Compare software

Marble vs Google Earth: catalog facts
Marble	Google Earth
Best for: Exploring geography on a desktop globe, in class or at home	Best for: Exploring places on a 3D globe and teaching geography
Free Free and open source from the KDE community.	Free Free to use.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android	Web
Zooms from a whole-globe view down to OpenStreetMap street level Place search with linked Wikipedia articles All 4 strengths for Marble Zooms from a whole-globe view down to OpenStreetMap street level Place search with linked Wikipedia articles Drag-and-drop route planning Extensible through plugins	High-resolution imagery with 3D terrain and buildings Historical imagery to compare places over time All 4 strengths for Google Earth High-resolution imagery with 3D terrain and buildings Historical imagery to compare places over time Voyager stories for guided exploration Works in the browser
Mobile apps are Android only Behaves like an atlas and globe, not a full turn-by-turn navigator	Proprietary Google service Not a full GIS for analysis or data editing
Downloadable app	Web application
Open source	Not open source
License: LGPL-2.1	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Marble marble.kde.org Catalog checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Google Earth earth.google.com Catalog checked September 23, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.