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Cricsheet vs CollegeFootballData.com (2026)
Short answer: Cricsheet scores slightly higher (61 vs 57). CollegeFootballData.com is the better pick for College football analysts, hobbyists and apps that need games, play-by-play, recruiting and betting-line history through a free key.
From public data checked . How we know
Choose Cricsheet if you…
Free / open data
Best for: Cricket analysts and researchers who want free ball-by-ball match data with person and venue ID registers, downloaded in bulk as JSON, YAML or CSV.
- ✓ need Cricket
- ✓ care most about what developers report in practice
Not ideal for: Live scores or in-play apps, or anyone needing a REST API; it is bulk downloads of historical data only.
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.
Choose CollegeFootballData.com if you…
Free / open data
Best for: College football analysts, hobbyists and apps that need games, play-by-play, recruiting and betting-line history through a free key.
- ✓ need College sports, American football, Basketball
Not ideal for: Projects that need other leagues, redistribution of the data, or live data on the free tier; higher tiers run through Patreon.
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.
Side by side
| Cricsheet | CollegeFootballData.com | |
|---|---|---|
| SportDex Score | 61/100 (#14) | 57/100 (#26) |
| Popularity | 43 | 46 |
| Community & reliability | 70 | Not enough data |
| Transparency | 90 | 65 |
| Developer experience | 52 | 68 |
| Type | Free / open data | Free / open data |
| Starting price | Free tier | Free tier |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| Sports | Cricket | College sports, American football, Basketball |
| Data | Historical data, Play-by-play, Results, Team stats | Fixtures, Historical data, Odds, Play-by-play, Player stats, Results, Team stats |
| Delivery | CSV download | Polling only (REST) |
| Protocols | CSV download | REST, GraphQL |
| Live / in-play | No | Not disclosed |
| Commercial use | Commercial: Allowed | Commercial: Allowed |
| Betting products | Betting: not disclosed | Betting: not disclosed |
| Documentation | Docs | Docs |
| Developer discussions | 3 | 2 |
| GitHub repos | 827 | 1.1k |
| Community tone | Mostly positive | Neutral |
Empty fields mean the provider does not say, not that the feature is missing.
Quick answers
- Is Cricsheet or CollegeFootballData.com better?
- Cricsheet scores slightly higher (61 vs 57). CollegeFootballData.com is the better pick for College football analysts, hobbyists and apps that need games, play-by-play, recruiting and betting-line history through a free key.
- Which is cheaper, Cricsheet or CollegeFootballData.com?
- Cricsheet: Free tier. CollegeFootballData.com: Free tier. Entry plans differ in limits and coverage, so compare what each plan includes.
- Do Cricsheet and CollegeFootballData.com have a free tier?
- Cricsheet: yes. CollegeFootballData.com: yes.