GOES Viewer vs VortexWeather
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GOES Viewer
Easily view and share the latest satellite imagery from NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) directly on your mobile device. This app simplifies accessing global satellite views and animations, making it quick to share images via message or save them to your gallery.
- View GOES satellite imagery
- Access global satellite views
- Watch satellite animations
- Easy image sharing
- Save imagery to gallery
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Do you like to view and share the latest satellite imagery of the world? Think the NOAA GOES website is hard to navigate on your phone? Give GOES Viewer a try! This app is designed to give a quick preview of every view NOAA has for it's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) and even lets you view the animations of the most recent imagery. To top that all off, sharing is as easy as tapping the share button which will attach the imagery to a message or let you save it to your gallery!
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 in-app purchases: GOES Viewer at none against VortexWeather's 4. GOES Viewer also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (15 vs 2). VortexWeather's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, rating 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
Both are free to download. VortexWeather sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. GOES Viewer asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for GOES Viewer against 5.0 for VortexWeather. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GOES Viewer has 15 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
GOES Viewer ships an update every 2 months, VortexWeather fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GOES Viewer | VortexWeather |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (15 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 28 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Emery Silberman | VORTEXWEATHER LLC |
Customer experience
GOES Viewer
VortexWeather
In-app purchases
GOES Viewer
No in-app purchases
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 GOES Viewer free?
Is VortexWeather free?
Which has better reviews, GOES Viewer or VortexWeather?
Do GOES Viewer or VortexWeather have ads?
Which is updated more often, GOES Viewer or VortexWeather?
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