- Product note
- StrataWx for X-Plane 12
- Pre-order
X-Plane 12 weather, written into the sim.
StrataWx for X-Plane 12 is a separate build of our real-world weather engine, in development and targeting 15 August 2026. X-Plane exposes the atmosphere as writable data, so this build writes a true 13-layer wind column, per-layer turbulence and real cloud decks instead of relaying one uniform preset. $40 to pre-order, $45 at release. Nothing to download today: a pre-order is delivered at release, and it can be cancelled any time before then.
- Pre-order today
- $40.00
- At release
- $45.00
A separate build on its own licence. Charged now, delivered at release, and cancellable any time before then.
Pre-order X-Plane 12Windows x64. One-time, per product. No subscription. Free updates, forever.
What the pre-order buys
Delivered at release
$40 now, against $45 at release. A pre-order is not early access and it is not a beta key: there is nothing to download until the build ships. What you are buying is StrataWx for X-Plane 12 at the lower of its two prices, delivered at release, targeting 15 August 2026.
- $40Pre-order price
- $45At release
- $0Updates, forever
A separate build, on its own licence.
StrataWx for X-Plane 12 is its own product with its own licence key. It is not included in an MSFS purchase and it does not include one. If you fly both, that is two buys, and this page says so before the payment step rather than after it.
Your name in the founding supporters list.
Every pre-order is credited by name in an in-app founding supporters list at release. That and the $5 are the reasons to buy it today rather than on the day it ships.
Free updates after that.
Updates to a simulator you already own are always free. One purchase, no subscription, the same terms as the MSFS build carries today.
And you can cancel before delivery.
The checkout says it in the sentence you tick. This is a pre-order, it is delivered at release, and it can be cancelled any time before then.
Why X-Plane 12 gets a different build
Two platforms
The two simulators do not expose weather the same way, and that difference decides what any weather engine can be on each one.
Microsoft Flight Simulator exposes no writable ambient-weather API. Weather has to be handed to it as a single uniform preset and eased in on the way, which is a limit of the platform rather than of any one product, and StrataWx lives inside that limit on MSFS like everything else that injects weather from outside the simulator.
X-Plane 12 does not work that way. It exposes the atmosphere as writable data. That one difference is why there are two builds instead of one binary with a checkbox in it, and it is why the X-Plane build costs more than the MSFS one: it costs more because it does more.
Written per layer, not relayed as one preset
The whole difference
On MSFS, StrataWx models the entire column and then has to express it as one preset the simulator applies everywhere. The modelling is not the constraint there. The last step is.
X-Plane exposes the atmosphere as writable data, so this build writes a true 13-layer wind column, per-layer turbulence and real cloud decks instead of relaying one uniform preset. That is what it is designed to do, and it is deliberately the only capability claim on this page.
There is no feature list here, because a build you cannot download yet has no business publishing one. Everything else in StrataWx for X-Plane 12 is the product you can already read about, buy and run on MSFS today, which is the next section.
The same engine behind it
Not a rewrite
None of the weather modelling is new, and that is the point.
StrataWx for X-Plane 12 is built from the shipping MSFS app rather than written from scratch: the same aggregation of real-world observations and global model data, the same atmosphere built from them, and the same desktop app in the capture above. The layer that changes is the last one, where finished weather is handed to the simulator.
So the modes come across with it, live, historical and sandbox, and so does the part that takes the years to build: an atmosphere that is coherent from the surface to the top of the column, rather than a set of numbers that happen to be current. If you want to see what that looks like before you commit $40 to a build that has not shipped, the MSFS product is the same engine, and the Quick Start guide walks through it end to end.
What this build does not do
Before you pay
Four things, here rather than in a support ticket. If you are shopping for a real-weather addon for X-Plane 12, this is the part of the page worth reading twice.
The weather is written around your aircraft, not across the map.
X-Plane exposes one atmospheric region around the aircraft, so this build writes the sky where you are and carries it with you. It does not vary spatially across the map: there is no line of storms standing over one state while the sun shines two states away. If a spatially varying atmosphere is the thing you are buying, this build is not it, and we would rather lose the sale here than answer for it later.
Onboard weather radar cannot paint injected cells.
The aircraft's weather radar reads the simulator's own weather state, and injected weather is written as a region rather than as individual cells, so a convective cell an external engine builds does not appear on the scope. That is already true of StrataWx on MSFS, it is written into our own engineering notes in those words, and the X-Plane 12 build does not change it.
It is a Windows x64 desktop app.
X-Plane 12 runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. StrataWx is a Windows x64 desktop app and the X-Plane 12 build is being built the same way. If you fly X-Plane on macOS or Linux, do not pre-order this.
There is nothing to download today.
This is a pre-order, not early access and not a beta. The build is in development, targeting 15 August 2026, it is delivered at release, and it can be cancelled any time before then. If you want StrataWx running tonight, buy the MSFS build instead: that one ships today.
Price and delivery
Windows x64
$40 to pre-order and $45 at release, one-time, per product, with free updates forever. Charged now, delivered at release, targeting 15 August 2026. The price list for the MSFS builds is in the pricing section on the home page.
A pre-order is not an instant download, and the checkout treats it differently on purpose. Buying a shipping product here asks you to acknowledge that your download starts as soon as you have paid and that the sale is final from that point. The pre-order asks you to acknowledge something else instead: that it is delivered at release and can be cancelled any time before then. Nothing in it asks you to give up the 14-day withdrawal right, because there is no immediate delivery to trade it for.
Windows x64 · charged now · delivered at release · secure checkout by Polar. Our refund policy applies to the products that ship today; a pre-order can be cancelled any time before delivery.
Already own StrataWx for MSFS?
Separate licence
Then this is a second purchase, and it is better said here than at the payment step.
The $6.99 MSFS cross-grade adds the other MSFS simulator to a licence you already own, in either direction, and one key then unlocks both. It is never a rebuy, and it covers MSFS 2024 and MSFS 2020 only. It does not cover X-Plane 12.
StrataWx for X-Plane 12 is a separate build on a separate licence. There is no bundle that reaches it and no upgrade path into it from an MSFS key, and that runs the other way too: pre-ordering this does not license the MSFS builds. Two simulators from two different companies, two products, two prices.
Questions
When does StrataWx for X-Plane 12 ship?
It is in development and targeting 15 August 2026. A pre-order is $40 and the price is $45 at release. There is nothing to download until it ships: a pre-order is charged now, delivered at release, and can be cancelled any time before then.
Why does the X-Plane 12 build cost more than the MSFS one?
It costs more because it does more. X-Plane exposes the atmosphere as writable data, so this build writes a true 13-layer wind column, per-layer turbulence and real cloud decks instead of relaying one uniform preset.
Does my StrataWx licence for MSFS cover X-Plane 12?
No. StrataWx for X-Plane 12 is a separate build on a separate licence. The $6.99 MSFS cross-grade adds the other MSFS simulator to a licence you already own, and it covers MSFS 2024 and MSFS 2020 only. It does not cover X-Plane 12.
Will the weather vary from place to place across the map?
No. X-Plane exposes one atmospheric region around the aircraft, so this build writes the sky where you are and carries it with you rather than varying it spatially across the map. Onboard weather radar also cannot paint injected cells, on either simulator.
Do I need Windows?
Yes. StrataWx is a Windows x64 desktop app and the X-Plane 12 build is being built the same way. X-Plane 12 itself runs on macOS and Linux, and StrataWx does not, so if that is your machine, do not pre-order this.