Best Formula 1 APIs in 2026

The formula 1 data APIs developers actually use: who covers it, what it costs to start and what the community says.

How this list is built: Providers that list formula 1 explicitly, then the strongest multi-sport feeds, ordered by the SportDex Score. SportDex Score explained. No provider pays to be here.

Short answer: OpenF1 (66/100), BALLDONTLIE (79/100) and Sportmonks (69/100) lead this list of 15 providers in 2026. Last checked 2026-11-04.

1
1. 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
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. Sportmonks
Sports data API
REST API for football with live scores, fixtures, lineups, xG, predictions and odds across 2,200+ leagues, plus separate cricket and Formula 1 APIs.
Free tier14-day trialfrom €29/moLive data40 discussions207 GitHub reposMixed
69Score
What developers say
Widely used paid football data API for side projects, dashboards and betting models, with many wrappers and GitHub repos. Users like the stats depth and reasonable price versus Opta or Sportradar, but call it pricey for hobby use, say premium odds lack player props, and report unreliable live data and sales or custom-plan frustrations.
Liked
- + Solid football stats and many leagues
- + Cheaper than Opta or Sportradar
Watch out
- − Pricey for side projects
- − Live data felt unreliable or slow
from €29/moFull profile Website
4
4. 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
5
5. 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
6
6. Jolpica-F1
Free / open data
Volunteer-run open source Formula 1 API with endpoints backward compatible with the retiring Ergast service, free to use and funded by donations.
Free tier1.6k GitHub reposNeutral
50Score
What developers say
Free, volunteer-run Formula 1 API that took over from the retired Ergast service with compatible endpoints. Widely adopted: roughly thirty GitHub repos, popular F1 data-visualisation posts, and projects that integrate it for historical results and standings. Little explicit praise or criticism in discussion; no pricing or reliability complaints surfaced.
Liked
- + Free and donation funded
- + Ergast-compatible endpoints
Free tierFull profile Website
7
7. RaceHooks
Sports data API
Motorsport data API delivering live F1 timing, race-control, weather and telemetry feeds plus ML race analytics by webhook or server-sent events, with historical data and an IndyCar API.
Free tierfrom $99/mo⚡ Streaming10 GitHub repos
49Score
What developers say
Thin evidence: the vendor submitted an MCP server for F1 and IndyCar data to a marketplace, and one small hobby repo (a desktop extension) appears to use it. No independent user opinions on pricing, latency or quality.
from $99/moFull profile Website
8
8. When's the Race
Free / open data
Free F1 calendar feed with round, circuit, country, UTC session times and results as JSON, RSS, JSON Feed and iCal. No key, CORS enabled, attribution required.
Free tier
37Score
Free tierFull profile Website
9
9. 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
10
10. TheSportsDB
Sports data API
Crowd-sourced sports database with artwork, teams, players, events and league tables. Free API with tight limits; paid keys add livescores, highlight links and higher rate limits.
Free tierfrom $9/mo5 discussions919 GitHub reposMixed
65Score
What developers say
Crowd-sourced sports database popular for hobby apps, tutorials, student projects and Plex metadata agents, with many wrappers in several languages. Praised as free and good for artwork. The free tier is tight, paid keys are needed for more, and developers report image and RapidAPI access problems and gaps in per-season artwork.
Liked
- + Free tier for hobby use
- + Strong artwork and metadata
Watch out
- − Tight free limits
- − Artwork gaps and access errors reported
from $9/moFull profile Website
11
11. SportsDataIO
Sports data API
Commercial sports data provider offering scores, odds, projections, news, historical data, IDs and widgets for 75+ sports and 1,500+ competitions through developer APIs.
Demo accessLive data44 discussions776 GitHub reposMixed
60Score
What developers say
Commercial provider widely used for US sports, especially NFL fantasy tools that pull projections and stats from it. A free trial key makes prototyping easy. Developers on a budget repeatedly call it and Sportradar too expensive, and one user reported inaccurate season stats. Hobbyists look at JsonOdds or MySportsFeeds instead.
Liked
- + Free trial key for prototyping
- + Strong US sports and fantasy projections coverage
Watch out
- − Too expensive for bootstrapped projects
- − Reported inaccurate player season stats
Price not publicFull profile Website
12
12. PropLine
Odds API
Player-prop and game odds from 100+ sportsbooks and exchanges across 73 sports, with graded prop results, line history, cross-book +EV and webhook or websocket alerts. Billed per request, compatible with The Odds API format.
Free tierfrom $9/mo⚡ Streaming20 GitHub repos
59Score
What developers say
Per-request-billed player-prop and odds API that mimics The Odds API format and grades props against box scores. Digest holds only a Show HN post, directory import and the vendor's own SDK, MCP and tool repos. No independent user opinion on accuracy, limits or cost, so little is known.
from $9/moFull profile Website
13
13. StatPal
Sports data API
Sports data API for live scores, odds, news and match storylines across 12+ sports and 1,000+ soccer leagues. Two flat monthly plans with a 14-day trial and an OpenAPI schema.
14-day trialfrom $29/moLive data
43Score
What developers say
Sports API with flat monthly plans and a soccer xG feature. One bettor tried it as an xG source claimed to rival Sportmonks. A sports project's issues report endpoints (teams, injuries, rosters) returning 404 and soccer livescores being routed to the wrong API version, suggesting integration pitfalls or version changes. Little else known.
Liked
- + xG data offered
Watch out
- − Some endpoints returned 404 for one integrator
- − Split v1/v2 soccer endpoints confusing
from $29/moFull profile Website
14
14. ParlayAPI
Odds API
Real-time odds API covering 30+ sportsbooks and prediction-market exchanges, with player props, line movement, arbitrage, +EV, historical data, SSE and WebSocket streaming; partly compatible with The Odds API request shapes.
Free tierfrom $5/mo⚡ Streaming4 discussions21 GitHub repos
57Score
What developers say
Young odds aggregator pitched as a cheaper drop-in for The Odds API, with a free 1,000-credit tier, prediction-market books and MCP tooling. Nearly everything found is vendor-written posts, directory submissions or the founder's own repos. No independent user feedback on reliability, accuracy or support, so little is actually known.
from $5/moFull profile Website
15
15. Odds-API.io
Odds API
Aggregated pre-match and live odds from 450+ bookmakers across 34 sports, including player props, value bets and historical odds, available over REST and a paid WebSocket add-on.
from $65/mo⚡ Streaming8 discussions221 GitHub reposMixed
53Score
What developers say
Aggregated odds API with broad bookmaker claims, used in side projects and sportsbook prototypes, and listed in MCP/agent tool collections. User feedback leans negative: live odds delayed by roughly 10 seconds or more, many UK bookmakers shown inactive, and Pinnacle support dropped in January 2026. Seen as an alternative to The Odds API and OpticOdds.
Liked
- + Many bookmakers and sports claimed
- + Easy to plug into prototypes
Watch out
- − Live odds delayed 10+ seconds
- − Pinnacle odds discontinued
from $65/moFull profile Website