ADS-B Data Sources — The Complete Free Iceberg

A deep, live-verified map of every free ADS-B / aircraft-tracking data source on the internet — from realtime position APIs to a keyless SQL database of 279 billion position reports.

Every endpoint listed here was probed live and returned real data (status codes recorded in the probe JSONs). No API keys. No auth. No bullshit — unless explicitly marked dead or paid.

The Monster: adsb.exposed (keyless ClickHouse, 279 BILLION rows)

HOST: https://kvzqttvc2n.eu-west-1.aws.clickhouse-staging.com
AUTH: ?user=website        (empty password — public by design)
FORMAT: &default_format=JSONCompact

• SELECT count() FROM planes_mercator → 279,139,984,548 rows in ~0.7s
• SELECT uniq(icao) → 5,150,899 distinct aircraft ever tracked
• Live to the second (airplanes.live pipe) + 20.4B rows of paid ADS-B Exchange data free
• Full schema: lat/lon/alt/speed/track/squawk/emergency/autopilot modes/IAS/TAS/mach/wind/roll per ping
• Quotas: 1000 queries/min per IP. Bonus datasets: Ships (AIS), Birds, Places, Photos.

SELECT time, lat, lon, altitude, ground_speed, aircraft_flight
FROM planes_mercator WHERE icao='abcac9' ORDER BY time DESC LIMIT 100

Realtime Position APIs (keyless, verified)

Network	Base	Notes
adsb.lol	api.adsb.lol/v2/* (18 paths, spec at /api/openapi.json)	/v2/mil, /v2/ladd, /v2/pia, /v2/squawk/{code}, /v2/type/{T}, /v2/point/{lat}/{lon}/{r}, hex/reg/callsign, /api/0/airport/{icao}, POST /api/0/routeset
adsb.fi	opendata.adsb.fi/api/v2/*	/api/v2/mil, hex + multi-hex
airplanes.live	api.airplanes.live/v2/*	mil/ladd/squawk/point — densest MLAT
OpenSky	opensky-network.org/api/states/all	~12.5k global states, anonymous

Union strategy: poll all three /v2/mil, dedupe by hex → ~220+ military aircraft.

ACARS / VDL / HFDL / SATCOM — airframes.io (anonymous)

api.airframes.io/v1 — public endpoints need no key:

• /v1/messages — live raw ACARS stream
• /v1/flights — live flight registry (tail + ICAO + type)
• /v1/sonde/flights — radiosonde flights w/ serial + position
• /v1/stats — 6,867 stations (297 ACARS + 292 VDL + 71 HFDL + 17 Iridium live)
• /v1/stations — feeder registry

Weather — aviationweather.gov (keyless NOAA/FAA)

/api/data/metar?ids=EGLL&format=json · /api/data/taf · /api/data/airsigmet · /api/data/isigmet · /api/data/windtemp

Radiosondes — SondeHub (keyless)

api.v2.sondehub.org/sondes · api.v2.sondehub.org/sondes/telemetry?duration=3h — live weather balloons.

Gliders / FLARM — Open Glider Network

• aprs.glidernet.org:14580 — raw APRS-IS TCP firehose (free with any registered callsign)
• ddb.glidernet.org/download/ — device DB, ~36k FLARM/OGN aircraft

Registries / Metadata (keyless)

• tar1090-db aircraft.csv.gz (hex→reg→type, canonical)
• Mictronics aircrafts.json
• api.adsbdb.com/v0/... — owner, photos, routes
• hexdb.io/api/v1/...
• airport-data.com/api/ac_thumb.json?m={hex}
• OurAirports CSV (85,820 airports)

History Bulk

github.com/adsblol/globe_history_2023|2024|2025|2026/releases — daily global snapshots as split-tars (~2–4 GB/day) of gzip readsb trace JSON, since 2023.

Raw Firehose (TCP, SDR required)

8 Beast ports verified OPEN: in.adsb.lol:30004 · feed.adsb.fi:30004 · feed.airplanes.live:30004 · feed1.adsbexchange.com:30004 · feed.adsbitalia.it:31108 · feed.planespotters.net:30004 · data.avdelphi.com:24999 (ACARS) · dati.flyitalyadsb.com:4905. Streams are feeder-auth-gated — running an RTL-SDR feeder unlocks them all.

Paid-only (no free path)

Aireon space-based (Iridium) · FR24 official API · ADS-B Exchange live gateway · FlightAware AeroAPI · RadarBox.

Files

• LEDGER-ABYSS.md — the consolidated 8-layer master map (start here)
• LEDGER.md, LEDGER-DEEP2.md — discovery trail
• probe_*.json — live probe receipts backing every claim

License

Data: each source has its own license (adsb.lol = ODbL 1.0). This document: CC0.