Free BaZi calculators compared on 14 edge cases
On October 2, 2026 we entered the same 14 fictional births into free BaZi calculators from Google's first page for "bazi calculator". This page lists what each one returned, next to a reference chart, with the method and raw data.
4calculators tested on all 14 cases; others are not included (see Method)
0 of 4matched the true-solar-time reference on all 14 cases, or on the 13 cases other than the repeated hour
3 of 4gave the previous year, 己卯, for a New York birth just after the Start of Spring (C06)
3 of 4changed the day at midnight; ClearBaZi's default is 23:00. Both are accepted conventions
How to read the results
BaZi tools follow different conventions, so we compare each result with three charts, not one:
- T, true-solar-time reference: local true solar time for the Day and Hour pillars, daylight saving removed, and Year and Month pillars from the exact solar-term instants. Where the 23:00 and midnight day rules give different charts (C03, C10), either counts.
- C, clock-time chart: the same, but with the clock time and no solar-time correction. Several tools work this way on purpose.
- B, clock time read as Beijing time: the clock reading treated as if the birth were in China, with no time-zone or solar-time handling.
- ≠: the result matches none of the three.
A match can be a coincidence: in many cases two or three of the reference charts are the same. C05 and C05b share one clock time (01:30 on the night daylight saving ended, which happened twice), so a form that can't say which 01:30 is meant can match only one of them.
Results at a glance
Hover or focus a case number for what it tests.
| Site | C01 | C02 | C03 | C04 | C05 | C05b | C06 | C07 | C08 | C08b | C09 | C10 | C11 | C12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fsinmotion.com | T | C | T | C | C | T | B | T | C | T | C | T | T | T |
| mingshu.art | T | C | T | C | C | T | B | T | C | T | C | T | T | T |
| mingli.info | T | T | T | T | C | T | T | T | C | T | C | T | T | T |
| ba-zi.ai | T | T | T | T | C | T | B | T | ≠ | T | T | T | T | T |
What differed, case by case
- Births outside China (C06). The Start of Spring 2000 was at 07:40 in New York (20:40 in Beijing). For a 10:00 New York birth, fsinmotion.com (Chinese Metasoft widget), mingshu.art and ba-zi.ai gave the year and month 己卯 丁丑, which is what the clock time read as Beijing time gives. mingli.info gave 庚辰 戊寅.
- True solar time (C02). Perth's clocks run about 22 minutes ahead of its solar time. mingli.info and ba-zi.ai gave 庚午 (solar time); the two clock-time widgets gave 辛未.
- China's daylight saving (C08). 12:00 Beijing time in Ürümqi in July 1990, during daylight saving, is about 08:46 solar time. ba-zi.ai gave 乙巳, one hour later than the reference 甲辰. mingli.info read the time as Xinjiang time (UTC+6), and the clock-time widgets gave 丙午. C04 (Beijing, 1988) did not separate the tools that use solar time: with or without the daylight-saving hour, the solar time falls in the same two-hour block.
- Southern-hemisphere daylight saving (C09). Noon in Sydney in January is 10:57 solar time. ba-zi.ai gave 乙巳. mingli.info listed daylight saving and a 10:57 solar time in its chart parameters but showed 丙午.
- The repeated hour (C05, C05b). None of the four could say which 01:30 was meant. All four gave the hour 乙丑, the second 01:30, for both.
- Day boundary (C03, C10). fsinmotion.com, mingshu.art and mingli.info changed the day at midnight; ba-zi.ai at 23:00. Both count as T.
- Where all four agreed. The year boundary in China (C01), one minute before a solar term (C07), daylight saving in 1945 (C11) and Singapore's UTC+7:30 in 1980 (C12): all four gave the reference chart.
Each calculator: how we entered the data, and what it returned
fsinmotion.com all 14 cases · tested 2026-10-02
fsinmotion.com/bazi-calculator. Embedded Chinese Metasoft widget. Inputs: date, hour, minute and sex. No birthplace, time zone, daylight-saving or solar-time input.
- Clock time is used as entered.
- The day changes at midnight.
- One input covers both 01:30s in C05 and C05b.
Show the site's chart for each of these 14 cases
| Case | Site's chart (Y M D H) | Match | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| C01 | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Xīn Hài | T | |
| C02 | Gēng Chén, Guǐ Wèi, Jǐ Sì, Xīn Wèi | C | |
| C03 | Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Chén, Gēng Zǐ | T | |
| C04 | Wù Chén, Wù Wǔ, Dīng Sì, Yǐ Sì | C | |
| C05 | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | C | |
| C05b | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | T | |
| C06 | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Rén Chén, Yǐ Sì | B | Year 己卯, month 丁丑: the Start of Spring is compared with the clock time as if it were China time. |
| C07 | Jiǎ Chén, Wù Chén, Jǐ Sì, Wù Chén | T | |
| C08 | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | C | |
| C08b | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | T | |
| C09 | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | C | |
| C10 | Jǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Zǐ, Wù Wǔ, Rén Zǐ | T | |
| C11 | Yǐ Yǒu, Rén Wǔ, Xīn Wèi, Jiǎ Wǔ | T | |
| C12 | Jǐ Wèi, Bǐng Zǐ, Guǐ Yǒu, Wù Wǔ | T |
mingshu.art all 14 cases · tested 2026-10-02
www.mingshu.art/tools/wu-xing-chart. Year, month, day and whole hour. No minutes, birthplace, time zone, daylight-saving or solar-time input.
- Same results as the Chinese Metasoft widget on every case.
- Minutes cannot be entered (C03 23:30 became 23:00; C07 08:09 became 08:00).
- The day changes at midnight.
Show the site's chart for each of these 14 cases
| Case | Site's chart (Y M D H) | Match | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| C01 | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Xīn Hài | T | |
| C02 | Gēng Chén, Guǐ Wèi, Jǐ Sì, Xīn Wèi | C | |
| C03 | Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Chén, Gēng Zǐ | T | |
| C04 | Wù Chén, Wù Wǔ, Dīng Sì, Yǐ Sì | C | |
| C05 | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | C | |
| C05b | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | T | |
| C06 | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Rén Chén, Yǐ Sì | B | Year 己卯, month 丁丑, as with the Chinese Metasoft widget. |
| C07 | Jiǎ Chén, Wù Chén, Jǐ Sì, Wù Chén | T | |
| C08 | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | C | |
| C08b | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | T | |
| C09 | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | C | |
| C10 | Jǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Zǐ, Wù Wǔ, Rén Zǐ | T | |
| C11 | Yǐ Yǒu, Rén Wǔ, Xīn Wèi, Jiǎ Wǔ | T | |
| C12 | Jǐ Wèi, Bǐng Zǐ, Guǐ Yǒu, Wù Wǔ | T |
mingli.info all 14 cases · tested 2026-10-02
www.mingli.info/bazi. Birthplace from the site's list; time zone and daylight saving filled in automatically ('Auto UTC'); local solar time on (default).
- The day changes at midnight.
- No choice between the two 01:30s in C05 and C05b.
Show the site's chart for each of these 14 cases
| Case | Site's chart (Y M D H) | Match | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| C01 | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Xīn Hài | T | |
| C02 | Gēng Chén, Guǐ Wèi, Jǐ Sì, Gēng Wǔ | T | |
| C03 | Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Chén, Gēng Zǐ | T | |
| C04 | Wù Chén, Wù Wǔ, Dīng Sì, Jiǎ Chén | T | |
| C05 | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | C | The chart parameters list daylight saving and a −69.6-minute correction (about 00:20), but the hour pillar shown is 乙丑 (01:00–03:00). |
| C05b | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | T | |
| C06 | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Yǐ Sì | T | |
| C07 | Jiǎ Chén, Wù Chén, Jǐ Sì, Wù Chén | T | |
| C08 | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | C | 'Auto UTC' sets Ürümqi to UTC+6, so the result is the Xinjiang-time chart. Selecting UTC+8 changed the on-page preview, but the chart in our run still used UTC+6. |
| C08b | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | T | |
| C09 | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | C | Run twice. The chart parameters list UTC+11, daylight saving and a −63.0-minute correction (10:57), but the hour pillar shown is 丙午 (11:00–13:00). |
| C10 | Jǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Zǐ, Dīng Sì, Rén Zǐ | T | |
| C11 | Yǐ Yǒu, Rén Wǔ, Xīn Wèi, Jiǎ Wǔ | T | |
| C12 | Jǐ Wèi, Bǐng Zǐ, Guǐ Yǒu, Wù Wǔ | T | UTC+7:30 applied automatically. |
ba-zi.ai all 14 cases · tested 2026-10-02
www.ba-zi.ai/en/calculator. Birth region from the site's menu, or a time zone from its IANA list; 'Adjust for true solar time' turned on (off by default) with the city from its list, or coordinates typed in when the city was not listed (C08b, C10).
- The site states that the day changes at 23:00.
- Australian and New Zealand daylight saving and Singapore’s 1980 UTC+7:30 were applied.
- China's historical daylight saving was not removed, in the Mainland China preset or the Asia/Shanghai option: chart times for C04, C08 and C11 are one hour after the reference solar time. C04 and C11 stay in the same two-hour block.
Show the site's chart for each of these 14 cases
| Case | Site's chart (Y M D H) | Match | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| C01 | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Xīn Hài | T | |
| C02 | Gēng Chén, Guǐ Wèi, Jǐ Sì, Gēng Wǔ | T | |
| C03 | Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Dīng Sì, Gēng Zǐ | T | |
| C04 | Wù Chén, Wù Wǔ, Dīng Sì, Jiǎ Chén | T | |
| C05 | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | C | No choice between the two 01:30s; the result equals C05b. |
| C05b | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | T | |
| C06 | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Rén Chén, Yǐ Sì | B | Chart time 09:50 New York solar time, with year 己卯 and month 丁丑. The Start of Spring 2000 was 07:40 New York time. |
| C07 | Jiǎ Chén, Wù Chén, Jǐ Sì, Wù Chén | T | |
| C08 | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Yǐ Sì | ≠ | Chart time 09:46; reference 08:46. |
| C08b | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | T | |
| C09 | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Dīng Mǎo, Yǐ Sì | T | |
| C10 | Jǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Zǐ, Wù Wǔ, Rén Zǐ | T | |
| C11 | Yǐ Yǒu, Rén Wǔ, Xīn Wèi, Jiǎ Wǔ | T | |
| C12 | Jǐ Wèi, Bǐng Zǐ, Guǐ Yǒu, Wù Wǔ | T |
The 14 cases and the reference charts
Fictional birth data. Pillars are Year, Month, Day, Hour. The same cases are explained on How we calculate.
| Case | What it tests | Birthplace, clock time, time zone | Solar time | T: true-solar-time reference | C: clock-time chart | B: clock read as Beijing time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C01 | Between the Start of Spring and Chinese New Year | Beijing, China 2000-02-04 22:00 Asia/Shanghai | 02-04 21:31 | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Xīn Hài | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Xīn Hài | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Xīn Hài |
| C02 | True solar time in a city far from its zone meridian | Perth, Australia 2000-07-10 13:15 Australia/Perth | 07-10 12:53 | Gēng Chén, Guǐ Wèi, Jǐ Sì, Gēng Wǔ | Gēng Chén, Guǐ Wèi, Jǐ Sì, Xīn Wèi | Gēng Chén, Guǐ Wèi, Jǐ Sì, Xīn Wèi |
| C03 | Late Zi hour (23:00–24:00) | Shanghai, China 1998-03-10 23:30 Asia/Shanghai | 03-10 23:25 | Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Dīng Sì, Gēng Zǐ midnight rule: Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Chén, Gēng Zǐ | Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Dīng Sì, Gēng Zǐ midnight rule: Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Chén, Gēng Zǐ | Wù Yín, Yǐ Mǎo, Dīng Sì, Gēng Zǐ |
| C04 | China daylight saving time, 1988 | Beijing, China 1988-07-01 09:10 Asia/Shanghai | 07-01 07:51 | Wù Chén, Wù Wǔ, Dīng Sì, Jiǎ Chén | Wù Chén, Wù Wǔ, Dīng Sì, Yǐ Sì | Wù Chén, Wù Wǔ, Dīng Sì, Yǐ Sì |
| C05 | Repeated hour when daylight saving ended (first) | Beijing, China 1988-09-11 01:30 Asia/Shanghai | 09-11 00:18 | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Jiǎ Zǐ | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu |
| C05b | Repeated hour when daylight saving ended (second) | Beijing, China 1988-09-11 01:30 Asia/Shanghai | 09-11 01:18 | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu | Wù Chén, Xīn Yǒu, Jǐ Sì, Yǐ Chǒu |
| C06 | Born abroad just after the Start of Spring | New York, USA 2000-02-04 10:00 America/New_York | 02-04 09:50 | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Yǐ Sì | Gēng Chén, Wù Yín, Rén Chén, Yǐ Sì | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Rén Chén, Yǐ Sì |
| C07 | One minute from a solar term | Beijing, China 2024-05-05 08:09 Asia/Shanghai | 05-05 07:57 | Jiǎ Chén, Wù Chén, Jǐ Sì, Wù Chén | Jiǎ Chén, Wù Chén, Jǐ Sì, Wù Chén | Jiǎ Chén, Wù Chén, Jǐ Sì, Wù Chén |
| C08 | Xinjiang, recorded in Beijing time | Urumqi, China 1990-07-01 12:00 Asia/Shanghai | 07-01 08:46 | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Jiǎ Chén | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ |
| C08b | Xinjiang, recorded in Xinjiang time | Urumqi, China 1990-07-01 12:00 Asia/Urumqi | 07-01 11:46 | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | Gēng Wǔ, Rén Wǔ, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ |
| C09 | Southern-hemisphere daylight saving | Sydney, Australia 2000-01-10 12:00 Australia/Sydney | 01-10 10:57 | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Dīng Mǎo, Yǐ Sì | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ | Jǐ Mǎo, Dīng Chǒu, Dīng Mǎo, Bǐng Wǔ |
| C10 | True solar time falls on the previous day | Auckland, New Zealand 2000-01-01 00:30 Pacific/Auckland | 12-31 23:06 | Jǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Zǐ, Wù Wǔ, Rén Zǐ midnight rule: Jǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Zǐ, Dīng Sì, Rén Zǐ | Jǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Zǐ, Wù Wǔ, Rén Zǐ | Jǐ Mǎo, Bǐng Zǐ, Wù Wǔ, Rén Zǐ |
| C11 | Daylight saving before 1970 | Shanghai, China 1945-07-01 12:00 Asia/Shanghai | 07-01 11:02 | Yǐ Yǒu, Rén Wǔ, Xīn Wèi, Jiǎ Wǔ | Yǐ Yǒu, Rén Wǔ, Xīn Wèi, Jiǎ Wǔ | Yǐ Yǒu, Rén Wǔ, Xīn Wèi, Jiǎ Wǔ |
| C12 | UTC+7:30, used in Singapore before 1982 | Singapore 1980-01-01 12:00 Asia/Singapore | 01-01 11:22 | Jǐ Wèi, Bǐng Zǐ, Guǐ Yǒu, Wù Wǔ | Jǐ Wèi, Bǐng Zǐ, Guǐ Yǒu, Wù Wǔ | Jǐ Wèi, Bǐng Zǐ, Guǐ Yǒu, Wù Wǔ |
Method
- Selection. Free BaZi calculators on Google's first page for "bazi calculator" on October 1–2, 2026. We left out calculators that need an account, and calculators whose terms of use restrict automated access or reuse of their results. Two of those may be added after a manual re-test. fsinmotion.com embeds a calculator from Chinese Metasoft; mingshu.art returned the same results on every case.
- Entering data. We used each form the way it is laid out, with its default settings, and picked the birthplace from the site's own list where it has one. We turned on true solar time where it is an option and off by default (ba-zi.ai), because the reference uses it; the clock-time comparison (C) covers the other choice.
- Reading results. Pillars were read from each result page. Where a site showed its corrected time or parameters, we recorded those too. Where a result looked inconsistent with the site's own parameters, we ran it again; the notes for each site say which.
- References. The reference charts come from ClearBaZi's calculation engine, which this site also uses. We checked all 28 reference charts (14 cases, both day rules) with a separate setup: Python's IANA time-zone data for offsets and daylight saving, the NOAA equation of time, and the lunar_python library for pillars. All 28 agreed. Solar-term instants were checked against PyEphem as described on How we calculate.
- Raw data. Every result, setting and note on this page: bazi-calculator-comparison-2026-10.json.
Limits
- This is a snapshot from one day. Sites change, and some may already give different results.
- Four calculators are a small sample, chosen partly by their terms of use. The results describe these four, not free BaZi calculators in general.
- The cases are deliberately hard. They say nothing about everyday births far from any boundary, where these tools mostly agree.
- Conventions differ. The day boundary (23:00 or midnight) and whether to use true solar time are choices, and C is a deliberate method for some practitioners. We report matches; we don't score methods.
- ClearBaZi makes a BaZi calculator, and the reference charts come from our own engine. That's why we publish the inputs, the independent check and the raw results.
Corrections
If you run one of these sites, or you see a result that we recorded incorrectly, email support@clearbazi.com. We will re-run the case, update this page and list the change below.
Changes: none yet.
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