Comparison

Sky Guide vs SkySafari 7 Pro

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

Head to head
About

Sky Guide

Identify stars, constellations, planets, and satellites in real-time by holding your device overhead. Explore celestial bodies with AR overlays, track satellites like the ISS, and travel through time to view past and future astronomical events. Perfect for both novice and experienced stargazers.

Highlights
  • Automatic celestial object identification
  • Augmented reality sky overlay
  • Satellite tracking and notifications
  • Time travel for past/future viewing
  • Personalized astronomical event calendar
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Bring the beauty of the stars down to Earth. Hold Sky Guide® overhead to automatically identify any star, constellation, planet or satellite! Easy to use and powerful, it’s epic stargazing for any experience level. Is it a star or the planet Mars? Knowing what’s up in your night sky is easier than ever. Sky Guide’s AR mode superimposes figures onto your real sky so visualizing the heavens becomes effortless. Have you ever wished you could recognize constellations but didn’t want to fumble around with paper star charts? Now you can. A speck of light crosses the night sky, growing brighter. What could it be? You don’t have to wonder anymore. Track a bright satellite and receive perfectly-timed notifications whenever the International Space Station is about to fly over your location. With Sky Guide, you’ll be saying ‘Goodbye, aliens’ and ‘Hellooooo, astronauts!’ Voyage to the past or future with cinematic time controls. Know where the Moon will be later in the evening so you can capture that perfect photo or be an eyewitness to history’s greatest comets. Whether you’re searching for Sagittarius, Saturn, or the next big meteor shower, Sky Guide is jam-packed with information and rich graphics that will satisfy the most curious minds. Plus, stay current with location-filtered events like solar and lunar eclipses with Sky Guide’s personalized Calendar. Camping in the backcountry? Sky Guide can function with or without Wi-Fi, cellular service or GPS, so everything is at your fingertips no matter where you go. Join the millions who have discovered a more personal connection to the stars with Sky Guide. It might forever change the way you look up. Terms of Use: https://www.fifthstarlabs.com/terms-of-use

About

SkySafari 7 Pro

Explore the night sky with an extensive astronomy database and advanced planning tools. Discover astronomical events, control your telescope, and connect with other stargazers in real-time.

Highlights
  • Extensive celestial object database
  • Advanced event finder
  • Telescope control (ASCOM Alpaca, INDI, StarSense)
  • Real-time social stargazing (OneSky)
  • Guided sky tours (SkyCast)
  • Observation planning and logging
  • Home and lock screen widgets
Features
Read full description

SkySafari makes stargazing a simple pleasure. It has the largest database of any astronomy app, includes every comet, asteroid, satellite & solar system object ever discovered, offers unparalleled accuracy, advanced planning and logging tools, flawless telescope control, and provides the very best experience under the stars when you depend on it. Don’t postpone joy. Discover why SkySafari is the #1 recommended astronomy app for serious amateur astronomers since 2009. Here's what’s new in version 7: + Complete support for iOS 18 and iPhone 16. Version 7 brings a new and immersive stargazing experience. + Events Finder - go to the new Events section to unlock a powerful search engine that finds astronomical events visible tonight and far into the future. The finder dynamically generates a listing of moon phases, eclipses, planetary moon events, meteor showers and planetary phenomenon such as conjunctions, elongations and oppositions. + Notifications - the notifications section has been completely revamped to allow you to customize and manage which events trigger an alert notification on your device. + Telescope Support - telescope control is at the heart of SkySafari. Version 7 takes a giant leap forward by supporting ASCOM Alpaca, INDI & StarSense Explorer. These next generation control protocols allow you to effortlessly connect to hundreds of compatible astronomical devices. SkySafari 7 brings social stargazing to mobile devices with two new features to help you connect with other like minded people. OneSky - allows you to see what other users are observing, in real time. This feature highlights objects in the sky chart and indicates with a number how many users are observing a particular object. SkyCast - allows you to guide a friend or group around the night sky through their own copy of SkySafari. After initiating SkyCast, you can generate a link and conveniently share it with other SkySafari users via text message, apps or social media accounts. + Sky Tonight - jump to the new Tonight section to see what’s visible in your sky tonight. Expanded information has been designed to help plan your night and includes Moon & Sun info, calendar curations, events and the best positioned deep sky and solar system objects. + Improved Observation Tools - SkySafari is the perfect tool to help you plan, record and organize your observations. New workflows make it easier to add, search, filter and sort data. + Home Screen and Lock Screen Widgets keep your favorite astro information at your fingertips. The Small Touches: + You can now edit the Jupiter GRS Longitude Value in the Settings. + Better Moon Age calculation. + New grid & reference options allow you to display Solstice and Equinox markers, Orbit + Node markers for all solar system objects, and tick marks and labels for the Ecliptic, Meridian, and Equator reference lines. + Previous In-app Purchases are Now Free - this includes the H-R diagram, 3D Galaxy view, and the PGC galaxy and GAIA star catalogs. Enjoy. + Many more. If you haven't used SkySafari 7 Pro before, here's what you can do with it: + Hold your device up, and SkySafari 7 Pro will find stars, constellations, planets, and more! + Simulate the night sky up to 5MM years in the past or future! Animate meteor showers, conjunctions, eclipses, and other celestial events. + Control your telescope, log and plan your observations. + Optionally backup all of your observing data in our secure cloud storage and make it easily accessible to multiple devices as well as from our new web interface, LiveSky.com. + Augmented Reality (AR) mode + Night Vision. + Orbit Mode. Leave the Earth’s surface behind, and fly through our solar system. + Galaxy View shows the position of deep sky objects in our Milky Way! https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ https://www.livesky.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Sky Guide4 screens
SkySafari 7 Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sky Guide at Free against SkySafari 7 Pro's $17.99. Sky Guide also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 45%) and ratings volume (374K vs 5.4K). SkySafari 7 Pro's advantage is iOS requirement (14.1 vs 18.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and chart position 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

Sky Guide is free to download; SkySafari 7 Pro costs $17.99 up front. Sky Guide sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and SkySafari 7 Pro sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sky Guide holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sky Guide has 374K ratings behind it against 5.4K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Sky Guide's written reviews are positive against 45% of SkySafari 7 Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sky Guide ships an update every 2 weeks, SkySafari 7 Pro every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Sky Guide versus SkySafari 7 Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSky GuideSkySafari 7 Pro
PriceFree — better$17.99
Rating4.8 (374K ratings) — better4.6 (5.4K ratings)
Positive reviews86.0% of reviews — better45.5% of reviews
Number of ratings374K — better5.4K
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#8 — better#13
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.014.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size379 MB2.4 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFifth Star Labs LLCSimulation Curriculum Corp.

Customer experience

Sky Guide

All ratings374,372 ratings
Positive96.8%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews2,721 reviews
Positive86.0%
Neutral3.3%
Negative10.7%

SkySafari 7 Pro

All ratings5,434 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews354 reviews
Positive45.5%
Neutral14.7%
Negative39.8%

User reviews

Sky Guide

From 374K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Stunning visuals and graphics
  • 📚 Wealth of information on celestial objects
  • 🧭 Accurate and responsive compass/AR features
  • 🌌 Immersive stargazing experience
  • 🔍 Ability to identify stars, planets, and satellites

Room to improve

  • 🧭 Occasional compass/location calibration issues
  • 💰 Subscription model limits access to some features
  • 🌍 Lack of support for certain regions/locations
  • 🕰️ Outdated information on some celestial objects

SkySafari 7 Pro

From 5.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent observational tool
  • 🌟 Powerful and indispensable app
  • 👍 Great app, easy to use
  • 🔭 Wonderful planetarium app
  • 💻 Best mobile tool for telescope control

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes upon opening
  • 🌍 Lack of Southern Hemisphere support
  • 🔍 Complicated interface, not user-friendly
  • 🔌 Crashes too often
  • 💰 Pay even more for additional features

Bugs and requests

Sky Guide

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App freezes when near polar regions
  • Occasional crashes or performance issues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more detailed information on moons of planets
  • Implement mosaic planning tools for astrophotography
  • Provide earlier notifications for satellite/ISS passes
  • Allow users to share their observations and photos
  • Improve integration with telescope/camera equipment

SkySafari 7 Pro

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Free database downloads fail to complete
  • Telescope button crashes the app
  • Time settings spontaneously reset
  • Observing list crashes the app
  • Field of view indicators not working

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to quickly edit light form
  • Allow custom horizon mask input
  • Include surface brightness data for extended objects
  • Add transit altitude information for objects
  • Improve object search with fuzzy matching

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Sky Guide

Subscriptions4
  • PLUS$4.991 Month
  • PRO$8.991 Month
  • PLUS7 Days trial$39.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • PRO7 Days trial$59.991 Year
One-time2
  • All Constellations$1.99
  • PRO Lifetime$249.99
5 purchases

SkySafari 7 Pro

Subscriptions2
  • SkySafari Premium Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • SkySafari Premium7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time3
  • PGC Galaxy DatabaseFree
  • GAIA Star DatabaseFree
  • Apollo Lunar MissionsFree

Questions

Is Sky Guide free?
Sky Guide is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SkySafari 7 Pro free?
SkySafari 7 Pro costs $17.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sky Guide or SkySafari 7 Pro?
Sky Guide is rated higher. Sky Guide averages 4.8 out of 5 from 374K ratings, while SkySafari 7 Pro averages 4.6 from 5.4K ratings.
Do Sky Guide or SkySafari 7 Pro have ads?
Neither Sky Guide nor SkySafari 7 Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sky Guide or SkySafari 7 Pro?
Sky Guide ships an update every 2 weeks, and SkySafari 7 Pro every 5 weeks. Most recently, Sky Guide was updated on September 27, 2026 and SkySafari 7 Pro on September 25, 2026.
Which is more popular, Sky Guide or SkySafari 7 Pro?
Sky Guide currently peaks at #8 in the App Store charts, and SkySafari 7 Pro at #13. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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