Astrolium

Astrology software comparison

Astrology software, feature by feature.

12 features across 6 competitors, with per-row footnotes that explain how each cell was determined and what the gotchas are. What this page does not measure is subjective UX feel; for that, read the head-to-head comparison pages or the individual competitor profiles.

Last checked · 2026-10-2912 rows × 6 competitorsSources cited per row below

Astrolium vs 6 competitors across 12 features

Feature
Astrolium
Solar Fire
  • Calculation engine
    Swiss Ephemeris (DE431)
    Swiss Ephemeris (DE431)
  • Platform
    Web (Mac, PC, iPad, Android)
    Windows only
  • 5-year total cost
    $550 Pro · $1,450 Adept
    $520 to $700
  • House systems
    23 systems
    30 plus
  • Asteroid catalog
    6 curated + 10 custom (20,000+ catalog)
    Paid add-on
  • Primary directions
    Yes (Naibod, Ptolemy, True Solar, Lunar)
    6 methods (industry best)
  • Zodiacal Releasing (Spirit and Fortune)
    L1 and L2 calendar overlay
    Add-on script only
  • Client CRM (intake, notes, tags)
    Limited
  • Shareable client chart link
    Yes (reviewed snapshot)
    No (PDF only)
  • Live predictive scrubber
    Yes (transits, ZR, profections)
    Static reports only
  • AI interpretation assistant
    Yes (4 schools, 7 languages)
    None
  • Session scheduling (Calendar, Meet, Zoom)
    Yes (Pro, Adept & Master)

Per-row footnotes

How each cell was determined.

Calculation engine

Swiss Ephemeris is re-implemented from NASA JPL's DE431, accurate to better than 1 arc-second between 13201 BC and AD 17191. Co-Star uses a proprietary calculation that practitioners have flagged for occasional rising-sign mistakes near sign boundaries and high-latitude house errors.

Checked 2026-10-29

Platform

Solar Fire is Windows-only and most Mac users run it under Parallels at roughly $99 a year. Astro Gold inverts this and is Apple-only. TimePassages covers all 4 mainstream OSes from 1 vendor. ZET on Linux works via Wine but is not officially supported.

Checked 2026-10-29

5-year total cost

Astrolium Pro is $11/mo ($110/yr, or $550 over 5 years) and Adept is $29/mo ($290/yr, or $1,450 over 5 years). Solar Fire's range covers a base license plus 1 upgrade plus Parallels for Mac. Co-Star's range covers heavy IAP spending on compatibility readings over 5 years.

Checked 2026-10-29

House systems

Astrolium's Swiss Ephemeris engine computes all 23 house systems, with the 8 primary systems surfaced in the quick workspace selector. Solar Fire ships obscure systems like Carter Poli-Equatorial and Pullen SR. ZET exposes 40 plus including Russian-school experimental variants. LUNA and Co-Star lock Whole Sign and Placidus respectively.

Checked 2026-10-29

Asteroid catalog

Solar Fire's full asteroid set is a paid add-on at $40 to $120. Astrolium includes 6 curated minor bodies (Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Eros, Psyche) plus up to 10 custom search objects at a time drawn from the 20,000+ Swiss Ephemeris catalog on every plan including Free. ZET's 14,000 plus catalog is queryable in its desktop dialog.

Checked 2026-10-29

Primary directions

Astrolium ships Primary Directions on Pro ($11/mo) and above, supporting Naibod, Ptolemy, True Solar, and Lunar keys across in zodiaco and in mundo calculation, direct and converse, up to age 120. Solar Fire ships 6 methods and Astro Gold ships a subset on macOS/iOS.

Checked 2026-10-29

Zodiacal Releasing (Spirit and Fortune)

ZR is shipped as a first-class feature in Astrolium (starting on Pro at $11/mo) with L1 and L2 sub-period rendering on a calendar overlay. Solar Fire computes ZR only via a community-written add-on script. ZET requires manual peak-period computation. The other 4 products do not ship ZR.

Checked 2026-10-29

Client CRM (intake, notes, tags)

Solar Fire CRM is rated 'Limited' because the Sessions tab stores up to 50 charts per session but does not link them to a client record across sessions. Astro Gold has a charts database with categories and tags but no notes or intake forms. TimePassages and ZET ship nothing for client work.

Checked 2026-10-29

Shareable client chart link

Astrolium mints a frozen, PII-stripped chart snapshot link reviewed by the astrologer before sharing, which the client opens in any browser. LUNA offers a social share card for Instagram-style posts. Co-Star ships friend compatibility checks. The 4 desktop competitors export PDFs only.

Checked 2026-10-29

Live predictive scrubber

The scrubber is the single feature most surprising to migrating Solar Fire users. Drag the timeline and watch profections, ZR sub-periods, and transits recompute live. TimePassages ships a static transit graph; Co-Star and LUNA ship a static daily feed.

Checked 2026-10-29

AI interpretation assistant

Astrolium's AI is grounded in the specific client chart open, configurable across 4 interpretive lenses, and generates draft interpretations and reports in 7 languages (EN, ES, DE, FR, PT, RU, UK) that the astrologer edits before sending. TimePassages' interpretive text is human-written by Henry Seltzer over 25 years. Co-Star's text is conversational copywriting.

Checked 2026-10-29

Session scheduling (Calendar, Meet, Zoom)

Astrolium integrates directly with Google Calendar, Google Meet, and Zoom so client consultations link straight to the client record and chart workspace. None of the desktop competitors include scheduling or video-session integration.

Checked 2026-10-29

What changed recently

Feature shifts since the last review.

  • Solar Fire 9.0.43 added eclipse mode in March 2026, fixing an outer-planet edge case at extreme latitudes.
  • Astro Gold 2.1 (April 2026) added Solar Fire .SFCHT import natively, removing the need for the third-party converter.
  • TimePassages Mobile 4.2 (February 2026) added Composite chart on iOS, which had been desktop-only.
  • ZET 9.5 (January 2026) added Russian-school dignities and a French translation layer to the dialogs.
  • LUNA Studio shipped birthday-matching social mechanics in November 2025 as the headline iOS feature.
  • Co-Star paused new development on Android compatibility readings in late 2025, with no announced restart.

Per-product profiles

For the longer write-up on each program (history, pricing detail, who uses it, where Astrolium does it differently), read the dedicated profile.

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