AvioADSBWhat is AvioADSB?
AvioADSB is a free real-time ADS-B API for research and personal projects, powered by a community-built receiver network. No key needed to start; share data for 10,000 requests a month.
AvioADSB is a free real-time ADS-B API for researchers and personal projects. You can call it without an API key. Anonymous requests are limited per network. Volunteers around the world run small SDR receivers and feed decoded ADS-B to the network, and in return their accounts get an API key with 10,000 requests a month.
The data is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0. The free API service is for personal and research use; contact us for commercial use.
How the network works
- Contributors run an RTL-SDR receiver with readsb or dump1090 on their own hardware
- A small feeder script streams the decoded SBS output to AvioADSB over TCP
- Each position is checked against the station's radio horizon and for impossible movement, then merged into one live picture
- Anyone can query that picture through the public API
You get what you give
| Anonymous | Contributor | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | Anyone, no signup | Accounts whose receiver shared data in the last 7 days |
| Rate | 1 request / 10 s | 1 request / s |
| Quota | 100 / day | 10,000 / month |
| Point radius | up to 100 nm | up to 250 nm |
Global snapshot /v1/aircraft | no | yes |
If your station goes quiet for more than 7 days, your key keeps working at anonymous limits and returns to the contributor tier as soon as the station feeds again.
Ready to start?
- Public API: endpoints, limits, headers and examples
- Try it in the playground: send real requests from your browser
- Create an account and set up a receiver
- Hardware guide: RTL-SDR, antennas, and MLAT
Also see the blog guides for Pi builds, antennas, and range tips.