Best vessel tracking software: nine services, grouped by the job they do
There is no single best vessel tracking service, because the nine below do four different jobs. AIS trackers, such as VesselFinder, MyShipTracking, ShipAtlas and MarineTraffic, show where a ship is. Rynda (rynda.io), which publishes this comparison, tracks vessels too and adds alerts on vessel events and a check of the owner, sanctions and inspections. Pole Star PurpleTRAC, Vesseltracker and Windward serve compliance and operations teams, and Equasis is a free public safety record. Compare services inside a group: a tracker plan and a vessel check plan buy different things. Facts about other services were checked on their own pages on 9 October 2026.
The comparison in six lines
- Services compared
- Nine, in four groups by the job they do
- AIS trackers
- MarineTraffic, MyShipTracking, ShipAtlas, VesselFinder
- Tracking with alerts and vessel checks
- Rynda
- Platforms for teams
- Pole Star PurpleTRAC, Vesseltracker, Windward
- Free public record
- Equasis
- Alerts on a free plan
- Rynda: port arrival and departure for 3 vessels. ShipAtlas: arrivals
Four kinds of service, four different jobs
Compare services inside a group. Across groups the plans buy different things, so their prices are not comparable.
| Group | Services | The job |
|---|---|---|
| AIS trackers | MarineTraffic, MyShipTracking, ShipAtlas, VesselFinder | Seeing where a ship is now and where it has been. |
| Tracking with alerts and vessel checks | Rynda | Seeing the ship, being told when something happens to it, and checking who stands behind it: owner, sanctions, inspections. |
| Platforms for teams | Pole Star PurpleTRAC, Vesseltracker, Windward | Screening, monitoring and analysis for a compliance or operations team. Sold through a demo. |
| Free public record | Equasis | Looking up safety-related information on a ship, free of charge. |
Which service for which job
| If you need | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Many notification triggers | MarineTraffic | More than 40 event types, from port calls to bunkering and risk of collision, delivered by web, email and mobile app. Notifications need a paid plan. |
| Hundreds of vessels on the map on a small budget | VesselFinder | Premium covers 500 ships for €29 a month. Basic is €3 a month for 20 ships. |
| One to five vessels with satellite positions | ShipAtlas | Standard unlocks 1–5 vessels from €10 a month, with arrival, departure and destination change notifications. |
| Alerts in Telegram without paying | Rynda | Port arrival and departure alerts for 3 vessels on the free plan, to Telegram and email. |
| Owner, sanctions and inspections next to the position | Rynda | The vessel page shows the owner and manager, matches against 8 sanctions lists and the PSC record. |
| A free look at the map | MyShipTracking | Describes itself as a free real-time AIS vessel tracking service. Its API documentation says the data is terrestrial AIS with limited coverage. |
| Sanctions screening with an audit trail | Pole Star PurpleTRAC | Screens a vessel, its owners and its managers against sanctions lists and keeps reports for the audit trail. Available as SaaS or API. |
| A professional tracking desk | Vesseltracker Cockpit | Ad-free tracking on terrestrial and satellite AIS, with more than 600 data fields on over 170,000 vessels. |
| Intelligence beyond AIS | Windward | Fuses AIS with dark vessel signals, satellite imagery and radio-frequency data into one operational picture. |
| A free safety record of a ship | Equasis | A public database of safety-related information on ships, financed by public money and free of charge. |
Facts about other services were checked on their own pages on 9 October 2026.
What each service is, in its own words and numbers
Listed alphabetically, with the group on each card. Each card links to the page the facts were taken from.
- Public record
Equasis
A public database of safety-related information on ships, financed by public money and free of charge. Use it for the record of how a ship is managed and inspected.
- AIS tracker
MarineTraffic
Part of Kpler, which says it tracks over 350,000 vessels daily through 13,000+ AIS receivers on land, at sea and in space, with 5 years of track replay. Notifications cover more than 40 event types on paid plans. The enterprise version is sold through a demo.
- AIS tracker
MyShipTracking
Describes itself as a free real-time AIS vessel tracking service, with a live map and port arrivals and departures. Its API documentation says the data is terrestrial AIS with limited coverage; the API is billed in credits.
- Platform for teams
Pole Star PurpleTRAC
A sanctions screening and vessel monitoring product. It screens a vessel, its owners and its managers against sanctions lists, shows the Port State Control history and flags dark activity. Available as SaaS or API, sold through a demo.
- Alerts and checks
Rynda
A live AIS map of 100,000+ vessels, open without an account. Alerts on 13 vessel events go to Telegram and email; port arrival and departure are on the free plan for 3 vessels. The vessel page shows the owner, 8 sanctions lists and the PSC record. PRO is $59 a month.
- AIS tracker
ShipAtlas
By Maritime Optima. The free plan includes arrival notifications and 10 views of live positions. Standard unlocks 1–5 vessels from €10 a month with all notification types. Premium unlocks all vessels from €65 a month and adds the last 3 port calls of history.
- AIS tracker
VesselFinder
A free plan with 10 ships in My Fleet and 1 day of track history. Paid plans run from €3 to €119 a month: Premium covers 500 ships and 7 days of track, Satellite adds satellite AIS, 2,000 ships and 90 days.
- Platform for teams
Vesseltracker
Cockpit is its ad-free tracking product on terrestrial and satellite AIS. The company says its database holds more than 600 fields of information on over 170,000 vessels. It offers a demo and a trial.
- Platform for teams
Windward
A maritime intelligence company. Its platform fuses AIS with dark vessel signals, satellite imagery and radio-frequency data into one operational picture. It is sold through a demo.
What a paid plan adds
Three of the nine publish their plans. The prices are not comparable head to head: each plan buys a different thing.
| Service | Paid plans | What they add |
|---|---|---|
| Rynda | PRO $59 a month, ENTERPRISE from $259 a month | All 13 alert types where the free plan has 2; 10 vessels on PRO and 50–150 on ENTERPRISE; owners and managers since build; the full PSC inspection history; 21 days of voyages and port calls. |
| ShipAtlas | Standard from €10 a month, Premium from €65 a month | Live positions and every notification type for 1–5 vessels on Standard; all vessels, the last 3 port calls and vessel lists on Premium. |
| VesselFinder | Basic €3, Premium €29, Satellite €119 a month | More ships in My Fleet (20, 500, 2,000) and longer track history (3, 7, 90 days). Satellite adds satellite AIS. |
Prices were checked on the services’ own pages on 9 October 2026 and may change. VesselFinder prices exclude VAT; ShipAtlas prices are quoted “from”.
MarineTraffic prices are not quoted: we could not verify them on its own pages on that date.
Five questions that narrow the list
- What is the job? If you only need to see where a ship is, an AIS tracker is enough. If you need to be told when something happens, or to know who owns the ship and whether it is sanctioned, look at the services that do that job.
- How many vessels, and how far back? Among trackers, VesselFinder Premium covers 500 ships with 7 days of track, and ShipAtlas Standard covers one to five vessels.
- Do you want to look, or to be told? MarineTraffic documents more than 40 notification triggers on paid plans, ShipAtlas has three notification types, Rynda has 13 alert types and sends port calls to Telegram on the free plan.
- Do you need to check the vessel as well as see it? Pole Star PurpleTRAC is built for sanctions screening with an audit trail. Rynda shows the owner, sanctions matches and PSC record on the vessel page and sells a vessel dossier for $19.99. Equasis gives a free safety record.
- Do you pay by card or through procurement? Rynda, ShipAtlas and VesselFinder publish their prices. MarineTraffic Enterprise, Vesseltracker Cockpit, Pole Star PurpleTRAC and Windward start with a demo.
How this comparison was made
Every fact about another service on this page comes from that service’s own website: its plans page, product page or help center. The pages were checked on 9 October 2026, and the links are under each table and on each card. Reviews, directories and resellers were not used as sources.
The nine services are grouped by the job they do, and a price is quoted only together with what it buys. Where a service does not publish a price, the page says so and does not guess. The services are listed alphabetically. Rynda publishes this page and is one of the nine; its numbers come from its own plans.
Free to start, prices in the open
The map and vessel pages need no account. An account adds My Fleet and alerts.
- FREE$0No card required
- 3 vessels in My Fleet
- Arrival and departure alerts
- Telegram and email delivery
- 7 days of voyage history
- PRO$59a monthPaid by card, no auto-renewal
- 10 vessels in My Fleet
- All 13 alert types
- Vessel checks without a limit
- 21 days of voyage history
- ENTERPRISEfrom $259a monthFor 50 vessels
- 50–150 vessels in My Fleet
- All 13 alert types
- Vessel checks without a limit
- Full archive of voyage history
Single documents without a subscription: vessel dossier $19.99, inspection report $14.99, vessel history archive $12.99, shipowner report $99.
Vessel tracking software: questions and answers
What is the best vessel tracking software?
It depends on the job. To see where a ship is, an AIS tracker such as VesselFinder, MyShipTracking, ShipAtlas or MarineTraffic. To get alerts in Telegram and check the owner, sanctions and inspections, Rynda. For sanctions screening with an audit trail, Pole Star PurpleTRAC. For a free safety record of a ship, Equasis.
Which vessel tracking services have a free plan?
MyShipTracking describes itself as a free service. VesselFinder’s free plan covers 10 ships in My Fleet, ShipAtlas’s free plan includes arrival notifications, and Rynda’s free plan covers 3 vessels with port arrival and departure alerts.
Which vessel tracker sends alerts to Telegram?
Rynda sends alerts on 13 vessel events to Telegram and email, and port arrival and departure alerts are on the free plan. MarineTraffic delivers notifications by web, email and mobile app. ShipAtlas notifies about arrivals, departures and destination changes.
Why do prices differ so much between vessel tracking services?
Because they sell different things. A tracker plan buys more ships and longer track history: VesselFinder Basic is €3 a month for 20 ships and 3 days of track. Rynda PRO, at $59 a month, buys alerts on 13 vessel events and the ownership, sanctions and inspection record for 10 vessels. Platforms for compliance teams name a price after a demo.
Which service is used for sanctions screening of vessels?
Pole Star PurpleTRAC screens a vessel, its owners and its managers against sanctions lists and keeps reports for the audit trail. Kpler adds risk and compliance screening to MarineTraffic. Rynda matches a vessel against 8 official sanctions lists and shows the result on the vessel page.
Is MarineTraffic part of Kpler?
Yes. Kpler acquired MarineTraffic and FleetMon in 2023. FleetMon was phased out from January 2024, and Kpler now sells ship tracking built on MarineTraffic.
How current is this comparison?
Facts about other services were checked on their own pages on 9 October 2026. Plans and prices change, so follow the source links before you buy.