AkastroidComparison
Akastroid vs AstroWizard
AstroWizard and its sibling StackingWizard come from Lukomatico. They are free, they run on Windows, Mac and Linux, and both are in open beta. StackingWizard turns a night's frames into a stack and AstroWizard finishes the stack in nine guided steps. Here is how they differ from Akastroid, from their own pages, including where they are the better choice.
The short answer
Use AstroWizard if price decides it, if you image deep sky only, if you already own RC-Astro's tools and want a guided way to use them, or if you like moving through the steps yourself with a wizard explaining each one.
Use Akastroid if you want one app and one run from the raw folder to the finished picture, with nothing else to download, and if you also shoot planets, the Moon or the Sun.
Where AstroWizard is better
They are free for personal use, with no ads, tracking or accounts. That is a real advantage and Akastroid cannot match it.
AstroWizard can hand steps to RC-Astro's BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator and StarXTerminator, and to StarNet2 for star removal. If you already own those tools, AstroWizard gives you a guided way to use them. Akastroid does not run outside tools.
StackingWizard keeps a receipt of what it did, lists the frames it set aside rather than deleting them, and speaks fourteen languages.
Where Akastroid is different
One app, one run. Akastroid takes the folder of raw frames, with darks, flats and bias if you have them, and gives back the finished picture. With the Wizards, the stack is made in StackingWizard and then finished in AstroWizard, and some of AstroWizard's steps rely on GraXpert, StarNet2 or RC-Astro's paid tools being installed.
Planets, the Moon and the Sun. StackingWizard's page says comets, planets and the Moon are out of scope. Akastroid stacks SER, AVI and MP4 videos with lucky imaging, aligns the colour channels, and sharpens from the stack's own measured blur.
Everything is built in. Gradient removal, noise reduction and sharpening are Akastroid's own code, measured on real sessions and checked on every release. The noise reduction is a network we trained ourselves on our own sessions.
Camera RAW from DSLRs and mirrorless cameras is read directly. StackingWizard's page mentions LibRaw in one release note and says to convert RAW to FITS first in another, so check it for your camera.
Side by side
| AstroWizard | Akastroid | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free for personal use | Free to try with every feature, then a one-time licence |
| Stacking and finishing | Two apps: StackingWizard, then AstroWizard | One app, one run |
| Planets, Moon and Sun video | Out of scope | Yes: SER, AVI and MP4 |
| Gradient, noise and sharpening | Partly through GraXpert, StarNet2 and paid RC-Astro tools | Built in, our own |
| Smart telescope folders (Seestar, Dwarf) | Yes | Yes |
| Calibration frames | Yes | Yes |
| Mosaics | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, Linux | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Status | Open beta | Released, updates itself |
What Akastroid does not do
Akastroid is not free beyond its trial, and the Wizards are. It does not run RC-Astro's tools or StarNet2, so if you own those and want them in your workflow, AstroWizard is built for that.
Questions
Is AstroWizard free?
Yes. Its page says AstroWizard is free for personal use, with no ads, tracking or accounts, and StackingWizard is free on the same terms. Akastroid is free to try with every feature, then a one-time licence. On price, the Wizards win.
What is the difference between AstroWizard and StackingWizard?
StackingWizard turns a night's folder of frames into a stack: calibration, grading, alignment and integration, for deep sky. AstroWizard takes a stacked image and finishes it in nine guided steps: crop, gradient, colour, sharpen, noise, stretch and the final look. Akastroid does both parts in one app, in one run.
Can the Wizards stack planets or the Moon?
No. StackingWizard's page says it is for deep sky targets only, and that comets, planets and the Moon are out of scope. Akastroid stacks planet, Moon and Sun videos (SER, AVI and MP4) with lucky imaging, as well as deep sky.
Does AstroWizard need other software?
For some steps, yes. Its page lists GraXpert for gradient removal and noise reduction, StarNet2 for star removal, and RC-Astro's BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator and StarXTerminator, which are paid, for sharpening, noise and stars. Akastroid's gradient removal, noise reduction and sharpening are its own and are built in.
What this page says about AstroWizard comes from its own pages, read on 25 October 2026: AstroWizard, StackingWizard. If something here is out of date, write to hello@akastroid.com and I will correct it.
Try it on your own data
Free, every feature, five free processing runs and two exports to try it on. No account, and nothing leaves your computer.