PVCalc vs Sun Map Clock
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
PVCalc
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PV Calc helps homeowners understand whether solar makes financial sense โ before calling a single installer. Enter your location and home profile, and the app instantly estimates: โข How much solar you need based on your actual electricity usage โข Annual energy production from real PVGIS satellite data (EU JRC) โข Installation cost after federal and Hawaii state tax credits โข Payback time based on your current electricity tariff โข Monthly financing options How it works Solar irradiance data is pulled live from the PVGIS v5.2 API (European Commission Joint Research Centre), covering worldwide locations. The app uses your home profile โ bedrooms, cooling type, water heater, EVs, and pool โ to estimate your consumption and recommend the right system size. Panel types : Choose Budget (300W), Standard (400W), or Premium (500W) panels to see how panel choice affects system size, roof area, and cost. Use PV Calc to compare system sizes, understand your payback timeline, and walk into installer meetings informed.
Sun Map Clock
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Sun Map Clock is a professional simulation tool designed to track the sun's path and shadow directions at any given location and time. By simply moving the intuitive time and date sliders, you can visualize exactly how the sun will interact with a specific area throughout the year. Perfect for construction managers, real estate agents, solar panel installers, and surveyors who need accurate, reliable site data without visiting the location. KEY FEATURES - Shadow Length & Width Simulation: Enter the height and width of an object at the pin and the shadow falls on the map as a band with its real projected length (height / tan of sun altitude) and its real width. Heights run 0.5-300 m, covering high-rise towers, and widths 0.5-500 m, covering block-scale buildings. Steps of 0.1 m let you dial in exact figures for daylight explanations, right-to-light and overshadowing studies, and row-to-row spacing of solar panels. - Interactive Sun Map: Visualize the sun's direction and shadow angles on the map, and scrub through the day with the time slider to follow the sun's path. - Time Travel Sliders: Easily slide through hours, days, and seasons to see how shadows change. Sliders show clear marks for sunrise, sunset, and solstices. When you reach the end of the slider, it smoothly moves to the next day or year. - Safety & Climate Data: Check temperature, UV index, and heat alerts for safe site management and hazard prediction (KY activities). It also shows past weather records and 5-year average data (average temperature and sunny day rate). - Solar Panel Optimization: Automatically calculate the optimal tilt and azimuth for solar panels at any location. - Multi-Site Management & CSV Export: Save multiple project locations and export comprehensive sun and climate data to CSV for your reports. - Quick Share: Take screenshots of the map and data panel to share actionable instructions instantly with your team. - Day/Night Terminator: Visualize the global day and night boundary moving in real-time as you adjust the time. - Alerts per Site: Sunrise, sunset, golden hour and "the sun gets low (long shadows)", each with its own lead time, set per saved site. The sun's position is computed on the device, so alerts fire even out of signal range. - Works Offline: Weather fetched while online is stored on the device and shown where there is no signal, together with the time it was fetched โ old values are never taken for current ones. Offline storage can be switched off, shows real disk usage and can be cleared. - Units Set Separately: Temperature (ยฐC / ยฐF), length (m / ft) and wind speed (m/s / mph) are chosen independently, because the combination differs by country. Targeted for B2B professionals, this app bypasses complex astronomical jargon and focuses directly on actionable data for your field work. Free trial: every feature is free for 30 days, starting when you tap "Start Using Now" on the welcome screen. To keep using them after that, an auto-renewing monthly or yearly subscription is required. *** Subscription Terms: Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; the renewal is charged within 24 hours before the period ends. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://qconp.com/#section-privacy-en
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PVCalc at none against Sun Map Clock's 2. Sun Map Clock's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 7 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Sun Map Clock sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $15.00 per month. PVCalc asks for nothing beyond the download.
PVCalc ships an update every 7 months, Sun Map Clock fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PVCalc | Sun Map Clock |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Fortnightly โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No โ better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 74 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lalani Werake | QAEE CONPUUTENG |
In-app purchases
PVCalc
No in-app purchases
Sun Map Clock
- Monthly Subscription$15.001 Month
- Yearly Subscription$150.001 Year
Questions
Is PVCalc free?
Is Sun Map Clock free?
Do PVCalc or Sun Map Clock have ads?
Which is updated more often, PVCalc or Sun Map Clock?
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