Article

Golden hour apps compared: when a free calculator is enough

PhotoPills, Sun Surveyor and The Photographer's Ephemeris cost $9.99 to $10.99. A free calculator answers the planning; the apps add on-location AR.

Published on Monday, September 28, 2026 at 9:00 AM

Golden hour apps cost money. On the US App Store on 18 September 2026, PhotoPills was listed at $10.99, and Sun Surveyor and The Photographer’s Ephemeris at $9.99 each. A free web calculator gives golden hour times too. So which do you need? For the questions settled before the day, the free golden hour calculator is enough.

Those questions are which evening, what time, which direction and how long the shadows. The apps earn their price on location. Their listings put forward an augmented-reality view through the phone’s camera, and one works out when the Sun clears a hill or a ridge.

What does a free golden hour calculator answer?

The planning questions that need only a city and a date. This is what the golden hour calculator returned when tested in September 2026, in the words of its page.

Planning question	In the golden hour calculator
When golden hour starts and ends	Sunrise to Golden hour end (morning), Golden hour start (evening) to Sunset, to the minute, in the city’s local time
When blue hour starts and ends	Civil dawn to Sunrise, and Sunset to Civil dusk
Which direction the Sun rises and sets	For a single day, both bearings, in degrees and as a compass point
Where the Sun is at a chosen hour	An hour of the day adds its height and bearing at that time
How long a shadow will be	Object height (m), 1.8 by default, gives the shadow at the day’s key instants and at your hour
Which evening of the month to pick	One row per day for this month or the next, and the longest golden evening under “The month in short”
When the Moon rises and sets	Moonrise and Moonset, in the day and month tables
How to take the plan along	A card to share, a .ics calendar file, a calendar subscription, and a CSV of the month
Whether a hill will block the Sun	No: it assumes a flat horizon
What the scene will look like from where I stand	No: there is no camera view

What do the paid golden hour apps add?

What needs the phone in your hand on location. Each listing, read on the US App Store on 18 September 2026, puts forward an augmented-reality view, and two name features the calculator does not have.

App	Price	What its listing adds
PhotoPills	$10.99	“3D Augmented Reality” views of the Sun, the Moon and the Milky Way
Sun Surveyor (Sun & Moon)	$9.99	Augmented-reality projections of the Sun and Moon paths; offline use, maps excluded
The Photographer’s Ephemeris	$9.99, with in-app purchases	An augmented-reality view, and when the Sun or Moon will appear from behind a hill or ridge

Which one should I use?

Use the free calculator to pick the evening, the time and the direction. Buy an app if you shoot on location, where the terrain or the framing decides the shot.

The calculator suits questions asked at a desk, days ahead: choosing an evening in the month table, sending the times to the people coming, putting the windows in a calendar. It needs a connection and a city, and no account or install.

An app suits the photographer who scouts on site and wants to see the Sun’s path over the real scene. Sun Surveyor’s listing also mentions offline use, which matters where there is no signal.

Questions

Do I need an app to know when golden hour is?

No. Type your city in the calculator, enter a date and press “That day’s hours”: the morning and evening windows come first, in local time. What an app adds is the view on location.

Is the golden hour calculator free?

Yes. Its page states no account, no key and no limit, and says the city you search for is used to answer and then forgotten.

Does the calculator work offline?

No, it is a web page and needs a connection. A calendar file downloaded with “Add to my calendar” stays in your calendar, times included.

Can I send the times to the people meeting me?

Yes. A single-day answer carries a card to download or share, and both the day and the month answers offer a .ics file with the golden and blue hour windows.

Sources and further reading

PhotoPills on the App Store — $10.99 on 18 September 2026, and its 3D augmented-reality views.
Sun Surveyor (Sun & Moon) on the App Store — $9.99, augmented-reality projections and offline use.
The Photographer’s Ephemeris on the App Store — $9.99 with in-app purchases, the augmented-reality view and the hill or ridge feature.

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