Comparison

OrbitSmith vs Meteorium

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

Head to head
About

OrbitSmith

Features
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OrbitSmith is a free, open-source space situational awareness toolkit that puts the orbital environment at your fingertips. REAL-TIME 3D TRACKER Visualize 30,000+ objects orbiting Earth โ€” active satellites, rocket bodies, and debris โ€” rendered in real-time 3D with Blue Marble Earth textures. Tap any object to see its orbital details, search by name or NORAD ID, and track conjunction events from Space-Track CDM data. VISIBLE PASS PREDICTIONS Know exactly when to look up. OrbitSmith predicts visible passes of ISS, Tiangong, Starlink, and hundreds of bright satellites using SGP4 orbital propagation with real TLE data. Interactive sky charts with 44 reference stars help you find the satellite in the sky. NOTIFICATIONS & WIDGETS Never miss a bright pass. Receive push notifications before ISS and other satellites become visible, and check your next pass at a glance with lock screen and home screen widgets. MISSION DESIGNER Design satellite missions with a 5-step wizard. Choose from 7 mission templates, configure orbital parameters, run power/link/thermal/mass/orbit decay analysis, and find compatible launch vehicles from a database of 10 rockets. SATELLITE IMAGERY Browse 21 layers of satellite imagery from NASA, ESA, and ESRI โ€” including MODIS true color, VIIRS night lights, sea surface temperature, vegetation health, and Sentinel-2 cloudless. All orbital data sourced from the U.S. Space Force via Space-Track.org.

About

Meteorium

Features
Read full description

Meteorium is an astronomy app that scientifically visualises the "dust trails" โ€” the ribbons of comet dust that give rise to meteor showers. It shows 60,000 dust grains released by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, the parent of the Perseid meteor shower, over its eight perihelion returns from 1079 to 1992. Each grain is ejected from the comet's nucleus around perihelion and followed by full orbital integration including planetary gravity and solar radiation pressure, then rendered in 3D against NASA's all-sky star maps. The comet's position at the moment of ejection is anchored to the JPL Horizons ephemeris, which uses an orbit solution fitted to the observations of each historical apparition. Features: โ€ข 3D dust trails coloured by ejection year โ€ข Multiple viewpoints (ecliptic north/south, latitude sweep, Sun, ground, comet) plus a free view that tours the highlights every 10 s โ€ข Run time forward/backward at 10-10,000x to watch the trails evolve โ€ข Realistic Milky Way (NASA Deep Star Maps 2020), constellation lines and names, planets โ€ข Japanese / English Why do meteor showers return on the same dates every year? How does comet dust spread through the solar system? Meteorium shows you the three-dimensional structure and its evolution over time โ€” and from the ground view you can simply enjoy the meteor shower itself. The app works fully offline, with no data collection and no ads. A Pro edition โ€” theory computation for every shower, worldwide observation databases, ZHR outburst forecasts, dust-trail cross-sections, recording and image export โ€” is in preparation.

Screenshots

OrbitSmith4 screens
Meteorium4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Meteorium at every 4 days against OrbitSmith's every 3 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OrbitSmith ships an update every 3 weeks, Meteorium every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
OrbitSmith versus Meteorium: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOrbitSmithMeteorium
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 4 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” better
Requires iOS16.0 โ€” better17.6
Further details โ€” not scored
Size2 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSeita IizukaShinsuke Abe

In-app purchases

None

OrbitSmith

No in-app purchases

None

Meteorium

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is OrbitSmith free?
OrbitSmith is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Meteorium free?
Meteorium is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do OrbitSmith or Meteorium have ads?
Neither OrbitSmith nor Meteorium shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OrbitSmith or Meteorium?
OrbitSmith ships an update every 3 weeks, and Meteorium every 4 days. Most recently, OrbitSmith was updated on October 18, 2026 and Meteorium on October 6, 2026.

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