Developer favourites in 2026

Providers whose public discussions are mostly positive or mixed-leaning-positive: the ones developers recommend to each other.

How this list is built: Community tone rated mostly positive or mixed in our summary, ordered by the SportDex Score. SportDex Score explained. No provider pays to be here.

Short answer: The Odds API (83/100), BALLDONTLIE (79/100) and nflverse (67/100) lead this list of 15 providers in 2026. Last checked 2026-11-04.

1
1. The Odds API
Odds API
Bookmaker odds for dozens of sports via a simple JSON API, covering moneyline, spreads, totals, outrights and some player props, plus scores and historical snapshots. Credit-based billing.
Free tierfrom $30/moLive data159 discussions2.4k GitHub reposMostly positive
83Score
What developers say
Widely used for pulling bookmaker odds into fantasy tools, arbitrage scanners and betting models; many GitHub repos and tutorials build on it. Users like the free tier and breadth of markets and books. Complaints: modest refresh rate, historical odds limited to one day per call and gaps in snapshots, no prop results or match outcomes, some books paid-only.
Liked
- + Free tier for quick odds checks
- + Broad sports and bookmaker coverage
Watch out
- − Refresh rate not the best
- − Historical odds fetched one day at a time
from $30/moFull profile Website
2
2. BALLDONTLIE
Sports data API
Unified REST API for scores, box scores, stats, odds and player props across 20+ leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, soccer, tennis, golf, F1, MMA, esports), plus webhooks and an MCP server.
Free tier2-day trialfrom $9.99/moLive data15 discussions902 GitHub reposMostly positive
79Score
What developers say
Long-popular free NBA stats API, now covering NBA, NFL, MLB and EPL with a free tier and paid keys. Beginners use it for tutorials, React projects and portfolio apps; betting and fantasy builders pair it with odds feeds. Recommended as an alternative to nba_api and API-Sports. Little discussion of reliability or pricing.
Liked
- + Free tier and easy start for learners
- + Simple REST endpoints with decades of NBA history
Watch out
- − Free tier limited to subset of endpoints
- − CORS issues for browser apps
from $9.99/moFull profile Website
3
3. nflverse
Free / open data
Community open-source NFL data project: play-by-play since 1999, rosters, schedules and player stats distributed as downloadable files with R and Python loader packages. Data mostly CC-BY 4.0.
Free tier4 discussions3.4k GitHub reposMostly positive
67Score
What developers say
Open-source NFL data (play-by-play, rosters, schedules, player stats) distributed as files with R and Python loaders, under CC-BY. Widely used by fantasy dashboards, dynasty tools, waiver-wire content and sportsdataverse packages; chosen as a free primary source or schedule fallback. Not a live REST API, so real-time needs require other providers.
Liked
- + Free open data with deep play-by-play history
- + R and Python packages and many dependent projects
Free tierFull profile Website
4
4. Polymarket
Betting exchange
Prediction market exchange whose public Gamma API lists markets and events, including sports, without credentials; separate trading APIs and SDKs exist.
Free tier52 discussions4.5k GitHub reposMostly positive
67Score
What developers say
Widely used as a free, no-key source of prediction-market prices (Gamma and CLOB APIs) for sports arbitrage bots, wallet trackers and odds aggregators, with many GitHub clients and MCP servers. Users note thin or missing historical data and the need to match events across Kalshi and sportsbooks; live-score speed is a concern.
Liked
- + Public market data without credentials
- + Large ecosystem of SDKs and bots
Watch out
- − Historical data hard to find, especially before 2024
- − Manual cross-venue event matching
Free tierFull profile Website
5
5. OpenF1
Free / open data
Open-source API for Formula 1 session data: lap times, car telemetry, positions, pit stops, weather, team radio and race control. Historical data from 2023 is free without auth; live access is a paid sponsorship.
Free tierfrom €9.90/mo⚡ Streaming10 discussions675 GitHub reposMostly positive
66Score
What developers say
Free open-source F1 API (lap times, telemetry, positions, weather, race control) used heavily in fan dashboards, replay tools, videos and analysis posts; historical data from 2023 needs no key, live access is paid. Users note it is unofficial, lacks pre-2023 data, has had outages that forced self-hosting, and deprecates fields. FastF1 and Jolpica are common alternatives.
Liked
- + Free historical data without auth
- + Rich telemetry and race control data
Watch out
- − No data before 2023
- − Live access requires paid sponsorship
from €9.90/moFull profile Website
6
6. Sleeper
Fantasy platform
Free read-only HTTP API for Sleeper fantasy football: users, leagues, rosters, drafts, matchups, transactions, player list and trending players. Non-commercial use only without a licence.
Free tier44 discussions389 GitHub reposMostly positive
64Score
What developers say
Free, read-only fantasy football API widely used by hobbyists for league websites, Google Sheets exports, power rankings, draft and waiver analysis, plus wrappers in Python and Ruby and MCP servers. Easy to start with and many repos build on it. Complaints: no player scoring or projections, hard to get bench totals, non-commercial licence.
Liked
- + Free and no-auth read access to leagues, rosters and drafts
- + Large hobbyist ecosystem and client libraries
Watch out
- − Lacks NFL player stats and projections
- − Less flexible than other fantasy platforms for scoring data
Free tierFull profile Website
7
7. Cricsheet
Free / open data
Free structured ball-by-ball cricket data for international and league matches, plus people and venue identifier registers, offered as bulk downloads in JSON, YAML and CSV.
Free tier3 discussions827 GitHub reposMostly positive
61Score
What developers say
Free ball-by-ball cricket data in JSON, YAML and CSV, widely used for analytics packages, IPL analysis repos and dashboards, with millions of deliveries loaded into projects. Users value it as a free, detailed source. Limits: bulk file downloads only, with no live scores, so people look elsewhere for live APIs.
Liked
- + Free ball-by-ball data
- + Open bulk formats
Watch out
- − Bulk downloads only, no live feed
Free tierFull profile Website
8
8. football-data.co.uk
Free / open data
Free downloadable CSV archive of historical football results, match statistics and bookmaker odds for many leagues, updated through the season.
Free tier7 discussions3.6k GitHub reposMostly positive
60Score
What developers say
Long-standing free CSV archive of results, match stats and bookmaker odds, the default starting point for football modelling and used by thousands of GitHub projects. Users value the free historical odds, but say league coverage is limited (few lower or secondary leagues) and files are downloads, not a live API.
Liked
- + Free historical results and odds
- + Widely used in models and scrapers
Watch out
- − Limited league coverage
- − Not live or an API
Free tierFull profile Website
9
9. OpenLigaDB
Free / open data
Free, community-maintained JSON API for league fixtures and results, centred on German football (Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal) plus European cups, some ice hockey and user-created leagues. No key required.
Free tier5 discussions166 GitHub reposMostly positive
59Score
What developers say
Free, keyless community JSON API focused on German football, used in prediction models, bots, a home-automation adapter and results videos. A user praises the simple matchday endpoint and the last-change-date call that avoids refetching. Coverage beyond German leagues is thin, and it is community-maintained so errors are possible. ODbL licence applies.
Liked
- + No key required
- + Simple matchday endpoints
Watch out
- − Mostly German competitions
- − Community-maintained, errors possible
Free tierFull profile Website
10
10. FastF1
Free / open data
Unofficial Python library giving free access to Formula 1 lap timing, car telemetry, tyre, weather, schedules and session results as Pandas DataFrames. Most data now needs an F1TV subscription.
Free tier10 discussions118 GitHub reposMostly positive
58Score
What developers say
Popular unofficial Python package giving F1 timing, telemetry and results as DataFrames; the go-to for analysis posts, student projects and dashboards, with a large GitHub following. Other projects borrow its live-timing client. Caveats: most data needs F1TV access, a network-blocking issue was reported, and beginners hit version-related errors. Often paired with Jolpica or OpenF1.
Liked
- + Rich telemetry and lap data in Pandas
- + Covers seasons from 2018
Watch out
- − Most data needs F1TV subscription
- − Version breakages for newcomers
Free tierFull profile Website
11
11. OpenDota
Esports data
Open-source Dota 2 data platform with a public REST API for matches, players, heroes and parsed replays; free usage with a paid premium key for heavy use.
Free tier16 discussions500 GitHub reposMostly positive
56Score
What developers say
Open-source Dota 2 data API widely used in hobby apps, ML projects and Stack Overflow questions. Praised as an excellent, flexible resource with parsed match data and estimated MMR. Free use is rate limited (about 60 requests per minute), and users report 429 errors, occasional unresponsiveness and trouble obtaining a premium key.
Liked
- + Excellent, flexible data for Dota 2
- + Free tier with open-source platform
Watch out
- − Rate limits and 429 errors
- − Occasional unresponsiveness
Free tierFull profile Website
12
12. Retrosheet
Free / open data
Volunteer-run archive of major league baseball history offering downloadable CSV play-by-play, game logs, schedules and biographical files back to the 19th century.
Free tier6 discussions347 GitHub reposMostly positive
55Score
What developers say
Volunteer-run archive of MLB play-by-play, game logs and schedules as downloadable files, not a hosted API. Recommended on HN and betting forums for model building and ETL practice, and widely used by tools such as Chadwick and boxball Docker images. Free and deep history back to 1914; you must parse and host it yourself.
Liked
- + Free play-by-play back to the early 1900s
- + Strong ecosystem of parsers and database images
Watch out
- − Files only, no live API; needs parsing
Free tierFull profile Website
13
13. MoneyPuck Data
Free / open data
Downloadable NHL datasets of shot-level data from 2007, plus game-by-game player, goalie and team files, free for non-commercial and journalistic use with credit.
Free tier3 discussions232 GitHub reposMostly positive
54Score
What developers say
Free downloadable NHL shot-level and expected-goals data, widely used in hobbyist betting models, xG projects and MCP or Python helpers, usually alongside the NHL API. Praised for real xG and long history. One bettor found the files hard to download. Non-commercial terms apply, and there is no live API.
Liked
- + Free shot-level NHL data since 2007
- + Real expected-goals values
Watch out
- − Files described as hard to download
- − Non-commercial use only
Free tierFull profile Website
14
14. Data Golf
Sports data API
Golf analytics site whose API exposes model predictions, live betting-tool odds, round-level historical scoring and strokes-gained data across 22 tours, plus historical odds and DFS data.
3 discussions44 GitHub reposMostly positive
49Score
What developers say
Golf analytics API used as the data backbone for fantasy golf apps, betting trackers and prediction models, with several unofficial client libraries and about thirty repos. Developers use it for ratings, odds and fallback data; its historical DFS archive is noted as a rare paid dataset. Little direct complaint.
Liked
- + Skill ratings and predictions
- + Widely used in golf projects
Price not publicFull profile Website
15
15. Fantasy Football Calculator API
Fantasy platform
Free REST endpoint publishing fantasy football average draft position data by scoring format, from a popular mock-draft site; commercial reuse allowed with attribution per catalog notes.
Free tier37 GitHub reposMostly positive
31Score
What developers say
Free unauthenticated JSON endpoint for fantasy football average draft position by format, team count and year. Builders credit it for draft probabilities and ADP analysis, and recent GitHub issues plan to ingest it for 2QB, dynasty and rookie formats. It is used by about thirty small repos; no complaints surfaced.
Liked
- + Free, no key needed
- + ADP by format, size and position
Free tierFull profile Website