Best free sports APIs in 2026

Sports data APIs with a free tier or completely open data: enough to prototype, learn or run a hobby project.

How this list is built: A free plan or open data stated on the provider's own site, 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 Sportmonks (69/100) 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. 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. 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
5
5. 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
6
6. API-Sports / API-Football
Sports data API
Family of per-sport REST APIs (football first) with fixtures, live scores, standings, player stats and pre-match odds, sold self-serve with a daily-request free plan.
Free tierfrom $19/mo60 discussions1.6k GitHub reposMixed
66Score
What developers say
Very widely used for football side projects, prediction models and live-score apps, praised for broad league coverage, decent docs and low price (about $19/month). Complaints: free plan limited to past seasons and 100 requests/day, inconsistent or missing stats, closing odds gaps, a reported quality drop, and thin non-football depth.
Liked
- + Broad league coverage
- + Cheap paid plans
Watch out
- − Free plan lacks current season
- − Inconsistent or missing stats
from $19/moFull profile Website
7
7. 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
8
8. 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
9
9. PandaScore
Esports data
Esports statistics and odds provider covering 13 titles such as LoL, CS, Dota 2 and Valorant, with REST API for fixtures and history plus WebSocket live feeds.
Free tierfrom €400/mo⚡ Streaming8 discussions195 GitHub repos
65Score
What developers say
Esports data provider with REST API covering LoL, CS, Dota and others. Seen in dev questions for upcoming-match apps and a few GitHub wrappers and bots. Community remarks are sparse and mostly old: one user notes odds are paywalled, and it appears as one of few usable esports APIs. No real user verdict on quality or pricing.
Liked
- + One of few dedicated esports APIs
- + Used for LoL and CS match schedules
Watch out
- − Odds data not free
from €400/moFull profile Website
10
10. 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
11
11. football-data.org
Sports data API
Football API with fixtures, scores, league tables, lineups, scorers and squads; free plan for 12 competitions, paid plans extend competitions, live scores and rate limits, with add-ons for odds and match statistics.
Free tierfrom €12/moLive data31 discussions9.0k GitHub reposMixed
64Score
What developers say
Popular free-tier choice for hobby football projects: World Cup predictors, score trackers, league tables, and a fallback when API-Football quota runs out. Developers like the free key and simple docs. Complaints: free tier gives fixtures and final scores but no shots, xG or lineups, history starts around 2019, and a low request rate.
Liked
- + Free API key good for fixtures and results
- + Frequently chosen for side projects
Watch out
- − No detailed match stats or xG on free tier
- − Limited history before 2019
from €12/moFull profile Website
12
12. nba_api (NBA Stats)
Free / open data
MIT-licensed Python package wrapping many unofficial NBA.com stats endpoints, returning data for games, players and teams; not an official or hosted API.
Free tierLive data80 discussions6.3k GitHub reposMixed
63Score
What developers say
Unofficial Python wrapper around NBA.com stats endpoints, widely used in Reddit data-viz posts, tutorials and many GitHub projects. Users like the clear docs and easy start, but report that NBA header changes break endpoints, timeouts occur, and 2025-26 pulls stopped working for some. Alternatives mentioned: balldontlie, API-Sports; commercial use raises legal questions.
Liked
- + Easy to use with good docs
- + Large community and many projects built on it
Watch out
- − Breaks when NBA changes headers or blocks requests
- − Bulk pulls are slow or time out
Free tierFull profile Website
13
13. CricketData.org (CricAPI)
Sports data API
Cricket scores, fixtures, series, matches, players and fantasy data via a hit-based API. Free tier of 100 hits per day with near-live data; paid tiers raise the daily cap.
Free tierfrom $5.99/moLive data3 discussions346 GitHub reposMixed
61Score
What developers say
CricketData.org (formerly CricAPI) is a cheap, popular choice for cricket hobby apps, with a free 100-hits-per-day tier and many beginner tutorials, Chrome extensions and small GitHub projects. Developers report reliability problems for live scores, even at about $12 a month, and an older complaint said live scores were missing. Few detailed reviews exist.
Liked
- + Free tier of 100 hits per day
- + Low-cost paid plans
Watch out
- − Live data reliability questioned
- − Hit-based daily caps
from $5.99/moFull profile Website
14
14. 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
15
15. Betfair Exchange API
Betting exchange
Betfair's developer API for its betting exchange: market prices, order books and bet placement. Free delayed key for development; live key needs an approved application and a one-off fee.
Free tierfrom £299 one-time30 discussions272 GitHub reposMixed
60Score
What developers say
The standard exchange API for betting bots and trading tools, with long-standing wrappers and many automation projects. Users complain about restricted access: regional blocks (Brazil), certificate login hurdles, and a reported live-key fee of around 500 pounds. Many seek third-party feeds or historical data instead.
Liked
- + Real exchange prices and bet placement
- + Mature community wrappers
Watch out
- − Blocked in some countries
- − Login certificate setup is tricky
from £299 one-timeFull profile Website