Software Alternatives & Reviews

Celestia VS FlightGear

Compare Celestia VS FlightGear and see what are their differences

Celestia logo Celestia

Real-time 3D visualization of space

FlightGear logo FlightGear

The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. It also simulates space flight in Earth's orbit. It's flight dynamics engine (JSBSim) is used in a 2015 NASA benchmark.
  • Celestia Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-19

The expandable free and open-source real-time space simulator that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions.

  • FlightGear Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-11

The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. It also simulates space flight in Earth's orbit.

FlightGear's flight dynamics engine (JSBSim) is used in a 2015 NASA benchmark to judge new simulation code to the standards of the space industry. FlightGear is used professionally for research and development, as well as non-professionally.

Screenshots: link

Information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlightGear https://www.flightgear.org/category/tours/ https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/tags.php?tag=flightgear (multi-page articles) FlightGear wiki

As of 2020 there are over 700 aircraft and spacecraft projects available with 1 click download and install from the sim's launcher, more are available at 3rd party hangars and github repositories for different craft projects.

FlightGear 2020.3.8 and later has automatically downloaded 3d models of buildings, roads, cities etc. , based on Open StreetMap (OSM) data and automatic generation, for the whole world.

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi, other OSes

Celestia videos

Celestia Review - with Tom Vasel

More videos:

  • Review - Celestia - Shut Up & Sit Down Review
  • Review - Celestia Review with the Game Boy Geek

FlightGear videos

What's new in FlightGear 2020.1?

More videos:

  • Review - FlightGear 3.4 REVIEW (HD)
  • Demo - SpaceShuttle launch in FlightGear 2018 with real voices from STS 133 mission

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Celestia and FlightGear)
Universe Simulator
100 100%
0% 0
Space Simulator
55 55%
45% 45
Virtual Universe
100 100%
0% 0
Flight Simulator
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Celestia and FlightGear

Celestia Reviews

We have no reviews of Celestia yet.
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FlightGear Reviews

6 Best Flight Simulators For Mac of 2021: Alternatives To Microsoft Flight Sim
X-Plane and FlightGear are easily the most realistic but also the most complex. X-Plane costs $59.99 whereas FlightGear is free but X-Plane is more polished and easier to get going with than FlightGear.
Source: machow2.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Celestia seems to be a lot more popular than FlightGear. While we know about 26 links to Celestia, we've tracked only 1 mention of FlightGear. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Celestia mentions (26)

  • My 9 year old nephews drawing of stars
    I think Celestia could be a good one. I also thought about SpaceEngine, but AFAIK it was kind of terrible at generating realistic planetary systems, among other things (pricey, huge, etc.). Source: about 1 year ago
  • What are the best resources to explore space from my computer?
    Celestia was something I played with before. Pretty interesting. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Lunar Occultation of Mars
    Celestia looks as though it would do it. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Tips to visualize Apollo 17 trajectory
    I'm looking for data and software to visualize the Apollo 17 trajectory (especially the "powered descent", lunar rendezvous and entry). I'm thinking of using celestia. I'm look for a data tables as well (time stamp, position for each part of the stack). Any tips are appreciated. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Help rediscovering a certain night sky exploration program?
    Yes, that's Celestia most likely. I'm not sure it is still maintained though. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

FlightGear mentions (1)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Celestia and FlightGear, you can also consider the following products

Stellarium - Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer.

X-Plane - The world's most advanced flight simulator just got an upgrade. Download the free demo today for Windows, macOS, & Linux.

Space Engine - Space Engine is a realistic virtual Universe you can explore on your computer.

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2 - Tom Clancy’s H.

Universe Sandbox - Universe Sandbox ² is a physics-based space simulator where you can simulate Events and even break physics and friction with certain features.

Digital Combat Simulator - Digital Combat Simulator is a Free-to-play, Single and Multiplayer Combat Flight Simulation developed by Eagle Dynamics and published by The Fighter Collection.