Windy vs Ventusky: which weather map app to use in 2026

In the windy vs ventusky question, most people should start with Windy, because its free version keeps every model and layer, wind speed and waves included. Ventusky is the more polished everyday app, with better-documented alerts and widgets and a cheap yearly plan, but wind speed, clouds and sea layers now sit behind Premium. Prices and features below are as of November 2026.

Both apps are Czech, both launched in the mid-2010s, and both draw on the same big global models such as ECMWF, GFS and ICON. They are run by separate companies, though, and their forecasts are often close because the raw data is shared. The real differences are in what you get for free, how the paywall is drawn and which outdoor tools each one adds.

Quick verdict

• Pick Windy.com if you care about wind, waves or mountain weather and do not want to pay. The free tier is generous, and the 2026 additions for sailors and mountaineers are useful.
• Pick Ventusky if you want a tidy daily forecast map with push alerts, home and lock screen widgets and Apple Watch support, and you are fine paying about $20 a year to unlock wind speed.
• Pair either with a forecast app such as CARROT Weather if you mainly want a quick morning glance rather than a map to study.

If you are browsing more options, our weather apps category lists the alternatives we cover.

Windy vs Ventusky at a glance

	Windy.com	Ventusky
Platforms	iOS, Android, web, Garmin Connect IQ	iOS, Android, web, watchOS
Free models	All models	Auto-selected model, with comparison
Wind speed layer	Free	Premium
Waves and sea layers	Free (tide maps Premium)	Premium
Clouds, pressure, CAPE	Free	Premium
Forecast length	Up to 15 days with Premium	14 days; maps beyond 7 days need Premium
Time step	1 hour with Premium	Up to hourly
Push alerts	Not detailed in the listing we checked	Wind, waves, lightning, freezing rain and more
Ads	None in the free version	No ads or tracking scripts
iOS price (US)	In-app items listed at $2.99, $24.99 and $29.99	$19.99 a year or $4.99 a month (Premium)
App Store rating	4.8 from about 80K ratings	4.8 from about 35K ratings

On the US App Store, Windy sits at #6 in Weather and Ventusky at #59. Similarweb's September 2026 ranking puts windy.com at #6 and ventusky.com at #10 among weather websites, so Windy has the bigger audience on both fronts.

Forecast models and model comparison

Ventusky says it combines more than 20 models. By default it picks the model it considers most precise for your location, which is convenient if you do not want to think about it. You can still compare models yourself, including ECMWF, GFS and ICON. Its October 14 update added RRFS, a high-resolution US model, and ICON-IT for the Mediterranean.

Windy keeps model choice front and centre. You switch between ECMWF, GFS, ICON and regional models from the map, and all of that is free. Side-by-side model comparison is listed as a Premium feature, and so is a faster refresh for the French AROME model, which Premium users get eight times a day.

Is one more accurate?

Neither app makes its own forecast from scratch. When both show ECMWF for the same spot and time, they are displaying the same model run, so differences come from interpolation and display rather than skill. We did not run a formal accuracy test, and none of the comparisons we found did either. The practical advice is to compare two or three models for your trip: when they agree, trust the forecast more.

Free vs premium layers

This is where the two apps part ways, and it is the main reason to choose one over the other. Several comparison sites still describe Ventusky as completely free. That is out of date.

What Ventusky keeps free

• Temperature at 16 altitude levels, plus feels-like temperature
• Precipitation, radar and lightning
• Satellite imagery
• Wind gusts
• Air quality, UV index and aurora probability

Premium adds cloud cover, wind speed at 16 levels, air pressure, thunderstorm indices such as CAPE and shear, sea layers (waves, currents, tides, surge), humidity, dew point, snow cover, freezing level and visibility. Premium also unlocks forecast maps beyond seven days, advanced widgets, advanced notifications and radar on the watch.

What Windy keeps free

Windy says all models, all layers and the basic version of every feature remain free and ad-free. That covers wind, waves, clouds, CAPE, cloud base, visibility, radar, satellite, weather warnings and the hurricane tracker, across more than 50 maps. Premium buys refinement rather than access:

• A 1-hour forecast step instead of a coarser one
• A 15-day outlook, refreshed four to six times a day
• 24-hour radar and satellite loops
• One year of archives
• Tide forecast maps
• Model comparison

The short version: free Windy shows you more layers than free Ventusky, while paid Ventusky mostly catches up on layers and adds better phone integration.

Prices and subscriptions

Ventusky's US iOS prices, shown on its App Store listing, are $19.99 a year or $4.99 a month for Premium. Premium+ costs $24.99 a year or $5.99 a month. The features are identical; Premium covers four devices and Premium+ covers up to 25, which suits families or small teams.

A Ventusky subscription works across iOS, Android and the web once you sign in with a myVentusky account. Cancellations and refunds still go through the store where you paid. Ventusky raised its price sharply, and some long-time users complained of a roughly fourfold jump. Staff have said rescue workers and schools can ask for free vouchers.

Windy's pricing is harder to pin down. The Windy App Store listing shows in-app purchases at $2.99, $24.99 and $29.99 without clear labels. An older version of Windy's web subscription page showed $24.99 a year auto-renewing or $37.99 for a one-time year. One comparison site claims $5.99 a month, which we could not match to any official page. Check the price in the app before you subscribe, and expect regional and Android prices to differ.

Alerts and notifications

Ventusky documents its alerts in detail. You can set push notifications for wind, waves, freezing rain, pressure changes and nearby lightning, plus an umbrella reminder and a morning or evening summary. Official weather warnings appear in the app, and the more advanced notification options are part of Premium.

Windy's listing mentions weather warnings on the map, but the pages we could check did not spell out how its push alerts work. If alerts are your main reason for installing a weather app, Ventusky, or a dedicated forecast app, is the safer bet.

Widgets and watches

Ventusky offers lock screen and home screen widgets, including graph widgets, and works with the Apple Watch. Advanced widgets and watch radar need Premium. That makes it the better fit if you want weather at a glance without opening a map.

Windy has an app on Garmin Connect IQ, which matters to hikers, runners and sailors who wear Garmin devices. We could not confirm the current state of Windy's phone widgets or its Apple Watch and Wear OS support from official pages, so treat widgets as a point in Ventusky's favour until you have checked.

Offline use

Neither app's listing promises offline forecasts, and no comparison we found tested it. Both stream map tiles and model data, so assume you need a connection. Before heading out of signal, open the forecast for your route on good Wi-Fi and take screenshots of the key hours. For backcountry trips, a satellite messenger with weather updates is the reliable fallback.

Ads, privacy and ease of use

Both free versions are ad-free. Ventusky goes further and states that the app contains no tracking scripts. That is a nice detail for a free app.

Ventusky is the easier app to pick up. It opens on a clean map with your local forecast, picks a model for you and reads well at a glance. Windy has more controls, model menus and overlays, which is power for experienced users but clutter for casual ones. Expect to spend an evening learning Windy if you have never used model-based maps before.

Sailing, hiking and storm verdicts

Sailing

Windy wins. Wind speed and waves are free, and the 2026 Passage Planner with isochrone routing helps sketch a passage around weather windows. Tide maps need Premium. Ventusky puts waves, currents, tides and surge behind Premium, so it is only competitive once you pay.

Hiking and mountains

Windy again, on free features: wind at altitude, cloud base and the new Avalanche Danger layer are all available, plus the Wind Trajectories plugin. Ventusky shows temperature and gusts at many altitudes for free, but freezing level and wind speed are Premium. To put names to the peaks you are looking at, see our guide to the best app to identify mountains on iPhone.

Storms

This one is closer. Ventusky tracks hurricanes with paths from several models side by side, draws fronts and isolines, and alerts you to nearby lightning, though CAPE and shear need Premium. Windy offers a free hurricane tracker, CAPE and radar, while 24-hour radar loops are Premium. Storm chasers will want Windy's free CAPE; people who just want a warning should pick Ventusky.

Aviation

A detail for pilots, reported by Polish aviation site dlapilota.pl: Windy shows cloud base above ground level (AGL), while Ventusky shows it above mean sea level (AMSL). Mixing them up over high terrain can be dangerous. If you like aircraft as well as weather, our guide to identifying planes flying overhead pairs nicely with either app.

Where CARROT Weather fits

CARROT Weather is a different kind of app: a detailed forecast delivered with adjustable snark, plus a deep Premium tier. It is the sort of app that lives in your widgets and daily alerts, while Windy or Ventusky handles the map study. We could not confirm its current prices or data sources, so check the in-app plans before subscribing.

One naming note: Windy.app is a separate product from a different company, aimed at wind sports. It is not the same as Windy.com, which this article covers.

Which should you choose?

• Sailors and boaters: Windy. Free wind and waves plus the Passage Planner beat Ventusky's paywalled sea layers.
• Hikers and mountaineers: Windy for free freezing level, wind at altitude and the avalanche layer; its Garmin app is a bonus.
• Storm watchers: Windy for free CAPE and model choice; Ventusky if you want multi-model hurricane tracks and lightning alerts on your phone.
• Pilots: either, but remember the AGL and AMSL difference.
• Everyday users who want a glance: Ventusky, ideally with Premium for widgets and alerts, or CARROT Weather for the morning forecast.
• Families on several devices: Ventusky Premium+, which covers up to 25 devices across platforms.

In the end, the windy vs ventusky choice comes down to what you need free. Windy gives away the data; Ventusky charges a modest fee for a more finished phone experience. Install both, since each takes a minute, and keep the one you open first.