is there a website that tracks flights?

If you want free alerts for a flight

FlightAware is a flight tracker and flight status site and app. Its free features include real-time tracking and flight status alerts for departure, arrival, cancellations, gate changes, delays and diversions, plus a Where is my plane view. It is on the web, iOS and Android.

That covers the tracking side, but plenty of people end up here because they haven't booked yet, and that's a different job. If you're still working out which fare to buy, there's a separate guide on comparing flight prices, and the answer is yes, there are several. It covers what each tool does with price alerts, plus one that builds routes from different airlines.

The cost is adverts in the app, unless you pay to remove them. On the UK App Store, Ad Remove is £0.99 a month or £8.99 a year.

If you want to see every plane in the sky

Flightradar24 is a live flight map on the web and in apps, with live aircraft on a map, a 3D pilot's view, airport boards and playback of past flights. You can also point your device at a plane overhead to identify it. It is on the web, iOS and Android.

What you give up on the free personal plan is depth: it has a limited number of features and 7 days of flight history, and longer history and ad removal are in the paid plans. On the UK App Store, Silver is £2.99 a month or £12.99 to £13.99 a year, and Gold is listed at both £3.99 and £5.99 a month, or £33.99 a year.

If you want unfiltered data

ADS-B Exchange is an independent flight data network of receivers run by individuals and businesses, with a live map in the browser. It says it displays all aircraft broadcasts as received, from over 25,000 receivers, with positions updated every 500 milliseconds, and calls itself the world's largest independent ADS-B receiver network. Its homepage states no price for the map.

The catch is that it shows aircraft broadcasts rather than airline schedules, so it is less about your own booking. If you want to know whether your flight is delayed, FlightAware's status alerts or Flighty are aimed at that.

If you fly often and hate surprises

Flighty is a personal flight tracker app for your own trips, with delay alerts, predictions and a flight map, and no ads. It claims delay alerts 2 to 90 minutes faster than airline apps and cancellation alerts 24 to 48 hours sooner, with delay and gate predictions. It is a free download, and its free trial needs no credit card and no account.

You pay for it in two ways. It works only on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, and the extras are paid: on the UK App Store, Pay-As-You-Go is £4.99, Pro Annual £59.99, Family annual £119.00 and Lifetime £299.00.

When paying is worth it

Pay if you want ad-free tracking or longer history. On the UK App Store, FlightAware Ad Remove is £0.99 a month and Flightradar24 Silver £2.99 a month. Flighty's Pro is £59.99 a year, which makes sense if you fly often.

On history, Flightradar24's free plan keeps 7 days of flight history, Silver 90 days, Gold 365 days and Business 3 years. Flightradar24 says over 1,000,000 subscribers use its paid plans, and one subscription works on any computer, phone or tablet.

Platform matters too. Flighty works only on Apple devices, while Flightradar24 and FlightAware are also on Google Play for Android.

Flightradar24's paid plans start with a 7-day free trial, with the first charge processed at the end of the trial and one trial per account. Its FAQ says it asks for your payment information to start the trial, so if you are only trying it, note the date the trial ends.

Flighty's speed claims are its own: 2 to 90 minutes faster delay alerts than airline apps. Nothing was tested hands-on, so treat that as a claim rather than a measurement.

FlightAware's Aviator upgrades, at £8.49 a month for Aviator and £16.99 a month for Aviator+, are meant for registering your own piston-engine aircraft, not for passengers. If you are flying somewhere on holiday, you can skip them.