Comparison

WeatherAlarmApp vs VortexWeather

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

Head to head
About

WeatherAlarmApp

Receive instant push notifications for National Weather Service warnings for any location you monitor. Get enhanced tornado warning classifications and a 5-day forecast with risk indicators to stay informed about severe weather.

Highlights
  • Instant NWS warning notifications
  • Enhanced tornado warning severity classification
  • 5-day forecast with risk timeline
  • SPC convective outlooks on interactive map
  • Monitor unlimited locations
  • No account, ads, or tracking required
Features
Read full description

WeatherAlarm helps you follow the weather at home and at the other places that matter to you. Add a parent’s house, a child’s college town, or anywhere you want to keep an eye on. Each saved place has its own alerts, conditions, forecast, and weather context. All for free, with no ads, no subscriptions, no tracking, 100% free, like apps used to be. When the National Weather Service issues a warning, WeatherAlarm checks the places you monitor and sends a location-specific alert. Open it to see what happened, which place is affected, and the latest available storm context. WHAT’S NEW IN VERSION 3 Apple Watch: See your saved places and their warning status in the paired Watch app. Add a complication for a quick glance from your watch face. Set up and manage places on iPhone. Live Activities: Eligible active Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings can appear on the iPhone Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. See the affected place, warning level, and remaining time as the warning changes. Weather on glass: On a location’s detail screen, weather-inspired light and motion bring current conditions into the scene. The app chooses the effect automatically; you can turn it off in Settings. MORE WAYS TO KEEP WATCH • Monitor multiple saved locations independently • Get official weather alerts for the places you choose • Explore radar, warning areas, and weather layers on the map • See current conditions, hourly details, and a multi-day forecast • Keep alert information close with iPhone widgets • Review storm details after a warning ends when a report is available WeatherAlarm is free, with no ads or subscription. No account signup is required. Severe weather alerts for the people you love. WeatherAlarm is an independent app. National Weather Service alerts and other weather data depend on their source and network availability. Keep more than one way to receive urgent warnings.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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)
Features
Read full description

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

WeatherAlarmApp4 screens
VortexWeather4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: WeatherAlarmApp at none against VortexWeather's shown. WeatherAlarmApp also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). VortexWeather's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, rating, in-app purchases 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. WeatherAlarmApp sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and VortexWeather sells 4 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for WeatherAlarmApp against 5.0 for VortexWeather. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: WeatherAlarmApp has 11 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

WeatherAlarmApp ships an update weekly, VortexWeather fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
WeatherAlarmApp versus VortexWeather: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWeatherAlarmAppVortexWeather
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (11 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings11 — better2
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB66 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJason BorchardtVORTEXWEATHER LLC

Customer experience

WeatherAlarmApp

All ratings11 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

VortexWeather

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

WeatherAlarmApp

One-time3
  • Small Coffee$1.99
  • Medium cup of coffee$4.99
  • Large cup of coffee$9.99
4 purchases

VortexWeather

Subscriptions4
  • Basic Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Basic Annual$50.901 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro Annual$99.991 Year

Questions

Is WeatherAlarmApp free?
WeatherAlarmApp is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is VortexWeather free?
VortexWeather is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, WeatherAlarmApp or VortexWeather?
WeatherAlarmApp and VortexWeather are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 11 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do WeatherAlarmApp or VortexWeather have ads?
VortexWeather shows ads; WeatherAlarmApp does not.
Which is updated more often, WeatherAlarmApp or VortexWeather?
WeatherAlarmApp ships an update weekly, and VortexWeather fortnightly. Most recently, WeatherAlarmApp was updated on October 31, 2026 and VortexWeather on October 31, 2026.

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