What are the best free non-combat flight simulators?

Question

6

Options
Considered

97

User
Recs.

Sep 3, 2023

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

6 Options Considered

Best free non-combat flight simulators	Price	Platforms	License
-- FlightGear	Free	Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi, FreeBSD, others	open source
-- GeoFS	Free / paid	-	-
-- X-Plane 11	$60 US	-	-
-- Microsoft Flight Simulator	-	-	-
-- Google Earth Flight Simulator	-	-	-

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score 23 · Answer 1

FlightGear

Top Pro

Worldwide scenery

FlightGear has scenery that contains environments to fly in from the whole globe. See More

Top Con

Not as graphically advanced as commercial competition

MerryAoGuang's Experience

Free and wonderful! See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi, FreeBSD, others

Top Pro

Free and Open Source

All code written for FlightGear is opensource and available for anyone to use. See More

Top Con

Getting stuck upside down

After a crash a pilot may be stuck in an upside down position with no way to recover. See More

DynamicConsus's Experience

Definely the BEST See More

Top Pro

Crash animations in some aircrafts

RickZeeland's Experience

FlightGear is an open-source multi-platform flight simulator. There is also a military combat add-on: Bombable. See More

Top Pro

It has world-wide multiplayer

Top Pro

Live cockpit

Top Pro

A lot of aircrafts to add

Top Pro

It has amazing graphics

Top Pro

You can almost recreate real incidents

Top Pro

No bugs

See All

score 33 · Answer 2

GeoFS

Top Pro

No need to download

Just pop up the website and you're ready to go! See More

Top Con

Can be a bit glitchy

PatientEmpusa's Experience

I Love this simulator! See More

Top Pro

Have fun and fly in a wide variety of planes, helicopters, paragliders and even hot air balloons

LoyalMushmahhu's Experience

has good hd See More

Top Pro

You can access nearly every place on earth for free. You can also land at various airports all around the world

BrightAnu's Experience

i mean my parents dont allow me to download and this is browser. This is very good for a browser and recommend this to everyone See More

Top Pro

Enjoy the huge multi-player program and get to fly in real life commercial traffic

Top Pro

Free to use

Top Pro

There's joystick support available

You can use the program with a joystick, which is available for you from major web browsers. See More

Top Pro

Large community

GeoFS has a large community of enthusiasts following it. You'll get to interact and share tips with different people who share the same interests as you do. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Can be run on Linux, Mac, Windows and mobile. See More

See All

score 16 · Answer 3

X-Plane 11

Top Con

Community

If you play GeoFS, it's recommended to choose single player. The community is very bad. See More

Pam Pap's Experience

Extremely realistic (and challenging for a non real-world pilot) See More

GraciousIhy's Experience

Moving from FSX to xplane was the best thing i could have done. Even with payware scenery addons fsx still lacked the beautifulness of xplane. If you have the storage space i reccomend creating Ortho tiles for free with ORtho4xp. THe flightmodel is excellent and I hvaen't spent a dime on xplane since i bought it. THe freeware selection is great. See More

DynamicConsus's Experience

The worst See More

ExceptionalDazbog's Experience

GeoFS has lots of potential, but the community ruins it all. From military to non-sensical VAs, GeoFS community has it all. See More

See All

score 6 · Answer 4

Google Earth Flight Simulator

Top Pro

There's a lot of available tutorials online on how to use it

Top Pro

The look of it is like you're flying a real plane

Top Pro

You can already use this if you have Google Earth

See All

score 4 · Answer 5

Orbiter Space Flight Simulator

Top Pro

You can simulate flying in space

The program contains high-resolution models of many planetary masses. See More

Top Con

It is laggy a lot

Top Pro

You can also learn programming while learning about flight

Top Pro

You can design your own rockets or use those made by other users

Top Pro

You can actually learn the concepts and mechanics of a space flight

See All

What are the best free non-combat flight simulators?

6 Options Considered

FlightGear

My Recommendation for FlightGear

My Recommendation for FlightGear

Worldwide scenery

Not as graphically advanced as commercial competition

Free and Open Source

Getting stuck upside down

Crash animations in some aircrafts

It has world-wide multiplayer

Live cockpit

A lot of aircrafts to add

It has amazing graphics

You can almost recreate real incidents

No bugs

GeoFS

My Recommendation for GeoFS

My Recommendation for GeoFS

No need to download

Can be a bit glitchy

Have fun and fly in a wide variety of planes, helicopters, paragliders and even hot air balloons

You can access nearly every place on earth for free. You can also land at various airports all around the world

Enjoy the huge multi-player program and get to fly in real life commercial traffic

Free to use

There's joystick support available

Large community

Cross-platform

X-Plane 11

My Recommendation for X-Plane 11

My Recommendation for X-Plane 11

Community

Google Earth Flight Simulator

My Recommendation for Google Earth Flight Simulator

My Recommendation for Google Earth Flight Simulator

There's a lot of available tutorials online on how to use it

The look of it is like you're flying a real plane

You can already use this if you have Google Earth

Orbiter Space Flight Simulator

My Recommendation for Orbiter Space Flight Simulator

My Recommendation for Orbiter Space Flight Simulator

You can simulate flying in space

It is laggy a lot

You can also learn programming while learning about flight

You can design your own rockets or use those made by other users

You can actually learn the concepts and mechanics of a space flight

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