Best Aurora Forecast Apps for the Northern Lights

For most people, GodsView is the best free aurora forecast: one page for your city that combines NOAA's OVATION chance and Kp forecast with the Kp your city needs, hour-by-hour cloud cover and dark hours, free in any browser with no app to install. If you want raw solar wind graphs, substorm alerts or UK magnetometer alerts, SpaceWeatherLive, the Glendale App and AuroraWatch UK cover those.

Nearly every tool here starts from the same NOAA data. They differ in when they alert you and whether they account for your clouds and darkness. We checked prices and features against each provider's pages and app store listings in November 2026.

This article is about choosing a tool. For how to go out and look, read how to see the northern lights tonight, and for the Kp your town needs, what Kp index you need.

Check tonight's aurora forecast for your city

Aurora forecast apps at a glance

US prices come from the US App Store. Prices in other countries differ.

Why GodsView is our pick: one aurora verdict per city

A high Kp doesn't help if your town needs a higher one, or if it's cloudy, or if the sun is still up. GodsView's aurora forecast hub and its city pages put all of that on one screen. Each page takes NOAA SWPC's OVATION chance and Kp forecast, compares it with the Kp that city needs, and lines it up against hourly cloud cover and the hours of darkness.

When we checked the hub overnight on November 5 to 6, 2026, it showed Kp 2.3 now, a G1 storm (Kp 5) forecast within 24 hours, an 18% OVATION peak and 644 of 2,084 listed cities within reach, clouds permitting. The Oslo page turned that into four hourly rows: 3 am at 1% cloud and "Good", then 88% and 87% cloud at 4 and 5 am, then 57% and "Good" again at 6 am. A global Kp alert can't tell you which of those hours to go out.

What else you get:

• Free city pages, no account or app needed. Open /aurora-forecast/oslo, Fairbanks or your own city in any browser.
• Space weather in one place. The space weather page adds solar flares and geomagnetic storms.
• Alerts for the places you care about. Push alerts for saved places come with Plus, at $10.99 a month or $99.99 a year.
• An iPhone app. GodsView AI is free on the App Store, with the same account and plan as the web. An Android version is in testing.
• The rest of your sky. The same live map shows satellites, storms and weather warnings, and there's a meteor shower calendar too.

The data comes from NOAA SWPC, the same source the specialist apps use; details are on the methodology page. What GodsView doesn't do: it has no raw solar wind graphs like SpaceWeatherLive and doesn't track substorms like the Glendale App.

Find your city's aurora forecast

Where do aurora apps get their forecast? NOAA SWPC

The Space Weather Prediction Center runs the OVATION model that most apps show as a green oval. It takes solar wind data measured at the L1 point, between Earth and the Sun, and gives a 30 to 90 minute forecast of where the aurora will be and how bright. That lead time is how long the solar wind takes to travel from L1 to Earth.

SWPC's experimental aurora dashboard puts OVATION maps for both hemispheres, Kp, solar wind, Bz and the 3-day forecast on one page. Its subscription service sends free email alerts and warnings for K-index levels 4 to 9 (G1 to G5 storms), along with flare and radiation alerts.

It's the primary source and it's free. It doesn't know your location, your clouds or whether it's dark where you are, so you check those yourself.

Which aurora app shows the most data? SpaceWeatherLive

SpaceWeatherLive is published by Parsec vzw. Its website and its iOS and Android apps show the Kp index, solar wind measurements, Bz, OVATION forecasts, solar flares and coronal holes. Graphs are interactive, the archive goes back to 1996, and push notifications cover flares, storms and coronal holes.

The app is free with ads. On the US App Store, the ad-free subscription costs $0.99 a month, $5.49 for six months or $9.99 a year as of November 2026. Some reviewers there complain about pop-up ads.

Is My Aurora Forecast & Alerts good for beginners?

My Aurora Forecast & Alerts by JRustonApps B.V. shows Kp, a probability map based on SWPC forecasts, solar wind data, cloud cover and live webcams, and sends push alerts when activity is expected to be high. It's aimed at people who want a quick answer rather than graphs.

The main app is free with ads. A separate paid app, My Aurora Forecast Pro, costs $3.99 on the US App Store. It removes ads and adds Apple Watch support.

Which app gives a go/no-go verdict? Aurora Forecast. (TINAC)

The app called Aurora Forecast. by TINAC Inc. shows NOAA's OVATION forecast on a map and a 3D globe, with webcams and user sightings. On supported iPhones it uses Apple Intelligence for a personal "Go/No-Go" verdict that factors in your location and weather. It's free to download; US in-app purchases are Aurora Pro at $2.99 a month, Aurora Alerts at $12.99 a year, and Aurora Ultimate Pro at $4.99 a month or $19.99 a year.

We left out Aurora Service, a tour company in Utsjoki, Finnish Lapland: in November 2026 its forecast page said it was "down for maintenance".

Which app alerts on substorms? The Glendale App

The Glendale App, made by aurora hunter Andy Stables, skips Kp and OVATION. It uses live data from dozens of magnetometers plus the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF and Bz) to track substorms, the sudden brightenings that produce the best displays.

Its alerts only fire when it's dark enough to see the aurora where you are. It's a free progressive web app, not in the app stores: you install it from your browser with "Add to Home Screen". The user guide does not mention a paid tier.

What do people in Alaska use? The UAF forecast

The UAF Geophysical Institute forecast is free on the web. It shows Kp forecast maps for North America, Europe, Alaska and both poles, from 30 minutes to a 27-day outlook, plus live cameras from Poker Flat Research Range, Toolik Field Station, Gakona and Fairbanks.

It doesn't send alerts or show cloud cover, so you check it and the weather yourself. GodsView's Fairbanks aurora page covers the same city with cloud cover and dark hours added.

What aurora alert is there for the UK? AuroraWatch UK

AuroraWatch UK is a free service run by Lancaster University's Space and Planetary Physics group. It doesn't forecast; it measures. Magnetometers feed a four-level alert scale: green (unlikely anywhere in the UK), yellow (may be visible by eye from Scotland), amber (likely from Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland) and red (likely anywhere in the UK). Alerts arrive by email, social media, third-party apps and an API. It measures what's happening over Britain, but tells you nothing about clouds.

Which aurora app should you pick?

• You want to know if it's worth going out tonight where you are: GodsView's free city page, which puts the OVATION chance, the Kp you need, hourly clouds and darkness together. Add Plus if you want push alerts for saved places.
• You are travelling to Iceland, Lapland or Alaska: open the GodsView page for where you're staying before you go out.
• You want to read the solar wind yourself: SpaceWeatherLive, or NOAA's aurora dashboard.
• You chase the aurora often and want to know when a substorm starts: the Glendale App.
• You live in the UK: AuroraWatch UK's magnetometer alerts, alongside a cloud forecast.
• You want free email alerts straight from the source: NOAA SWPC's subscription service.

Why do aurora apps send alerts that come to nothing?

OVATION only looks 30 to 90 minutes ahead, and a 3-day Kp forecast depends on guessing how strong a solar eruption will be and which way its field (Bz) will point, which can only be measured once it reaches L1. Forecasts miss both ways.

Most alerts also fire on activity, not on your sky, and cloud, a bright Moon or city light can hide a real storm (NOAA viewing tips). That's why GodsView's city pages show cloud and darkness hour by hour next to the Kp. For the other checks, read how to see the northern lights tonight.

Open the GodsView aurora forecast