Open sports data in 2026

Open APIs and datasets maintained by communities or leagues: great for learning, research and analytics projects.

How this list is built: Open or free data sources, ordered by GitHub adoption. SportDex Score explained. No provider pays to be here.

Short answer: nba_api (NBA Stats) (63/100), football-data.co.uk (60/100) and nflverse (67/100) lead this list of 15 providers in 2026. Last checked 2026-11-04.

1
1. 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
2
2. 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
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. 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
5
5. Fantasy Premier League API
Free / open data
Unofficial use of the Premier League's fantasy game JSON endpoints: players, fixtures, gameweeks, teams and points data without a key. Not documented or supported by the league.
Free tier11 discussions1.4k GitHub reposMixed
38Score
What developers say
Unofficial FPL JSON endpoints used for dashboards, ML team pickers, MCP servers and YouTube stat channels; public data needs no key. Developers struggle with undocumented behaviour, CORS errors and login/CSRF token flows for personal team data, and one project reports the login host no longer resolving. Community guides fill the documentation gap.
Liked
- + No API key for public data
- + Many open-source tools built on it
Watch out
- − Undocumented and unsupported
- − Authentication for private data is painful
Free tierFull profile Website
6
6. CollegeFootballData.com
Free / open data
College football API with games, team and player stats, recruiting, betting lines and advanced metrics; free key with monthly cap, higher tiers via Patreon, plus basketball API.
Free tier1.1k GitHub reposNeutral
57Score
What developers say
Free college football API behind a Python wrapper and the cfbfastR R package, shown in public-API lists, tutorials and BI-tool walkthroughs. Used for scores, betting lines and play-by-play. One user notes plays lack formation data. Little direct opinion beyond that, so assessment is mostly adoption-based.
Liked
- + Free and widely wrapped (Python, R)
- + Includes scores, lines and play-by-play
Watch out
- − Play data lacks formations
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. 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
9
9. NHL Web API (unofficial docs)
Free / open data
Official NHL web endpoints at api-web.nhle.com serving schedules, standings, rosters, box scores, play-by-play and player stats as JSON. No key or official docs; community-maintained reference.
Free tier3 discussions650 GitHub reposNeutral
47Score
What developers say
Unofficial, undocumented NHL endpoints that hobbyists use for live scores, schedules and terminal or overlay apps; community reference docs and Python clients (nhl-api-py) have large followings. Main worry is stability: one commenter asks whether endpoints still work, calling upkeep of sports score endpoints hard.
Liked
- + Free live scores and schedules without a key
- + Active community references and clients
Watch out
- − Unofficial and undocumented
- − Endpoints may change without notice
Free tierFull profile Website
10
10. NHL Records and Stats (nhlapi docs)
Free / open data
Community-maintained GitLab project documenting the publicly reachable NHL stats and records endpoints; it is documentation, not an official product.
Free tier569 GitHub repos
48Score
What developers say
Community documentation of NHL's unofficial endpoints, listed in many public-API directories, including the very large public-apis list. This shows wide awareness and free, keyless access, but there is no discussion of stability, limits or data quality.
Liked
- + Widely listed in free API directories
Free tierFull profile Website
11
11. 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
12
12. 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
13
13. transfermarkt-api
Free / open data
MIT-licensed FastAPI service that wraps Transfermarkt's internal endpoints to return club, player and competition data as JSON. Run it yourself; the public demo is rate limited and for testing only.
Free tier179 GitHub repos
45Score
What developers say
Self-hosted open-source wrapper around Transfermarkt's unofficial endpoints, plus many similar clients, MCP servers and guides on GitHub. Adoption is visible through ~28 repos and a dataset pipeline, but there is no real user discussion about reliability, limits or legality, so the community picture is thin.
Liked
- + Many open-source wrappers and guides exist
Free tierFull profile Website
14
14. 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
15
15. ClubElo
Free / open data
Club football Elo ratings and fixture probabilities, with history reaching back to 1939 and a free CSV interface.
Free tier153 GitHub reposMostly negative
45Score
What developers say
Free CSV interface for club football Elo ratings and fixture probabilities, used in prediction models, FPL tools and tutorials. Recent GitHub issues show serious reliability trouble: 502 errors on the API since September 2026, a claim it moved behind authentication, then Cloudflare 403 challenges. Projects are adding fallbacks or HTML scraping.
Liked
- + Long Elo history and free CSV access
- + Popular input for prediction models
Watch out
- − API returning 502 since Sept 2026
- − Cloudflare 403 challenges block scrapers
Free tierFull profile Website