AvWx vs ARTstronomy Planner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AvWx
Provides pilots and dispatchers with fast, reliable aviation weather information. It integrates data from official sources into an intuitive interface for operational decision-making, offering features like METAR/TAF analysis and advisory highlights.
- METAR & TAF runway wind components
- FAA Advisories integration
- Unlimited airport tracking (Pro)
- Extended Apple Weather forecasts (Pro)
- Sun & moon events visualization (Pro)
- Alternate requirements highlighting (Pro)
- Offline-aware operation
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Situational awareness for pilots and dispatchers — every airport you care about, on one screen. AvWx brings NOAA's forecasts and radar, AviationWeather.gov, FAA advisories and NOTAMs, Digital ATIS, NWS alerts and Apple Weather into one picture, so you can read a whole day of flying without opening five apps. TAF TIMELINE Every TAF drawn on one time axis: TEMPO and PROB groups in their own band, each hour's worst ceiling and visibility with its flight category, runway wind components, the current METAR overlaid, and NOAA's hourly forecast beneath it. NOAA METEOGRAM One day, hour by hour: clouds by altitude to 45,000 ft, the freezing level, precipitation and snowfall by type, winds aloft and the flight category — each reading labeled with the NOAA model behind it. MAPS AND RADAR NOAA's newest radar scans looped over the last hour, storm cells with motion arrows, lightning within minutes of the flash, satellite clouds, fronts, NWS alert regions, worldwide forecast layers, airspace, and satellite imagery down to the runway. ALSO • Ceiling and visibility every 15 minutes for six hours in the US, and out to a week worldwide • NOTAMs worldwide, straight from the FAA's NOTAM Management Service — closed runways and approach aids out of service marked on the runway table and METAR tiles, closures drawn on the satellite view • Traffic flow and the runways in use, handy at non-towered fields • SIGMETs, CWAs and NWS alerts matched to your airport's position, not just its region • Decoded D-ATIS, METAR tiles, favored runways, density altitude, sun and moon • Saved places beyond airports — home, layovers, anywhere — with full forecasts FREE: up to five airports, METAR and TAF, the TAF timeline, NOTAMs, traffic flow and FAA advisories. PREMIUM: unlimited airports, the maps and radar, the NOAA meteogram and charts, Apple Weather's tiles and charts, and no ads. One-week free trial. An in-app Guide and Legend explain every bar and color. AvWx is a professional supplement, not a replacement for certified flight-planning tools. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://avwxllc.github.io/privacy-policy.md
ARTstronomy Planner
This app provides a clear GO/MAYBE/NO GO verdict for stargazing and astrophotography based on detailed weather and sky conditions. It offers smart forecasts tuned to your specific shooting needs, including cloud cover, moon brightness, and seeing.
- Smart GO/MAYBE/NO GO verdicts
- Session-tuned forecasts
- Hourly Sky Timeline
- Live moon phase tracking
- ISS pass tracking
- Narrowband-aware scoring
- Drive-out comparison
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One honest GO/MAYBE/NO GO verdict for tonight's sky — tuned to what you're shooting. ARTstronomy Planner tells you — honestly — whether tonight is worth setting up the telescope or driving out to your dark site. No more juggling five weather apps, squinting at cloud maps, and guessing when the moon's too bright to bother. Pick what you're shooting — deep-sky, Moon & planets, or a mixed night out — and get one clear verdict: GO, MAYBE, or NO GO. WHAT YOU GET • Smart verdicts, tuned to your session — cloud cover, moon brightness, seeing, sky darkness, and dark-window length are weighed differently for long-exposure imaging than for a casual night at the eyepiece. • Sky Timeline — an hourly, color-coded forecast strip you slide through like a dial. Total cloud, seeing, precipitation, and humidity for the next two weeks, with sunset, sunrise, and astronomical twilight marked right on the grid. • Live moon phase — a real moon-phase icon and illumination percentage that updates as you drag through time, so you can see exactly how the moon will look at 11pm versus 3am. • ISS pass tracking — visible International Space Station passes appear right on your timeline. Tap one for rise, peak, and set times, direction, altitude, and estimated brightness. • Narrowband-aware scoring — tell it you shoot narrowband, and the app stops marking down nights for a bright moon your filters can cut right through. • Drive-out comparison — see at a glance whether your dark site is actually worth the drive tonight, or if home is just as good. • Bortle sky-quality estimates for any site, home or away, pulled from real light-pollution data. • Ranked target suggestions — the best deep-sky objects or Moon/planet targets for tonight, scored for your gear and your sky. ARTSTRONOMY PLANNER PRO Free, forever: • Tonight's GO / MAYBE / NO GO verdict for your location, for deep-sky, Moon & planets, or mixed sessions • Score and "why" breakdown, live moon phase, and Bortle estimate for your location • Sky Timeline for the next 24 hours Pro unlocks: • The full 14-day hourly Sky Timeline • Drive-out comparison with your saved dark sites • Ranked target suggestions for any night • ISS pass tracking • Narrowband-aware scoring Try Pro free for 7 days. After the free trial, Pro is $1.99/week or $4.99/month (US prices; prices vary by country and are shown in the app before you buy). Payment is charged to your Apple Account. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and you can manage or cancel them anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://rentry.co/artstronomy-planner-privacy Built by an astrophotographer tired of guessing.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ARTstronomy Planner at 5.0 against AvWx's 4.5. ARTstronomy Planner also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ads (none vs shown). AvWx's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (8 vs 2). On price, monetization model, 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
Both are free to download. AvWx sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. ARTstronomy Planner asks for nothing beyond the download.
ARTstronomy Planner holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 2 respectively.
AvWx ships an update every 2 weeks, ARTstronomy Planner every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AvWx | ARTstronomy Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.2 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 115 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AvWx, LLC | NOAH HAMILTON RASHKIND |
Customer experience
AvWx
ARTstronomy Planner
In-app purchases
AvWx
- All Access7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- All Access7 Days trial$9.991 Year
ARTstronomy Planner
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is AvWx free?
Is ARTstronomy Planner free?
Which has better reviews, AvWx or ARTstronomy Planner?
Do AvWx or ARTstronomy Planner have ads?
Which is updated more often, AvWx or ARTstronomy Planner?
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