Tropical Hurricane Tracker vs VortexWeather
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tropical Hurricane Tracker
Stay informed about hurricanes and tropical storms with real-time tracking maps, NOAA forecasts, and push notifications. This app simplifies complex storm data into an easy-to-navigate interface, offering essential preparedness information for hurricane-prone areas.
- Hurricane Tracking Maps by Region
- NOAA Forecasts
- Interactive Global Map
- Push Notifications
- Ensemble Models
- Saffir-Simpson Scale
- Safety & Preparedness Information
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Tropical Hurricane Tracker provides the most up-to-date information about hurricanes, tropical storms, and disturbances. Most apps are overly complicated and cluttered with information. Tropical Hurricane Tracker offers the unique ability to easily navigate through multiple data points to find the information you need to keep track of these potentially devastating storms. At JPL Tech, we are committed to learning and improving. We welcome feedback that will help us continue to develop this app to best suit the needs of our users. Our goal is to create an app that is easy for everyone to access, especially those in hurricane-prone areas. If there is a feature you would like to see, please let us know by contacting us within the app. Features Include: • Hurricane Tracking Maps by Region (Central Pacific, Eastern North Pacific, Atlantic) • NOAA Forecasts • Interactive Global Map • Push Notifications • Ensemble Models • Historic Seasonal Maps • Historic Storm Tracks • Saffir-Simpson Scale • Safety & Preparedness Information ----- Privacy & Feedback If you have any questions or suggestions about our service, please do not hesitate to get in touch at 'hurricane@jpltech.com'. Privacy Policy, https://jpltech.com/privacy-policy Terms of Use, https://jpltech.com/terms-of-use
VortexWeather
Access detailed weather data including hurricanes, radar, satellite, and forecast models. Offers free basic features and paid subscriptions for advanced capabilities like 3D viewers and extended forecast data.
- Live storm tracks and forecast cones
- NEXRAD radar and satellite imagery
- Forecast radar and satellite animation
- Numerical forecast models (GFS, ECMWF)
- Real-time lightning detection
- 3D hurricane and radar viewers (Pro)
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VortexWeather turns raw NOAA data into fast, interactive weather maps — hurricanes, radar, satellite, lightning, and full numerical models, all in one app. Free to download and use. Features marked (Basic) or (Pro) require a paid auto-renewable subscription — see Subscriptions below. Available in English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) and Thai. TROPICAL & HURRICANES • Live storm tracks and forecast cones from the National Hurricane Center • Wind radii and tropical watches/warnings • Spaghetti plots from 35+ forecast models (Basic) • Historical storm tracks (Basic) • Storm wind and precipitation animation with max wind swath and rain totals (Pro) • GPU-accelerated 3D hurricane viewer with wind particle animations and isosurfaces (Pro) RADAR & SATELLITE • National and single-site NEXRAD radar (reflectivity & velocity) • Forecast radar: loops continue into the HRRR model's forecast (Basic) • 3D NEXRAD volume scan viewer with cross sections, cell isolation, and tornado rotation tools (Pro) • GOES and Himawari satellite imagery • Satellite animation (Basic) • Real-time lightning FORECAST MODELS • GFS and ECMWF surface temperature, dewpoint, pressure, humidity, and wind — free with a VortexWeather account • Animated surface wind particle flow — free with a VortexWeather account • Upper-air heights and winds, CAPE, precipitation, cloud cover, and more (Basic) • High-resolution HRRR model and animated wind barbs (Basic) SEVERE, AVIATION & MORE • SPC outlooks, WPC forecasts, and live NWS alerts (Basic) • Aviation hazards: SIGMET/AIRMET/PIREP and METARs (Basic) • USGS earthquakes SUBSCRIPTIONS VortexWeather is free to download, with ads. A paid subscription removes ads and unlocks the features marked above: • VortexWeather Basic — $4.99 per month or $50.90 per year • VortexWeather Pro — $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year; includes everything in Basic plus the features marked (Pro) Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: https://vortexweather.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://vortexweather.com/privacy VortexWeather is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Always rely on official sources such as the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center for life-safety decisions.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Tropical Hurricane Tracker at 2.4K against VortexWeather's 2. On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Tropical Hurricane Tracker sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per year and VortexWeather sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Tropical Hurricane Tracker against 5.0 for VortexWeather. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tropical Hurricane Tracker has 2.4K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Tropical Hurricane Tracker ships an update weekly, VortexWeather fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tropical Hurricane Tracker | VortexWeather |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (2.4K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 95.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2.4K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | JPL Technical Solutions, LLC | VORTEXWEATHER LLC |
Customer experience
Tropical Hurricane Tracker
VortexWeather
Bugs and requests
Tropical Hurricane Tracker
Reported bugs
2 issues- Notification long-press feature not working consistently
- Filter settings not persisting between app sessions
Requested features
3 requests- Add spaghetti models and more forecast models
- Ability to customize notification settings
- Retain notification history after launching the app
VortexWeather
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Tropical Hurricane Tracker
- No Ads (annual)$1.991 Year
- No Ads (forever)$6.99
VortexWeather
- Basic Monthly$4.991 Month
- Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
- Basic Annual$50.901 Year
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- Pro Annual$99.991 Year
Questions
Is Tropical Hurricane Tracker free?
Is VortexWeather free?
Which has better reviews, Tropical Hurricane Tracker or VortexWeather?
Do Tropical Hurricane Tracker or VortexWeather have ads?
Which is updated more often, Tropical Hurricane Tracker or VortexWeather?
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