$ Comparisons
Compare Pro Weather with the alternatives
Every way of putting a weather station online has trade-offs. These comparisons lay them out honestly, including the cases where another option is the better fit.
- Feature-by-feature tables
- Clear choose-when guidance
- Written and maintained by the founder
There are three broad ways to put a personal weather station online. Cloud portals like the WeatherLink dashboard or ProWeatherLive come with the hardware and are the fastest to start with, but the page is theirs: shared layout, their address, limited history. Self-hosted software like WeeWX and CumulusMX gives you complete control in exchange for running and maintaining a computer and web hosting yourself. Hosted services like Pro Weather sit in between: the site is fully yours in branding, domain, and archive, while the hosting, uptime, and updates are handled for you.
Which one fits depends on what you actually want. If you only check your own readings in an app, the bundled portal is enough. If you enjoy the server as a hobby in itself, self-hosting is genuinely satisfying. If the goal is a public website that neighbours, a club, or a school can rely on, without becoming a system administrator, a hosted service is the shortest path.
The comparisons below go through each option in detail, with feature tables and honest guidance on when Pro Weather is not the right choice. Pro Weather is compared as one of the options in each, and that conflict of interest is disclosed on every page.
[demo] Live output
See a real station site
This is a current Pro Weather site, not a generic design mockup. Open it to explore the live conditions and public interface.
$ open weerstationardooie.be
Weerstation Ardooie is a real Pro Weather site publishing live station data right now. Open it to explore the dashboard, charts and forecast for yourself.
Visit the live demoAgainst the bundled cloud portals
The WeatherLink portal and ProWeatherLive both show your data reliably, and both stop short of being a real website. The comparisons cover what each portal includes, what a dedicated site adds (own domain, permanent archive, forecasts, warnings, languages), and how to run both side by side, since neither has to be switched off.
- WeatherLink portal vs Pro Weather
- ProWeatherLive vs Pro Weather
- Both can run in parallel with your existing uploads
Against self-hosted software
WeeWX and CumulusMX are excellent projects with real strengths: full local control, huge flexibility, active communities. The comparisons are specific about where they win, what running them actually involves week to week, and when a hosted site is the more honest answer for the time you want to spend.
- Pro Weather vs WeeWX
- Pro Weather vs CumulusMX
- Hybrid setups: local software feeding the hosted site
The wider field
Beyond the head-to-head pages, the blog keeps broader roundups of weather station software and website options, plus guides on Weather Underground alternatives and the real cost of running your own weather server.
[faq] Before you ask
Common questions
Are these comparisons independent?
No, and they do not pretend to be: Pro Weather writes them and is one of the options compared. They compensate by being specific, factual, and clear about when a competitor or the free portal is the better choice.
Do I have to switch anything off to try Pro Weather?
No. The WeatherLink connection reads the cloud data alongside the portal, and gateway uploads can feed several destinations at once, so a trial runs next to whatever you use today.