By the Groundswell team · Lourinhã, Portugal · May 2026
In May 2023, Magicseaweed went dark. Three million surfers in 200 countries opened their phones and found nothing there. No warning, no archive, no migration path — just a redirect and a gap that, three years later, still hasn't been properly filled.
If you've been patching something together since — a bit of Windguru for the wind, Windy for the visual, something else for the swell — you're not alone. Most of the MSW community has been doing the same. This post is an honest look at what's actually out there, what each option does well, and where the gaps still are.
What made Magicseaweed worth missing
Before running through the alternatives, it helps to be precise about what we're actually trying to replace. MSW wasn't just a forecast tool. It was global by default — built for 200 countries, not one coastline. It was clean and honest, with no aggressive upsells sitting between you and the data. And it had earned trust over time: surfers knew which spots it nailed and which ones it tended to miss, and they surfed accordingly.
The community layer — the reviews, the local knowledge built up over years — that's probably gone for good. But the rest of it is what we're looking for: global coverage, honest forecasts, a clean interface, and a price that doesn't sting.
The options, honestly assessed
Surfline
Surfline is the most fully-featured surf forecast on the market. Their HD camera network is genuinely impressive — over 1,000 cameras, real-time footage, expert forecasters who know what they're looking at. For surfers based on the US coast who want that level of detail, it earns its price.
The trade-offs are real, though, and worth knowing. At $120/year (after a price increase in 2025), it's the most expensive option in this space by a significant margin. Coverage thins noticeably outside North America — their spot database and camera network are strongest on the US coasts, with less depth in Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia. And the free tier, while functional, carries advertising.
For surfers primarily based outside the US, or anyone planning international trips, the coverage gap is the practical limitation worth weighing.
Best for: Surfers on the US coast who want HD cameras and in-depth local forecasting.
Surf-Forecast.com
Surf-Forecast.com absorbed a significant portion of the MSW audience after the shutdown, and it's easy to see why — the spot database is enormous (7,000+ named breaks), the coverage is genuinely global, and the core forecast tool is free. Post-2023, it's become one of the most-visited surf sites on the internet.
The experience is functional rather than refined. The interface carries the design sensibility of an earlier era of the web, and ad density is high on mobile — not ideal for the pre-session check in a car park with patchy signal. It's also entirely in English, which matters more than it might seem when you consider that most of the world's surfers don't surf in English.
If you need wide spot coverage and free access, it works. It's a different product from what MSW was, but it covers the fundamentals.
Best for: Surfers who need broad global spot coverage and aren't bothered by a busier interface.
Windguru
Windguru does wind modelling exceptionally well. Kitesurfers and windsurfers built their sessions around it for years, and the loyalty is deserved — the wind data is detailed, frequently updated, and presented in a way that rewards close reading.
As a surf-first forecast, it's less naturally suited. The swell modelling, while present, isn't where the product focuses its energy. The interface is functional but spare, without the surf-native framing — quality ratings, swell-first presentation, session planning — that MSW users were used to. Worth having open alongside a surf-specific tool if wind is the deciding factor for your break.
Best for: Wind-sensitive conditions and anyone who kites or windsurfs alongside surfing.
Windy
Windy's animated weather maps are genuinely beautiful, and the platform is free. A lot of surfers use it for the big-picture read — looking at the swell pattern approaching a coastline before drilling down into a specific spot on another tool. That's a legitimate use.
As a standalone surf forecast, it's not designed to be one. There's no historical data, no surf quality ratings, no spot-specific accuracy information, no way to see what's firing globally at a glance. It's a complement to a surf forecast, and a useful one, but not a replacement.
Best for: Visualising approaching swell systems. Use it alongside a surf-specific forecast.
Groundswell
We built Groundswell, so you should read the following knowing that. What we can tell you is why we built it — because when MSW disappeared, none of the existing options felt like a natural home for the international surf community that had lost it.
Historical swell data. This is the feature we're most proud of, and the one that has no direct equivalent at this price point. Groundswell holds 3.5 years of wave, wind, and swell data for any coastal coordinate on earth — going back to January 2022. If you're planning a trip and want to know what October actually looked like at your destination in 2023 and 2024, not what a seasonal average suggests, you can look that up right now. It's the difference between a guess and a decision.
Published accuracy stats. Every forecast model has error rates. Most apps don't show you theirs. Groundswell publishes its accuracy record — broken down by station, going back 400 days — because we think surfers deserve to know how much to trust what they're looking at before they commit to a session. It's not a marketing claim. It's a number on a page.
Five languages. English, Portuguese (pt-PT and pt-BR), Spanish, and French. MSW served 200 countries. Most of those surfers don't read English as a first language. We're not aware of another surf forecast that's made this a priority.
608 live spots, updated every 3 hours. The Best Surf Now feature shows which breaks are going off globally in real time — useful for travelling surfers or anyone with the flexibility to drive for good conditions.
$40/year, or $4/month. No ads on any tier. No check limits. A 7-day free trial with no credit card required to start. The free tier gives you a 3-day forecast for any spot on earth, no account needed.
We don't have HD cameras. We don't have a team of expert forecasters on call. We're a small team based in Lourinhã, on the Portuguese coast, building something we needed ourselves.
Best for: Surfers looking for global, multilingual coverage with real historical data at an honest price.
At a glance
Surfline — US-strong coverage · limited history · no multilingual · ads on free tier · $120/yr
Surf-Forecast.com — global coverage · some history · English only · ad-supported · free
Windguru — global coverage · limited history · partial multilingual · mostly ad-free · ~€21/yr
Windy — global coverage · no history · multilingual · ad-free · free
Groundswell — global coverage · 3.5 years history · 5 languages · no ads · $40/yr
No single tool replaces everything MSW was. The community, the reviews, the years of accumulated local knowledge — those aren't coming back. But for a clean, global, honest surf forecast that works as well in Portugal or Brazil or France as it does in California, we think Groundswell is the closest thing going.
Try it free at groundswell.surf — no account needed to check your first spot.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to Magicseaweed? Surfline acquired Magicseaweed in 2022 and shut it down in May 2023. The closure was unannounced, with no archive or data export available to users. The domain now redirects to Surfline.
Is there a free Magicseaweed alternative? Yes. Surf-Forecast.com offers free global coverage, and Windy is free for weather visualisation. Groundswell has a permanent free tier — a 3-day forecast for any coastal location, no account required.
Which surf forecast has the best coverage outside the US? Surf-Forecast.com has the widest named-spot database globally. Groundswell covers any coastal coordinate on earth with historical data and multilingual support. For surfers in Europe, South America, or Southeast Asia, these two are generally better fits than US-focused platforms.
Does any surf app have historical swell data? Groundswell holds 3.5 years of wave, wind, and swell records for any coastal coordinate, going back to January 2022. This is the most accessible historical dataset in surf forecasting at this price point, and it's particularly useful for trip planning.
Do any surf forecast apps support languages other than English? Groundswell is fully available in English, Portuguese (pt-PT and pt-BR), Spanish, and French — with more languages planned. Most other surf forecast platforms are English-only.
Groundswell is a surf forecast built by surfers in Lourinhã, Portugal. Try it free at groundswell.surf — no account or credit card needed to start.