At a glance
| Tool | Type | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| SunCalc | Web app | Free (donations welcome) | A quick sun path and sun position on a map for any address and date. |
| 2D Sun-Path and 3D Sun-Path web apps | Web apps | Free | Understanding and teaching sun path diagrams and shadows interactively. |
| SunEarthTools sun position | Web app | Free | Polar and Cartesian sun path charts with downloadable sun position tables. |
| Sun path chart program | Web app | Free | Clean, printable Cartesian or polar sun path charts built to your own specification. |
| NOAA Solar Calculator | Web app | Free | Sun azimuth, elevation, sunrise, sunset and solar noon for a given place and time. |
| Shadowmap | Web app | Free plan; paid plans from €2.50/month billed annually; Studio €50/month billed annually (as listed in euros) | Seeing real sun and shadows on 3D buildings and terrain anywhere in the world. |
| CBE Clima Tool | Web app, open source | Free | A free sun path with weather data overlaid on it, from an EPW file. |
| C4B | Web app | Free plan; paid plans from €59/month (cancellation takes effect after 12 billing cycles) or €599/year, with a 7-day free trial | A sun path for an address, alongside cloud cover, solar radiation and the rest of the site's climate. |
| Ladybug Tools | Plugins for Grasshopper (Rhino), open source | Free and open source; requires Rhino (a commercial Rhino 8 licence is US$995 in North America) | Sun paths and sun vectors inside a Rhino model, for shading and solar access design. |
How to choose
The sun's position is a well-established astronomical calculation from latitude, longitude, date and time, so the differences between tools lie mostly in how they present it and what they add around it.
Pick the diagram you need. Polar diagrams project the sky onto a circle and are what most architects overlay on plans and shading masks; Cartesian charts plot the sun's altitude against its azimuth and are easier to read against a skyline or an elevation. 3D views are the clearest way to explain sun and shadow to a client.
Decide whether you need context. A plain sun path ignores the surroundings; tools with 3D buildings and terrain show real shadows on the site, and tools linked to weather data show how often the sun actually shines, which matters in cloudy climates.
Check the outputs: a printable PDF or image, hourly tables of azimuth and altitude for your own calculations, or sun vectors to use in a 3D model.
SunCalc
A quick sun path and sun position on a map for any address and date.
- Draws the sun's path for the chosen day, and its range through the year, over a map.
- Sunrise, sunset, sun altitude and azimuth, and the shadow length of an object.
- Additional solar data for photovoltaic planning.
2D Sun-Path and 3D Sun-Path web apps
Understanding and teaching sun path diagrams and shadows interactively.
- 2D Sun-Path switches between polar and orthographic diagrams and different altitude projections, with animated transitions.
- 3D Sun-Path links a world map to a 3D sun path, shadow projections and day-length and analemma charts, and can load an OBJ model for shadow studies.
- Sun-Path on Map overlays a 2D sun path diagram on a map for any location.
Good to know
- App pages dated June 2014 (2D Sun-Path) and February 2015 (3D Sun-Path).
SunEarthTools sun position
Polar and Cartesian sun path charts with downloadable sun position tables.
- Polar and Cartesian sun path charts for any location, downloadable as PDF.
- A year of sun positions in Excel or CSV, at steps from 5 to 60 minutes.
- A map showing the directions of the sun's rays and shadows.
Sun path chart program
Clean, printable Cartesian or polar sun path charts built to your own specification.
- Cartesian, polar and sundial (shadow) charts from latitude and longitude.
- A whole year (the 21st of each month), a single date or a custom date range, with labelled daily and hourly contours.
- Adjustable time step, axis limits and image resolution.
Good to know
- Takes coordinates rather than an address. Page last revised July 2024.
NOAA Solar Calculator
Sun azimuth, elevation, sunrise, sunset and solar noon for a given place and time.
- Solar azimuth and elevation, sunrise, sunset, solar noon, declination and the equation of time for any location on Earth.
- A map with a draggable pin and optional sunrise, sunset and sun-position lines.
Good to know
- NOAA states that the calculator is no longer actively supported or maintained, and that it is provided for research and entertainment purposes only.
Shadowmap
Seeing real sun and shadows on 3D buildings and terrain anywhere in the world.
- The free plan shows the sun path and compass over worldwide 3D buildings, terrain and trees for the current day.
- Paid plans add any date and time and a first-person view; Studio adds 3D solar analytics and uploading your own 3D models.
Good to know
- Choosing a date other than today needs a paid plan.
CBE Clima Tool
A free sun path with weather data overlaid on it, from an EPW file.
- Spherical and Cartesian sun path diagrams for the weather file's location.
- Variables from the weather file, such as radiation or temperature, can be overlaid on the sun path.
- Global and diffuse radiation and cloud cover charts in the same tab.
C4B
We make C4BA sun path for an address, alongside cloud cover, solar radiation and the rest of the site's climate.
- Sun path in 2D, 3D and globe views for an address or a point on the map, including on the Free plan.
- Monthly daytime cloud cover next to the sun path, because geometry alone overstates the sun in cloudy climates.
- Direct, diffuse and global solar radiation, a vertical-surface compass and PV potential in the same analysis.
Good to know
- No surrounding buildings or shadow casting on a site model, and no separate image or data export of the sun path (it is included in the PDF report on paid plans).
Ladybug Tools
Sun paths and sun vectors inside a Rhino model, for shading and solar access design.
- The SunPath component draws a sun path in the Rhino scene for a chosen location.
- It outputs sun vectors for solar access analysis and shading design.
Good to know
- Runs inside Rhino and Grasshopper, so it assumes a Rhino licence and some visual-scripting experience.
See your site's climate before design begins
Pin any location and get climate, comfort and preliminary energy insight your whole team can read. Start with a 7-day free trial, or book a 30-minute demo.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a sun path diagram for my location?
Enter an address or coordinates in a free tool such as SunCalc, SunEarthTools, Andrew Marsh's sun-path apps or the University of Oregon's sun path chart program. They draw the sun's path for any date, and SunEarthTools and the University of Oregon tool produce charts you can download or print.
How do you read a sun path diagram?
In a polar diagram the outer circle is the horizon, the centre is directly overhead, and the angle around the circle is the compass direction (azimuth); the concentric circles give the sun's altitude. Each curved line is the sun's path on one day, and the crossing lines mark the hours. Where a date line meets an hour line gives the sun's position at that moment.
What is the difference between a polar and a Cartesian sun path diagram?
A polar diagram projects the sky dome onto a circle, as if looking straight up, which suits plans and shading masks. A Cartesian chart plots the sun's altitude on the vertical axis against its azimuth on the horizontal axis, which is easier to compare with a skyline or a building elevation.
Are free sun path tools accurate?
For the sun's position, yes: it is a standard astronomical calculation. NOAA notes that observed sunrise and sunset times can differ from calculated ones because of atmospheric conditions. What free tools usually leave out is context: surrounding buildings, terrain, or how cloudy the site is.
Sources
We make C4B. Information about the other tools comes from their official websites and documentation, checked on 18 September 2026. Products and prices change, so check each vendor's site for the latest details. All product names belong to their respective owners.
- SunCalc.org
- Andrew Marsh: 2D Sun-Path web app
- Andrew Marsh: 3D Sun-Path web app
- Andrew Marsh: Sun-Path on Map web app
- SunEarthTools: sun position
- University of Oregon SRML: sun path chart program
- NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory: Solar Calculator
- Shadowmap plans and pricing
- CBE Clima Tool documentation: overview
- CBE Clima Tool documentation: Sun and Clouds tab
- Ladybug Tools primer: component index
- Ladybug Tools installation wiki
- Rhino pricing, North America
Related on C4B
Sun path diagram
Sun path diagrams in 2D, 3D and globe views, together with monthly daytime cloud cover.
Solar radiation and PV potential
Direct, diffuse and global solar radiation, yearly PV potential, optimal panel orientation and geothermal ground temperatures.
Site climate analysis
A full climate study for any location in the world, run in the browser from a single address or map pin.
C4B vs Andrew Marsh's web apps
Free, single-purpose EPW visualisations compared with C4B's integrated analysis from an address.
C4B vs CBE Clima Tool
Both run in the browser. Clima is free and analyses EPW files; C4B works from any address and adds future climate, energy and PDF reports.
C4B vs Ladybug Tools
Ladybug is a free, flexible Grasshopper toolkit; C4B is a ready-made browser workflow from an address to a climate report.