VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Sunday, October 5, 2025

View FlightAwareView Unusual WhalesBack to Home

Head-to-head

FlightAware vs Unusual Whales comparison

Compare pricing, supported platforms, categories, and standout capabilities to decide which tool fits your workflow.

Quick takeaways

FlightAware adds Data Visualizations, and Satellite / Geospatial coverage that Unusual Whales skips.

Unusual Whales includes Screeners, Options & Derivatives, Portfolio, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, News, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, Education, Calendar, and Dividends categories that FlightAware omits.

FlightAware highlights: Live flight tracking and flight-status pages with dedicated views for cancellations and delays, plus the signature MiseryMap® for U.S. air traffic disruptions., Premium subscriptions unlock unlimited flight alerts and access to three, five, or eight months of historical flight data., and AeroAPI (v4) provides RESTful access to current and historical flight data with JSON responses and API key authentication..

Unusual Whales is known for: Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy., Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones., and Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals..

FlightAware logo

FlightAware

flightaware.com

A global flight-tracking platform offering free web and mobile access to live flight data. Premium subscriptions add unlimited alerts and extended historical lookback. Enterprise offerings include AeroAPI (REST), Firehose (streaming), and Rapid Reports (one-off email deliveries).

Platforms

Web
Mobile
API

Pricing

Free
Subscription
One-time

Quick highlights

  • Live flight tracking and flight-status pages with dedicated views for cancellations and delays, plus the signature MiseryMap® for U.S. air traffic disruptions.
  • Premium subscriptions unlock unlimited flight alerts and access to three, five, or eight months of historical flight data.
  • AeroAPI (v4) provides RESTful access to current and historical flight data with JSON responses and API key authentication.
  • FlightAware Firehose delivers a continuous enterprise-grade feed of real-time, historical, and predictive flight data over secure TCP/SSL connections.
  • Global coverage powered by fused data sources: national air navigation providers, ACARS messages, over 30,000 terrestrial ADS-B receivers, Aireon space-based ADS-B with ~1-minute updates, and FlightAware’s HyperFeed® ML engine processing tens of thousands of position messages per second.

Community votes (overall)

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Unusual Whales logo

Unusual Whales

unusualwhales.com

Editor’s pick Hands-on review

Real-time options flow and dark-pool analytics built for active traders. Free plans view delayed data; paid tiers stream live flow, with annual plans unlocking data downloads. The public API is sold separately, and “Periscope” (market-wide SPX exposure) is available as an add-on.

Platforms

Web
Mobile
API

Pricing

Free
Subscription

Quick highlights

  • Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
  • Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
  • Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
  • Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.
  • Paper trading for both stocks and options to test ideas without risk.

Community votes (overall)

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Overlap

Shared focus areas

3 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and Alerts.

Where they differ

FlightAware

Distinct strengths include:

Data Visualizations
Satellite / Geospatial
  • Live flight tracking and flight-status pages with dedicated views for cancellations and delays, plus the signature MiseryMap® for U.S. air traffic disruptions.
  • Premium subscriptions unlock unlimited flight alerts and access to three, five, or eight months of historical flight data.
  • AeroAPI (v4) provides RESTful access to current and historical flight data with JSON responses and API key authentication.
  • FlightAware Firehose delivers a continuous enterprise-grade feed of real-time, historical, and predictive flight data over secure TCP/SSL connections.

Unusual Whales

Distinct strengths include:

Screeners
Options & Derivatives
Portfolio
Paper Trading
Dark Pool & Off-Exchange
News
US Government Trades
Insider Data
  • Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
  • Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
  • Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
  • Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

AttributeFlightAwareUnusual Whales
Categories

Which research workflows each platform targets

Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, Alerts

Unique: Data Visualizations, Satellite / Geospatial

Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, Alerts

Unique: Screeners, Options & Derivatives, Portfolio, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, News, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, Education, Calendar, Dividends

Asset types

Supported asset classes and universes

Other

Stocks, ETFs, Options

Experience levels

Who each product is built for

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Platforms

Where you can access the product

Web, Mobile, API

Web, Mobile, API

Pricing

High-level pricing models

Free, Subscription, One-time

Free, Subscription

Key features

Core capabilities called out by each vendor

Unique

  • Live flight tracking and flight-status pages with dedicated views for cancellations and delays, plus the signature MiseryMap® for U.S. air traffic disruptions.
  • Premium subscriptions unlock unlimited flight alerts and access to three, five, or eight months of historical flight data.
  • AeroAPI (v4) provides RESTful access to current and historical flight data with JSON responses and API key authentication.
  • FlightAware Firehose delivers a continuous enterprise-grade feed of real-time, historical, and predictive flight data over secure TCP/SSL connections.
  • Global coverage powered by fused data sources: national air navigation providers, ACARS messages, over 30,000 terrestrial ADS-B receivers, Aireon space-based ADS-B with ~1-minute updates, and FlightAware’s HyperFeed® ML engine processing tens of thousands of position messages per second.
  • Rapid Reports offer one-time purchases of airport or aircraft history, delivered via email within about an hour.

Unique

  • Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
  • Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
  • Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
  • Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.
  • Paper trading for both stocks and options to test ideas without risk.
  • Portfolio Manager with broker linking for IBKR, tastytrade, Fidelity, and Robinhood.
Tested

Verified by hands-on testing inside Find My Moat

Not yet

Yes

Editor pick

Featured inside curated shortlists

Standard listing

Highlighted

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do FlightAware and Unusual Whales both support?

Both platforms cover Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and Alerts workflows, so you can research those use cases in either tool before digging into the feature differences below.

Do FlightAware and Unusual Whales require subscriptions?

Both FlightAware and Unusual Whales keep freemium access with optional paid upgrades, so you can trial each platform before committing.

How can you access FlightAware and Unusual Whales?

Both FlightAware and Unusual Whales support web and mobile access, making it easy to keep tabs on research away from the desk.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

FlightAware differentiates itself with Live flight tracking and flight-status pages with dedicated views for cancellations and delays, plus the signature MiseryMap® for U.S. air traffic disruptions., Premium subscriptions unlock unlimited flight alerts and access to three, five, or eight months of historical flight data., and AeroAPI (v4) provides RESTful access to current and historical flight data with JSON responses and API key authentication., whereas Unusual Whales stands out for Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy., Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones., and Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals..

Keep exploring

Stay on top of related tools

Browse the categories and profiles that overlap most with this comparison to round out your shortlist.

Recommended tools

These profiles share overlapping coverage with both sides of this matchup.

Curation & Accuracy

This directory blends AI‑assisted discovery with human curation. Entries are reviewed, edited, and organized with the goal of expanding coverage and sharpening quality over time. Your feedback helps steer improvements (because no single human can capture everything all at once).

Details change. Pricing, features, and availability may be incomplete or out of date. Treat listings as a starting point and verify on the provider’s site before making decisions. If you spot an error or a gap, send a quick note and I’ll adjust.