FleetMon Alternatives: Where to Track Ships Now

FleetMon no longer exists as a tracking service. Kpler bought it together with MarineTraffic in February 2023, the platform was phased out from January 2024, and by 2026 the fleetmon.com domain does not resolve at all. If you typed FleetMon into a search box hoping to find the map you used for years, that is why nothing came up.

For a long time FleetMon was the friendliest way to watch ships. It had an open vessel database, a browser map that ran without installing anything, and a community that uploaded photos from every port worth photographing. Losing it left a gap for ship spotters, seafarer families, small operators and importers who liked a tool that did not feel like an enterprise product.

This guide covers what happened, what the official successor gives you, and seven FleetMon alternatives worth trying instead, from full professional platforms to apps built for people who track one ship for personal reasons.

What Happened to FleetMon

FleetMon was founded in 2007 in Rostock, on Germany's Baltic coast, and grew into one of the larger terrestrial AIS receiver networks in the world. It sat alongside MarineTraffic as one of the two big community-driven tracking sites, and for many European users it was the first choice.

In February 2023 the trade intelligence company Kpler acquired both FleetMon and MarineTraffic. The two platforms overlapped almost completely, so one of them had to go. MarineTraffic's own support pages explain that FleetMon would be phased out from January 2024 as the final step of the merger. FleetMon users were asked to consent to having their account details moved to a new MarineTraffic account, and AIS partners who ran receivers for FleetMon were asked to reconnect those stations to MarineTraffic.

The AIS data itself survived the merger. The FleetMon product, its API and its website did not. Logins were switched off in early 2024, the developer portal carried a notice that all product offerings were being discontinued, and the domain later stopped resolving entirely.

Where the FleetMon Data Went

The last chapter came in September 2025. Kpler launched Kpler AIS, a single feed that combines terrestrial, roaming and satellite AIS from more than 13,000 receivers and detects over 300,000 active vessels a day. That feed is what now powers MarineTraffic.

So the receivers that once fed the FleetMon map are still listening. The map you saw them on is gone, and the question for a former user is which map to look at instead.

What FleetMon Did Well

It helps to be precise about what people lost, because that decides which alternative fits. FleetMon's archived homepage from the end of 2023 described an open database of more than 500,000 vessels with live positions, technical particulars and photos, plus a photo community of over half a million images from more than 800 active photographers.

FleetMon Explorer was the live map. It ran in the browser, offered satellite imagery and navigation charts as base layers, and let you scrub back and forward through time. Around it sat a set of tools that hobbyists and small companies used every day: My Fleet for watching a list of ships, My Alerts for arrival and departure events, My Zones for drawing an area and being told when something entered it, a port calls log, planned arrivals per port, a predicted route with an ETA, and a CO2 calculator for any date range.

Two things made FleetMon different from a raw AIS map: it was open by default, and it had a self-service API. A casual visitor could look up a ship's particulars and last ports without hitting a wall, and a developer could build a small tool on credit-based API plans without talking to a sales team. Those two qualities are what people miss most, and they are the yardstick for the alternatives below.

Why People Look for FleetMon Alternatives

The official path for a former FleetMon user is MarineTraffic. It is a strong platform with the largest receiver network, so the question is not whether it works but whether it suits the way you used FleetMon. Several patterns show up in reviews and forums.

Vessel history has moved behind the paywall. A recent comparison by Maritime Page notes that MarineTraffic has progressively moved past track and port call history behind its subscription since 2023, while the free view still covers the basics: name, type, flag, position, course, speed, draught, destination and a 24-hour track. FleetMon users who relied on free port call logs feel that change first.

Free unlocks are limited and short lived. App Store reviewers describe a small number of free "past route" and "vessel info" unlocks that are consumed again once the app is closed, which frustrates anyone tracking a single ship over several days. Others mention running out of the monthly notification allowance, and satellite tracking for out-of-range ships that is charged per vessel and per day.

The Interface Problem for Casual Users

Upgrades and devices do not always travel together. Reviewers report buying a chart layer on a tablet and finding it absent on their phone. That matters for families who check a ship on whatever device is closest.

The bigger issue is that the interface is built for professionals. The density of data is a strength for an operator and noise for someone following a cruise or a partner's contract voyage. That is the same complaint that drives searches for MarineTraffic alternatives in general, and it applies with extra force to people who chose FleetMon because it felt approachable.

None of this makes MarineTraffic a bad product. It makes it a product tuned for a different user than the one FleetMon served best.

Quick Comparison Table

MarineTraffic

MarineTraffic is the platform FleetMon was folded into, so it is the first stop for anyone who wants continuity. Creating an account is free, and the free view gives you the live map, vessel search by name, IMO or MMSI, and the core particulars. Three paid plans, Basic, Essential and Enterprise, sit above it.

According to the plan breakdown published on G2, Basic covers terrestrial AIS for up to 10 vessels in a fleet with 100 notifications a month, Essential adds global satellite tracking with a 7-day voyage history and playback, and Enterprise extends that to a 5-year history, 5,000 vessels, nautical charts, port congestion data and API access. The mobile app is the most complete of the group, with augmented reality identification, weather overlays and a large photo archive.

Why choose it over FleetMon: this is where FleetMon's receiver network and its AIS partners went, so coverage in the ports you cared about is the same or better, now backed by the Kpler AIS feed. Fleet management, alerts and port arrivals all exist here in a more developed form.

Drawbacks: the free tier is thinner than FleetMon's was, the plans are built around professional teams, and the interface asks a lot of a casual user. If you only ever used FleetMon to check where one ship is, you will pay for features you never open.

VesselFinder

VesselFinder is the other long-running community tracker and the most direct like-for-like replacement for the free FleetMon map. The free tier shows live terrestrial positions, vessel particulars, destination and ETA, and a one-day past track, and the Maritime Page comparison found it exposes more port call history and previous vessel names without a subscription than MarineTraffic does.

Its subscription plans page lays out the tiers clearly. Basic and Premium stay on terrestrial coverage with longer tracks and bigger fleet lists. The Satellite plan adds global coverage, a 90-day track history, up to 2,000 ships in My Fleet and a larger route planner allowance. Two details stand out for former FleetMon users: subscriptions do not renew automatically, and a 24-hour satellite pass exists for a single day of offshore coverage.

Why choose it over FleetMon: it is the closest thing left to the open database FleetMon ran, the free mobile app is fast for a single-vessel check, and the paid tiers are easy to understand.

Drawbacks: API access and historical data are sold separately from every subscription, so developers who used FleetMon's self-service API will not find a substitute here. There is also no personalisation: every user sees the same data table.

Primo Nautic

Primo Nautic takes a different route to the same problem. Instead of showing a bigger data table, it asks why you are tracking a ship and writes the update around that reason. Choose a purpose such as a loved one on a cruise, a partner working at sea, a cargo shipment, your own boat or plain curiosity, and the app turns the same AIS position, speed, course and status into a plain-language update in the tone that purpose needs.

Two features address complaints FleetMon users raise about the alternatives. The first is a dual ETA: the captain's reported arrival time sits next to an independently calculated one, with a confidence score, so you can see when the two disagree and a delay is likely. The second is live weather at the vessel's exact position, with wind, visibility and sea state explained rather than plotted. Arrival, departure and delay alerts adapt to the purpose too, so a family gets reassurance and a cargo monitor gets a precise logistics note.

Why choose it over FleetMon: it does the interpretation that FleetMon left to you. Search works by name, MMSI or IMO, there are apps for iOS and Android, and the free tier is enough to follow a handful of ships.

Drawbacks: it is not a professional operations console. There are no density maps, no port congestion analytics and no API, so an operator watching a fleet of fifty vessels will want MarineTraffic or Vesseltracker.com instead.

ShipAtlas

ShipAtlas comes from Maritime Optima, a Norwegian company that also builds ShipIntel for commercial teams, and it is the alternative with the strongest claim to FleetMon's spirit of a clean, capable map for individuals. Its product page counts more than 618,000 users across 195 countries and lists live satellite AIS positions refreshed every five minutes for any vessel with a Class A transponder.

The feature set overlaps closely with what FleetMon offered. You see the last three port calls and the next port, receive notifications when a vessel arrives, departs or changes its declared destination, and can draw a sea route from a ship's current position to any port to estimate arrival at different speeds. Daily marine weather layers cover wind, waves, currents and sea ice, and extra layers show piracy activity, emission control areas and wind farms. Search works by name, IMO or MMSI with filters for type, size and year built, and the same login syncs between desktop and mobile.

Why choose it over FleetMon: satellite positions are included rather than sold as an add-on, there are no ads, and the route and ETA calculator replaces FleetMon's predicted route tool.

Drawbacks: Class A only means small leisure craft with Class B transponders do not appear, and following a saved list of ships on the map is a Premium feature.

MyShipTracking

MyShipTracking describes itself as a free real-time AIS tracking service, and that is exactly what it is: a live map, a vessel finder and port activity with very little in between. App intelligence data compiled by MWM puts the iOS app above a million downloads with a 4.5 rating from around 31,000 ratings, although written reviews are more mixed.

The app covers fleet lists for your own ships, real-time notifications for vessel movements and for anything entering an area you define, weather overlays for wind and temperature, and port pages with incoming and outgoing traffic. That combination of zones and alerts is the closest free match for FleetMon's My Zones and My Alerts.

Why choose it over FleetMon: it is free, simple and quick, with the zone alerting that hobbyists used FleetMon for. Reviewers who prefer it over MarineTraffic usually cite exactly that simplicity.

Drawbacks: coverage is limited to its own terrestrial station network, so ships drop off the map offshore, and the interface is functional rather than polished. It also offers no interpretation of the data.

Vesseltracker.com

Vesseltracker.com is the other German tracker, based in Hamburg and now operated under Wood Mackenzie. For FleetMon's home audience it is the nearest cultural fit: a ship photo community, vessel and port news, and a serious professional product above it.

The account structure is unusual. A Community Account gives you the mobile app, route density maps, photo upload and news, but its live map covers passenger vessels only on terrestrial AIS. The Global Vessel Tracking account opens everything: all vessels on terrestrial, satellite and roaming AIS, historical tracks, port, berth and anchorage call history, ETA calculation, customisable alerts, regions, reports and fleets, ownership and management details, container schedules and nautical charts. Access to that tier starts with a trial request rather than a self-service signup.

Why choose it over FleetMon: the full account has the deepest feature list of any alternative here, including berth-level call history and roaming AIS from receivers mounted on ships, and the community side keeps the photo culture FleetMon users valued.

Drawbacks: the free community map is too narrow for cargo tracking, and the professional tier is aimed at companies, not individuals.

MarineRadar

MarineRadar is a newer mobile-first tracker from Lascade, built around a radar-style live map. Its own guides say the free version includes satellite as well as terrestrial AIS, following more than 112,000 vessels with satellite positions every five minutes, and it quotes a 4.6 rating from about 18,000 reviews. Those are the vendor's figures, so treat them as a claim rather than an independent measurement.

What you get without paying is a live map, search by name, IMO or MMSI, vessel details and voyage information including departure port, destination and ETA, plus a favourites list once you create an account. The free tier carries ads, and paid plans remove them and add tools.

Why choose it over FleetMon: offshore visibility on a free app is rare, and the interface is designed for beginners rather than analysts.

Drawbacks: it is young, so the vessel database and history are thinner than the established platforms, and there is no web console comparable to FleetMon Explorer.

ShipXplorer

ShipXplorer is the ship tracking sibling of RadarBox, the flight tracker from AirNav. The app pitches itself on live vessel tracking, vessel search and port status, and it will feel familiar to anyone who already spots aircraft with RadarBox.

It is a lighter option than the others. Use it for a quick look at what is in a port today and which ships are inbound, and pair it with one of the deeper platforms when you need history or alerts.

How to Choose the Right One

Start from what you actually did on FleetMon, not from feature lists. Most former users fall into one of these groups.

• You followed one ship for personal reasons, a cruise, a partner's contract or a car on a Ro-Ro. Primo Nautic, because it explains the position and the ETA instead of expecting you to interpret them, and its alerts adapt to your reason for tracking.
• You wanted the free open map back. VesselFinder for the closest match on desktop, ShipAtlas if you want satellite positions and a route calculator included, MyShipTracking if zone alerts matter most.
• You ran a fleet list, alerts and port call logs for work. MarineTraffic, since that is where FleetMon's data and partners went, or Vesseltracker.com if you want berth-level history and roaming AIS.
• You built something on the FleetMon API. MarineTraffic's data services through Kpler are the only direct successor. VesselFinder sells API access separately, and none of the consumer apps offer one.
• You spot ships from the shore. ShipXplorer or MarineRadar for a quick mobile check, with the photo communities on MarineTraffic and Vesseltracker.com for the hobby side.

Every one of these tools reads the same public AIS broadcasts. Understanding how AIS tracking works explains why a ship vanishes twenty miles offshore on a terrestrial-only app and why a satellite plan brings it back. The differences between the alternatives are about coverage, history, alerts and how the data is presented, not about who has the ship's position.

Conclusion

FleetMon was acquired by Kpler in February 2023, phased out from January 2024 and absorbed into MarineTraffic, and its receiver network now feeds the Kpler AIS service launched in September 2025. The website is gone, so any search for it now ends in an alternative.

MarineTraffic is the official successor and the right choice for professional fleet work. VesselFinder is the closest free open map, ShipAtlas and MyShipTracking cover satellite positions and zone alerts for individuals, Vesseltracker.com keeps the German community tradition with a deep professional tier, and MarineRadar and ShipXplorer serve quick mobile checks. Primo Nautic fits the people FleetMon quietly served best, families and casual trackers who want the position explained rather than plotted. Match the tool to the reason you tracked ships in the first place, and the loss of FleetMon becomes a change of address rather than a dead end.