Comparison

Star Stacker vs VIEWFINDR

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

Head to head
About

Star Stacker

Create stunning star trail images and time-lapse videos from sequences of night sky photos. Offers various effects like full trails, faded trails, shooting stars, and warp mode. Supports importing photos from your device's gallery.

Highlights
  • Create star trail images
  • Generate time-lapse videos
  • Full trails effect
  • Faded trails effect
  • Shooting star effect
  • Warp mode effect
  • Import photos from gallery
Features
Read full description

Star Stacker allows you to import a sequence of star photos taken throughout the night and turn them into star trail images or a time lapse video. After importing you can create the images and/or a time-lapse video with a few different effects. - Full trails - every star at full brightness - Faded trails - Stars get brighter as the process runs - Shooting star - Like faded trails but the last image is brighter than any previous giving a shooting star effect - Javelin - Both ends of the trail are faded - Warp mode - zooms into the image stack slowly creating a warped effect. This will also affect the foreground so post processing may be required if the images have the foreground included. You can also choose to save a video of the time-lapse based on the options used for the image stacking. Can import images from your photos app. RAW files that have been recently imported from an SD card reader, may take a few minutes before the full resolution files are available. There are resolution limits depending on the device being used and the memory it has: - 6gb - 62mp - 5gb - 62mp - 4gb - 62mp - 3gb - 42mp - 2gb - 30mp

About

VIEWFINDR

Get personalized weather alerts for your favorite photography locations. Receive notifications for optimal light and weather conditions, helping you save time, money, and reduce your environmental impact. Plan your shoots like a pro with detailed forecasts for fog, red skies, and more.

Highlights
  • Personalized weather alerts for photo spots
  • Forecasts for fog, red skies, golden hour, and more
  • Automatic GPS tracking for local alerts
  • 80% forecast accuracy
  • Drone weather safety checks
  • Hourly weather forecasts with subscription
Features
Read full description

Set up a detailed weather alert for your photo spots in 1min! Receive warnings when weather & light on your photo spots is favourable. The 80% forecast accuracy lowers your carbon footprint and saves your money & time. Our algorithm hides sensitive places to prevent destruction. Get the experience in location, weather & light planning of professional landscape photographers by your hands. Developed for the needs of those seeking the most favourable weather conditions on their photo spots. Yes, our subscription is not cheap. VIEWFINDR depends on high-resolution, not free accessible weather data. That’s why we get the forecast right in 80% of the time. Imagine the fuel prices. If we safe you from one trip with bad weather conditions per month, we save you more money than VIEWFINDR costs while also lowering your carbon footprint. In just 1min you will setup a personalized weather alert for your chosen photo spots. We also automatically track your GPS (in a data safe way) and send you weather alerts for your area so that you don’t miss out nice weather & light conditions. We forecast: - Veil of mist (flatlands) - Dense fog/high fog (Valleys and mountains) - Precise height of fog layer - Red Skies (Afterglow before sunrise, after sunset) - Golden clouds (While golden hour) - Clear Night Sky (For Milkyway, Aurora) - Blue Hour (Cloudless sky) - Water Reflections (On lakes and calm rivers) - Cloud Layers - Drone weather (is it safe to fly) The VIEWFINDR subscription gives you access to the following functions: - Details of active weather alerts - Hourly weather forecasts - More details about the photo spots such as the exact position Terms and conditions: https://www.iubenda.com/terms-and-conditions/90053319

Screenshots

Star Stacker4 screens
VIEWFINDR4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: VIEWFINDR at Free against Star Stacker's $3.99. VIEWFINDR also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (80% vs 57%). Star Stacker's advantage is rating (4.3 vs 3.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 6). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

VIEWFINDR is free to download; Star Stacker costs $3.99 up front. VIEWFINDR sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Star Stacker asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Star Stacker holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Star Stacker has 99 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 57% of Star Stacker's written reviews are positive against 80% of VIEWFINDR's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Star Stacker ships an update every 2 months, VIEWFINDR every 9 days. Both last shipped on October 27, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Star Stacker versus VIEWFINDR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStar StackerVIEWFINDR
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (99 ratings) — better3.8 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews56.9% of reviews80.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings99 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB169 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developermichael webbImagoTerra UG (haftungsbeschränkt)

Customer experience

Star Stacker

All ratings99 ratings
Positive82.8%
Neutral2.0%
Negative15.2%
Written reviews65 reviews
Positive56.9%
Neutral6.2%
Negative36.9%

VIEWFINDR

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews61 reviews
Positive80.3%
Neutral4.9%
Negative14.8%

Bugs and requests

Star Stacker

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • App crashes when starting stack
  • App crashes when attempting to stack
  • App crashes during stacking process
  • App crashes when rendering video
  • Cannot load photos
Show 7 more
  • Cannot enter the app
  • Cannot select photos after choosing specific access
  • App crashes at nearly 90%
  • App crashes after stacking completes
  • App crashes on MacBook Pro
  • App crashes when trying to stack images
  • App crashes when adding images

Requested features

12 requests
  • Option to export live photos
  • Help info for stacking options
  • Manual stacking option
  • Advanced editing software
  • Automatic alignment function
Show 7 more
  • Ability to set picture format
  • Support for .raw files
  • Ability to import from Files app
  • Option to select all photos
  • Clear all option
  • 4K video export
  • Chinese language support

VIEWFINDR

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Star Stacker

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

VIEWFINDR

Subscriptions6
  • Monthly subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Monthly subscription7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Monthly subscription1 Month trial$4.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Annual subscription7 Days trial$9.991 Year
  • Annual subscription7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Annual subscription1 Month trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Star Stacker free?
Star Stacker costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is VIEWFINDR free?
VIEWFINDR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Star Stacker or VIEWFINDR?
Star Stacker is rated higher. Star Stacker averages 4.3 out of 5 from 99 ratings, while VIEWFINDR averages 3.8 from 4 ratings.
Do Star Stacker or VIEWFINDR have ads?
Neither Star Stacker nor VIEWFINDR shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Star Stacker or VIEWFINDR?
Star Stacker ships an update every 2 months, and VIEWFINDR every 9 days. Most recently, Star Stacker was updated on October 27, 2026 and VIEWFINDR on October 27, 2026.

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