API-Sports / API-Football vs SportsAPI Pro (2026)
Short answer: API-Sports / API-Football scores clearly higher overall (70 vs 50). SportsAPI Pro is the better pick for apps that want scores, fixtures, lineups, stats and odds across many sports from one API, with a free plan and monthly tiers up to 900 requests per minute.
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.
- ✓ want a lower entry price ($19/mo vs $45/mo)
- ✓ 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 SportsAPI Pro if you…
Sports data API
Best for: Apps that want scores, fixtures, lineups, stats and odds across many sports from one API, with a free plan and monthly tiers up to 900 requests per minute.
- ✓ want WebSocket push instead of polling
Not ideal for: Buyers who plan to resell or republish raw data; the terms ban resale and bulk dumps.
What developers say
Unified live sports API with a free plan, announced by its builder in repeated launch posts across subreddits seeking feedback. No independent reviews of pricing, data quality or uptime were found; a few small hobby repos such as live-score demos use it, so adoption looks tiny.
Side by side
| API-Sports / API-Football | SportsAPI Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| SportDex Score | 70/100 (#3) | 50/100 (#54) |
| Popularity | 79 | 18 |
| Community & reliability | 49 | Not enough data |
| Transparency | 100 | 100 |
| Developer experience | 53 | 57 |
| Type | Sports data API | Sports data API |
| Starting price | from $19/mo | from $45/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 | Multi-sport (40+) |
| Data | Fixtures, Injuries, Lineups, Odds, Player stats, Predictions, Live scores, Standings, Team stats | Fixtures, Lineups, Odds, Player stats, Predictions, Live scores, Standings, Team stats |
| Delivery | Polling only (REST) | Streaming (WebSocket) |
| Protocols | REST | REST, WebSocket |
| Live / in-play | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial use | Commercial: Allowed | Commercial: Allowed |
| Betting products | Betting: Licence required | Betting: not disclosed |
| Documentation | Docs | Docs |
| Developer discussions | 60 | 5 |
| GitHub repos | 1.6k | 4 |
| 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 SportsAPI Pro better?
- API-Sports / API-Football scores clearly higher overall (70 vs 50). SportsAPI Pro is the better pick for apps that want scores, fixtures, lineups, stats and odds across many sports from one API, with a free plan and monthly tiers up to 900 requests per minute.
- Which is cheaper, API-Sports / API-Football or SportsAPI Pro?
- API-Sports / API-Football: from $19/mo. SportsAPI Pro: from $45/mo. Entry plans differ in limits and coverage, so compare what each plan includes.
- Do API-Sports / API-Football and SportsAPI Pro have a free tier?
- API-Sports / API-Football: yes. SportsAPI Pro: yes.