguider (ST-4) port. - Other mount controls: auto home, PPEC, park.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: StellarMate at 3.3 against SynScan Pro's 2.6. StellarMate also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 2 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
StellarMate holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 2.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 20 and 51 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 35% of StellarMate's written reviews are positive against 22% of SynScan Pro's.
StellarMate ships an update every 8 days, SynScan Pro every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and July 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | StellarMate | SynScan Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (20 ratings) — better | 2.6 (51 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 34.6% of reviews — better | 21.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 20 | 51 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 119 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ikarus Astronomy Company For Scientific Instruments & Tools | Astropower Technology Co. Ltd. |
Customer experience
StellarMate
SynScan Pro
In-app purchases
StellarMate
No in-app purchases
SynScan Pro
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is StellarMate free?
Is SynScan Pro free?
Which has better reviews, StellarMate or SynScan Pro?
Do StellarMate or SynScan Pro have ads?
Which is updated more often, StellarMate or SynScan Pro?
Other comparisons
