What is the best live flight tracker?

Flightradar24 has a rapidly growing network of 35,000 ground stations around the world to receive this data that then shows up as aircraft moving on a map in the app.



In 2026, Flightradar24 remains the most popular and widely considered "best" live flight tracker due to its massive global network of over 40,000 ADS-B receivers. It offers an immersive 3D view, allowing users to see exactly what the pilot sees, and an augmented reality (AR) feature where you can point your phone at a plane in the sky to identify its flight number and destination. For power users and aviation professionals, FlightAware is often preferred for its superior "Predictive ETA" technology and detailed "Where is my plane?" feature, which tracks the aircraft's previous legs to anticipate delays. Another top contender is Flighty, which has gained a cult following for its slick user interface and lightning-fast push notifications that often beat the airline's own alerts. Whether you are a "planespotter" or just a traveler wanting to know if your flight is on time, these apps provide real-time data on speed, altitude, and weather conditions for nearly every commercial flight.

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You can also track a flight via the airline's app by navigating to the Flight Status tool (you can also find this on an airline website). Though each airline has its own tracking features, they typically show the departure and arrival times, gate information, altitude, and map of where the plane is located.

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FlightAware is one of the best online flight trackers because of how much detail it goes into.

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Flightradar24 is a free flight tracker app and includes all the above features. If you want even more great features from Flightradar24 there are two upgrade options—Silver & Gold—and each comes with a free trial.

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For aircraft without known destination, position is estimated for up to 10 minutes. The position is calculated based on many different parameters and in most cases it's quite accurate, but for long flights the position can in worst cases be up to about 100 km (55 miles) off.

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Flightradar24 is the more customizable of the two, and while FlightAware says it tracks more flights, it lacks options like showing planes on the ground. (There's also a third flight-tracking app and website, Planefinder, which looks and feels similar to Flightradar24 and has the same price for the premium version.)

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US $9.99. VAT, if applicable will be calculated on the payment order page. For personal use only - check out our Commercial-use options.

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FlightRadar gives detailed information about all flights in the near future and the past while Plane Finder shows flights which have departed and are in the air. You can't see flights in the future. A point for FlightRadar. Plane Finder allows you to set multiple Filters at once, FlightRadar doesn't.

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Easily track the status of your flight, check for any delays on the inbound aircraft, see weather radar, and set up alerts to be notified of any changes – all for free!

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According to Similarweb data of monthly visits, flightaware.com's top competitor in August 2023 is flightstats.com with 9.4M visits.

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Flightradar24 is a free flight tracker app and includes all the above features. If you want even more great features from Flightradar24 there are two upgrade options—Silver & Gold—and each comes with a free trial. Silver and Gold upgrade prices are listed in the app as they vary depending on your country and currency.

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By the time it landed in Taipei, SPAR19 was being tracked by more than 708,000 people around the world, making it the most tracked live flight in Flightradar24 history. Over the seven hours from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei, a total of 2.92 million people followed at least a portion of the flight.

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According to FlightAware, a flight-tracking software company, the short answer is: a lot. Since planes are constantly landing and taking off, the exact number fluctuates but in 2017, FlightAware calculated there were, on average, 9,729 commercial aeroplanes in the sky at any time.

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Flightradar24 is a Swedish company that provides real-time flight tracking data. The company was founded in 2006 by two aviation enthusiasts who wanted to create a way for people to track aircraft in real time.

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Restricted aircraft Operators of private or sensitive aircraft may request their tracking details be restricted or not displayed. Generally, aircraft requesting that they not be displayed on Flightradar24 are military aircraft. Some military aircraft, such as various transport aircraft, are visible.

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This is often done for security reasons. It means the owner has requested that the craft's details (tail #, filed flight plan, etc) not be displayed.

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While flight tracking information can provide useful climate information, it can also pose high-risk threats to safety and privacy if users escalate from comments behind computer screens to the physical locations shared in real time.

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From 3 March 2020, ADS-B data collected by satellite was made available to all users. Aircraft located using satellite data are coloured blue on the map, and yellow if located by terrestrial receivers.

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