Free vs Commercial ADS-B API
OpenSky Network vs SkyLink API
The OpenSky Network is an excellent non-profit research network with a free ADS-B API — and for research or personal projects it is often the right choice. When you are building a commercial product, SkyLink gives you enriched ADS-B (registration, type, airline), weather, NOTAMs and airports under a commercial licence with a 99.9% uptime SLA.
Commercial
Licence on every paid plan
vs research / non-commercial
Enriched
ADS-B records
registration, type, airline
One API
Whole aviation stack
tracking + weather + NOTAMs
99.9%
Uptime SLA
vs none
Feature comparison
OpenSky Network vs SkyLink API at a glance
A free research feed versus a commercial aviation data API — the differences that matter once customers depend on your product.
| Feature | OpenSky Network | SkyLink API |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for research & non-commercial use | Free trial (1,000 req/mo), paid plans from $19/mo |
| Commercial use | Requires a separate arrangement | Included on every paid plan Licensed |
| Live ADS-B positions | Yes — state vectors | Yes — ~5 s updates, bounding-box queries |
| Registration, type & airline | Not in the state vector — bring your own registry | Resolved on the same record |
| METAR / TAF weather | Not available | Yes — decoded, US & international |
| NOTAMs | Not available | Yes — live, structured, any ICAO airport |
| Airport database | Not a core offering | 74,000+ airports, runways, frequencies & navaids |
| Historical data | Yes — research archive | ADS-B tracks up to 365 days (90 d Pro, 365 d Business) |
| Rate limits | Credit-based, set for research workloads | Per-plan quotas and per-second limits, documented |
| Uptime SLA & support | None — volunteer research service | 99.9% published, priority support |
OpenSky Network terms per its public documentation: the API is provided for non-commercial research and educational use, with commercial use arranged directly. Verify current terms and limits with OpenSky.
Beyond flight status
Where SkyLink API goes further
Everyone decodes the same ADS-B broadcasts. What a commercial API adds is the enrichment, the surrounding aviation data, a licence your legal team can read and someone accountable for uptime.
True ADS-B, ~5-second updates
SkyLink reads raw ADS-B receiver data — ICAO24 hex, callsign, latitude, longitude, altitude, ground speed and track — sampled roughly every 5 seconds, with bounding-box queries for any map viewport.
Decoded METAR & TAF weather
Fully decoded METAR observations and TAF forecasts across US and international airfields — wind, QNH, visibility, cloud layers, temperature and dew point — alongside live flight data.
Complete airport & navaid database
Search 74,000+ airports by ICAO, IATA, city, location or IP, with runways, frequencies, navaids (VOR, NDB, ILS) and elevation.
ML flight-time, FAA delays & carbon
An ML gate-to-gate flight-time model, a real-time FAA delay-status feed, and ICAO-based carbon estimates — all behind one key.
Quick scan
Capability scorecard
Why teams move
Why developers choose SkyLink API
One API for the whole stack
ADS-B, weather, NOTAMs, airports, navaids, charts, schedules, ML predictions and an MCP server — behind a single key and one SLA. Consolidate vendors and ship faster.
Transparent, developer-first pricing
A 1,000-request monthly free trial, self-serve paid plans from $19 with an instant API key, and no sales calls or annual contracts to get started.
Production-grade reliability
99.9% uptime SLA, region-local endpoints and sub-second responses — built for apps that can’t afford downtime.
One API key
The whole aviation stack
Everything below ships under a single SkyLink key - most of it OpenSky Network does not offer at all.
OpenSky Network vs SkyLink API: common questions
The OpenSky Network is an excellent non-profit research network with a free ADS-B API — and for research or personal projects it is often the right choice. When you are building a commercial product, SkyLink gives you enriched ADS-B (registration, type, airline), weather, NOTAMs and airports under a commercial licence with a 99.9% uptime SLA.
OpenSky Network: Free for research & non-commercial use. SkyLink API: Free trial (1,000 req/mo), paid plans from $19/mo. Every SkyLink plan includes all data endpoints and paid plans include a commercial licence.
OpenSky Network: Yes — state vectors. SkyLink API: Yes — ~5 s updates, bounding-box queries, refreshed roughly every 5 seconds.
OpenSky Network: Not available. SkyLink API: Yes — decoded, US & international, on the same API key as flight data.
Get an API key, run SkyLink alongside your current provider while you map response fields using the API reference, then move traffic over. Official SDKs for Python, Node.js and Go keep the change small, and paid plans include a key immediately after checkout.
Taking your OpenSky prototype to production?
Enriched ADS-B, weather, NOTAMs and airports under a commercial licence with a 99.9% SLA — keep your prototype logic, swap the data source.