Celestia vs EPIC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Celestia
Explore the universe in real-time 3D. Visit planets, moons, star clusters, and galaxies, viewing them from any point in space and time. Customize your experience with expandable content and detailed simulations.
- Real-time 3D space visualization
- Explore planets, moons, stars, galaxies
- Accurate solar system object positions
- Interactive planetarium mode
- Expandable content with add-ons
- Customizable celestial databases
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Celestia — real-time 3D visualization of space 3D Space Simulator | Celestia lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Celestia simulates many different types of celestial objects. From planets and moons to star clusters and galaxies, you can visit every object in the expandable database and view it from any point in space and time. The position and movement of solar system objects is calculated accurately in real time at any rate desired. Interactive Planetarium | Celestia serves as a planetarium – for an observer on any celestial object. You can easily navigate to any world and land on its surface. When used as a planetarium, Celestia shows accurate positions of solar system objects in the sky. You can switch labels and other supporting features on and off with hotkeys, or zoom in and out on an object of interest, for example Jupiter’s system of moons. Expandable Content | Customize Celestia according to your needs. Celestia’s catalogues can be easily expanded. There are many different add-ons available containing new objects like comets or stars, high-resolution textures of Earth and other well mapped solar system bodies, as well as 3D models for asteroids and spacecraft on precise trajectories. Even fictional objects from well-known sci-fi franchises can be found. EULA(End User License Agreement): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
EPIC
Discover stunning daily images from NASA, including the Astronomy Picture of the Day, Mars rover photos, and views from Hubble and James Webb. Explore curated collections, search the NASA Image Library, and save your favorite space discoveries. Watch live NASA streams and engage with STEM activities for all ages.
- Daily Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Mars rover and Earth views
- Hubble and James Webb images
- Themed NASA mission collections
- Searchable NASA Image Library
- Save favorite images
- NASA live stream
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EPIC – NASA Explorer Explore the universe with NASA — every day. EPIC brings together the best public NASA media in one app: the daily Astronomy Picture of the Day, Mars rover photos, Hubble and James Webb images, Earth views from space, and curated NASA video collections. Browse, search, save favorites, and dive deeper into the missions that inspire us. TODAY Start each day with NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day — stunning images with clear explanations. EXPLORE Browse themed collections: Mars rovers, Apollo, Artemis, Hubble, James Webb, eclipses, launches, and more. Young Explorers adds NASA videos and STEM activities for curious minds of all ages. SEARCH Search the NASA Image Library and discover photos and videos across decades of space exploration. FAVORITES Save images you love and build your own space archive. NASA LIVE Watch NASA’s live stream when available. Built for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro — one app for daily inspiration and deep exploration.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: EPIC at 5.0 against Celestia's 4.4. Celestia's advantage is ratings volume (338 vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, 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. Celestia sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and EPIC sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
EPIC holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Celestia has 338 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Celestia ships an update fortnightly, EPIC monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Celestia | EPIC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (338 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 338 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 550 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 林峰 李 | William Keene |
Customer experience
Celestia
EPIC
Bugs and requests
Celestia
Reported bugs
3 issues- Milky Way and other galaxy textures not loading properly
- Crashes when using certain add-ons
- Issues with planet and moon orbits not being accurate
Requested features
5 requests- Add more exoplanets and distant star systems
- Implement terrain generation for planets
- Expand to include more galaxies and the overall universe structure
- Add support for black holes, pulsars, and other exotic objects
- Improve controls and camera movement
EPIC
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Celestia
- Celestia PLUS (Weekly)7 Days trial$0.997 Days
- Celestia PLUS (Monthly)$1.991 Month
- Celestia PLUS (Yearly)$19.991 Year
- Celestia PLUS (Lifetime)$79.99
EPIC
- Lifetime Unlock$4.99









