Is AutoStakkert! free?

Yes, for private, non-commercial use, and for schools, libraries and charities. A business needs to register and pay.

Which version should I download?

4.0.13 is the newest build, labelled a beta that might be less stable. 4.0.11 is the one the site calls reasonably stable. My screenshots are from 4.0.13.

Does AutoStakkert! run on a Mac?

Not natively. It is Windows software; the site says it runs on macOS and Linux through Wine, with no native versions planned.

Does it colour and sharpen the image?

It can save a lightly sharpened copy, but the real finishing happens afterwards. My eclipse stack was coloured and sharpened after AutoStakkert!, as the before and after shows.

What have I not tested on the AutoStakkert!?

I stacked my own solar eclipse video for this page. I have not timed it against other stackers, and I have not tested its drizzle or RGB align options.

AutoStakkert! review: free planetary, lunar and solar stacking

Where does it rank on my leaderboard

Nine of the 17 software on my board, against price
Rank	Software	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	Stellarium	100 out of 100	Free
2	GraXpert	99 out of 100	Free
4	SharpCap	95 out of 100	£14
8	AutoStakkert!	86 out of 100	Free
9	PHD2	85 out of 100	Free
12	StarXTerminator	81 out of 100	£45
13	ASIStudio	79 out of 100	Free
16	DeepSkyStacker	71 out of 100	Free
17	Adobe Photoshop	67 out of 100	£22

Contents

01 Where does it rank on my leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 A walk through AutoStakkert!
04 Raw against finished
05 Should you buy it?
06 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 86/100

Reviewed 2 Nov 2026 Updated 2 Nov 2026

Rank: #8 of 17 software
Verdict: Damon's pick

Written by Damon Scotting 3 min read

Buy it if

You film the planets, the Moon or the Sun and want one sharp image from the video.
You want the sharpest frames picked for you, for nothing.
You have outgrown RegiStax and want finer control of the stack.

Skip it if

You image galaxies and nebulae: it is made for videos of bright targets, not long deep-sky exposures.
You are on a Mac or Linux and do not want to run Windows software through Wine.

“Planetary stacking is a different universe from deep sky stacking, and AutoStakkert! shows it. Back then you watched hours of YouTube tutorials just to get the basics. But once it clicks, the jump from raw video to finished planet is mind-blowing. I have lost count of the times I looked at a raw Jupiter video and could barely make out the Great Red Spot, only to watch three thousand frames become a crisp image with distinct coloured bands and sharp moons. It is one of the core apps every astrophotographer needs, and it is free. I started with RegiStax, but I get better, more finely tuned results from AutoStakkert!.”

AutoStakkert! Free

Specifications and features

Against the stacking software I have reviewed

Compare with

AutoStakkert! reviewed #8 of 17	RegiStax #15 of 17	ASIStudio #13 of 17
Recorded UK price	Free	Free	Free
Stars for Your Buck	86/100	77/100	79/100
Made by	Emil Kraaikamp	Cor Berrevoets (the Netherlands) and the RegiStax 6 development team	ZWO (Suzhou, China)
Price	Free for private, non-commercial use	not recorded	not recorded
What it is for	Aligning and stacking videos of the planets, the Moon and the Sun	Aligning, stacking and processing images	Planetary and deep-sky capture, live stacking and stacking
Licence	Freeware for private, non-commercial use; a business must register and buy a licence	not recorded	Free download
Operating systems	Windows (64 bit); macOS and Linux only through Wine	Windows (.exe installers); no Windows version named	Windows (64 and 32 bit), macOS, Linux
Current version	4.0.13 beta (19 Feb 2025); 4.0.11 (21 Jan 2024) is the stable build	6.1.0.8 (6 May 2011), an update to RegiStax 6.1	1.22
Saves the stack as	TIF, PNG or FIT	not recorded	not recorded

A walk through AutoStakkert!

Open the video Open the video and two windows appear: the controls on the left, the frames on the right. Mine is a partial solar eclipse, filmed as a SER video.

Choose the stabilisation Planet (COG) for a small disc, Surface for the Moon or a close-up of the Sun. Then press Analyse and it grades every frame.

The quality graph The quality graph sorts the frames from sharpest to softest. I kept the best 30 percent; analysis and stacking took about ten seconds.

Alignment points Alignment points let each part of the disc line up on its own. I placed two, on the sunspot groups, before stacking.

Raw against finished

Should you buy it?

The 1 target, the unprocessed side against my finished image, each with its integration, the camera and the palette:

Partial solar eclipse: The sharpest 30 percent of the video's frames of light, the stack straight out of AutoStakkert!, before colour and sharpening

86/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

“I get better, more finely tuned results from AutoStakkert! than I did from RegiStax.”
It is free for private, non-commercial use.
It grades every frame and draws a quality graph, so only the sharpest part of the video goes into the stack.
Alignment points let each patch of the disc line up on its own, which undoes the wobble of the air.
Fast: my eclipse video was analysed and stacked in about ten seconds.

Cons

“The first time I opened it, it felt like alien software built for my own hobby, and I had no idea what I was doing.”
Windows only: on a Mac or Linux it runs through Wine, with no native version planned.
It stacks and stops there: the colour and the final sharpening of my eclipse happened after the stack.
The newest build, 4.0.13, is labelled a beta; 4.0.11 is the one called reasonably stable.

It is one of the core apps every astrophotographer needs, and it is free.

Who the AutoStakkert! is for

Planetary imager

Buy

This is the tool for turning a Jupiter or Mars video into one sharp picture.

Moon and Sun imager

Buy

Surface mode and a grid of alignment points handle a big disc or a field of craters.

Beginner on a budget

Buy

It costs nothing; expect a learning curve on the first evening.

Deep-sky imager

Skip

For long exposures of galaxies and nebulae, use Siril or DeepSkyStacker.

Mac user

Skip

It is Windows software; Wine is the only route on a Mac.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Six questions, answered

Questions about the AutoStakkert!

Reviewed 2 November 2026 ·Updated 2 November 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Some shop links are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

Is AutoStakkert! free? Yes, for private, non-commercial use, and for schools, libraries and charities. A business needs to register and pay. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Which version should I download? 4.0.13 is the newest build, labelled a beta that might be less stable. 4.0.11 is the one the site calls reasonably stable. My screenshots are from 4.0.13. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Does AutoStakkert! run on a Mac? Not natively. It is Windows software; the site says it runs on macOS and Linux through Wine, with no native versions planned. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Does it colour and sharpen the image? It can save a lightly sharpened copy, but the real finishing happens afterwards. My eclipse stack was coloured and sharpened after AutoStakkert!, as the before and after shows. The raw stacks against the finished images ↓
AutoStakkert! or RegiStax? Both are free. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
What have I not tested on the AutoStakkert!? I stacked my own solar eclipse video for this page. I have not timed it against other stackers, and I have not tested its drizzle or RGB align options.