Submarius
Updated October 14, 2026
Windy vs Submarius.
Windy is the best general purpose marine weather map there is: animated wind, swell, tide, radar, sea temperature, and a serious engine that runs several weather models side by side. If you want a dashboard of the whole globe that you can tweak for hours, nothing else comes close. Submarius reads many of the same signals, but turns them into a single verdict for spearfishing, diving, fishing, boating and surfing, with tides, a bite score, mapped reefs and wrecks and free safety tools in the same app. Different jobs. You can absolutely use both.
| Feature | Submarius | Windy |
|---|---|---|
| Single number verdict (0 to 10) | ✓ | N/A |
| Weighting for your activity (spearfishing, diving, fishing, surfing, boating) | ✓ 9 modes | One generic marine view |
| Bite score with every factor listed | ✓ | N/A |
| Visibility estimate for divers | ✓ with a confidence figure, in dive modes | N/A |
| Animated wind particles | ✓ (Pro) | ✓ reference implementation |
| Several weather models (ECMWF, GFS, ICON, HRRR) | Single forecast, no model comparison | ✓ side by side comparison |
| Animated precipitation radar | ✓ last hour free, map layer Pro | ✓ |
| Multi day marine forecast | ✓ 8 days (Pro) | ✓ longer range and hourly steps on Premium |
| Shark awareness card (Spearfishing mode) | ✓ free | N/A |
| Float plan with check in and SOS | ✓ free, needs a free account | N/A |
| Rate the visibility after a dive | ✓ in dive modes, anonymous | N/A |
| Pricing | US: $12.99 a month, $99 a year, or $149 once | Free, with a paid Premium tier |
Who should use Windy?
Windy is the tool of choice if you want to see the weather itself: animated wind, swell, pressure, radar, sea temperature, currents, all layered on a globe you can spin. It runs multiple models (ECMWF, GFS, ICON, HRRR, AROME) and lets you compare them side by side, invaluable for offshore boaters and sailors who've learned that no single forecast is right. The free tier is genuinely usable, which is rare in this category.
If your question is "what's the weather doing over the next 10 days across the globe?", Windy wins. Full stop.
Who should use Submarius?
Submarius exists for a narrower question: "given my activity and my location, is today worth it?" Windy hands you a beautiful map and leaves the decision to you. Submarius does the weighting (tide and moon for fishing, swell period for surfing, the visibility estimate for diving and spearfishing) and gives you one answer, with each factor on its own row so you can see why.
- Spearos and divers. Dive modes show a visibility estimate with a confidence figure next to current, swell and tide. It's a model estimate, not a measurement.
- Anglers who plan around conditions. A 0 to 10 bite score that weighs light, moonlight, how fast the tide is moving, water temperature extremes, and wind and waves, shown factor by factor.
- Anyone who wants safety features free. Safety Watch (a float plan with a "back by" time and SOS) and the shark awareness card in Spearfishing mode carry no Pro gate. Safety Watch needs a free account. Windy doesn't include these at all.
- People who want a verdict and a dashboard. Windy is a dashboard, a very good one. Submarius is opinionated on purpose.
The philosophical difference.
Windy is a visualization engine. It shows you the weather as it actually is (every model, every layer, every parameter) and trusts you to interpret. Submarius is a decision engine for specific coastal activities. It reads similar inputs, adds things built for each activity (a visibility estimate in dive modes, the bite score, a shark awareness card in Spearfishing mode), and weighs the conditions into a verdict for that activity.
Ask yourself: am I more often trying to understand the weather, or decide if the trip is worth it?
Can you use both?
Absolutely. Before a trip you might check Windy for the big picture, a tide app for the numbers and something else for visibility. Submarius puts most of that behind one verdict, but Windy is still the better tool when you want to explore the weather itself. Use the right tool for the moment.
Evidence and related reading.
Want today's verdict for your spot?
Wind, swell, tides and radar for your spot, plus a 0 to 10 verdict for your activity.