Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

FlightGear VS Microsoft Flight Simulator

Compare FlightGear VS Microsoft Flight Simulator and see what are their differences

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.

Microsoft Flight Simulator logo Microsoft Flight Simulator

Flight Simulator 2002 is a Single-player Flight Simulation that releases with both Single-player and Multiplayer game modes.
  • 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

  • Microsoft Flight Simulator Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-28

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

Microsoft Flight Simulator videos

Microsoft Flight Simulator Review

More videos:

  • Review - Microsoft Flight Simulator - Before You Buy

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to FlightGear and Microsoft Flight Simulator)
Space Simulator
87 87%
13% 13
Games
77 77%
23% 23
Flight Simulator
100 100%
0% 0
Action
87 87%
13% 13

User comments

Share your experience with using FlightGear and Microsoft Flight Simulator. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

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

Microsoft Flight Simulator Reviews

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 — No Competition for X-Plane 11
If you’re a pilot, sim-enthusiast, gamer, or aviation fan, you’ll probably have heard of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. You’ll probably also have heard it associated with phrases like “game changing”, “revolutionary”, and “universally acclaimed”. And it very much is all of these things, but only in three respects: its scenery, atmospheric modelling, and rendering. As a...
Source: medium.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Microsoft Flight Simulator should be more popular than FlightGear. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. 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.

FlightGear mentions (1)

Microsoft Flight Simulator mentions (3)

  • Posting group flight info
    Are we allowed to post group ( invitational) flight information here? I also create an event in the flightsimulator.com Events calendar and put that link in posts here. ?? Source: about 1 year ago
  • What happened to the January Xbox graphic fix?
    The best place for MSFS news is our weekly Blog. We post it every Thursday at approximately 4pm Pacific Time (midnight UTC) on our website, flightsimulator.com. Here's a link to the most recent blog: https://www.flightsimulator.com/january-26th-2023-development-update/. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Strange redirect
    I was trying to open the FS2020 forums at flightsimulator.com, but accidentally entered flighsimulator.com For some reason this redirects to Chewy, anybody know why? Source: almost 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing FlightGear and Microsoft Flight Simulator, you can also consider the following products

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

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

Unmatched Air Traffic Control - Unmatched Air Traffic Control is an Adventure, Flight Simulation, and Single-player video game introduced by Vector 3D studio.

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.

Air Traffic Controller 4 - Air Traffic Controller 4 is a Flight Simulation, Episodic, Management, and Single-player video game owned by Techno Brain.

Birds of Steel - Birds of Steel is developed by Gaijin Entertainment for PlayStation and Xbox.