The Best 10 Flight Tracker Apps: Paid & Free Compared

A good flight tracker app does two jobs. It warns you about a delay before the departure board does, and it tells you exactly when to leave for the airport to pick someone up — no more circling the arrivals loop because a flight landed early.

It’s also surprisingly good fun. Out on a walk or a hike, hold your phone up to a plane passing overhead and the app will tell you where it took off, where it’s heading and which airline is flying it. Yes, flight tracking apps are not maybe the most useful travel apps, but they can quickly turn airplane watching into a game: guess the destination before you check, or spot the most unexpected route of the day. Flightradar24 even has an augmented reality view that labels the aircraft on your camera screen as you point it at the sky.

There are plenty of options, but three dominate: Flightradar24, FlightAware and Flighty. We’ve tested all three, compared their free plans and paid tiers, and worked out which one suits which kind of traveler.

Top 10 Flight Tracker Apps

• Flightradar24 — best for the live map and plane spotting. Free with ads; Silver from $2.99 a month, Gold from $3.99. 4.8 on the App Store, 4.5 on Google Play, 50M+ downloads.
• FlightAware — best free flight alerts and status. Free with ads; Premium+ from about $45 a month. 4.9 on the App Store, 3.8 on Google Play, 10M+ downloads.
• Flighty — best for knowing about a delay first. Free with no ads; Pro $59.99 a year or $299 once. 4.8 on the App Store. iPhone, iPad and Mac only.
• AirNav Radar (formerly RadarBox) — the closest alternative to Flightradar24. Free with ads; subscriptions from about $2 a month. 4.4 on Google Play, 1M+ downloads.
• Plane Finder — best for identifying planes with your camera. Free with ads; Premium $3.49 a month or $19.99 a year. 4.7 on the App Store, 4.6 on Google Play, 1M+ downloads.
• ADS-B Exchange — best for unfiltered traffic, including military and private jets that other trackers hide. Free, funded by donations.
• AirHelp — best if your flight is delayed or canceled: it tracks the flight, then files a compensation claim for you. Free to track; a fee is taken only from a successful payout. 4.7 on Google Play, 500k+ downloads.
• TripIt — best for turning confirmation emails into one itinerary, with flight alerts attached. Free; Pro $49 a year.
• byAir — best ad-free tracker, on either platform. Free, with optional in-app upgrades. 4.6 on Google Play.
• OpenSky Network — best for researchers, students and developers. A free API and historical database rather than a consumer app.

Most Popular Flight Tracking Apps Reviewed & Compared: Flightradar24, FlightAware and Flighty

1. Flightradar24

Flightradar24 began in 2006 as a hobby project by two Swedish aviation enthusiasts, Mikael Robertsson and Olov Lindberg, covering northern and central Europe before opening to the public in 2009. The company is still based in Stockholm, and its live map has become the default way for millions of people to watch a flight move from A to B.

How it works

Flightradar24 builds its live map mainly from ADS-B — Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast. Most commercial aircraft now carry ADS-B transponders that broadcast their GPS position, altitude, speed, heading and identity roughly every second.

The company runs a network of around 50,000 ground receivers, many hosted by volunteers, that pick up those signals and send them to its servers. Where aircraft don’t broadcast ADS-B, Flightradar24 uses multilateration (MLAT) in a growing number of regions to calculate their position from the timing of their signals. The result is displayed on the website and app as thousands of aircraft moving in real time.

In the app, you can search by flight number, call sign, aircraft registration, airline or route, or simply tap any plane on the map.

Pricing and features

Flightradar24 is free to use, but the free version carries ads, times out after a while and limits some features.

The paid upgrades are Silver and Gold, available monthly or annually, with prices that vary by country and currency — in the US, Silver runs from about $15 a year and Gold from about $35 a year. There’s also a Business plan for commercial use, priced at around $500 a year.

Here’s what each tier gets you:

Gold adds weather layers, aeronautical charts and more detailed aircraft information on top of Silver. For personal use, though, the main reasons to pay are to lose the ads, stop the map timing out, and save bookmarks for flights you follow regularly. More than a week of flight history also helps when you’re checking how reliable a route is before you book.

Reviews

⭐ App Store: 4.8/5 (659,000+ ratings) ⭐ Google Play: 4.5/5 (656,000+ ratings)

2. FlightAware

Most people think of Flightradar24 first, but FlightAware is actually a year older. Daniel Baker launched it in 2005 from Houston, Texas, originally so family and friends could follow his own flights. Collins Aerospace, part of RTX, bought the company in 2021.

How it works

FlightAware also relies mainly on ADS-B, backed by thousands of other data sources, including air traffic control feeds and airline data.

Like Flightradar24, it uses multilateration (MLAT) to locate aircraft that transmit Mode S signals without broadcasting their position. When at least four receivers pick up the same aircraft, FlightAware compares the arrival times of the signal to calculate where it is.

All of that data runs through FlightAware’s HyperFeed system, which uses rules and machine-learning models to reconcile conflicting information into one continuous track, then adds flight status data — departures, arrivals, delays and estimated arrival times.

Pricing and features

FlightAware’s free Basic account lets you set five flight alerts and save five aircraft — more than the single bookmark Flightradar24 allows for free.

Its paid tiers, though, are aimed at aviation professionals and cost considerably more. Premium+ starts at around $45 a month, with unlimited alerts and up to 50 saved airports. Enterprise ($99.95 a month) adds fleet tracking and fleet alerts, and Enterprise WX ($149.95 a month) unlocks every data layer, including advanced weather.

The upshot: FlightAware’s free tier gives you more tracking tools than Flightradar24’s, which makes it a great starting point. But if you want to pay for extras, Flightradar24’s Silver and Gold plans are far better value for travelers and enthusiasts.

Reviews

⭐ App Store: 4.9/5 (384,000+ ratings) ⭐ Google Play: 3.3/5 (45,300+ ratings)

3. Flighty

Flighty launched in 2019, founded by former Apple employee Ryan Jones, who came up with the idea during a long flight delay. Its pitch is simple: tell passengers about delays sooner — and more clearly — than the airline does.

Flighty is available on iPhone, iPad and Mac only. There’s no Android version.

How it works

Flighty takes a different approach from the other two. Rather than being a map of every plane in the sky, it’s built around your trips, pulling in what it calls “pilot-grade” data — FAA and air traffic control advisories, NOTAMs and airport information — and turning it into predictions and alerts.

Our favorite feature in testing was Where’s My Plane? Up to 25 hours before departure, it shows you which aircraft will operate your flight and where it is right now, which is often the earliest warning you’ll get of a delay. If your plane is still two cities away an hour before boarding, you’ll know before the gate agent announces it.

Flighty also shows your flight’s live position once it’s airborne. Some users feel its tracking is a touch less precise than FlightAware or Flightradar24, but its design is far more intuitive — it’s the easiest of the three to pick up and use.

Pricing and features

Flighty keeps it simple: Flighty (free) and Flighty Pro.

The free version is genuinely good. It has no ads — a big plus next to the free tiers of Flightradar24 and FlightAware — and it offers unlimited flight tracking with live data. It also includes Flighty Passport, which logs your flight history and stats and lets you share them, and Flighty Friends, for following other people’s trips.

Upgrading to Pro adds:

• Unlimited history — every past flight, with full stats
• Trip import and sync from email, calendar and TripIt
• More than 65 instant alerts for delays, gate changes and more
• Airport delay trends, gate predictions and a connection assistant

New users get all Pro features free for their first tracked flight. After that, prices are:

For frequent flyers, the annual plan is the one to pick. It costs more per year than Flightradar24 Silver, but Pro is built entirely around passengers — delays, connections and gates — rather than the live map.

Reviews

⭐ App Store: 4.8/5 (151,000+ ratings) ⭐ Google Play: not available

Where Flight Tracker Apps Get Their Data

All three apps start with the same raw material: signals broadcast by the aircraft themselves. Most commercial planes carry ADS-B transponders, and the tracking companies collect those signals through ground receivers — tens of thousands of them, many run by hobbyists in their homes.

Both Flightradar24 and FlightAware reward those volunteers. Hosting a receiver earns a free top-tier account; FlightAware, for instance, gives its data feeders an Enterprise account that would otherwise cost $99.95 a month. If you’re an aviation enthusiast with a spot on the roof, it’s the cheapest way to unlock everything.

Out over the oceans, where there are no ground receivers, coverage comes from satellite-based ADS-B and from estimated positions based on the flight plan. That’s why a transatlantic flight can occasionally appear to jump across the map rather than glide smoothly.

Why Some Flights Don’t Show Up

If you can’t find a flight, it isn’t always the app’s fault. Some aircraft don’t appear on public trackers at all:

• Private and business jets can ask to be blocked or anonymized — in the US, through FAA privacy programs — so their tail number or route is hidden.
• Military and government aircraft often don’t broadcast publicly.
• Older aircraft without ADS-B may only appear where MLAT or radar data is available.

For an ordinary airline flight, though, all three apps will almost always have it.

Flight Tracker App vs Your Airline’s App

It’s worth keeping both. Your airline’s app is the official source for your booking, boarding pass, seat and final gate — and the place any rebooking happens.

A flight tracker, especially Flighty, is often faster to flag a problem, because it watches the aircraft rather than waiting for an official update. When the inbound plane is late, a tracker usually shows it before the airline changes your departure time. That early warning can be the difference between grabbing the last seat on another flight and queuing at the service desk.

Can You Track a Flight for Free?

Yes. All three apps have a free version that tracks live flights, and you can also type a flight number into Google or check the airline’s website for basic status.

For free live tracking with the best map, use Flightradar24 and put up with the ads. For free alerts and a clean interface, Flighty (on iPhone) or FlightAware is the better choice. Pay only if you fly often, want to remove ads, or need longer flight history.

Our Verdict: Which Flight Tracker App Is Best?

All three are excellent, but they’re built for different people:

• Best free flight tracker: Flighty if you’re on iPhone — no ads and unlimited tracking. On Android, FlightAware’s free tier gives you the most alerts.
• Best-value paid tracker: Flightradar24. Silver and Gold cost a fraction of the alternatives and remove the ads that make the free version tiresome.
• Best for beating delays: Flighty. Where’s My Plane? and its passenger-focused alerts are the closest thing to knowing about a delay before the airline tells you — as long as you have an Apple device.

Looking for more tools for the trip itself? See our guides to the best travel apps, eSIMs for travel, VPNs for travelers and the rest of our digital life guides.