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Spire Maritime alternative
Kpler completed its acquisition of Spire Maritime on 25 April 2025 (announcement). Spire's maritime pages now redirect to Kpler, where historical AIS starts with “Request demo”, and the Spire APIs are being discontinued. AIS Trail is a self-serve API for AIS history, live positions and port calls: start free, pay by card, with coastal rather than open-ocean coverage.
Checked 16 October 2026 against the public pages linked in each row.
At a glance
| Topic | Spire Maritime (Kpler) | AIS Trail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you buy | historical.ais.spire.com offered online ordering (archived 28 February 2025). Spire's maritime pages now redirect to Kpler, where the next step is “Request demo”. | Sign up, start on the Free plan and pay by card in your dashboard. | Archived Spire pageKpler AIS |
| Pricing | Not published: “pricing tailored to your sampling settings”. | Published: Free, then $29, $129 or $249 a month. | Kpler historical AIS |
| History | Since 2010. | Up to 12 months, rolling: most sources since October 2026, North Sea and western Baltic 12 months; U.S. waters: calendar year 2025. | Kpler historical AIS |
| Coverage | Terrestrial and satellite AIS. | Shore and community receivers; no global satellite AIS. | Kpler AIS |
| Live data | Yes, through Kpler AIS. | Pro and Business: REST and WebSocket. | Kpler AIS |
| Port calls | Port call events through Kpler and the MarineTraffic API. | Detected at about 11,000 ports. | Kpler AISMarineTraffic API docs |
| APIs | Kpler is discontinuing the Spire APIs and services. | REST (JSON, GeoJSON, CSV), WebSocket and an MCP server. | Spire API docs notice |
More providers side by side: AIS data API providers compared.
Where Kpler is strong
- Satellite and terrestrial AIS, so ships far from shore stay visible.
- Historical AIS since 2010; AIS Trail keeps up to 12 months.
- Live positions, history and port events from one provider.
AIS Trail's limits
- No global satellite AIS. Positions come from shore stations and community receivers, plus national sources in Nordic waters, so ships far out at sea are mostly not covered. Regions and vessel classes are on Data sources.
- History goes back up to 12 months. Most sources start in October 2026; the North Sea and western Baltic archive reaches back up to 12 months.
- U.S. waters are an archive. They come from NOAA's Marine Cadastre data for calendar year 2025, not updated daily.
- No one-off dataset files. You pull history through the API, page by page, as JSON, GeoJSON or CSV.
Pricing
Kpler does not publish prices for historical AIS; its page offers “Request demo” and pricing tailored to your sampling settings.
AIS Trail publishes its prices. The Free plan gives 500 credits a month and the last 7 days of history, with no card. Starter costs $29, Pro $129 and Business $249 a month, with 15,000, 60,000 and 250,000 credits; Pro and Business include live data. A credit pack adds 20,000 credits for $49, valid for 12 months. One credit buys one vessel-day of track, one port call or one vessel's live position over REST, and empty results use none.
Prices are in US dollars and exclude VAT or sales tax. Paddle, our merchant of record, handles payments. All plans
FAQ
Can I still buy Spire historical AIS data?
Through Kpler. Spire's maritime pages redirect to Kpler, which publishes no price for historical AIS and asks you to request a demo.
Does AIS Trail have satellite AIS?
No global satellite AIS. If you need tracks across open oceans, a satellite provider such as Kpler is the better fit.
How far back can I query?
Up to 12 months on paid plans, rolling, and the last 7 days on Free. Most sources started in October 2026, so their history is still short; the North Sea and western Baltic go back 12 months, and U.S. waters cover calendar year 2025.
Spire, Spire Maritime, Kpler and MarineTraffic are trademarks of their respective owners. AIS Trail is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.
Found a fact that is wrong or out of date? Write to [email protected] and we will correct it.
