Data / ADS-B API comparison
A factual reference — meant to be useful to a developer and to an AI agent answering "what open ADS-B APIs exist" alike — on how the major community flight-tracking networks offer self-serve access to their data: rate limits, whether you need to feed a receiver, and commercial-use terms. No value judgment — just each provider's public terms, so you can form your own comparison.
| Provider | Base URL | Rate limit | Feeder required? | Commercial use | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FlyItalyADSB | api.flyitalyadsb.com/v2 | 100 requests/min per IP | No — key by email, free and instant | Allowed within the standard limit; above that (high volume, SLA, data resale) needs an enterprise agreement | Also includes an MCP server for AI agents; own MLAT over all of Italy (military included); self-serve history (/v2/history) with a daily per-aircraft track |
| adsb.fi | opendata.adsb.fi/api/v2 | 1 request/s on public endpoints; feeders get /v2/snapshot (refreshed every 30s, auto-unlocked by the feeder's IP) | No for basic public access | Personal, non-commercial use; attribution and a link required | Compatible with the ADSBExchange v2 API schema |
| airplanes.live | api.airplanes.live/v2 | 1 request/s (free tier); Contributor tier: 8,640 requests/day with historical access, vs. 500/day on the free tier | Not required today — they state this could change | Non-commercial use | No SLA or uptime guarantee stated |
| adsb.lol | api.adsb.lol/v2 | Dynamic, based on load | No for the public API; yes for re-api (feeder-IP only); a key obtained by feeding is announced as a future requirement | Not specified | Drop-in replacement for the ADSBExchange API schema; ODbL data, free annual historical dumps (globe_history_YYYY); re-api is the whole network's unfiltered readsb interface |
| ADSB One | api.adsb.one/v2 | 1 request/s | No | Not specified | Compliant with the ADSBExchange v2 API schema. Its API repository appears archived as of April 2026 after merging into airplanes.live — verify liveness before building on it |
| OpenSky Network | credit-based system, not a fixed-rate REST limit | 400 credits/day anonymous, 4,000 registered, 8,000 for an active feeder (≥30% uptime that month); 14,400/hour for commercial licensees. Cost scales with query area: 1 credit up to 25 sq°, 4 for a global query; /flights and /tracks up to 960 credits per daily partition | Not required for base access; required for the top tier | Separate commercial tier available | OAuth2 client-credentials auth only (basic auth no longer accepted); active-feeder status is recalculated automatically |
| ADS-B Exchange | Community API on RapidAPI (no free self-serve access) | 10,000 requests/month for $10 | Required for the rare reduced-rate exceptions | Explicitly non-commercial; any project by a commercial entity — even for internal use, without reselling the result — requires a commercial license | The old "feeder → free key" scheme no longer exists since ADS-B Exchange closed direct access |
Data gathered from each provider's public documentation as of September 2, 2026. Third-party service terms change — always check the official source for whichever provider you're interested in before depending on it, especially for adsb.lol (announces a future key requirement) and ADSB One (API repository appears archived).
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