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BALLDONTLIE vs Entity Sport (2026)
Short answer: BALLDONTLIE scores clearly higher overall (79 vs 51). Entity Sport is the better pick for cricket apps and fantasy or exchange products that need ball-by-ball data, with priced plans also available for football, tennis and US leagues.
From public data checked . How we know
Choose BALLDONTLIE if you…
Sports data API
Best for: Developers building sports apps, dashboards or AI-assisted projects who want stats, box scores and odds for many leagues from one REST API with a free entry plan.
- ✓ want to start on a free tier
- ✓ want a lower entry price ($9.99/mo vs $150/mo)
- ✓ need Golf, Formula 1, MMA
- ✓ need commercial use allowed in the public terms
- ✓ build a betting product and need that allowed in the public terms
Not ideal for: Companies that want to offer a competing sports-data API or feed built on its data, which the terms forbid.
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.
Choose Entity Sport if you…
Sports data API
Best for: Cricket apps and fantasy or exchange products that need ball-by-ball data, with priced plans also available for football, tennis and US leagues.
- ✓ need Cricket
- ✓ want WebSocket push instead of polling
Not ideal for: Teams wanting one flat price across sports or an open free tier; plans are priced per sport and licensed to one domain and one app.
What developers say
Cricket-first provider used in a number of hobby cricket and IPL score sites, with a community SDK on GitHub. The one user opinion says it covers part of what a developer wanted for deep cricket stats but not all. Other hits are vendor-style posts; nothing on pricing, reliability or support.
Side by side
| BALLDONTLIE | Entity Sport | |
|---|---|---|
| SportDex Score | 79/100 (#2) | 51/100 (#44) |
| Popularity | 74 | 27 |
| Community & reliability | 81 | Not enough data |
| Transparency | 100 | 100 |
| Developer experience | 62 | 43 |
| Type | Sports data API | Sports data API |
| Starting price | from $9.99/mo | from $150/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Not disclosed |
| Free trial | 2 days | Demo access |
| Sports | Basketball, American football, Baseball, Ice hockey, Football (soccer), Tennis, Golf, Formula 1, MMA, Esports | Cricket, Football (soccer), Basketball, Baseball, American football, Ice hockey, Tennis |
| Data | Historical data, Odds, Play-by-play, Player props, Player stats, Live scores, Team stats | Fantasy, Fixtures, Odds, Play-by-play, Player stats, Results, Live scores, Team stats |
| Delivery | Webhooks + polling | Streaming (WebSocket) |
| Protocols | REST, Webhooks | REST, WebSocket |
| Live / in-play | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial use | Commercial: Allowed | Commercial: Paid plans only |
| Betting products | Betting: Allowed | Betting: not disclosed |
| Documentation | Docs | Docs |
| Developer discussions | 15 | 3 |
| GitHub repos | 902 | 14 |
| Community tone | Mostly positive | Too little discussion |
Empty fields mean the provider does not say, not that the feature is missing.
Quick answers
- Is BALLDONTLIE or Entity Sport better?
- BALLDONTLIE scores clearly higher overall (79 vs 51). Entity Sport is the better pick for cricket apps and fantasy or exchange products that need ball-by-ball data, with priced plans also available for football, tennis and US leagues.
- Which is cheaper, BALLDONTLIE or Entity Sport?
- BALLDONTLIE: from $9.99/mo. Entity Sport: from $150/mo. Entry plans differ in limits and coverage, so compare what each plan includes.
- Do BALLDONTLIE and Entity Sport have a free tier?
- BALLDONTLIE: yes. Entity Sport: not disclosed.