Convek vs Windy
A clean comparison for pilots and developers evaluating soaring weather options.
Just about every pilot has Windy open in a tab somewhere - it's the default mental model for 'weather on a map'. Windy also has a Point Forecast API that returns raw model output as JSON. Convek is a different category: not a visualisation product and not a generic NWP proxy, but a soaring-specific data API with native RASP fields from a dedicated WRF run.
What Convek is
Convek is a soaring-specific REST API. We run our own WRF model 4x daily on GFS data, downscaled to 4 km for specific regions, and return native RASP-style fields as structured JSON: wstar, BL height, BL top, cloudbase, soaring ceiling, convergence - with corridor sampling along a route.
What Windy is
Windy is a global weather visualisation product with a developer Point Forecast API that returns raw point forecasts from several global and regional NWP models (GFS, ICON-EU, AROME, NAM, GFS Wave, CAMS). It does not run its own model and does not produce soaring-specific derived fields. ECMWF is unavailable via the API for licensing reasons.
Facts here were accurate at time of writing. If something is out of date or wrong, please let us know.
Which should you pick?
Pick Convek if
You need soaring fields out of the box - wstar, BL height, convergence - not raw temperature and wind from a global NWP.
Pick Windy if
You need raw multi-model NWP point forecasts at global scale and don't need soaring-specific derived fields.
In short
If you want a polished map UI or raw multi-model NWP point forecasts through a familiar brand, Windy is hard to beat. If you want soaring-tuned fields you can build a real product on - not raw temperature and wind at a point - that's what Convek is for.