Frequently asked questions
Things astrologers ask us before they sign up.
Every question on this page comes from a real conversation: a beta interview, a support thread, a comment on the waitlist. We grouped them by topic so you can jump straight to the part that matters.
Pricing & billing
Pricing & billing.
What you pay, when you pay it, and what changes between plans. Founding-member pricing locks in for life.
- What happens to my client data if I cancel?
- You get a 30-day read-only window to export. One-click JSON dump covers every client profile, chart, session note, and PDF. After 30 days the data is deleted from production and from backups within a further 60 days.
- What are the exact limits on the free tier?
- 5 client profiles, all chart types, all 23 house systems, watermarked PDFs. No AI interpretation. No transit scanner. Unlimited one-off chart calculations. No payment method to sign up.
- Does the Astrolium free PDF have a watermark?
- Free tier carries a 'Made with Astrolium' footer. Pro at $29/mo removes it. Business white-labels the PDF, footer, and share URL with your practice branding.
- Is there a discount for paying annually?
- Yes. Annual billing is 2 months free. Pro is $290/yr (versus $29/mo × 12 = $348). Business is $990/yr (versus $99/mo × 12 = $1,188). Switching from monthly to annual prorates the difference.
- Is there a free tier of Astrolium?
- Yes. The free Astrolium plan covers 5 client profiles, unlimited natal charts, 23 house systems, and Solar Fire .SFCHT imports. You can use it indefinitely without payment. Pro at $29 per month unlocks unlimited clients, AI interpretation, and PDF exports.
- How does Astrolium pricing compare to Solar Fire?
- Solar Fire is a $360 one-time Windows install. Astrolium runs $0 to $99 per month in any browser. Pro ($29/mo) gives unlimited clients, AI interpretation, and PDF exports. Two years on Pro is cheaper than Solar Fire and includes cloud sync, no installs, and ongoing updates.
- What is the Astrolium refund policy?
- 14-day money-back, no questions. Email help@astrolium.com from the address on file; the refund posts to the original card within 5 business days. Applies to first charges and to annual renewals.
- Can I add team members to Astrolium?
- Yes, on Business. The $99/mo tier includes 3 seats with shared client roster and role permissions (admin, practitioner, read-only). Additional seats are $19/mo each. Every seat gets an audit log entry per client-record change.
Calculation engine & accuracy
Calculation engine & accuracy.
The math under the hood: Swiss Ephemeris, 23 house systems, sidereal & tropical, fixed stars, asteroids, historical timezones.
- Is Astrolium's AI just ChatGPT writing astrology?
- No. Astrolium runs Claude grounded in your own Knowledge Base, the interpretation rules and notes you upload, not free-form generation. The reading follows your method, citing the chart positions it reads from. Internal QA shows the output matches manually-written paragraphs for sect, dignity, house, and aspect at over 92%.
- Can Astrolium calculate houses for high-latitude births?
- Yes. Above 66° latitude, Placidus and other quadrant systems can fail on certain dates. Astrolium auto-detects the condition and suggests Porphyry or Whole Sign with an inline tooltip, both of which resolve at any latitude.
- Does Astrolium use the Swiss Ephemeris?
- Yes. Astrolium calculates all charts on the Swiss Ephemeris engine, the same arc-second accuracy used by Solar Fire and academic research. Chart calculations complete in under 300ms across 23 house systems, asteroids, Arabic parts, and fixed stars.
- How does Astrolium handle pre-1900 birth times?
- IANA tzdb covers 1500 to present. For dates before a city's first legal timezone adoption, Astrolium auto-falls back to Local Mean Time (LMT) computed from longitude. No manual offset entry.
AI assistant
AI assistant.
What the AI knows, what it doesn't, what languages it speaks, and how we keep it grounded in the chart it's looking at.
- Which languages does Astrolium's AI interpretation support?
- 9 at launch: en, es, pt, fr, de, it, ru, uk, pl. Source-to-target translation with a terminology lock so technical terms (sect, almuten, antiscia) stay precise across languages. Switch from a dropdown on the chart page.
Platforms & compatibility
Platforms & compatibility.
Browser, Mac, Windows, iPad, iPhone, Android. The short version: web first, native shells where they earn their keep.
- Does Astrolium work on Mac and iPad?
- Yes. Astrolium runs in any modern browser on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPad, and Android. No app install, no separate license per device. Unlike Solar Fire, which is Windows-only, you can move between 3 devices with a single account.
- Is there a native iOS or iPad app?
- No, browser-only at V1. iPad Safari and iPad Chrome work fully, including chart touch gestures and PDF export. A native iOS app is a V1.3 candidate, not committed.
Migrating from Solar Fire & Astro Gold
Migrating from Solar Fire & Astro Gold.
How to bring your existing chart files over, what survives the import, and what to expect from the first 30 days.
- Can I import my Solar Fire chart library into Astrolium?
- Yes. Astrolium supports Solar Fire .SFCHT import on every paid and free tier. Drag your .SFCHT export onto the Astrolium dashboard and 1000+ client charts move over in under 60 seconds with notes and aspect catalogs intact.
Data, privacy & security
Data, privacy & security.
Where client birth data lives, how it's encrypted, what we keep if you cancel, and how the GDPR side works.
- How is client birth data stored and protected?
- Your client data is encrypted at rest with AES-256, EU-resident (Frankfurt), and served over TLS 1.3. Named sub-processors per the DPA: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Stripe, Resend. GDPR-compliant. SOC 2 Type II on the roadmap for V1.2.
Teams, API & white-label
Teams, API & white-label.
Studio seats, the read/write API, branded PDF reports, and using Astrolium under your own practice's name.
- Does Astrolium have an API?
- Yes, on Business. Astrolium inherits the astrology-api.io quota at 5,000 chart calculations per month with Swiss Ephemeris parity. Overage runs $0.04 per chart. Endpoints cover natal, transit, progressed, synastry, composite, and solar return.
- Can I white-label Astrolium for my practice?
- Yes, on Business. White-label replaces the Astrolium wordmark, PDF footer, and share URL with your practice branding. Shared chart links run on your custom subdomain after DNS verification.
Roadmap & not-yet-shipped
Roadmap & not-yet-shipped.
Things that are on the way: rectification, audio session recording, more sidereal schools. With honest dates.
- Does Astrolium support birth-time rectification?
- Not yet. Rectification is on the roadmap for V1.1 (Q3 2026): a trick-of-the-light wizard that correlates 3 to 6 dated life events against a candidate birth-time range and bisects to the best fit. Pro and Business at release.
Still chewing on a question?
Email hello@astrolium.app and a human gets back inside one working day. Or jump in and try it — the answer is usually in the product.