API-Sports / API-Football vs Highlightly (2026)
Short answer: API-Sports / API-Football scores clearly higher overall (70 vs 57). Highlightly is the better pick for apps that combine scores, stats and odds with video highlight clips across football, US leagues, cricket, rugby, volleyball and handball.
From public data checked . How we know
Choose API-Sports / API-Football if you…
Sports data API
Best for: Football-first apps that want self-serve REST access with fixtures, live scores, lineups, stats and pre-match odds, starting from a free daily-request plan.
- ✓ need Australian football, Formula 1, MMA
- ✓ need commercial use allowed in the public terms
- ✓ value a large open-source ecosystem of wrappers and examples
- ✓ care most about what developers report in practice
Not ideal for: Betting, TV or mass-media products that need licensed data; the provider grants no publication licence and leaves rights clearance to you.
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.
Choose Highlightly if you…
Sports data API
Best for: Apps that combine scores, stats and odds with video highlight clips across football, US leagues, cricket, rugby, volleyball and handball.
- ✓ want a lower entry price ($12.49/mo vs $19/mo)
- ✓ need Cricket
Not ideal for: Projects needing bookmaker-grade odds feeds; odds and momentum data are informational only and there is no uptime or latency guarantee.
What developers say
Sports API pairing scores and stats with video highlights. Little independent opinion exists: a few freelance requests to build sites on it, one repo issue comparing it with cheaper providers for backtesting, and AI-generated football video channels crediting it as a data source. Adoption seems modest and unproven.
Side by side
| API-Sports / API-Football | Highlightly | |
|---|---|---|
| SportDex Score | 70/100 (#3) | 57/100 (#24) |
| Popularity | 79 | 45 |
| Community & reliability | 49 | Not enough data |
| Transparency | 100 | 85 |
| Developer experience | 53 | 49 |
| Type | Sports data API | Sports data API |
| Starting price | from $19/mo | from $12.49/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| Sports | Football (soccer), Australian football, Baseball, Basketball, Formula 1, Handball, Ice hockey, MMA, American football, College sports, Rugby, Volleyball | Football (soccer), American football, Basketball, Baseball, Ice hockey, Cricket, Rugby, Volleyball, Handball, College sports |
| Data | Fixtures, Injuries, Lineups, Odds, Player stats, Predictions, Live scores, Standings, Team stats | Fixtures, Lineups, Odds, Player stats, Predictions, Live scores, Standings, Team stats, Video |
| Delivery | Polling only (REST) | Polling only (REST) |
| Protocols | REST | REST |
| Live / in-play | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial use | Commercial: Allowed | Commercial: not disclosed |
| Betting products | Betting: Licence required | Betting: not disclosed |
| Documentation | Docs | Docs |
| Developer discussions | 60 | 2 |
| GitHub repos | 1.6k | 43 |
| Community tone | Mixed | Too little discussion |
Empty fields mean the provider does not say, not that the feature is missing.
Quick answers
- Is API-Sports / API-Football or Highlightly better?
- API-Sports / API-Football scores clearly higher overall (70 vs 57). Highlightly is the better pick for apps that combine scores, stats and odds with video highlight clips across football, US leagues, cricket, rugby, volleyball and handball.
- Which is cheaper, API-Sports / API-Football or Highlightly?
- API-Sports / API-Football: from $19/mo. Highlightly: from $12.49/mo. Entry plans differ in limits and coverage, so compare what each plan includes.
- Do API-Sports / API-Football and Highlightly have a free tier?
- API-Sports / API-Football: yes. Highlightly: yes.