The main Santa trackers go live at two different times: the holiday websites usually open on December 1, while the live tracking of Santa’s journey starts on Christmas Eve.

Key dates at a glance

  • NORAD Tracks Santa (NORADSanta.org)
    • The festive website experience (games, music, info) typically opens on December 1 each year.
* The actual live “tracking” of Santa begins at **midnight MST on December 24** (that’s Christmas Eve).
  • Google Santa Tracker
    • The site is an annual Christmas-themed page that also launches in early December , generally tied to the start of the Christmas season.
* The live map that shows Santa flying around the globe starts **around midnight in the earliest time zones on Christmas Eve (about 10:00 UTC)**.

On Christmas Eve itself

  • NORAD starts showing Santa’s movements from just after midnight MST on December 24 on its site and apps.
  • Google’s tracker starts simulating Santa’s route once it reaches Christmas Eve in the far eastern time zones , then moves west hour by hour.

Other special trackers

Some aviation and flight-tracking services run their own Santa tracker “flights” , with Santa’s sleigh appearing as a special icon; these typically begin on December 23–24 , in the run-up to Christmas.

Meta description (SEO):
Wondering when does Santa tracker start? Most Santa tracker sites open around December 1, while live tracking of Santa’s sleigh kicks off on Christmas Eve as he begins delivering gifts worldwide.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.