VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Sunday, October 5, 2025

View MarineTrafficView Unusual WhalesBack to Home

Head-to-head

MarineTraffic vs Unusual Whales comparison

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

Quick takeaways

MarineTraffic adds Data Visualizations, and Shipping & Trade 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, APIs & SDKs, Education, Calendar, and Dividends categories that MarineTraffic omits.

MarineTraffic highlights: Live Map with advanced filters, including ship type, capacity, status, and custom smart filters., Notifications for port calls, area entries, vessel movements (speed, course changes, drifting), AIS data updates (ETA, destination, draught), proximity events (STS, tug, pilot, bunkering), and AIS-coverage changes, delivered via email, mobile push, or archive., and CSV exports from vessel and port databases, with monthly quotas depending on plan: Basic (5), Essential (300), Enterprise (10,000)..

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..

MarineTraffic logo

MarineTraffic

marinetraffic.com

Global AIS vessel tracking platform with map views, alerts, voyage history, and data exports. Many features are plan-gated: CSV export quotas, Past Track history, detailed Route Forecasts, and the number of Custom Areas you can define. API access is available with an API key, and mobile apps provide push notifications.

Platforms

Web
Mobile
API

Pricing

Free
Subscription

Quick highlights

  • Live Map with advanced filters, including ship type, capacity, status, and custom smart filters.
  • Notifications for port calls, area entries, vessel movements (speed, course changes, drifting), AIS data updates (ETA, destination, draught), proximity events (STS, tug, pilot, bunkering), and AIS-coverage changes, delivered via email, mobile push, or archive.
  • CSV exports from vessel and port databases, with monthly quotas depending on plan: Basic (5), Essential (300), Enterprise (10,000).
  • Past Track playback varies by plan: Free (1 day), Essential (7 days), Enterprise (up to 5 years, in 7-day playback windows).
  • Route Forecast tools: Basic shows path previews; Essential and Enterprise unlock ETA and speed details.

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

2 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Data APIs, and Alerts.

Where they differ

MarineTraffic

Distinct strengths include:

Data Visualizations
Shipping & Trade
  • Live Map with advanced filters, including ship type, capacity, status, and custom smart filters.
  • Notifications for port calls, area entries, vessel movements (speed, course changes, drifting), AIS data updates (ETA, destination, draught), proximity events (STS, tug, pilot, bunkering), and AIS-coverage changes, delivered via email, mobile push, or archive.
  • CSV exports from vessel and port databases, with monthly quotas depending on plan: Basic (5), Essential (300), Enterprise (10,000).
  • Past Track playback varies by plan: Free (1 day), Essential (7 days), Enterprise (up to 5 years, in 7-day playback windows).

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

AttributeMarineTrafficUnusual Whales
Categories

Which research workflows each platform targets

Shared: Data APIs, Alerts

Unique: Data Visualizations, Shipping & Trade

Shared: Data APIs, Alerts

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

Free, Subscription

Key features

Core capabilities called out by each vendor

Unique

  • Live Map with advanced filters, including ship type, capacity, status, and custom smart filters.
  • Notifications for port calls, area entries, vessel movements (speed, course changes, drifting), AIS data updates (ETA, destination, draught), proximity events (STS, tug, pilot, bunkering), and AIS-coverage changes, delivered via email, mobile push, or archive.
  • CSV exports from vessel and port databases, with monthly quotas depending on plan: Basic (5), Essential (300), Enterprise (10,000).
  • Past Track playback varies by plan: Free (1 day), Essential (7 days), Enterprise (up to 5 years, in 7-day playback windows).
  • Route Forecast tools: Basic shows path previews; Essential and Enterprise unlock ETA and speed details.
  • Custom Areas can be created or imported (KMZ/KML/GEOJSON/WKT), with plan limits from 1 area (Essential) up to 2,000 (Enterprise).

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 MarineTraffic and Unusual Whales both support?

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

Do MarineTraffic and Unusual Whales require subscriptions?

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

How can you access MarineTraffic and Unusual Whales?

Both MarineTraffic 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?

MarineTraffic differentiates itself with Live Map with advanced filters, including ship type, capacity, status, and custom smart filters., Notifications for port calls, area entries, vessel movements (speed, course changes, drifting), AIS data updates (ETA, destination, draught), proximity events (STS, tug, pilot, bunkering), and AIS-coverage changes, delivered via email, mobile push, or archive., and CSV exports from vessel and port databases, with monthly quotas depending on plan: Basic (5), Essential (300), Enterprise (10,000)., 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.