Comparison

StarEdit vs SkyForge

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

Head to head
About

StarEdit

Easily remove stars from your galaxy photos to make intuitive edits. Adjust star count, size, and saturation, then combine starless and star images for social media. This app uses AI for convenient mobile editing.

Highlights
  • Instantly remove stars from photos
  • Adjust star count, size, and saturation
  • Apply curve and color adjustments
  • Combine starless and star images
  • AI-powered mobile editing
  • Edit target and sky in starless images
Features
Read full description

A specialised app to instantly remove stars from your photo so that you can make intuitive changes to your galaxy. Then add back the stars. Besides applying curve and color to your galaxy/nebulae, you could also adjust the number of star, size of star and saturation of star. Then combine the starless and star into a single image for your social media post. Traditionally, user has to download and remove stars on a laptop. This app makes it convenient and easy to do it on the phone using AI. Workflow: 1) Starless > Curve > Color 2) Star > Curve > Color 3) Both > Curve > Color Additional editing for Target and Sky in the Starless image if device has 4G RAM or more. Note: - The app is designed for seestar image of resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels. Larger image will need longer time to load and remove stars. Requirement: - App works best with 4G RAM and above. If the device has less than 4G RAM, it will use lesser weights for AI and produce degraded image. - Image is optimised at 1920 x 1080 pixels. Support: Please write to ustransit74@gmail.com. If the app does not process the stars in your image correctly, please send me your original photo. I will add your photo to the next AI training. A new app update will then be release. Video tutorial is available at https://www.instagram.com/ycbsl

About

SkyForge

Features
Read full description

SkyForge is the finishing app for Milky Way and nightscape photographs — the polish pass that comes after your base edit. It is not another RAW developer and not a stacking suite. It is the last mile, and it now runs on iPhone and iPad as well as the Mac. ONE TAP: AUTOFORGE AutoForge measures your actual photograph — the true grain of the sky, star density, how much Milky Way structure is present, how much of the frame is foreground — and finishes it accordingly. It tells you what it did and why, in plain English, and every setting stays yours to override. FORGE NR — NOISE REDUCTION THAT RESPECTS STARS An edge-aware guided filter cleans the sky while detected stars and Milky Way dust are held back by masks. Grain disappears; the star field does not soften into mush. Separate luminance and colour control, shadow bias for the darkest sky, and optional re-grain for a natural finish. INTELLIGENT SKY MASK One tap separates sky from landscape using a Segment Anything 2 model that runs entirely on your own device's Neural Engine. Then simply choose Sky Only or Foreground Only — no masking knowledge required. The mask stays editable if the detection needs help. Or choose Tap Object and tap anything in the frame — a tree, a barn, a ridge — to confine every edit to that alone. STARFORGE — REDUCTION AND TRUE STARLESS Shrink small stars so galactic structure reads, while bright anchor stars stay intact. Or go fully starless: SkyForge lifts the stars onto their own layer, lets every later module work on clean nebulosity, then composites them back at the end — the classic astro separate-and-recombine workflow, without leaving the app. Two starless engines: Classic, and SkyForge AI — an on-device star-removal model. Nothing is uploaded, and Classic stays a tap away. SKYCLARITY, GLOW AND MYSTICAL Star-protected local contrast lifts dust lanes and the galactic core without haloing a single star. Glow adds soft radiance, including the classic Orton dreamscape. Mystical brings light-prioritised radiance with contrast, saturation and black-point control. SEVENTEEN LOOKS One-tap starting points built for starry landscapes: Natural Night, Classic Nightscape, Galactic Core, Earth & Sky, Foreground Pop, Documentary, Winter Arc, Moonlit, Aurora Night, Desert Warmth, Alpine Snow, Film Grain, Ink & Silver, Dreamscape, Deep Sky, Light Pollution Rescue and Monochrome. BUILT FOR REAL WORK • 32-bit float pipeline end to end, ICC preserved • Saves at full resolution, in 16-bit where the format allows • Opens what your library holds, including HEIC and camera RAW • Non-destructive: every module is live and reversible • Before-and-after split slider — drag the divider across your own frame COMPLETELY OFFLINE Everything runs on your device. No account, no cloud upload, and no subscription to view your own work. Your photographs never leave your iPhone, iPad or Mac — including the sky detection, which runs locally on the Neural Engine. ONE PURCHASE, EVERY DEVICE SkyForge is free to download and free to try for seven days. After that a single unlock keeps full-resolution saving — and it covers Mac, iPad and iPhone together. Every editing module stays available whether or not you unlock; only saving is gated. One purchase, no subscription.

Screenshots

StarEdit4 screens
SkyForge3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: StarEdit at none against SkyForge's 1. StarEdit also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. SkyForge sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. StarEdit asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
StarEdit versus SkyForge: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarEditSkyForge
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (4 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB185 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developeryong chong lohSteven smith

In-app purchases

None

StarEdit

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

SkyForge

One-time1
  • SkyForge Unlock$29.99

Questions

Is StarEdit free?
StarEdit is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SkyForge free?
SkyForge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do StarEdit or SkyForge have ads?
Neither StarEdit nor SkyForge shows ads.

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