Comparison

StormBase vs Recon Weather

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

Head to head
About

StormBase

This app consolidates high-impact weather and space weather information from official NOAA and NWS sources. It provides forecast outlooks, alert maps, status feeds, and technical tools in a single, organized interface for quick access to critical U.S. weather intelligence.

Highlights
  • SPC convective and fire weather outlooks
  • WPC Excessive Rainfall Outlooks
  • SWPC space weather alerts and forecasts
  • GOES satellite imagery with animation
  • U.S. Alerts dashboard with search/filter
  • Radar network status monitoring
  • NWS local forecast tools and text products
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

StormBase is a one-time $0.99 purchase, with no nonsense subscriptions or recurring fees. It helps you track high-impact weather and space weather in one clean, fast app. Built around official NOAA and NWS products*, StormBase brings forecast outlooks, live alert maps, status feeds, and technical tools into a single workflow so you can check what matters quickly and with context. Whether you are a weather enthusiast, spotter, pilot, forecaster, or emergency-focused user, StormBase is designed to reduce tab-hopping and keep core U.S. weather intelligence organized, current, mobile friendly, and easy to interact with. Features: - SPC coverage in one place: Day 1-8 convective outlooks, fire weather outlooks, watches, mesoscale discussions, local storm reports, partner regional graphics, and experimental guidance. - WPC products: PMD discussions, Excessive Rainfall Outlooks (Day 1-5), QPF Day 1-7 and multi-day totals, plus an interactive surface analysis viewer. - CPC outlook suite: 6-10 and 8-14 outlooks, monthly/seasonal outlooks, drought outlooks, and Hazards products including Day 3-7 composite Hazards - SWPC space weather view: SWPC alert messages and forecast scales, X-ray trends, solar probabilities, sunspot/solar region data, and numerous solar imagery loops. - Satellite imagery: GOES East/West, Himawari, and EUMETSAT selection, multiple sectors including mesoscale, multiple bands, and animated loop playback with latest-frame start options. - Fully interactive earthquake viewer map. - U.S. Alerts dashboard: National alerts map plus grouped active warnings, watches, and advisories with search, filters, and sort options. - Radar network status: Monitor radar site health, see outage/status messaging, and search/filter stations quickly. - Soundings archive browser: View observed radiosonde products by station, date, and cycle and sounding climatology. - Historical Events browser: NOAA SWDI historical weather events with year/month/day drill-down, event type filtering, impact sorting, metadata, and narrative views. - NWS local forecast tools: saved U.S. locations with point forecasts, hourly graphs, active alerts, local storm reports, AFD summaries, office graphics, and recent observation history. - NWS WFO Text Products: Browse WFO AFD/CLI/CLM/CLA bulletins by office, quick-jump search to specific WHO and product, plus ADM/ADA administrative messages. - SPC Mesoanalysis viewer: layered SPC mesoanalysis products in a dedicated in-app browser. - SPC Archive tools: browse archived convective outlooks, archived MCDs, archived watches, archived mesoanalysis, and archived preliminary storm reports, including historical images and report tables. - Observations + models: MAG observations, sector/product/cycle loops, SKEWT, and MAG model guidance with run comparisons. - Aviation Weather Center Products: METAR/TAF search plus a native AWC graphics viewer for aviation weather products. - Moon phases page for saved or current location. - iCloud sync across devices for favorite app pages. - Favorites and quick access: Pin frequently used products and jump back fast. - Customizable layout: Configure menu destinations and viewing preferences for your workflow. - Time and refresh controls: Current UTC time, Local/UTC display options and foreground refresh behavior. - Built-in glossary and references - Native app language support in Japanese, Korean, French, English GB, and English AU. - Privacy-minded design: No ad SDKs, no profiling analytics, and locally stored preferences/caches. Widget Suite: Favorites widget, SPC Outlook widget, Radar Status widget, WFO Bulletin widget, METAR Widgets, Situational Summary widgets (Home Screen + Lock Screen) Data and attribution:
 StormBase uses official public weather sources including NOAA/NWS/NCEP centers. *StormBase is not affiliated with or endorsed by NOAA/NWS.

About

Recon Weather

This app offers advanced weather tracking with live radar, storm alerts, and detailed forecasts. It includes specialized features for weather enthusiasts, such as storm chaser feeds and scientific data visualizations. Enjoy an ad-free experience with no account required.

Highlights
  • Live MRMS radar
  • Storm chaser feeds
  • Severe weather alerts
  • Radiosonde data with skew-T diagrams
  • Wildfire tracking
  • NWS warnings with timers
  • GPU-accelerated radar with hail detection
Features
Read full description

Recon Weather is a storm research mission you can watch live. RADAR Single-site NEXRAD down to base velocity and storm-relative velocity, a national mosaic, and a loop you can scrub frame by frame. Color tables you can change. WARNINGS THAT FOLLOW YOU Tornado, severe and flash flood warnings for where you actually are, delivered while the app is closed. Not a city you picked once. FROM THE FIELD Live POV video from chase vehicles. Storm reports with photos from the public. Pressure probes dropped in front of storms, reporting as they go. FORECAST TOOLS SPC and ECCC outlooks, mesoanalysis with CAPE, shear and helicity, WPC excessive rainfall, soundings and model data. No ads. No data brokers. Nothing sold. Optional tipping if you want to fund the next probe, and nothing is locked behind it.

Screenshots

StormBase4 screens
Recon Weather4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Recon Weather at Free against StormBase's $0.99. Recon Weather also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (29 vs 4). StormBase's advantage is chart position (#192 vs unranked). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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

Recon Weather is free to download; StormBase costs $0.99 up front. StormBase sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Recon Weather asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for StormBase against 4.9 for Recon Weather. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Recon Weather has 29 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
StormBase versus Recon Weather: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStormBaseRecon Weather
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (4 ratings) — better4.9 (29 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings429 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidAd-supported — better
Best chart rank#192 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.4 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB60 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAbdullah SheikhVincent Waelti

Customer experience

StormBase

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Recon Weather

All ratings29 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

StormBase

One-time3
  • Shower Tip$1.99
  • Downburst Tip$4.99
  • Microburst Tip$9.99
None

Recon Weather

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StormBase free?
StormBase costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Recon Weather free?
Recon Weather is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, StormBase or Recon Weather?
StormBase is rated higher. StormBase averages 5.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Recon Weather averages 4.9 from 29 ratings.
Do StormBase or Recon Weather have ads?
Neither StormBase nor Recon Weather shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StormBase or Recon Weather?
StormBase ships an update every 5 days, and Recon Weather every 5 days. Most recently, StormBase was updated on October 12, 2026 and Recon Weather on October 14, 2026.

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