ADS-B Exchange
Ranked 3 of 6 flight trackers by recommenders
Shows live aircraft with more data and less filtering than commercial trackers. Critics say it lacks departure and destination airports and some data lags.
Shows live aircraft with more data and less filtering than commercial trackers. Critics say it lacks departure and destination airports and some data lags.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 62%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Free, reliable, less filtered data
“you would almost certainly get better data with higher reliability and no effort and no money spent”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Somebody used spoofed ADSB signals to raster the meme of JD Vance” “less filtered and outright better”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “A joke domain purchase turned in geopolitical warfare” More data than other trackers
“is an alternative to FlightRadar24 with more data”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Flightradar24 for Ships” “adsbexchange is better in every way”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 on Hacker News
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Lacks departure and destination airports
“one thing other flight tracking apps are better at is displaying departure and destination airports of commercial flights”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “does not allow you to see the source/destination of flights”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Flightradar24 for Ships”
Other flight trackers people recommend
The four most recommended other flight trackers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flighty | 42 | 16 | 72% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Airloom | 34 | 4 | 89% | 4 | — | Approved |
| ADS-B ExchangeThis page | 8 | 5 | 62% | 7 | — | — |
| airplanes.live | 6 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
| Flightradar24 | 6 | 5 | 55% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“So much data and the plane icons are all shaped according to their actual design”
“less filtered and outright better”
“the former is too expensive”
“Also data really well delayed compared to adsbexchange.”
“The community never really recovered.”
“They now do selective filtering to appease their commercial clients.”
“does not allow you to see the source/destination of flights”
“is an alternative to FlightRadar24 with more data”
“you would almost certainly get better data with higher reliability and no effort and no money spent”
“Adsbexchange has had some… history”
“Thanks, that is helpful. I can see from it there's lots of plane traffic”
“checks it multiple times daily”
“one thing other flight tracking apps are better at is displaying departure and destination airports of commercial flights”
“adsbexchange is better in every way”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.