Software Alternatives & Reviews

Space Engine VS X-Plane

Compare Space Engine VS X-Plane and see what are their differences

Space Engine logo Space Engine

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

X-Plane logo X-Plane

The world's most advanced flight simulator just got an upgrade. Download the free demo today for Windows, macOS, & Linux.
  • Space Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-13
  • X-Plane Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-27

Space Engine videos

Why You Should Try Space Engine (The Best Damn Space Sim in the Galaxy)

More videos:

  • Review - Space Engine - Seamlessly Explore The Entire Universe
  • Review - Space Engine - What Can I Find In 10 Minutes?

X-Plane videos

Is X-Plane 11 Worth It In 2020? [X-Plane 11 Review]

More videos:

  • Review - X-Plane 11 - Is it Worth Buying?
  • Review - FSX vs X-PLANE 11

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Space Engine and X-Plane)
Space Simulator
56 56%
44% 44
Virtual Universe
100 100%
0% 0
Action
0 0%
100% 100
Universe Simulator
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 Space Engine and X-Plane

Space Engine Reviews

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X-Plane 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, Space Engine seems to be a lot more popular than X-Plane. While we know about 122 links to Space Engine, we've tracked only 5 mentions of X-Plane. 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.

Space Engine mentions (122)

  • I'm trying to make a basic political borders map of a galaxy that's not the milky way
    I mean, there are plenty of good deep sky images out there. Try looking at the New General Catalogue (NGC) objects for something that strikes your fancy. Alternatively, you could cruise around in Space Engine and bookmark an interesting galaxy to get screenshots from multiple angles, which is what I usually do. (SE is available on Steam for a reasonable price.). Source: 10 months ago
  • Asteroid's Near Miss of Earth Undetected for 2 Days
    Computer says yes: https://gravitysimulator.org/ https://spaceengine.org/ Once the mass, velocity, heading of an object is known it becomes easier to track and fine tune parameters meaning time of intersect with earth can be calculated which gives orientation of planet and entry attitude. An exact street addres | sub metre grid reference is a big ask, but the "line of breakup" arcing across a narrow slice of the... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Infinite Photorealistic Worlds Using Procedural Generation
    Space Engine[1] is another popular one [1] https://spaceengine.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Galaxy/Universe Creator/Generator
    This is a bit of a tall order. There are none that I know of; most folks I know who do galaxy maps either make them by hand with their digital paint tools of choice, or utilize the procedurally-generated ones from Space Engine. Up until recently SE had a free (old) version available on the site; you should still be able to find a mirror of it somewhere but I don't know of one personally. Otherwise, SE is available... Source: 11 months ago
  • The true overlords
    Numbers as overwhelming as these are meaningless to our little minds. Then, do yourself a favor. Download Space Engine and see for yourself what it's like to visually behold the mindblowing immensity we are talking about. Now, take into account Multiverses, and consider the possibility that all those Universes may be fractal-like with n-infinite dimensions. Contemplate that we probably know absolutely nothing... Source: about 1 year ago
View more

X-Plane mentions (5)

  • Where could I find X-Plane 7?
    Oh, Thanks ! I wasn't expecting to be able to download on the WayBackMachine I tried on the old x-plane.com website with no success but it worked on boostair.com ! Source: over 1 year ago
  • what is the best place to buy x-plane 12 from
    Haha, yes I know I can just buy it from x-plane.com, but I was just wondering what the community had to say. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Error 47?
    Has anybody gotten the "transaction failed (error 47)" message when trying to check out on x-plane.com? I've been trying to buy XP12 and I repeatedly get hit with this message :(. Source: over 1 year ago
  • It's Happening!
    Welp x-plane.com is throwing a 504 now so either the server got hugged to death or they brought it down temporarily for the imminent release. Source: over 1 year ago
  • aerobask Falcon 8x in XP12
    What tf do you think a forum is for then? Personal thoughts and opinions are like the entire point. If you wanted straight facts you would go to x-plane.com lol. Source: over 1 year ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Space Engine and X-Plane, you can also consider the following products

Celestia - Real-time 3D visualization of space

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.

Stellarium - Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for 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.