TL;DR: Use PredictWind if you sail offshore, race, or need departure planning. Use Windy if you want a beautiful free forecast for daily wind sport. Use both? Most pros do. Add a live-alarm app on top of either one if you don’t want to keep checking.
(Deep-dive on the accuracy question specifically: is PredictWind accurate?)
If you’ve ever asked “PredictWind or Windy?” on a sailing forum, you’ve gotten 30 different answers in 5 minutes. Here’s the actual difference, separated from religion.
Quick verdict
| Use case | Pick |
|---|---|
| Offshore passage planning | PredictWind |
| Race forecasts (regatta, world tour) | PredictWind |
| Daily kitesurf / windsurf check | Windy |
| Drone flight planning | Windy |
| Hyper-local thermal forecast | Windy (compare ECMWF + GFS) |
| Free, global, beautiful map | Windy |
| Set-and-forget alarm at your spot | Neither — use WindUp |
Feature by feature
The fastest way to see where each app earns its keep:
| Feature | Windy | PredictWind |
|---|---|---|
| Forecast models | ECMWF, GFS, ICON, NEMS, AROME (public) | PWG + PWE (proprietary) + ECMWF & GFS |
| Resolution | 1 km on Premium | 1 km, finer on coastal maps |
| Animated map | ✅ best in class | ⚠️ table-first, less flashy |
| Departure planner | ❌ | ✅ core feature |
| Weather routing | ❌ | ✅ offshore & racing |
| Offshore GRIB / GMDSS | ❌ | ✅ paid packs |
| Webcams + radar | ✅ free | ❌ |
| Free tier | ✅ generous | ⚠️ limited |
| Paid price | ~$24/yr Premium | $190–330/yr |
| Live wind alarm | ❌ | ❌ |
The two rows that decide it for most people: PredictWind owns departure planning and routing; Windy owns the free map — and neither rings you when the wind actually arrives.
Forecast models
Windy aggregates the major public models: ECMWF, GFS, ICON, NEMS, AROME. You pick one and compare. The data is what every weather agency on the planet has access to.
PredictWind runs proprietary models on top of those: PWG (PredictWind GFS), PWE (PredictWind ECMWF), 1 km hyper-local. They’ve tuned the post-processing for offshore conditions over 15 years. For ocean sailing, that tuning matters.
For coastal kitesurfing or sailing on a lake? You probably won’t notice the difference unless conditions are weird.
Round 1: Tie for daily use, PredictWind wins offshore.
Visualization
Windy is famous for the animated map. It’s gorgeous. Pan to any point on Earth, layer pressure / temperature / waves / clouds. Hard to beat.
PredictWind is practical — table-first, GRIB-first, designed for someone planning a passage on a chart plotter. Less wow, more depth.
Round 2: Windy wins on UX, PredictWind on professional depth.
Pricing
Windy free tier covers 95% of recreational use. Windy Premium ($24/yr) unlocks 1 km forecasts and ad-free.
PredictWind has a free tier but the powerful stuff is paid. Standard $190/yr, Professional $330/yr, with offshore packages going higher. Yes, that’s a serious bill.
Round 3: Windy in a landslide for casual users; PredictWind earns its price for pros.
Live wind data
Both Windy and PredictWind show forecasts, not live readings. You can favorite spots and get periodic forecast updates, but neither will ring you when wind actually hits your threshold.
That’s where the third app comes in. WindUp watches live wind stations 24/7 and rings you the moment your spot is on — even when your phone is on Do Not Disturb. The alarm’s free. Pair it with whichever forecast app you prefer.
See: WindUp vs Windy · WindUp vs PredictWind
Is PredictWind worth it? The honest test
PredictWind earns its $190–330/yr in three situations — and really only three:
- You sail offshore or cross oceans. The departure planner and weather routing turn a multi-day passage into a plan instead of a gamble. Windy has no equivalent.
- You race seriously. Regatta and world-tour sailors live on PWG/PWE because a half-knot edge over a four-hour beat is the whole game.
- You need offshore GRIB / GMDSS data away from cell coverage, downloaded over satellite.
If none of those is you, the honest answer is that free Windy plus a free live alarm covers it — and you keep the ~$200. For coastal kitesurfing, lake sailing, a weekend windsurf or a drone flight, the gap between PredictWind’s tuned proprietary models and the public ECMWF and GFS forecasts Windy already shows you is, for your purposes, noise. Both apps are leaning on the same two global models underneath; PredictWind’s value is the offshore post-processing and planning tools, not a secret about your local beach.
Who’s fine with free Windy
Weekend riders, anyone who sails or kites within a day of home, drone pilots, and anyone who mostly wants to answer “is it on this afternoon?” Windy’s free tier plus model-comparison is genuinely enough — and pairing it with a free wind alarm closes the one gap it has.
So who wins?
There’s no winner — they solve different problems. The honest stack for most riders:
- Windy for the free forecast map and model-comparison.
- WindUp for the live alarm at your spot. (Free alarm, no subscription.)
- PredictWind if and only if you’re going offshore or racing seriously.
If you’re picking one: Windy.
If you’re picking the right tool for the job: all three, in their lanes.
Still comparing forecast apps? We’ve also run Windfinder vs Windy and Windguru vs Windy head-to-head.
FAQ
The recurring split: PredictWind is overkill for daily riding and genuinely indispensable offshore; Windy is plenty for the day-to-day but never rings you when the wind lands. Pick by where you actually ride — then let a free alarm cover the part neither forecast app does.
