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Aviation · head to head

Flighty vs Prepar3D Professional

Flighty logo

Flighty

Aviation

Subscription flight tracking for iOS with predictive delay alerts

From
On request
Rated
-
Prepar3D Professional logo

Prepar3D Professional

Aviation

Professional flight simulation platform

From
$9.95/month
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Flighty it is iOS-only, so a mixed-platform household or an Android user cannot use it at all.; Prepar3D Professional the Personal licence at $59.95 is restricted to home use, personal training and K-12 classrooms, so any business, military or university use requires the Professional licence at $350.00
  • They diverge on capability: Flighty covers Delay prediction, Prepar3D Professional covers Flight physics.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Flighty and Prepar3D Professional actually diverge.

Attributes where Flighty and Prepar3D Professional differ
AttributeFlightyPrepar3D Professional
Starting priceOn request$9.95/month
Pricing modelPer user per month or one-time purchaseone-time
PlatformsiOSWindows
FoundedUnknown2008

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Aviation).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Flighty

  • Delay prediction
  • Gate and baggage alerts
  • Auto flight import
  • Taxi and weather context
  • Trip statistics
  • Family sharing

Only in Prepar3D Professional

  • Flight physics
  • Aircraft systems
  • Scenery
  • ATC
  • Training
  • Add-ons
  • VR
  • Hardware

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Flighty

  • A frequent business flyer who wants a delay warning before the gate agent announces itnot Prepar3D Professional
  • An iPhone user willing to pay for a single well-maintained app instead of a free ad-supported onenot Prepar3D Professional
  • A family wanting to see at a glance where a travelling relative currently isnot Prepar3D Professional
  • A traveller who wants automatic flight import from confirmation emails without manual entrynot Prepar3D Professional

Prepar3D Professional

  • Running procedural and flight training in a commercial or military simulation facilitynot Flighty
  • Building multi-channel visual systems across several synchronised displaysnot Flighty
  • Developing custom aircraft, scenery and scenarios against the Prepar3D SDKnot Flighty
  • Delivering STEM and K-12 classroom flight simulation on the Personal licencenot Flighty

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Flighty

  • It is iOS-only, so a mixed-platform household or an Android user cannot use it at all.
  • The free tier tracks very few flights, so anyone who flies more than occasionally is pushed toward the subscription almost immediately.
  • Delay predictions are a probability model, not a guarantee, and can be wrong in either direction.
  • It depends on the same underlying ADS-B and airline feeds as free trackers, so the raw position data is not exclusive to Flighty.
  • A lifetime purchase is expensive relative to a year or two of the annual plan, so it only pays off for someone certain they will use it for years.

Prepar3D Professional

  • The Personal licence at $59.95 is restricted to home use, personal training and K-12 classrooms, so any business, military or university use requires the Professional licence at $350.00
  • Weapons and sensors, AI behaviors in scenarios, DIS and CIGI packet support, the SimOperator instructor station and multi-channel concurrent operation are confined to Professional Plus at $2,750.00
  • The Personal licence requires an internet connection during use, while only Professional and above run in disconnected environments
  • Developer subscriptions at $9.95 and $50.00 per month watermark the image and are forbidden from delivering training

Pricing, plan by plan

Flighty

On request
  • Flighty Plus$9.99/month
    • Unlimited tracked flights
    • Delay prediction alerts
    • Gate, baggage and taxi data
  • Flighty Plus Annual$49/year
    • Same features billed yearly
  • Flighty Lifetime$299/one-time
    • One-time purchase, no renewal

Prepar3D Professional

$9.95/month
  • Professional License$350/one-time
    • Proven simulation framework application
    • Rich and interactive environment
  • Professional Developer License$9.95/month
    • Development, testing, and marketing activities

Which should you pick?

Choose Flighty if

  • You need delay prediction.
  • You work on iOS.
  • You also want gate and baggage alerts.

Choose Prepar3D Professional if

  • You need flight physics.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want aircraft systems.

Questions people ask

Is Flighty or Prepar3D Professional better?
Neither clearly leads. Flighty starts at On request and Prepar3D Professional at $9.95/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Flighty or Prepar3D Professional?
Flighty starts at On request and Prepar3D Professional at $9.95/month.
Does Flighty or Prepar3D Professional run on more platforms?
Flighty runs on iOS. Prepar3D Professional runs on Windows.
What is Flighty best used for?
Flighty is most often used for a frequent business flyer who wants a delay warning before the gate agent announces it, an iphone user willing to pay for a single well-maintained app instead of a free ad-supported one, a family wanting to see at a glance where a travelling relative currently is, a traveller who wants automatic flight import from confirmation emails without manual entry. Of those, a frequent business flyer who wants a delay warning before the gate agent announces it and an iphone user willing to pay for a single well-maintained app instead of a free ad-supported one are not what Prepar3D Professional is typically brought in for.
What can Flighty do that Prepar3D Professional cannot?
Flighty covers Delay prediction, Gate and baggage alerts, Auto flight import, Taxi and weather context. Prepar3D Professional covers Flight physics, Aircraft systems, Scenery, ATC.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Flighty: Is there an Android version?

No. Flighty has only ever shipped for iOS.

Prepar3D Professional: How much does Prepar3D Professional cost?

Prepar3D Professional License costs $350.00 USD as a one-time purchase.

Source
Flighty: Can I use it for free?

A limited free tier exists but tracks very few flights; regular use requires the Plus subscription or the lifetime purchase.

Prepar3D Professional: What is the cost of a Prepar3D developer license?

The Professional Developer License costs $9.95 USD per developer per month for development, testing, and marketing activities.

Source
Flighty: How is it different from Flightradar24 or FlightAware?

Those are free-first, cross-platform trackers with ads; Flighty is a paid iOS-only app that adds predictive delay alerts.

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