PurpleAirvs
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AccuWeather: Superior accuracy with proprietary RealFeel technology
PurpleAir
Real-time air quality monitoring for communities
As of 30 August 2026, PurpleAir starts at $229/one-time. PurpleAir provides affordable air quality sensors and a real-time map of air pollution data from thousands of sensors worldwide. Softwr lists it under Weather. PurpleAir is made by PurpleAir Inc., launched in 2015, available on Web, API.
Overview
What PurpleAir does
PurpleAir provides affordable air quality sensors and a real-time map of air pollution data from thousands of sensors worldwide. Popular for monitoring wildfire smoke and local pollution levels.
What people use it for
- Professional Work
- Content Creation
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about PurpleAir.
- PurpleAir sensors are one-time hardware purchases rather than a subscription, priced $199 to $279 USD per unit for named models (PA-I-Indoor, PA-II, PA-II-SD), per the vendor's own store (archived, 2021).
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of PurpleAir
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- PurpleAirvsMyRadar
MyRadar: Fast animated weather radar at your fingertips
- PurpleAirvsThe Weather Channel
The Weather Channel: America's most trusted weather source with real-time forecasts
- PurpleAirvsWeatherBug
WeatherBug: Fastest weather alerts with live conditions
Pricing
What PurpleAir costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Outdoor Sensor
$229 /one-time
- PM2.5 monitoring
- Cloud connectivity
- Map access
Indoor Sensor
$199 /one-time
- Indoor monitoring
- WiFi enabled
- Real-time data
Capabilities
Features
PM2.5 monitoring
Real-time map
Historical data
Community network
API access
API access
Integration with API access
Home Assistant
Integration with Home Assistant
Data downloads
Integration with Data downloads
Web support
Available on web
Api support
Available on api
Hardware support
Available on hardware
Behind it
Who makes PurpleAir
- Company
- PurpleAir Inc.
- Based in
- Draper, Utah
Keep looking
Where to go from PurpleAir
- PurpleAir alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- PurpleAir pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- PurpleAir badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Weather softwareThe full category
- Best Weather softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Weather software for
Compare PurpleAir with
- IQAir
- AccuWeather
- MyRadar
- The Weather Channel
- WeatherBug
- Airveda
- uHoo
- Atmotube
- Plume Labs
- Awair
- Today Weather
- Ventusky
- Visual Crossing Weather
- Weather Mate
- AirVisual
- Weather Underground PWS
- uHoo
- Plume Labs
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for PurpleAir, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on PurpleAir
PurpleAir alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
PurpleAir pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare PurpleAir
Put it head to head with anything we hold
PurpleAir badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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