Guides
Plenilune vs Deluxe Moon: which moon app is for you?
I make Plenilune, so read this comparison knowing where I stand. Deluxe Moon has been on the App Store for more than ten years and does far more than my app. The real question is whether you need all of it.
Facts checked September 2026
Plenilune is a lunar almanac released in July 2026: one Moon a day, engraved, with its hours and its stories. Deluxe Moon, listed on the US App Store as “Deluxe Moon Pro • App & Widget”, is a complete moon toolkit, built as much for astronomy and photography as for astrology. Prices, features and privacy labels were checked on the App Store on 23 September 2026.
Side by side | Plenilune | Deluxe Moon Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | An illustrated almanac: tonight's Moon, engraved, with its old names and stories | An all-in-one toolkit, from astronomy to astrology |
| Astronomy | Phase, illumination, moonrise and moonset, dawn and dusk, next perigee, eclipses visible from where you are | Goes further: Moon compass, azimuth and altitude, golden hour, apogee and perigee tables, iCal integration |
| Zodiac | The Moon's sign (tropical zodiac) next to its real constellation; no horoscope, no predictions | Tropical and sidereal zodiac, Vedic astrology, planetary hours, lunar aspects |
| Daily text | A moon story each morning: a saying, a belief, a fact of astronomy | A personalized daily forecast, with a ChatGPT integration |
| Widgets | Home Screen and Lock Screen, engraved | More than 25 for the Home Screen, plus the Lock Screen |
| Devices | iPhone and iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch; an Android version on Google Play |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish |
| Privacy (App Store label) | Purchases, device ID and usage, not linked to you; nothing under “Data Used to Track You” | Identifiers, usage and diagnostics, not linked to you; identifiers under “Data Used to Track You” |
| Plans | Free; Premium yearly or for life | Free; Premium weekly, monthly or yearly; some tools sold separately |
| Lifetime purchase | Yes: pay once | None among the purchases shown on its page |
| Track record | Released in July 2026 | More than ten years on the App Store; 4.7 from over 7,000 US ratings |
Choose Deluxe Moon if…
…you read the Moon for astrology as much as for astronomy. Deluxe Moon covers the tropical and sidereal zodiac, Vedic astrology, planetary hours and lunar aspects. It also offers a personalized daily forecast, and can send your chart to ChatGPT for advice. On the observing side, it goes further than Plenilune: a Moon compass, azimuth and altitude, golden hour, apogee tables. And it follows you everywhere, onto an Apple Watch, a Mac or an Android phone, with more than 25 widgets. If you want one app that does everything, this is it.
Choose Plenilune if…
…you want fewer things on screen, and want them beautiful. Plenilune draws tonight's Moon as an engraving, from its real position, down to its tilt in your sky. Each morning brings a short moon story: a saying, a belief or a fact of astronomy, told as culture and never as a prediction. No horoscope, on principle: the almanac gives the sign the Moon is passing through, next to its real constellation, and stops there. The free version already covers the daily glance: the phase, the widgets, moonrise and moonset, the month's calendar, eclipses visible from where you are. Premium adds the twelve named full moons and their stories, the calendar past and future, and alerts for rare events. You can pay for it once. Everything is computed on the device, offline, with no account and no ads.
What they cost
Prices checked on 23 September 2026 on the US App Store. Both apps are free to download; the difference is how Premium is sold. Deluxe Moon Pro's costs $29.99 a year after a three-day trial, $9.99 a month or $4.99 a week. Its page also lists tools sold on their own, from $1.99 to $4.99 (planetary hours, moon tables, twilights, lunar aspects…), without saying whether Premium includes them. Plenilune's costs $8.99 a year, or $22.99 once, for good; it unlocks everything, and nothing is sold separately. Amounts vary by country and over time: the In-App Purchases section of each App Store page shows the current ones.
In short
Deluxe Moon does more, astrology included, and follows you onto a watch, a Mac or an Android phone. Plenilune does less, without horoscopes. It puts its care into the drawing and the stories, costs less, and can be bought once.
Questions
- Is Plenilune a good alternative to Deluxe Moon?
- It depends on what you use it for. For in-depth astrology (sidereal zodiac, planetary hours, Vedic astrology, forecasts), no: Plenilune gives the sign the Moon is passing through, without interpreting it. For the daily phase, moonrise and moonset, eclipses and a widget, yes, with a lifetime purchase on top.
- Is Deluxe Moon free?
- It is free to download. Its Premium is a subscription, weekly, monthly or yearly, and some tools are also sold separately. Plenilune is free to download too; its Premium comes yearly or as a one-time lifetime purchase. Current amounts are in the In-App Purchases section of each App Store page.
- Does Deluxe Moon have a lifetime purchase?
- None appears among the in-app purchases shown on its App Store page on 23 September 2026: Premium is sold by the week, month or year. Plenilune sells a yearly subscription and a lifetime purchase.
- Does Plenilune work on Android or Apple Watch?
- No. Plenilune is an iPhone and iPad app, from iOS 17. If you need Android or an Apple Watch, Deluxe Moon covers both.
- What does “Data Used to Track You” mean?
- It is a section of the App Store privacy label. An app lists there the data it links with other companies' data, for advertising or ad measurement, or shares with data brokers. Deluxe Moon Pro lists identifiers there. Plenilune lists nothing. It sends a few measurement events to PostHog, to know how many people open it or add a widget, and Apple files them under “Data Not Linked to You”.