Sanctuary sells you a person. We sell you nothing.

A human reader can do things software can't. That cuts both ways, and this post takes both sides.

3 min read · Published 7 September 2026

Before the detail

Sanctuary is a marketplace: you pick a reader from a roster of astrologers, psychics and tarot readers and talk to them by text or voice, starting at $4.99 for a five-minute introductory reading and charged per minute after that, with a Sanctuary+ subscription alongside. AsterNym computes your chart across eight systems for free and nobody is on the other end. If your question needs a person who can hear the follow-up, pay for a reader. If it needs a chart and its conventions, that's us, and we built us.

A reading from a person, on demand

Sanctuary's App Store listing describes 24/7 readers reachable by text chat or voice call, a roster you browse by bio and speciality, and per-minute pricing after a $4.99 five-minute introduction. It carries 4.8 stars from about 44,000 ratings, checked 7 September 2026.

That's a different product category from ours and it does something no software does. A reader can hear that your voice changed when you mentioned your sister and follow it. They can decline to answer. They can tell you the thing you didn't ask about. Every consultation tradition, in every culture that has one, works this way for a reason.

What per-minute pricing does to a reading

The meter is the part to think about before you start. Per-minute pricing rewards a reader who keeps talking and punishes one who says "that's all the chart supports". None of that means any individual reader is doing it; the incentive sits in the format, and it's the same incentive that shapes phone psychic lines.

Sanctuary's own listing also shows fixed-price options, including a 10-minute psychic reading at $49.99 and a 10-minute tarot reading at $29.99, plus Sanctuary+ at $14.99 monthly or $49.99 annually. A fixed price agreed in advance is the safer shape, and it's what our guide to finding an astrologer tells you to insist on with any practitioner.

Where a human reader beats us outright

Follow-up questions, which is most of what a real consultation is.
Judgement about what to leave out. We publish a refusal list; a good reader applies one live, and can hear when a question is really about something else.
Tarot and psychic work, which we don't offer at all. Our tarot is a computed birth card and a card of the day, not a reading with a person.
Being witnessed. Some questions want another human present, and no chart engine substitutes for that.

Where the computed chart wins

It costs nothing, so you can sit with it as long as you like without watching a meter.
It shows its sources. Every placement and convention is printed, which means you can take our reading to a live reader and ask them to argue with it.
Eight traditions at once, which no single practitioner is likely to hold.
Nothing is upsold. There's no next package after this one.

Do this before you pay per minute

Read your own chart first, free, and write down the two or three questions it raised. A reader who charges by the minute is much better value when you arrive knowing what you want to ask.

Then apply the same checks you would to any practitioner: which system, which house system, a price agreed in advance, and what they refuse to answer. Any reader charging you by the minute should answer all four without irritation.