As recently as 20 years ago, when you mentioned the phrase “birth chart” in conversation, most people could only tell you their sun sign. These days, many people can rattle off their “Big Three” zodiac signs — their sun, moon, and rising sign — often including the trio in their social media bios. Exploring our charts beyond sun signs has brought some of us to a new consciousness about ourselves and our place in the universe.

But the real magic of astrology comes when you sit down with an astrologer and they see into your soul based only on a graphic interpretation of the sky the moment you were born. Ideally, a real-life astrologer would break down your birth chart, but if that’s not accessible to you, there are a few apps and websites that can create a perfectly serviceable computer-generated one.

A basic natal chart interpretation should tell you those big three signs, what sign all your planets are in and how their energy might express yourself in your life, and what houses your planets are in, and which areas of your life are main focuses for you (for example, home and family vs. career). Some might also identify and explain patterns in your chart, like multiple planets all in one sign or two planets that “work together” in your chart. Below, a few of the best (IMHO) websites and apps that offer free birth charts.

I could write a whole article just on how great Astro.com is. It’s the first place I got my very own free natal chart reading in the late aughts. Astro.com’s horoscopes (the pieces of which are written by human astrologers, then computer-generated into a holistic birth chart for each individual) went online in 1996. They were quickly hailed as the best available, largely because the astrology writing behind the automation are from some of the most world-renowned astrologers living today, like Liz Greene (a pioneer of psychological astrology) and Robert Hand (whose monumental book Planets in Transit is likely on every astrology influencer’s bookshelf).

Once your birth chart has been generated, you can use the AstroClick feature to explore the aspect lines in your chart and get more in depth on what it all means. In addition to the base chart, the site offers 16 different kinds of horoscopes — Psychological, Money and Success, Career and Vocation, and The Child’s Horoscope, to name a few — with free previews of buyable content. The horoscopes all use the same information, your birth chart, but are written by several different astrologers who view the chart through different lenses. The free horoscope with the most complete info is the Personal Portrait, though I highly recommend the Psychological Horoscope by Liz Greene, an 18-25 page astrological deep dive on your chart from a Jungian Psychological lens.

The Best Site for a Gentle Intro to Yourself: Cafe Astrology

Cafe Astrology has been offering horoscopes and a bounty of astrological information about the zodiac signs and planets since 2022. The site is a veritable encyclopedia of beginner astrology with tons of information and explanations. There are many types of reports, some free and some paid, as well as a lot of great “cookbook astrology” like descriptions of each planet in each sign viewed through the lens of a natal chart, or love, or how the latest retrograde planet will affect your sign.