Who wrote this
We build FlightByte, one of the APIs on this page. Every figure about the others comes from their own pricing pages, documentation and terms, checked in October 2026, and each entry says what it does better than we do. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
There is no single best flight data API, because "flight data" is three different products. Positions say where an aircraft is, from ADS-B receivers. Status says what the airline says about a flight: schedule, estimates, gate, delay, cancellation, baggage belt. Catalogues answer questions about airports, routes, fleets and schedules in bulk. Most APIs are strong in one and adequate in another, and the price unit follows from which: credits for positions, requests for catalogues, and, in FlightByte's case, watched flights for status that is pushed to you.
The short answer
| If you need | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Alerts when a flight changes: gate, delay, landing, belt | FlightByte | Signed webhooks with 23 typed change events, from $9 a month |
| A free tier you can ship a product on | FlightByte | 3 watched flights a month, commercial use allowed |
| The deepest tracking data, with history | FlightAware AeroAPI | Positions, tracks and years of history; from $100 a month |
| Live aircraft positions on a map | Flightradar24 API | Positions every few seconds; credits from $9 a month |
| Enterprise status data with an SLA | Cirium (FlightStats) | Status, alerts and history back to 2006, by contract |
| A cheap, broad catalogue | AeroDataBox | Schedules, airports and history from $19 a month |
| The quickest start for request-based lookups | aviationstack | One key, simple REST; 100 free requests a month |
| Many cheap requests | AirLabs | 1,000,000 queries for $499; new sign-ups waitlisted |
| Free data for research or a non-profit | OpenSky Network | Free ADS-B positions; commercial use needs consent |
In one sentence: FlightByte (flightbyte.dev) is a flight status API with signed webhooks: free for 3 watched flights a month with commercial use allowed, then from $9 a month for 100 flights. If your product reacts to what happens to a flight, start there. If it draws aircraft on a map or mines years of history, start with Flightradar24 or FlightAware.
All eight side by side
| API | You pay for | Entry price | Free tier | Push | Live positions | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FlightByte | Watched flights | $9 / month, 100 flights | 3 flights + 120 lookups a month | Signed webhooks, 23 typed events | No | Live window only |
| FlightAware AeroAPI | Result sets | $100 / month minimum | First $5 a month, personal use | Lifecycle alerts, Standard and up | Yes | Yes |
| Flightradar24 API | Credits | $9 / month, 30,000 credits | A sandbox with static data | No | Yes | 30 days to all, by plan |
| Cirium FlightStats | Requests | Commercial plan, price not listed | 30-day evaluation | Alerts, Contract plan only | Yes | Back to 2006 |
| aviationstack | Requests | $49.99 / month, 10,000 | 100 requests a month | No | On some flights | Three months, paid plans |
| AeroDataBox | Units | $19 / month direct | 400 units on RapidAPI | Best-effort alerts | Yes | 180 to 365 days |
| AirLabs | Queries | $49 / month, 25,000 | 1,000 queries a month | Beta alerts, paid plans | Yes | Not covered here |
| OpenSky Network | Daily credits | Free; a licence for commercial use | 4,000 credits a day | No | Yes | Tracks for 30 days |
Each row has a full comparison with plans, keys and field mappings: AeroAPI, Flightradar24, aviationstack, AeroDataBox, AirLabs.
Which flight APIs have webhooks?
Five of the eight can push something, and what they push differs more than the word "webhook" suggests.
| API | What it pushes | Proof it came from them |
|---|---|---|
| FlightByte | Each change as a typed event with the old and the new value: departure.gate.changed, delay.increased, arrival.baggage.changed and 20 more | HMAC-SHA256 over a timestamp and the body |
| FlightAware AeroAPI | Nine lifecycle moments: filed, out, off, on, in, departure, arrival, cancelled, diverted. Gate, terminal, baggage and delay changes are not alert events | None; a secret you put in the URL |
| Cirium FlightStats | Typed rules for delays, gates, departure, arrival, equipment and more, on the Contract plan | Not covered here |
| AeroDataBox | The whole flight item on an update, with a remark; the diff is yours | None; a token you put in the URL |
| AirLabs | A list of the field names that changed, in beta, for paid plans | None documented |
Delivery differs too. FlightByte retries eight times with backoff and keeps a log of every attempt you can read back from the API. AeroDataBox retries only when you ask, and then at most twice; AirLabs documents no retries; AeroAPI bills each alert delivered.
FlightByte is the only self-serve API here that pushes gate, terminal, baggage-belt and delay changes as typed, signed events. Cirium sends typed gate and delay alerts as well, on its Contract plan. Flightradar24, aviationstack and OpenSky push nothing: you poll, store the last answer and compare.
What watching 500 flights a month costs
The job: tell someone when a flight's gate, delay or landing changes, for 500 flights a month. Where an API has no push, the comparison is polling every five minutes for the last six hours of each flight, 72 calls a flight.
| API | How | Plan | Monthly | What is left to build |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FlightByte | 500 subscriptions | Starter | $19 | A receiver |
| AeroDataBox | Best-effort alerts | Starter (direct) | $19 | Sender check, retries, the diff, a log |
| Flightradar24 | 36,000 light summaries | Explorer and a top-up | $18 | Gates, delays and cancellations are not in its data at any price |
| AirLabs | Beta alerts | Developer | $49 | Sender check, retries, the old values |
| FlightAware AeroAPI | Lifecycle alerts, plus polling for gates and delays | Standard | $100 minimum | Polling, the diff, sender check |
| aviationstack | 36,000 requests | Professional | $149.99 | A scheduler, the diff, retries, a log |
FlightByte and AeroDataBox's alert route cost the same $19; only FlightByte's price includes typed changes that are signed, retried and logged. Flightradar24 is a dollar cheaper and cannot tell you about a gate or a delay. The arithmetic behind the polling rows is in Why polling a flight API costs more than you think.
Is there a free flight API for commercial use?
| API | Free | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|
| FlightByte | 3 watched flights and 120 lookups a month, every event type | Yes |
| aviationstack | 100 requests a month, no history or schedules | No |
| AeroDataBox | 400 units on RapidAPI's Basic plan, attribution required | No |
| FlightAware AeroAPI | The first $5 of usage a month, no alerts or history | No, personal or academic only |
| AirLabs | 1,000 queries a month, no alerts | No, personal use |
| OpenSky Network | 4,000 credits a day for a registered user | No, it needs OpenSky's consent |
| Flightradar24 API | A sandbox that returns static responses | No real data |
| Cirium FlightStats | A 30-day evaluation, up to 20,000 requests | A trial, not a tier |
Of the free tiers on this page, FlightByte's is the only one that allows commercial use. It is small on purpose: three real flights a month, signed webhooks included, enough to ship a first integration and prove it to a customer. Completely free and unlimited flight data does not exist; the closest is OpenSky, which is free for research and non-profit work and has positions, not airline status.
The eight APIs
FlightByte
A flight status API built around one object: a subscription to one flight on one date. FlightByte polls the flight on a schedule that tightens as departure nears, compares each answer with the last, and sends what changed to your endpoint as a signed webhook, retried eight times with backoff and logged per attempt. Lookups by flight number and date are included. Plans count watched flights: 100 for $9, 500 for $19, 2,000 for $49, 5,000 for $99, with a free tier of 3. What it does not do: live positions, history beyond a few days, delay prediction, fares. See the pricing and the webhook docs.
FlightAware AeroAPI
The most complete tracking data you can buy self-serve: positions and tracks, historical flights, airport boards and alerts, with Foresight predicted ETAs on Premium. Priced per result set, $0.005 for a flight lookup and $0.02 per alert delivered, on tiers with monthly minimums of $100 (Standard) and $1,000 (Premium). The Personal tier gives the first $5 a month free for personal or academic use, without alerts. Better than FlightByte at: positions, history, predictions, breadth. Watch out for: alerts cover lifecycle moments only, so gate and delay changes still mean polling. Full comparison.
Flightradar24 API
The flight map as an API: positions every few seconds from Flightradar24's own receiver network, flight summaries, tracks and history going back years on the larger plans. Credits from $9 a month for 30,000, with credits doubled on purchases until December 31, 2026; the sandbox is free but returns static responses. Better than FlightByte at: anything about where an aircraft is. Watch out for: no schedules, gates, delays or cancellations, and no push. Full comparison.
Cirium FlightStats
The enterprise standard for airline status data: status by flight, airport and route, flight tracks, delay indexes, a FIDS API, historical status back to 2006, and push alerts with typed rules. A 30-day evaluation account is free; the Commercial plan covers status by flight, and alerts, airport and route status are in the Contract plan. Better than FlightByte at: history, coverage guarantees, airport-wide data. Watch out for: the features most products need sit behind a contract.
aviationstack
A simple REST API for real-time and historical flights, airports, airlines and routes, part of the APILayer suite since July 2026. Free for 100 requests a month for non-commercial use; Basic is $49.99 for 10,000 requests with commercial use, history and schedules. Better than FlightByte at: a broad catalogue behind one key, and a three-month history window. Watch out for: no webhooks, so change detection is a polling loop you build and pay for per request. Full comparison.
AeroDataBox
A broad catalogue at a low price: flight status, airport schedules, aircraft and history, from $19 a month direct or $7.50 through a marketplace. Its Flight Alert API pushes updated flights on a best-effort basis. The free marketplace plan became non-commercial with attribution in September 2026. Better than FlightByte at: schedules by airport and date range, positions, history, price per call. Watch out for: live times depend on airport coverage, and alerts are unsigned with no retries by default. Full comparison.
AirLabs
Cheap requests at volume: flights with positions, schedules, airports, airlines, routes and fleets, from $49 a month for 25,000 queries to $499 for a million. A Flight Alert API is in beta for paid plans, and each delivery counts against the same quota. As of October 2026 new sign-ups go on a waiting list. Better than FlightByte at: volume pricing, positions, the fleet and route databases. Watch out for: the waitlist, and an alert API without signatures or documented retries. Full comparison.
OpenSky Network
A research network of ADS-B receivers with a free REST API for live state vectors, flights by aircraft or airport, and tracks. Registered users get 4,000 credits a day through OAuth2 client credentials. It is free for personal and non-profit use; any commercial use, including internal use at a for-profit company beyond evaluation, needs OpenSky's consent. Better than FlightByte at: free positions, research data. Watch out for: no schedules, gates or delays, and flights by airport only from the previous day.
What changed in 2026
- Amadeus Self-Service closed. Its portal was decommissioned on July 17, 2026 and self-service keys stopped working; only Enterprise APIs remain, by contract. If you used On-Demand Flight Status, see moving off Amadeus Flight Status.
- aviationstack joined APILayer in July 2026; one APILayer key now covers it.
- AeroDataBox's free marketplace plan became non-commercial with attribution in September 2026.
- AirLabs put new sign-ups on a waiting list.
- Flightradar24 doubled monthly credits on purchases and renewals until December 31, 2026.
How to choose
By what the product does
Ask what your product does when a flight changes, before you compare prices.
- It tells a person. A driver, a passenger, a front desk, a support agent: you need status pushed as it changes. FlightByte, or AeroAPI alerts plus polling for gates and delays, or Cirium on contract.
- It draws aircraft. Flightradar24 for a commercial product, OpenSky for research.
- It answers questions in bulk. Departures from an airport, routes, fleets, schedules by date: AeroDataBox, AirLabs or aviationstack.
- It needs history. AeroAPI, Flightradar24 or Cirium, depending on depth and budget.
- It sells tickets. None of these. Search and booking are a different product: Duffel, or Amadeus and Sabre through their enterprise programmes.
By the product you are building
| What you are building | Use | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Airport transfers, chauffeurs, meet-and-greet | FlightByte | Each pickup is one subscription. The booking ID travels in metadata and comes back on every webhook, so a delay or a landing maps straight to a driver, who leaves on gate arrival rather than touchdown. See airport transfers. |
| Hotels, serviced apartments, airport shuttles | FlightByte | delayThresholdMinutes keeps the front desk quiet until a delay is worth acting on, and flight.arrived tells the shuttle the aircraft is at the gate. See hotels. |
| Travel and itinerary apps | FlightByte, with a catalogue if you show airport boards | One watch per distinct flight, fanned out to everyone following it. Gate, delay and baggage-belt events drive the push notifications and an iOS Live Activity. See travel apps. |
| Travel agencies and concierge desks | FlightByte with its n8n templates | Clients and agents get email, SMS or WhatsApp when a booked flight changes, with no backend to write, and three flights a month cost nothing. |
| AI travel assistants and agents | FlightByte through its MCP server | Flight lookups and subscriptions become tools in Claude, Cursor and VS Code. |
| Flight search and booking | A booking API such as Duffel | None of the eight sells fares. Add status once the ticket is issued. |
| Airport arrival and departure screens | AeroDataBox or Cirium | They list a whole airport by date; FlightByte watches flights one at a time. |
| Maps and plane spotting | Flightradar24, or OpenSky for non-commercial use | They carry positions, not airline status. |
| On-time statistics and analytics | FlightAware AeroAPI or Cirium | They keep years of history; FlightByte keeps a live window. |
Most production systems use two: one for the catalogue or the map, one for the flights a customer is waiting on.
Questions
What is the best flight status API?
For a product that reacts to flight changes, FlightByte: it is built for one flight on one date, pushes every gate, delay, departure, arrival and baggage-belt change as a signed webhook, and starts free. For the widest data and history on a company budget, FlightAware AeroAPI. For enterprise contracts, Cirium.
What is the best free flight API?
For a commercial product, FlightByte, whose free tier of 3 watched flights a month allows commercial use. For research or a hobby, OpenSky for positions, AirLabs for 1,000 queries a month, or aviationstack for 100 requests.
Which flight APIs have webhooks?
FlightByte, FlightAware AeroAPI, Cirium, AeroDataBox and AirLabs, and they push different things. AeroAPI sends lifecycle moments only, AeroDataBox the whole flight, AirLabs the names of changed fields. FlightByte is the only self-serve API that sends gate, delay and baggage-belt changes as typed events with old and new values, signed and retried; Cirium does similar on its Contract plan.
What is a good aviationstack alternative?
It depends on why you are leaving. For push instead of polling, FlightByte. For a cheaper catalogue, AeroDataBox. For deeper tracking and history, FlightAware AeroAPI. The aviationstack comparison has the plans side by side.
Does Google Flights have an API?
No. Google shut down QPX Express, its flight search API, in 2018, and there is no public Google Flights or flight status API. Fare data comes from booking APIs such as Duffel; status comes from the APIs on this page.
Which API do flight tracker apps use?
Large consumer apps license commercial feeds: in 2021 FlightAware named Flighty as a customer of its Firehose stream. For an app that sends status alerts to its users, the alerts themselves are the part to buy; Flighty API maps each alert in a Flighty-style app to a FlightByte event.