Software Alternatives & Reviews

Orbiter VS Celestia

Compare Orbiter VS Celestia and see what are their differences

Orbiter logo Orbiter

Orbiter is a realistic 3D real-time space flight simulator program. Official site with free download. DownloadDownload mirror 1 Europe - Textures - Gallery - Links - .

Celestia logo Celestia

Real-time 3D visualization of space
  • Orbiter Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-11-21
  • 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.

Orbiter videos

Orbiter 9 Netflix Review

More videos:

  • Review - ARRI Orbiter LED Light | Hands-on Review
  • Review - Orbiter - Super light weight direct drive extruder on Seckit SK-GO

Celestia videos

Celestia Review - with Tom Vasel

More videos:

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Orbiter and Celestia)
Space Simulator
32 32%
68% 68
Universe Simulator
0 0%
100% 100
Action
100 100%
0% 0
Virtual Universe
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Orbiter and Celestia. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Orbiter might be a bit more popular than Celestia. We know about 37 links to it since March 2021 and only 26 links to Celestia. 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.

Orbiter mentions (37)

  • Physics video games
    Orbiter is more of a hardcore spacesim than a "game" in traditional sense, but also qualify. Source: 5 months ago
  • What about adding more planets?
    Orbiter does it, but I doubt the solution they use (whatever it is) would work with the game engine Nova uses. Reentry does it too. I guess it depends on how the game has been coded. Probably difficult to implement if it wasn't designed with time compression in mind to start with. Source: 7 months ago
  • So uhm… I wanna fly a space shuttle.
    Kerbal (KSP) is one way, but I would highly encourage you to seek out Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2016 here http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/ (all free) and its forum here https://www.orbiter-forum.com/. Tens of thousands of hours of work here for your enjoyment, when you look at the base simulator (Dr. Martin Schweiger's work), the rendering engines, the vessels, the mods and the expertise from the community ...... Source: 10 months ago
  • We really need a Microsoft Space SimulatorX
    I’ve searched a bit and found this: http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/ Has anyone played orbiter ? Source: 11 months ago
  • Orbiter compatability?
    This looks amazing! I don't play KSP but Orbiter, not sure if you've heard of that? Would it be easy to make this compatible with the keyboard keys Orbiter uses? Source: 12 months ago
View more

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: about 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

What are some alternatives?

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.