Where Windy wins
- Global forecast models, and nobody in this list is close.
- Genuinely global coverage, and a beautiful web app.
Use Windy for the models — we say so on the comparison page too. But Windy's radar is a composite: one blended image, no tilts, no velocity, no dual-pol. When a storm is over your house, that is the moment HookEcho is for. They are complementary, and both run in a browser, so keep both tabs open.
Feature by feature
| Feature | HookEcho | Windy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Yes Free, MIT licensed | Partly Free, optional Premium |
| Ads | Yes None | Yes None |
| Account required | Yes Never | Yes Optional |
| Open source | Yes Every line | No |
| Level 2, every tilt | Yes All elevations, full resolution | No Composite only |
| Dual-pol products | Yes ZDR, CC, KDP, ΦDP | No |
| Velocity and dealiasing | Yes With storm-relative | No |
| National MRMS mosaic | Yes Full resolution | Yes Composite |
| Lightning | Yes GOES GLM | Yes |
| Forecast models | Partly HRRR, NAM, soundings | Yes The best in the field |
| Tropical tracks | Yes NHC cones and advisories | Yes |
| Archive playback | Yes Back to 1991 | No |
| Works offline | Yes Chase packs, prefetched | No |
| Coverage outside the US | Partly US plus German DWD radar | Yes Global |
| Runs in a browser | Yes The whole app, no install | Yes Web first |
| iPhone and iPad | No Not yet | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes Windows, macOS, Linux | No |
| Mobile polish | Partly Android only, and younger | Yes |
| Telemetry | Yes None, at all | No Analytics |
Verified August 2026, from each product's own pricing and feature pages. Tiers and prices move; if a row here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed.