Imagery Tool Guide

Satellite Imagery by Date: Free Historical Viewers Compared

Seeing a place on a chosen date means choosing an archive: how far back it goes, how sharp it is, and whether you can download it. Five free tools, compared by job.

Open the Sentinel-2 map (no login)Open the Sentinel-1 radar map

Quick answer — which tool should I use?

It depends on how far back and how sharp. To step through the past images Google has for one place, use the historical imagery slider in Google Earth Pro. For Sentinel imagery from 2015 by date, with downloads, use Copernicus Browser; for a daily global view back to 2000, NASA Worldview; and for Landsat from 1972 or aerial photos from 1937, USGS EarthExplorer. To look at recent Sentinel-2 passes on a date without an account, then search 10 m Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 scenes over your area, use Off-Nadir Delta.

Free satellite imagery by date: the tools compared

Facts last reviewed 2026-10-20.

Tool	How far back	Resolution	Choosing a date	Login	Download	Cost
Google Earth Pro (historical imagery)	Varies by place; no single start date given	Varies by place and image; not stated by Google	Time slider with a mark for each available image	Desktop install (download ends June 25, 2027)	Save the view as a JPG	Free (since 2015)
Copernicus Browser	Sentinel-2 from 2015	Sentinel-2 at 10, 20 and 60 m	From/to date boxes; latest-date button	Free account	yes — JPG, PNG, KMZ, GeoTIFF; full products	Free
NASA Worldview	MODIS true color from Feb 2000	Varies by layer; MODIS true color 250 m	Timeline; animate over time	Earthdata Login to download data	Image snapshots; underlying data	Free (NASA open data)
USGS EarthExplorer	Aerial photos from 1937; Landsat from 1972	Varies by data set (Landsat, aerial, NAIP)	Date range in the search criteria	Account needed to download	yes — scene files	Most downloads free; film scans $30 a frame
Off-Nadir Delta	In-page map from November 2015; workspace Sentinel-2 from November 2016, Sentinel-1 from 2014	About 30 m in-page; 10 m in the workspace	Date picker in-page; date range search in the workspace	None for the in-page map; free account for the workspace	No	Free plan; workspace viewing uses the token allowance

Third-party cells are from each provider’s own pages: Google News Initiative’s historical imagery lesson, Google’s Earth versions page, Google Earth Pro update notice and 2015 announcement; the Copernicus Browser documentation, Sentinel-2 data page and README; NASA’s Worldview page, the Worldview project and the GIBS layer catalog; and USGS’s EROS archive overview and EarthExplorer help. Google Earth is a trademark of Google LLC. Off-Nadir Delta is an independent project and is not affiliated with any of them.

Two kinds of “historical imagery”

Google Earth’s past images and the open satellite archives answer different questions. Knowing which one you need tells you which tool to open.

The images that exist for a place

Google Earth Pro shows the past images Google holds for the view, each with its date. How many there are, and how far back they go, varies by location.

A satellite that passes on a schedule

Sentinel, Landsat and MODIS image the whole Earth on a repeating cycle, so you can pick a date range and expect a pass. Each pass has a known resolution, and the files can be downloaded.

The free tools for satellite imagery by date, by job

Google Earth Pro (historical imagery)

For seeing how a place looked in Google’s own imagery over the years

The desktop Google Earth app. Clicking the clock icon opens a time slider with a notch for every image available for the current view, labelled with its day, month and year. Google says coverage and availability vary by location, and a historical view can be saved as a high-resolution JPG with File > Save > Save Image.

Use it when:: You want to step through the past images Google has for one place, such as before and after construction, and the dates do not need to be regular.
Limitation:: The dates are whatever Google has for that view, not a schedule, and Google gives no single start date. Google says the desktop app will no longer be available for download from June 25, 2027; it points users to Google Earth on the web.

Copernicus Browser

For the official Sentinel archive by date, with downloads

The official viewer of the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem. You set a from/to date or press “Show latest date”, and it covers Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 (L1C and L2A), Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-5P. Sentinel-2 Level-1C is available globally from 2015, with four bands at 10 m. It has compare (split or opacity) and a timelapse you can export as GIF or MPEG4.

Use it when:: You need Sentinel imagery of a place on specific dates and want to download the image or the full product.
Limitation:: Its documentation says a free account is currently needed to use it. Sentinel-2 is optical, so a cloudy pass shows cloud.

NASA Worldview

For daily global imagery back to 2000

NASA’s browser for over 1,200 full-resolution global imagery layers, many updated daily and available within three hours of observation, with a timeline you can animate. Its daily MODIS Terra true-color layer, served through NASA GIBS, starts in February 2000 at 250 m.

Use it when:: You want to see a region on a past day, such as a smoke plume, a flood or snow cover, and regional detail is enough.
Limitation:: The daily true-color layers are coarse next to Sentinel-2, so they show regions rather than buildings. NASA says an Earthdata Login is required to download data and to use some tools.

USGS EarthExplorer

For the longest record: Landsat from 1972 and aerial photos from 1937

The USGS search, discovery and ordering tool for its archive, which spans from 1937 aerial photographs to Landsat from 1972 and millions of satellite images. You search by area and date range, and selected images can be downloaded at no charge.

Use it when:: You need a baseline from decades ago, or the original files to process yourself.
Limitation:: It is a search-and-download tool rather than a map you scroll through, and USGS says the account’s username and password are required for downloading. Scanning an aerial film frame costs a $30 service fee.

Off-Nadir Delta(that’s us)

For looking at a place on a date without an account, then working with the scene

The Sentinel-2 viewer page has a live map that runs without a login: pick a date and it shows Sentinel-2 natural color (about 30 m) from that day and the 4 days before it, or that day only, back to November 2015. With a free account, the map workspace searches Sentinel-2 (from November 2016) and Sentinel-1 radar (from 2014) scenes over an area for any date range and shows them at 10 m, in true color, false color or an index such as NDVI, alongside located world events.

Use it when:: You want to see what a place looked like on a recent or past date, see through cloud with radar, and keep watching the place afterwards.
Limitation:: It is for viewing, not downloading: there is no image download, and result exports (CSV, GeoJSON, JSON) are on paid plans. Viewing scenes in the workspace draws on the monthly token allowance. Nothing goes back before the Sentinel missions.

If you need the image file itself, go to Copernicus Browser or USGS EarthExplorer. Off-Nadir Delta shows scenes on the map and does not offer image downloads.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I see satellite imagery of a place by date for free?▼

How far back does free satellite imagery go?▼

It depends on the archive. The USGS archive, searched through EarthExplorer, starts with aerial photographs from 1937 and the first Landsat satellite in 1972. NASA’s daily MODIS Terra true-color imagery starts in February 2000. Sentinel-2 Level-1C imagery is available globally from 2015 in Copernicus Browser. Google gives no single start date for Google Earth’s historical imagery; it varies by location.

Is there free satellite imagery better than Google Earth?▼

Better for what you need, possibly. Google Earth’s historical imagery has the dates Google happens to hold for a place, with no schedule. The open archives work the other way: Sentinel-2 revisits on a regular cycle at 10 m, Landsat goes back to 1972, and MODIS gives a daily global picture at 250 m. If you need a date of your choosing, a regular series, or files you can download and process, an open archive fits. If you need the detail of the images Google holds for that place, Google Earth is the tool.

Why is there no image on the date I picked?▼

A satellite only images a place on the days it passes over it, and an optical image on a cloudy day shows cloud. A single day of Sentinel-2 or Sentinel-1 is therefore blank over most places. That is why the Off-Nadir Delta Sentinel-2 map stacks several days by default, and why the archives let you search a date range rather than one day. Radar such as Sentinel-1 images through cloud.

Can I download historical satellite images?▼

Yes, from the official archives. Copernicus Browser saves images as JPG, PNG, KMZ or GeoTIFF and downloads full Sentinel products. USGS EarthExplorer downloads scene files once you sign in. NASA Worldview downloads image snapshots, and the underlying data with an Earthdata Login. Google Earth Pro saves the current view as a JPG. Off-Nadir Delta does not offer image downloads.

What happened to Sentinel Hub EO Browser?▼

Planet announced that the Sentinel Hub web applications, including EO Browser, would no longer be accessible from March 20, 2026, and pointed users who mostly work with public data to Copernicus Browser. For Sentinel imagery by date, Copernicus Browser is the direct successor.