Alternatives to qtVlm
Navigation and weather routing software for sailing boats, with a GRIB viewer and chart support. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
qtVlm
Navigation and weather routing software for sailing boats, with a GRIB viewer and chart support.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as qtVlm.
OpenCPN
A free, open-source chartplotter and marine GPS navigation program for laptops and onboard computers.
OpenCPN is a free, open-source chartplotter for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android with a plugin catalog, instead of qtVlm's paid mobile versions and chart packs.
Orca
A marine navigation app for planning trips with charts, routing and weather, with optional boat hardware.
Orca offers sail routing with weather and automatic rerouting on Android and iOS, with full chartplotter features needing separately purchased hardware.
Seapilot
Marine navigation app with digital nautical charts, AIS, routes and weather routing.
Seapilot provides charts, weather routing with GRIB data and AIS support on phones and tablets, with most navigation features in Premium and no Windows version.
iNavX
A marine chartplotter app for iPhone and iPad with charts from many providers, AIS and GRIB weather.
iNavX offers more than 25 chart providers, live AIS and GRIB weather on phones and tablets, but no desktop version.
Savvy Navvy
A boat navigation app with marine charts, tides and weather, pitched as Google Maps for boats.
Savvy Navvy plans routes around wind, tide and current in a simpler phone app aimed at less experienced boaters, with advanced features by subscription.
Also worth comparing
These listings name qtVlm as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
PredictWind
A marine weather service with wind forecasts, weather routing and departure planning for sailors.
qtVlm is sailing navigation software with weather routing, departure-time comparison and a GRIB viewer, running on Windows, Android and iOS with paid mobile versions.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Windy
An interactive animated weather map with wind, waves and radar forecasts from several forecast models.
OpenPlotter
A Raspberry Pi and Debian-based toolkit that turns a small computer into a boat navigation system.
Signal K
An open marine data standard and local server that connects a boat's instruments and sensors.
OpenSeaMap
Free community nautical chart built on OpenStreetMap, with seamarks, harbours and depth data.
