How much does StarXTerminator cost?

$60 from RC Astro for a permanent licence, or $190 for the bundle with BlurXTerminator and NoiseXTerminator. There is a free trial.

Does StarXTerminator work in Photoshop?

Yes. It runs in PixInsight, Photoshop CC or later, Affinity Photo 2.0 or later, and RC Astro's stand-alone command-line tool.

Can I keep the stars?

Yes. With Generate Star Image ticked it saves the stars as an image of their own beside the starless one, so you can process both and put them back together.

What computer does it need?

A modern CPU with AVX instructions, on Windows 10 (22H2) or later, macOS 12 or later, or Linux for PixInsight and the stand-alone tool. A GPU speeds it up: automatic on a Mac, extra set-up on Windows and Linux.

Are upgrades included?

The licence never expires. Minor releases are free, and so are major versions released within a year of buying; RC Astro may charge for a later major version.

What have I not tested on the StarXTerminator?

The walk-through ran on a crop of my finished North America Nebula JPEG, not on a linear stack, so it shows the separation rather than a full processing run.

StarXTerminator review: my own stamp on every target

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 16 software on my board, against price
Rank	Software	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	Stellarium	100 out of 100	Free
2	NINA	98 out of 100	Free
4	GraXpert	96 out of 100	Free
5	BlurXTerminator	95 out of 100	£75
10	Siril	88 out of 100	Free
11	StarXTerminator	85 out of 100	£45
13	RegiStax	77 out of 100	Free
15	DeepSkyStacker	71 out of 100	Free
16	Adobe Photoshop	67 out of 100	£22

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 A walk through StarXTerminator
04 From the video
05 In my words
06 Watch it in my videos
07 Should you buy it?
08 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 85/100

Reviewed 30 Sep 2026 Updated 2 Oct 2026

Rank: #11 of 16 software
Verdict: Damon's pick

Written by Damon Scotting 4 min read

Buy it if

You want to process the nebulosity and the stars separately.
You want sharp, vivid nebulosity with small, bright stars that do not distract from it.

Skip it if

You want every processing step to be quick: it is slower to run than BlurXTerminator or NoiseXTerminator.

StarXTerminator is the tool that lets me put my own stamp on the final look of a target.

RC Astro $60

Specifications and features

Against the processing software I have reviewed

Compare with

StarXTerminator reviewed #11 of 16	BlurXTerminator #5 of 16	NoiseXTerminator #8 of 16	PixInsight #14 of 16
Recorded UK price	£45	£75	£45	£258
Stars for Your Buck	85/100	95/100	92/100	76/100
Made by	RC Astro	RC Astro	RC Astro	Pleiades Astrophoto (Spain)
What it is for	Machine-learning star removal: a starless image, and the stars as an image of their own if you want them	Machine-learning deconvolution: sharpens stars and nonstellar detail separately and corrects coma, astigmatism, trefoil, defocus, chromatic aberration, motion blur from guiding errors and seeing variation	Machine-learning noise reduction for astrophotographs, with separate strengths for brightness and colour noise in fine and coarse detail	Processing astrophotographs
Licence	$60, permanent; free trial; bundle of three $190	$100, permanent; free trial; bundle of three $190	$60, permanent; free trial; bundle of three $190	€300 outside the EU; 45-day free trial
Runs in	PixInsight 1.8.9-3 or later, Photoshop CC or later, Affinity Photo 2.0 or later, RC Astro stand-alone command-line tool	PixInsight 1.8.9-3 or later; RC Astro stand-alone command-line tool. Not Photoshop or Affinity Photo	PixInsight 1.8.9-3 or later, Photoshop CC or later, Affinity Photo 2.0 or later, RC Astro stand-alone command-line tool	not recorded
Operating systems	Windows 10 (22H2) or later, macOS 12 or later, Linux (PixInsight and the stand-alone tool)	Windows 10 (22H2) or later, macOS 14 or later, Linux	Windows 10 (22H2) or later, macOS 12 or later, Linux (PixInsight and the stand-alone tool)	Windows 11, macOS 26 and 15, Linux
Computer	A modern CPU with AVX instructions; GPU acceleration automatic on a Mac, extra set-up on Windows and Linux	A modern CPU with AVX instructions; GPU acceleration automatic on a Mac, extra set-up on Windows and Linux	A modern CPU with AVX instructions; GPU acceleration automatic on a Mac, extra set-up on Windows and Linux	not recorded
Current version	2.6.9 (7 Sep 2026), RC Astro's unified tools	2.6.9 (7 Sep 2026), RC Astro's unified tools	2.6.9 (7 Sep 2026), RC Astro's unified tools	1.9.4 Lockhart
Version pictured	2.3.11 with AI 11 in my screenshots	2.0.4 with AI 4 in my screenshots; 2.0.0 with AI 4 in my video	2.3.3 with AI 3 in my screenshots	not recorded

A walk through StarXTerminator

Before A crop of my North America Nebula with its stars, at one to one.

Starless The same crop with the stars removed: the dust lanes and nebulosity are left to process on their own.

Stars only The stars StarXTerminator took out, saved as an image of their own to shrink, colour and put back.

The controls No sliders: tick Generate Star Image to keep the stars, and Unscreen Stars for an image that is already stretched. Version 2.3.11 with AI 11.

From the video

StarXTerminator in my budget filters video

My North America Nebula with its stars removed by StarXTerminator

In my words

“When it comes to the final look of an image, StarXTerminator is the tool that lets me put my own stamp on a target. It separates the stars from everything else, so I can make the nebulosity sharp, textured and vivid while keeping the stars small and bright without letting them distract or make the image look noisy. It does this very cleanly. I am always surprised how long it takes to run, longer than BlurXTerminator or NoiseXTerminator, but it is an essential part of my processing.”

From my dictated take

“Now we're going to remove the star haloing by separating the stars and the nebula with the StarXTerminator tool in PixInsight.”

From my budget filters video

Watch it in my videos

I Bought £58 Astrophotography Filters, Here's What Happened · published 19 May 2026 · 7:48 · Watch on YouTube · 3,373 views, 208 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

1:33 StarXTerminator in PixInsight

Transcript of the video 130 words · 2 chapters · searchable

Press a time stamp to play from there.

1:31 The opening

1:32 But, hey, that's nothing we can't fix. 1:32 We reduce the vignetting by taking flats and now we're going to remove the star haloing by separating the stars and the nebula with the Star Exterminator tool in PixInsight.

1:33 StarXTerminator in PixInsight

1:41 Please be advised that that tool alone costs more than the filter set does. 1:45 With the two separated, I actually now just fix the halo with the blemish tool and you wouldn't even know it was there. 1:51 This is what you'd call a cosmetic level edit. 1:52 It doesn't detract from how the deep sky object really looks. 1:57 So, generally, it's okay. 1:57 No one's going to throw you into astrophotography jail for it. 2:00 Then, we blend the two together, have a play around with the levels and colours, and voila, the North America Nebula.

Should you buy it?

85/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

It separates the stars from everything else, and does it very cleanly.
The nebulosity can be made sharp, textured and vivid while the stars stay small and bright.
Stars stop distracting from the target or making the image look noisy.

Cons

It takes longer to run than BlurXTerminator or NoiseXTerminator.

Slow to run, but an essential part of how I finish an image.

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 StarXTerminator

Reviewed 30 September 2026 ·Updated 2 October 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. How this site is funded

How much does StarXTerminator cost? $60 from RC Astro for a permanent licence, or $190 for the bundle with BlurXTerminator and NoiseXTerminator. There is a free trial. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Does StarXTerminator work in Photoshop? Yes. It runs in PixInsight, Photoshop CC or later, Affinity Photo 2.0 or later, and RC Astro's stand-alone command-line tool. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Can I keep the stars? Yes. With Generate Star Image ticked it saves the stars as an image of their own beside the starless one, so you can process both and put them back together. A walk through StarXTerminator ↓
What computer does it need? A modern CPU with AVX instructions, on Windows 10 (22H2) or later, macOS 12 or later, or Linux for PixInsight and the stand-alone tool. A GPU speeds it up: automatic on a Mac, extra set-up on Windows and Linux. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Are upgrades included? The licence never expires. Minor releases are free, and so are major versions released within a year of buying; RC Astro may charge for a later major version. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
What have I not tested on the StarXTerminator? The walk-through ran on a crop of my finished North America Nebula JPEG, not on a linear stack, so it shows the separation rather than a full processing run.