Education · head to head
Sky Guide vs Skyward
Sky Guide
Education
iOS astronomy app that moved from a one-time purchase to a free-to-download, subscription-tiered model
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Skyward
Education
Student information and school ERP for K-12 districts and municipalities
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Sky Guide has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Sky Guide it is iOS-only, unlike SkySafari which also covers Android and desktop.; Skyward no pricing is published anywhere, so the only way to learn what a district of your size pays is to enter a sales cycle, and comparative quotes across vendors are hard to obtain before a board meeting deadline.
- They diverge on capability: Sky Guide covers Light pollution forecasting, Skyward covers Qmlativ SIS.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Sky Guide and Skyward actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Education).
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 Sky Guide
- Light pollution forecasting
- Meteor shower prediction
- Camera and gyroscope sky view
- Deep-sky object catalogue
- Extreme zoom
- Satellite tracking
Only in Skyward
- Qmlativ SIS
- School Business Suite
- Position control
- Family and student access
- State reporting packs
- Municipality edition
- Data mining and reporting
- Employee access
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Sky Guide
- An iOS stargazer who wants light pollution forecasting to plan a dark-sky observing tripnot Skyward
- Someone tracking meteor showers and wanting a forecast of viewing conditionsnot Skyward
- A user who wants extreme zoom into deep-sky objects without owning a telescopenot Skyward
- A buyer comparing subscription astronomy apps on iOS specifically, rather than cross-platform toolsnot Skyward
Skyward
- A district of 8,000 students that wants payroll, position budgeting and the SIS on one vendor contract instead of paying an integrator to reconcile employee records nightlynot Sky Guide
- A Wisconsin or Texas district where state submission deadlines are the dominant compliance burden and prebuilt state packs remove weeks of extract worknot Sky Guide
- A district still on the older PaC client-server product deciding whether to migrate to Qmlativ or replace the SIS outrightnot Sky Guide
- A county government buying the finance and HR half on its own, separate from any school usenot Sky Guide
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Sky Guide
- It is iOS-only, unlike SkySafari which also covers Android and desktop.
- It has moved from one-time purchase to a subscription model, and long-time users who paid once for earlier versions have criticised the change publicly.
- Pro tier pricing is high relative to Star Walk 2 for broadly similar core stargazing functionality.
- It has no telescope control, unlike SkySafari Plus and Pro, which limits it to naked-eye and camera-based observing.
- Its relationship to other apps under the same distribution platform is not clearly documented, which makes long-term support commitments harder to assess.
Skyward
- No pricing is published anywhere, so the only way to learn what a district of your size pays is to enter a sales cycle, and comparative quotes across vendors are hard to obtain before a board meeting deadline.
- State reporting depth is uneven: the packs are excellent in the states where Skyward has a large installed base and thin elsewhere, so a district in a low-penetration state inherits reporting work the vendor absorbs for others.
- The third-party integration ecosystem is much smaller than PowerSchool's, so an edtech tool your teachers want may support the market leader first and Skyward months later or not at all.
- Two product generations are still live and the migration from PaC to Qmlativ is a project in its own right, meaning a district can be paying for a modernisation programme rather than new capability.
- Buying SIS and ERP from one vendor concentrates risk: a pricing increase, an ownership change or a product direction you dislike affects enrolment, payroll and the general ledger simultaneously, and unpicking that is a multi-year replacement rather than swapping one system.
Pricing, plan by plan
Sky Guide
Free- Sky GuideFree
- Base sky map and object labelling
- Sky Guide Plus$19.99/year
- Larger star and satellite catalogue
- Light pollution forecasting
- Meteor shower prediction
- Sky Guide Pro$39.99/year
- Very large deep-sky object catalogue
- Exoplanet data
- Extreme zoom
Skyward
On request- Student Management Suite$undefined/year
- Enrolment, scheduling, attendance and grading
- State reporting
- Family and student portals
- School Business Suite$undefined/year
- Finance, payroll and HR
- Position control
- Usually quoted alongside the SIS as a bundle
- Municipality Edition$undefined/year
- Finance and HR for local government
- Quoted per organisation
Which should you pick?
Choose Sky Guide if
- You need light pollution forecasting.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on iOS.
- You also want meteor shower prediction.
Choose Skyward if
- You need qmlativ sis.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want school business suite.
Questions people ask
- Is Sky Guide or Skyward better?
- Neither clearly leads. Sky Guide starts at Free and Skyward at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Sky Guide or Skyward?
- Sky Guide has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Sky Guide and On request for Skyward.
- Does Sky Guide or Skyward run on more platforms?
- Sky Guide runs on iOS. Skyward runs on Web, iOS, Android.
- Can I use Sky Guide for free?
- Yes. Sky Guide has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Skyward starts at On request.
- What is Sky Guide best used for?
- Sky Guide is most often used for an ios stargazer who wants light pollution forecasting to plan a dark-sky observing trip, someone tracking meteor showers and wanting a forecast of viewing conditions, a user who wants extreme zoom into deep-sky objects without owning a telescope, a buyer comparing subscription astronomy apps on ios specifically, rather than cross-platform tools. Of those, an ios stargazer who wants light pollution forecasting to plan a dark-sky observing trip and someone tracking meteor showers and wanting a forecast of viewing conditions are not what Skyward is typically brought in for.
- What can Sky Guide do that Skyward cannot?
- Sky Guide covers Light pollution forecasting, Meteor shower prediction, Camera and gyroscope sky view, Deep-sky object catalogue. Skyward covers Qmlativ SIS, School Business Suite, Position control, Family and student access.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Sky Guide: Is Sky Guide free?
The base app is free to download; Plus and Pro are subscription upgrades for a larger catalogue and forecasting features.
Skyward: Was Skyward bought by PowerSchool?
No. Skyward remains an independent company based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and competes directly with PowerSchool in the K-12 SIS market. It is one of the few SIS vendors of scale not owned by a private equity roll-up.
Sky Guide: Did Sky Guide used to be a one-time purchase?
Yes, earlier versions were sold as a one-time purchase before it moved to the current free-plus-subscription model.
Skyward: Is pricing per student?
Yes, the student system is generally quoted per student per year with the finance suite priced separately, but no rate card is published and discounts vary heavily by district size and term length.
Sky Guide: Does Sky Guide support telescope control?
No. For telescope control, SkySafari Plus or Pro is the better choice.
Skyward: Can we buy just the finance and HR suite?
Yes. School Business Suite is sold on its own, and there is a municipality edition for city and county government with no school component.
Skyward: What is the difference between Qmlativ and PaC?
PaC is the older client-server generation and Qmlativ is the current browser-based product. New districts buy Qmlativ; existing PaC districts are being migrated.
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