Air Manager alternatives for MSFS 2024 instrument panels (2026)

As of September 2026, the best Air Manager alternative for MSFS 2024 is PanelSight: it builds the panel for each supported aircraft by itself, with no hardware knob to buy. The free options do less: Pop Out Panel Manager only places the sim's glass screens, and fsmapper means programming your panel. GlassOut streams glass screens to tablets and monitors.

This page is about Sim Innovations' Air Manager, the instrument panel program, not the career-mode apps with similar names. We make PanelSight. Everything we say about the other tools comes from their own websites and documentation, listed at the end, and prices are as of this writing.

Why look for an Air Manager alternative?

Air Manager works with MSFS 2024: support arrived in version 5.0, and 5.2.7 is the current download as of this writing. It draws 2D instruments from sim data, lets you design panels with them, connects hardware, and has apps for iPad and Android tablets. When people look for something else, these are the usual reasons:

• Hours of setup for every aircraft. Each aircraft you fly has to be configured by hand. You find a panel in the library or build one, placing and sizing each instrument yourself, and link it to the aircraft. For glass aircraft you also line up the sim's pop-out window behind the drawn bezel (Air Manager's manual calls its click-through setting "essential" for this), and teach a separate pop-out manager where that window goes. Then you do it again for the next aircraft with a different panel.
• Knobs that need extra hardware. Turning small drawn knobs with a mouse or a finger is awkward, and Sim Innovations' own answer is a hardware knob: the Knobster, which it says works "much more realistically, accurately and quickly than with mouse clicks or touch control gestures". You still touch or click a knob on the screen to select it, then turn the Knobster.
• The price. As of this writing, the desktop version costs €65 before VAT, and the Knobster another €95, so the two together come to €160 before VAT. The iPad app (€22.99) and the Android app (€23.99) are separate purchases.

So the useful question about any alternative is how much of that cost and work it removes. We describe what the Air Manager setup involves in 3 ways to get an instrument panel on a second monitor.

Is Air Manager worth it?

Air Manager has been around for years and is now in its fifth major version. It is best for people who want to spend a lot of time configuring each aircraft exactly the way they want it, or who build a customized home cockpit with real hardware that mimics a real airplane. If you only want the correct panel for the aircraft you already fly, you pay €65 before VAT, or €160 before VAT with a Knobster (prices as of this writing), for flexibility you may not use, plus the time to configure every aircraft.

Air Manager alternatives compared

The quickest way to tell these tools apart is by the job each one does:

• Air Manager recreates the instruments: it draws gauges and bezels from sim data. It doesn't recreate the glass screens themselves; for those you use the sim's pop-outs and a pop-out manager.
• Pop Out Panel Manager moves the sim's own glass screens into place, and GlassOut is the next generation of that idea: it streams the screens instead of popping them out.
• PanelSight does both jobs: the recreated instruments of Air Manager and the glass screens of Pop Out Panel Manager or GlassOut, set up automatically for every aircraft it supports.
• fsmapper is more of a programming toolkit: it can also do both jobs, but only once you write the whole panel yourself in Lua code.

Air Manager first, as the reference, then the alternatives, all as of September 2026. On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways.

"Works without setup for each aircraft" is about the work before your first flight in a new aircraft. "Nothing to do each flight" is about what is left after that, once the tool is set up the way its documentation recommends.

The alternatives, one by one

PanelSight (paid, with a free trial)

PanelSight is the one we make, and it is built to remove the setup that Air Manager asks for. It detects the aircraft you load and builds that aircraft's panel by itself: there is no panel to find or build, no bezel to line up, and no separate pop-out manager. For steam-gauge aircraft it draws the gauges from sim data, colored arcs and redlines included. For glass aircraft it pops out the sim's own screens, places them, and mounts them in a drawn bezel whose knobs and buttons work by touch or with the mouse, with no knob hardware to buy: each knob has a large area around it where you scroll or turn, so there is no small target to aim at. Load a different aircraft and the panel changes with it. It fills a second monitor, or sits as an overlay on your only screen.

As of this writing, it costs €17.95 until 15 October 2026, then €29.95, one-time. The 7-day trial includes every aircraft and feature, and the Cessna 172 overlay stays free.

What it doesn't do: it works only with MSFS 2024, and only with general aviation aircraft, 28 of them as of this writing. It runs on screens connected to your PC, so there is no tablet or phone app, although a tablet works through SpaceDesk. And you can't design your own panels yet; that is on the roadmap. Who it's for: MSFS 2024 pilots who fly supported general aviation aircraft and want the right panel without setting it up.

MSFS Pop Out Panel Manager 2024 (free)

Pop Out Panel Manager is not really a replacement for Air Manager; it is built to work alongside tools like it. It pops out the sim's glass screens and puts each window where you told it to. You set up a profile for each aircraft by clicking each screen in the cockpit, and after that it can pop the screens out by itself when a flight starts. It also adds touch to pop-out windows. It is free and open source.

It can only move screens that the sim already pops out, so there are no steam gauges, and no bezel: the knobs and softkeys stay in the 3D cockpit. Who it's for: pilots of glass aircraft who want a free tool and don't need a bezel.

fsmapper (free)

fsmapper is a free, open-source Windows program for building a home cockpit. It can draw its own instruments from sim data and place the sim's pop-out windows in the same panel, for MSFS 2024, MSFS 2020 and DCS World. The cost is that you write everything in Lua: there is no panel editor, and the glass screens still have to be popped out in the sim by hand each flight. Who it's for: people who write code and want a free, fully custom panel.

GlassOut (paid, in beta)

GlassOut, in public beta since April 2026, streams the sim's glass screens to phones, tablets, a web browser or your monitors, without pop-outs. Tapping a screen sends a click to the sim. As of this writing, it costs $18 during the beta, plus tax. It supports MSFS 2020 and 2024 with DirectX 12 only. You set up a layout for each aircraft. Its documentation covers display screens only: it doesn't mention analog gauges, or the knobs and buttons around a screen. Who it's for: pilots of glass aircraft who want the screens on a tablet or phone.

Other tools you may see mentioned

SPAD.neXt (€24.99, plus €19.99 for on-screen gauges, both before VAT as of this writing) is mainly for setting up hardware controls; its gauges are small separate windows, and its documentation doesn't mention the sim's glass screens. The Touch Portal MSFS plugin is free but needs Touch Portal Pro ($13.99 as of this writing), and it puts buttons and switches on a phone or tablet rather than an instrument panel. Kevin King's MSFS-Webpanels shows one fixed Cessna 172-style panel in a tablet browser, and its developer lists support for MSFS 2020 only. None of the three builds an instrument panel for your aircraft, so we left them out of the table.

Is there a free alternative to Air Manager?

Yes, but neither free tool gives you a ready panel. Pop Out Panel Manager only moves the sim's glass screens, with no steam gauges and no bezels, and with fsmapper you program the whole panel yourself in Lua. Free lowers the price, not the hours of setup. PanelSight's Cessna 172 overlay is also free, with no time limit, although panels on a second monitor need a license.

Direct comparisons

Air Manager vs Pop Out Panel Manager

• They are not rivals: a typical Air Manager setup for a glass aircraft uses both.
• Air Manager draws the panel and its bezels; Pop Out Panel Manager puts the sim's glass screens behind them.
• That is two programs to set up for every aircraft. PanelSight does both jobs in one, with no setup for the aircraft it supports.

GlassOut vs Pop Out Panel Manager

• Both handle only the sim's glass screens, with no steam gauges and no knobs, and both need a profile or layout for each aircraft.
• Pop Out Panel Manager is free and places pop-out windows on your monitors.
• GlassOut is paid and streams the screens instead, so they also work on a phone or tablet, but it needs DirectX 12.

PanelSight vs Air Manager

• Both put steam gauges and glass screens on a second monitor.
• Air Manager is a flexible panel builder, with hardware support and tablet apps, but you set up every aircraft yourself, with a pop-out manager and often a hardware knob.
• PanelSight builds the panel for each supported aircraft by itself, in one program. Choose Air Manager to design your own panels, and PanelSight to skip the setup.

PanelSight vs Pop Out Panel Manager

• Pop Out Panel Manager pops out the sim's glass screens and puts them where you placed them, with a profile for each aircraft.
• PanelSight does that by itself, then mounts each screen in a bezel whose knobs and buttons work, and draws the steam gauges too.
• For the aircraft PanelSight supports, Pop Out Panel Manager is unnecessary.

Which one should you pick?

• You want the right panel for the aircraft you fly, with nothing to set up and no knob hardware to buy: PanelSight, if it supports your aircraft.
• You fly glass aircraft and want a free tool: Pop Out Panel Manager.
• You write code and want a free, fully custom panel: fsmapper.
• You want glass screens on a phone or tablet: GlassOut.
• You want to spend time configuring each aircraft exactly your way, build a home cockpit with real hardware that mimics a real airplane, or put drawn gauges on an iPad: Air Manager.

These tools change often. Found something wrong or out of date in this comparison? Please let us know at contact@panelsight.net.

Sources, checked in September 2026: Air Manager product page, manual and release notes, and the Knobster page; Pop Out Panel Manager 2024; fsmapper; GlassOut; SPAD.neXt; Touch Portal and its MSFS plugin; MSFS-Webpanels.