LUNA vs Astrolium: discovery app vs practice workspace
LUNA vs Astrolium: a free celebrity chart browser vs a $29 per month practitioner workspace. LUNA targets discovery, Astrolium targets paid practice.
Quick verdict
LUNA is the best celebrity chart browser on iOS. Astrolium is the practitioner workspace. Same sky, different jobs. You will know which one you need within 1 minute.
Feature-by-feature comparison
Astrolium
LUNA Studio
Primary user
Working astrologer with paying clients—Platform
Browser on Mac, Windows, iPad, Linux, Android, iPhone—Pricing
$29 per month Adept · Free—Client roster, CRM, notes
Built-in roster, intake, tags, session notes—Multiple charts per person
Natal, relocated, solar return, progressed, all linked—House systems
23 systems, configurable per chart—Zodiacal Releasing (Spirit and Fortune)
L1 to L4 with calendar overlay—Profections
Year overlay with annual time-lord highlight—Live predictive scrubber
Drag to recompute transits, ZR, profections live—Celebrity chart browser
Public figures library (1,200 plus charts)—AI interpretation assistant
In-context, 9 languages, on the chart—Shareable client link
Live URL the client opens in their browser—Stripe invoicing for client billing
Built-in on Adept and Master—Birthday matching social mechanic
Not shipped (not the audience)—
| Feature | Astrolium | LUNA Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Primary user | Working astrologer with paying clients | — |
| Platform | Browser on Mac, Windows, iPad, Linux, Android, iPhone | — |
| Pricing | $29 per month Adept · Free | — |
| Client roster, CRM, notes | Built-in roster, intake, tags, session notes | — |
| Multiple charts per person | Natal, relocated, solar return, progressed, all linked | — |
| House systems | 23 systems, configurable per chart | — |
| Zodiacal Releasing (Spirit and Fortune) | L1 to L4 with calendar overlay | — |
| Profections | Year overlay with annual time-lord highlight | — |
| Live predictive scrubber | Drag to recompute transits, ZR, profections live | — |
| Celebrity chart browser | Public figures library (1,200 plus charts) | — |
| AI interpretation assistant | In-context, 9 languages, on the chart | — |
| Shareable client link | Live URL the client opens in their browser | — |
| Stripe invoicing for client billing | Built-in on Adept and Master | — |
| Birthday matching social mechanic | Not shipped (not the audience) | — |
Pricing comparison
Astrolium
From $0/mo
5 client profiles, then $11/mo for unlimited.
LUNA Studio
$0
Per free · iOS
Who should use Astrolium
- You read charts for paying clients, even occasionally
- You need a CRM with session notes and intake forms
- You use Hellenistic techniques: ZR, profections, Firdaria, time-lords
- You work across Mac, iPad, Android in the same week
- You want a live predictive scrubber for transits and ZR
- You bill clients and want Stripe invoicing built in
Who should use LUNA Studio
- You read charts for fun, not for clients
- You want the best celebrity chart browser on iPhone (LUNA has 30,000 plus)
- You want birthday-matching with strangers as a social mechanic
- You live in iOS and never need cross-platform sync
- You like a static daily transit feed more than an active scrubber
- You want a free polished consumer app, not a workspace
Frequently asked questions
- Is LUNA Studio competing with Astrolium?
- Not really. LUNA is a polished iOS consumer app aimed at people discovering their own chart and matching with friends by birthday. Astrolium is a practitioner workspace for working astrologers with paying clients. The Venn overlap is small. LUNA users who grow into a paid practice usually arrive at Astrolium 1 to 3 years later. We recommend LUNA explicitly for solo iOS users who do not read for clients.
- Can I read clients in LUNA?
- No. LUNA is a single-user app, and the chart belongs to your profile. There is no client roster, no notes, no intake form, no session memory. You can browse celebrity charts and match with friends, but you cannot run a paid practice in LUNA. That is not the product. Astrolium ships all of that — client CRM, session notes, intake forms — on the Adept plan at $29 per month, or scoped down for 25 clients on Pro at $11.
- Does Astrolium have a celebrity chart browser like LUNA?
- Yes, but smaller. Astrolium ships about 1,200 curated public figure charts versus LUNA's 30,000 plus. The Astrolium library prioritizes rectified charts with cited birth time sources (Rodden Rating AA or A). LUNA's library prioritizes breadth and includes many B and C rated charts. For professional accuracy work, Astrolium's smaller curated set is the right choice. For browsing 200 charts in 1 evening, LUNA wins on volume.
- Why does LUNA only support Whole Sign houses?
- It is a deliberate design choice for consumer simplicity. Whole Sign is the most beginner-friendly house system (every house starts at 0 degrees of its sign) and it is the system most aligned with the Hellenistic revival. LUNA optimizes for newcomers who do not want to choose. Astrolium ships 23 house systems (Placidus, Whole Sign, Koch, Porphyry, Regiomontanus, etc.) configurable per chart for practitioners who need them.
- Can I import my LUNA charts into Astrolium?
- Partially. LUNA does not export a full chart format like .SFCHT or .AAF, but it does let you screenshot or share a chart's birth data (date, time, place). Astrolium accepts birth-data CSV import, so you can transfer 10 to 50 LUNA charts via a quick spreadsheet copy in under 5 minutes. For larger libraries, contact the Astrolium team. There are workarounds via LUNA's social share format.
- How does LUNA's AI horoscope compare to Astrolium's AI assistant?
- Different jobs. LUNA's AI generates a daily horoscope based on the day's transits to your natal chart, a consumer product. Astrolium's AI assistant is grounded in the specific client chart open in front of you and in your own Knowledge Base, the interpretation rules and notes you upload, so the reading follows your method and voice across 4 schools (Hellenistic, modern, evolutionary, Vedic). It comes out ready to send as a client email, Instagram message, or PDF. LUNA is content. Astrolium is a working tool.
- Is LUNA going to add a practitioner surface?
- Not based on public statements. LUNA's team has been clear that the product is a consumer-first social app. They have invested in birthday-matching, celebrity charts, and the daily transit feed. A CRM, intake forms, session notes, and client billing would mean rebuilding the app for a different audience. Astrolium took the opposite path: practitioner-first since day 1, with a consumer Free tier as an entry point.
Pick the tool that matches the work you actually do.
If your practice lives in the techniques the other tool ships and Astrolium does not, stay there. If it lives in transits, synastry, CRM, and AI-assisted prep, run the free tier for a week against a real client. Decide on the work, not the spec sheet.