Flight API Comparison: Aviationstack Vs. FlightAPI

One of the greatest applications of API technology is the manner in which it has made timely and accurate flight API surveillance data available to so many industries and even individuals. Whether you are in the logistics or aviation industries or even involved in predictive data analysis, with the advent of the flight data API, you are spoiled for choice.

If you are looking to integrate flight information and aviation data into your app, there are numerous services and platforms to consider. You can base your decision on the type of flight data services, aviation information, subscription costs, as well as the number of APIs each provider makes available to access their resources.

In this article, we will pick two of the more popular options. These are aviationstack and flightapi.io. We will take a look at their features, the flight data services and the flight monitoring information they offer, and finally, we’ll illustrate why, all said, aviationstack.com is a superior alternative. You could also merge flight data with data from an open weather API.

Let’s get started making our comparisons.

What Is The Flight API Syntax Of Aviationstack.com And Flightapi.io?

The two platforms, aviationstack.com and flightapi.io, have similar structures for API call and response objects. Both make requests via simple HTTP or HTTPS calls. In addition, both require an API access key. Similarly, each returns a response in the form of a JSON object.

Here is an example of an API call for aviationstack.com to retrieve real-time flight data:

A call for flightapi.io is similar:

Next, the table below compares the additional API related features of each service:

Features	aviationstack.com	flightapi.io
API ease of use	All APIs have a uniform syntax. One query is sufficient	Some APIs require two calls. The first call for retrieving a magic key and the second for getting the required results
Documentation	Documentation is easy to read and easy to follow	The Documentation page on the website is hard to navigate. Some of the response JSON is simply too long to take in all the APIs at a glance

Here is our overall rating when it comes to each product’s API syntax and API related features:

	aviationstack.com	flightapi.io
API related features

What Are The Subscription Plans and Costs For Aviationstack.com and Flightapi.io Flight API?

Both aviationstack.com and flightapi.io offer different service tiers and subscription plans at different costs.

aviationstack.com		flightapi.io
Plan	Price ($/month)	Plan	Price ($/month)
Free	0	Free	0
Basic	49.99 *39.99	Lite	49
Professional	149.99 *119.99	Standard	99
Business	499.99 *399.99	Plus	199
Enterprise	Custom	Enterprise	Custom

Comparing the numbers, it is clear that aviationstack.com is slightly more expensive than flightapi.io. In terms of costs, here is how we rate the two services:

	aviationstack.com	flightapi.io
Costs

What Are The Features Of An Aviation And Flight Data Server?

Each of our flight and aviation data service platforms offers unique features to suit different use cases and end-user pools. Here, we’ll compare the feature sets of aviationstack and flightapi.

Feature	Description
API requests per month	The volume of API requests that can be made in a month
Autocomplete	The APIs’ ability to respond to requests based on search terms and predict or auto-complete user requests
Real time Flight tracker	Provides real-time flight information.
Track multiple flights	Track multiple flights with a single API
Historical flights	Serve data regarding past flights
Airline Routes	Provide detailed airline route information
Airport	Information about all airports worldwide
Airplanes	Individual aircraft information: registration number, model, date of first flight etc.
Aircraft types	General information about different categories of aircraft
Aviation taxes	All data regarding aviation taxes
Cities	Destination cities lookup
Countries	destination countries information: population, capital, currency, phone prefix, etc.
Flight prices	The prices of various flights

How Do Features of AviationStack And FlightAPI Compare?

Let’s compare the various features offered by aviationstack.com and flightapi.io.

Comparison In Terms Of Number of API Requests In a Time Period

The number of API requests that can be made in a time period depends upon the subscription plan. Here is a comparison of aviationstack and flightapi in terms of the number of API requests that can be made on each service in one month:

aviationstack.com		flightapi.io
Plan	Requests/month	Plan	Requests/month
Free	100	Free	10
Basic	10,000	Lite	30,000
Professional	50,000	Standard	100,000
Business	250,000	Plus	500,000

At a first glance, it seems that aviationstack offers fewer API requests per plan than flightapi, but numbers are misleading. This is because flightapi requires multiple API calls for some of its data services. For example, to get nearby airport data, flightapi requires two queries. One to retrieve its magic key and the other to retrieve the information.

Because of this, overall, both services are on par when it comes to API requests per month.

	aviationstack.com	flightapi.io
API requests per month

Comparison With Respect To Multiple Features

The table below shows a comparison of both aviationstack.com and flightapi.io offer in their different subscription tiers:

Feature	aviationstack.com	flightapi.io
Autocomplete	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           ✔ Standard  ✔ Plus          ✔
Real-time Flight tracker	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           ✔ Standard  ✔ Plus          ✔
Track multiple flights	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           x Standard  x Plus          x
Historical flights	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           x Standard  x Plus          x
Airline Routes	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           x Standard  x Plus          x
Airports	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           x Standard  x Plus          x
Airplanes	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           x Standard  x Plus          x
Aviation taxes	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           x Standard  x Plus          x
Cities * comprehensive information ^ Limited information	Basic             ✔ *     Professional   ✔ * Business        ✔ *	Lite           ✔ ^ Standard  ✔ ^ Plus          ✔ ^
Countries	Basic             ✔       Professional   ✔ Business        ✔	Lite           x Standard  x Plus          x
Flight prices	Basic             x       Professional   x Business        x	Lite           x Standard  ✔ Plus          ✔

Flight API: Feature Comparison

As you can see, aviationstack.com offers more flight tracking and monitoring services in addition to aviation data. Flightapi.io’s only advantage over aviationstack.com is that it provides data on flight pricing.

Here is our overall rating for the two platform’s feature offerings.

	aviationstack.com	flightapi.io
Flight data services
Aviation data services

FlightAPI: Summary And Overall Ratings

The table below summarizes our overall rating for both aviationstack.com and flightapi.io.

Feature	aviationstack.com	flightapi.io
API related features and documentation		More than one query request Documentation web page hard to scroll
Costs	Slightly more expensive
API requests per month
Flight data services		Many features unavailable
Aviation data services		Little or no services

Flight API: Conclusion

The comparison chart shows that aviationstack.com is the clear winner in respect to both flight and aviation data. Aviationstack, while slightly more expensive, also offers a comprehensive list of services for flight monitoring and historical records, as well as a wide array of global aviation data.

Disclaimer: The information on this blog is applicable at the time of writing. The subscription plans, costs, and features can change with time.

Flight API: FAQs

1. What Are the Main Benefits of Using Flight Data APIs Like Aviationstack.com and flightapi.io?

Flight data APIs provide accurate and timely flight information, which is really useful for industries like logistics and aviation. They help you track flights in real-time, look at past flight data, see airline routes, and get info about airports around the world.

2. How Can I Add Flight Information and Aviation Data to My App?

You can use services like aviationstack.com or flightapi.io. 

3. What Is the Format for Using Aviationstack.com and flightapi.io?

Both of these services work in a similar way. You send them an API request and they send back an answer in a format called JSON.

4. How Much Do Aviationstack.com and Flightapi.io Cost?

Both services have different plans you can choose from. Some are free, while others cost money. The price depends on how many times your app can ask for data each month and what features you need. Aviationstack.com is a bit more expensive than flightapi.io, but it offers more features for tracking flights and getting aviation data.

Subscribe today at aviationstack.com and start your free trial to build an awesome app for high-quality and reliable flight tracking, airport timetables, and global aviation data.