Software Alternatives & Reviews

Orbiter VS FlightGear

Compare Orbiter VS FlightGear 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 - .

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.
  • Orbiter Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-11-21
  • 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

Orbiter

Categories
  • Space Simulator
  • Flight Simulator
  • Action
  • Games
Website orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk

FlightGear

Categories
  • Space Simulator
  • Flight Simulator
  • Action
  • Games
Website flightgear.org

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

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 Orbiter and FlightGear)
Space Simulator
35 35%
65% 65
Action
35 35%
65% 65
Flight Simulator
30 30%
70% 70
Simulation
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

Orbiter Reviews

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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, Orbiter seems to be a lot more popular than FlightGear. While we know about 37 links to Orbiter, 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.

Orbiter mentions (37)

  • Physics video games
    Orbiter is more of a hardcore spacesim than a "game" in traditional sense, but also qualify. Source: 4 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: 6 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: 9 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: 10 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: 11 months ago
View more

FlightGear mentions (1)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Orbiter and FlightGear, 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.

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.

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

Air Combat - Air Combat is an Action, Open World, Single, and Multiplayer Combat Flight Simulation created and published by Namco.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon - Ace Combat: Assault Horizon combines the elements of Action, Military-themed, Arcade, and Flight Simulation developed by Namco and published by Namco Bandai Games.