Honest, side-by-side. AeroScope isn't trying to replace Flightradar24 or FlightAware — those have airline scheduling, paid feeds, and large in-house infrastructure that a one-person project can't match. Here's what we do, what we don't, and when it makes sense to pick one of the others.
| AeroScope | Flightradar24 | FlightAware | ADS-B Exchange | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live ADS-B map | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Receiver footprint | Aggregated from 3 crowdsourced networks | ~40k own receivers | ~30k own receivers + FAA SWIM | Large community network |
| Satellite ADS-B (open ocean) | No | Yes (Aireon) | Limited | No |
| Airline scheduling / ETAs | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Unfiltered military / blocked aircraft | Whatever the upstream feeds publish | Filtered on request | Filtered on request | Unfiltered |
| Integrity / physics checks | DO-260B field checks, position-jump and envelope detection | Not exposed | Not exposed | Some |
| Explainable ML anomaly flags | Consensus of ≥2 detectors, contributing features shown | Not exposed | Not exposed | No |
| Open benchmark dataset | ADS-B Anomaly Benchmark v1, CC-BY 4.0 | No | No | No |
| Drone-candidate scoring | Heuristic (flight profile + category code) | No | No | No |
| Route deviation flagging | Yes, for known callsigns | Implicit (ETA changes) | Yes | No |
| Threat / attention score (0–100) | Composite of integrity + emergency + military + proximity | No | No | No |
| Geofence / watchlist alerts | Free with account | Paid tier | Paid tier | No |
| Public REST + WebSocket API | JWT-authenticated, on the site | Paid | Paid (commercial) | Free |
| Mobile native app | Web (responsive) | iOS + Android | iOS + Android | Web only |
| Price | Free | Free + $9–50/mo | Free + $5–90/mo | Free / donation |
| Run by | One independent maintainer | Commercial company (SE) | Commercial company (US) | Volunteer org |
You want a tracker centred on your own location that's transparent about its sources and limitations, exposes integrity checks and explainable ML anomaly flags that other consumer trackers hide, publishes its anomaly work as an open dataset, and lets you watchlist or alert without a paywall. Best for hobbyists, OSINT learners, and researchers who value plain explanations over polish.
You want the most polished consumer experience, the largest receiver network, satellite ADS-B for open-ocean coverage, and a great mobile app. The right choice for travellers checking flight status and most casual plane-spotters.
You need authoritative flight status, ETAs derived from FAA SWIM, historical playback, and a commercial-grade API for an aviation business. Strong for operators, FBOs, and dispatchers.
You want raw, unfiltered ADS-B with the largest unfiltered receiver community and don't need account features or extra analyses on top. Long the OSINT favourite for the same reason.
What AeroScope adds on top of the public ADS-B feeds is the analysis layer — not just plotting dots. Integrity and physics checks, drone-candidate scoring, formation clustering, the composite threat score, and a torch-free ML pipeline that flags an aircraft only when two independent detectors agree (with the contributing features shown) are all visible in the panel and the API. The anomaly work is also published as an open benchmark dataset under CC-BY 4.0, which the commercial trackers don't offer. None of it is hidden behind a paid tier. The trade-off is that we don't have FR24's receiver network or FlightAware's airline-grade scheduling data; if those are what you need, use them.
The other thing worth saying: AeroScope is one person's project. That keeps the design and the data flow legible, but it also means we don't have an SLA, a support team, or 24/7 ops. Bug reports and questions go to the contact page.