The app: In addition to providing in-depth astrological insights into a user’s own personality, The Pattern allows users to explore their compatibility — or identify challenges that might arise — with friends, family members, co-workers, and romantic interests.

The Pattern recently introduced a feature where users can determine their compatibility with certain celebrities, although the results might dampen hopes that your favorite singer might also be your soulmate. (“I love Keanu Reeves,” says Mecca Woods, Bustle’s resident astrologer. “I tried to match myself up with him, and they told me it would be very difficult [because of our compatibility].”) In 2021, the company started beta-testing a feature that allows users to evaluate the strength of potential romantic connections based on information drawn from their respective birth dates.

Who should use it: Users praise the app’s eerie accuracy in explaining why some relationships work more naturally than others.

Price: Free, with in-app purchases.

The app: The Sanctuary app offers live birth chart, psychic, and tarot readings, with the option to chat with a professional astrologer anytime. It also provides an extensive library to help further illuminate readings and define terms, as well as daily horoscopes, a compatibility calculator, and daily free tarot and crystal readings.

Who should use it: People interested in easy access to astrologers, and in receiving the information in an easy-to-understand format. “They break down what the planets mean, what the houses mean, which could be good for beginners,” Woods says.

Price: Free, with in-app purchases of live readings.

The app: Time Passages’ app, like its desktop counterpart, is accessible to both beginners and professional astrologers. It creates a chart based on the user’s date, time, and location of birth, and provides extensive interpretations of each chart feature, as well as an in-depth glossary of astrological terms for novices. Users also can receive daily horoscopes tailored to their birth charts, compatibility meters for friends and romantic interests, and complete interpretations for transits and progressions.

Who should use it: Astrologer, tarot reader, and author Solaris the Hii Priestess turns to Time Passages most frequently, citing its ability to switch between different systems of reading. “It’s a little more educational, especially if you’re interested in having a bit of a deeper look at what astrology actually means,” she says. “It works for beginners and for people with a bit more background. It can be guided, but meets everyone where they are.”

Price: Free, with in-app purchases.

The app: Astro Gold provides professional-level charts, interpretations, and transit listings. For an additional charge, it can provide custom reports on topics including birth charts, relationships, children, pets, and one-year predictions.

Who should use it: The app isn’t fully geared toward beginners, although the reports are written to benefit users of all levels.

Price: $39.99 for a lifetime subscription, with in-app purchases.

The app: Co-Star uses algorithms to analyze NASA data about the planets’ movements and match them with text written by in-house astrologers. The app, which has amassed 2 million Instagram followers by meme-ifying the zodiac, is known for its direct, surprisingly accurate, and occasionally cutting observations and suggestions. Users can add friends to keep track of their compatibility and daily updates; for extra fees, users can pay to see their compatibility with people who aren’t on the app and receive advanced readings.

Who should use it: People looking for a more social experience and those who don’t mind having their feelings hurt by their horoscope.

Price: Free, with in-app purchase.

The app: Famed astrologer Susan Miller has been publishing horoscopes on her site, Astrology Zone, since 1995. Her app provides similar content in an easier-to-navigate format. Free subscribers can access short daily and monthly horoscopes. Paid subscribers receive more comprehensive horoscopes, can read Miller’s essays, and can look up the best days for them to stage an initiation (e.g. begin pursuing new goals like a job search or apartment hunt).

Who should use it: Loyal Miller readers or people seeking no-frills, traditional horoscopes.

Price: Free, $4.99 monthly, $12.99 three-month, and $49.99 annual subscriptions.

The app: AstroMatrix advertises itself as an “all-in-one Astrology app for the Modern-day Astrologer.” In addition to providing a detailed birth chart guide and daily horoscopes, the app allows users to access past life information, see up-to-the-minute planetary progressions and transits, keep track of different planets’ retrogrades, and receive tarot card readings. Users can also align their birth charts with their lovers’ and friends’.

Who should use it: People who want more than just top-line summaries of their horoscope or compatibility chart. The app provides detailed reports.

Price: Free, with $2.49 monthly, $9.99 six-month, $14.99 annual, and $24.99 lifetime subscriptions.

The app: While Western astrology is based on the position of the sun, Vedic astrology, or Hindu astrology, focuses on how the stars’, planets’, and moon’s positions in the sky impact a person’s life journey. The Moonly app provides an introduction to Vedic astrology, with a moon calendar describing phases of the moon and how they can affect people’s energy. An archive of articles provides information about reading moon phases, understanding horoscopes, and applying this knowledge to daily decision-making. It also offers a daily tarot reading and information about interpreting ancient runes.

Who should use it: Moonly is a great option for expanding your knowledge beyond Western astrology. The app also offers a variety of mindfulness services, including affirmations, guided meditations, and a healing music radio station. “It’s great if you want to get into a ritual, if you want to start incorporating more spirituality into your astrology,” says Sesay of Lilith Astrology.

Price: Free, with paid monthly subscriptions starting at $3.99, annual subscriptions starting at $19.99, and a $79.99 lifetime subscription.

The app: Deluxe Moon positions itself as the most comprehensive free moon application. It provides real-time information about the moon’s position relative to the user’s location, moonrise and moonset times, elevation, percent of illuminated moon area, and more.

Who should use it: Sesay recommends Deluxe Moon for keeping her aware of what phase the moon is in, if there’s a full moon, and whether any eclipses are expected in a given month. The app also provides recommendations and precautions to users based on the current moon day (a lunar day, which is the time it takes for the moon to rotate once on its axis relative to the sun, is the length of about 29.5 Earth days). For users with a green thumb, the premium version of the app also offers gardening advice tailored to the current moon phase.

Price: Free, with in-app purchases.

The app: If you’ve never been able to figure out which three stars in a row comprise Orion’s Belt, SkyView can help you identify the constellations and planets above you. Users can point their phone’s camera at the sky and the app will trace and describe the galaxies, stars, constellations, and even satellites overhead. It tracks the sun and moon’s daily paths and allows users to set reminders for upcoming celestial events. Once those events begin, the app will guide you through finding their position in the sky.

Who should use it: Anyone with an urge to look up. “It’s an interesting way to see the stars besides on a chart,” Sesay says.

Price: Free, with in-app purchases.

The platform: A paid monthly or annual subscription allows users to access Black Moon Lilith Collective, a private streaming platform and community (not an app) from Sesay’s Lilith Astrology that is aimed at people dedicated to empowerment and manifestation. The video content covers horoscopes, feng shui, meditations, and spiritual coaching; soon, there will be a foundational tarot course and a human design course. “It’s more about self-empowerment and results than just me telling you what the latest transits are,” Sesay says. “It’s an accessible way to have an ongoing dialogue and access to this conversation.”

Who should use it: Many of Black Moon Lilith Collective’s community members opted to join the paid platform after growing familiar with Lilith Astrology’s free editorial content.

Price: $44 monthly or $365 annually, with a $20 discount through Jan. 1, 2023 with code LILITH20.