8 min readUpdated 2026-08-20
Project Airports vs the MSFS SDK
A fair fight needs a fair referee, and we should say upfront that we aren't one: we make Project Airports. But we're also heavy SDK users - our build servers run the official MSFS SDK toolchain on every airport we compile - so what follows is the comparison we'd want if we were choosing.
Same engine, different cockpit
This isn't a format war. A Project Airports field and an SDK-built field are both standard Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 scenery packages; the sim can't tell them apart. The real difference is who does which work:
- With the SDK, you do everything: learn Developer Mode and the Scenery Editor, author or import assets, compile the package, and hand-distribute it (and every update) to anyone who should have it.
- With Project Airports, you do the design - in a browser editor on a live satellite map - and the platform does the rest: our servers compile your design with the SDK, publish it, and the free companion appsyncs it into your sim and everyone else's automatically.
Where the SDK wins
- Custom assets.Your own 3D models, your own textures and materials, a replica of a specific terminal down to the signage. This is the SDK's whole reason to exist, and nothing else touches it.
- No platform.Your project lives on your disk. No account, no service, no dependency on anyone's servers staying up.
- Commercial work.If you're building payware or a portfolio, the SDK is the professional tool and its output is yours to sell.
- Depth without limits. Every sim subsystem is reachable - custom approach lighting rigs, bespoke jetways, hand-tuned terraforming. When a detail matters more than the time it takes, the SDK is the right place to spend that time.
Where Project Airports wins
- Time to flyable.Runways, taxiways, aprons, lighting, ILS and PAPI, parking, signage, and 25,000+ catalog objects, arranged in a browser in minutes. A simple strip is in your sim within the hour; nobody's first SDK airport is.
- Sharing is the default. Publish once and every pilot running the companion app gets your field automatically - plus a public airport pageyou can link in a Discord or a video description. No zips, no reinstalls, no "which version do you have?".
- Updates ship themselves.Edit your field and the rebuilt package syncs to everyone on their next launch. With the SDK that's a manual redistribution every time.
- A world, not a file. Your airport joins a shared planet of community fields with live traffic, visit income, and an economy that pays you for flying. An SDK package is - by design - just your airport.
- Approach infrastructure included. ILS with a proper magnetic final course, PAPI, and an auto-published instrument approach chart for every ILS runway end, without touching navdata by hand.
Side by side
| MSFS SDK | Project Airports | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free with the sim | Free |
| Runs in | The sim (Developer Mode) | Any browser |
| First flyable airport | A weekend to weeks | Under an hour |
| Custom 3D models | Yes | No - 25,000+ object catalog |
| ILS / PAPI / approach charts | Manual authoring | Built in, chart auto-published |
| Distribution | Zip + manual installs | Automatic sync via free app |
| Your edits reach others | You redistribute | Next sync, automatically |
| Community & economy | None | Shared world, live traffic, Aeros |
| Ceiling | Payware-grade, unlimited | Catalog-grade, growing |
Both produce standard MSFS 2024 scenery packages.
How to choose
Ask what the airport is for. If the answer is craft - the modeling, the detail, the finished artifact - learn the SDK and don't look back. If the answer is flying - your home strip in the sim, a base your group actually uses, a real place that's missing - then the fastest tool that gets wheels on your pavement wins, and that's the one in your browser.
The zero-commitment way to know: open the live demo. It's the real editor on a real community field, no account. If it clicks, your first claim is free; the Your first airport guide takes about fifteen minutes end to end.
Questions
- Is Project Airports a replacement for the MSFS SDK?
- No. Project Airports is built on top of the SDK: its build servers compile every airport with the official MSFS SDK toolchain. It replaces the learning curve and the distribution work, not the sim's own scenery format.
- Can the MSFS SDK do things Project Airports can't?
- Yes. The SDK gives you full creative control, including importing your own 3D models, custom materials, and hand-built terminal interiors. Project Airports builds from a shared catalog of 25,000+ objects, so it trades that ceiling for speed and automatic sharing.
- Is Project Airports free like the SDK?
- Yes. Claiming your first plot, designing, compiling on the build servers, and flying the result are all free. Optional supporter contributions fund the project but are not required to build or fly.
- Do SDK airports and Project Airports airports look the same in the sim?
- Both produce standard MSFS 2024 scenery packages, so the sim treats them identically: they appear in Free Flight search, support ILS and PAPI approaches, and render like any other airport. The difference is what's in them - SDK authors can include fully custom assets, while Project Airports fields are composed from its object catalog.
Free · No SDK · MSFS 2024
Build your airport this afternoon
The live demo opens the real editor on a real community field - no account, no download. If it clicks, your first land claim is free.