vs
CollegeFootballData.com vs MoneyPuck Data (2026)
Short answer: CollegeFootballData.com scores slightly higher (57 vs 54). MoneyPuck Data is the better pick for analysts, students and journalists who want free NHL shot-level and game-by-game CSV downloads with history from 2007.
From public data checked . How we know
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
- ✓ need commercial use allowed in the public terms
- ✓ value a large open-source ecosystem of wrappers and examples
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.
Choose MoneyPuck Data if you…
Free / open data
Best for: Analysts, students and journalists who want free NHL shot-level and game-by-game CSV downloads with history from 2007.
- ✓ need Ice hockey
- ✓ care most about what developers report in practice
Not ideal for: Commercial products, live data or API access: downloads are non-commercial, updated nightly and delivered as zip files.
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.
Side by side
| CollegeFootballData.com | MoneyPuck Data | |
|---|---|---|
| SportDex Score | 57/100 (#26) | 54/100 (#34) |
| Popularity | 46 | 28 |
| Community & reliability | Not enough data | 69 |
| Transparency | 65 | 85 |
| Developer experience | 68 | 51 |
| Type | Free / open data | Free / open data |
| Starting price | Free tier | Free tier |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| Sports | College sports, American football, Basketball | Ice hockey |
| Data | Fixtures, Historical data, Odds, Play-by-play, Player stats, Results, Team stats | Historical data, Player stats, Results, Team stats |
| Delivery | Polling only (REST) | CSV download |
| Protocols | REST, GraphQL | CSV download |
| Live / in-play | Not disclosed | No |
| Commercial use | Commercial: Allowed | Commercial: Licence required |
| Betting products | Betting: not disclosed | Betting: not disclosed |
| Documentation | Docs | Docs |
| Developer discussions | 2 | 3 |
| GitHub repos | 1.1k | 232 |
| Community tone | Neutral | Mostly positive |
Empty fields mean the provider does not say, not that the feature is missing.
Quick answers
- Is CollegeFootballData.com or MoneyPuck Data better?
- CollegeFootballData.com scores slightly higher (57 vs 54). MoneyPuck Data is the better pick for analysts, students and journalists who want free NHL shot-level and game-by-game CSV downloads with history from 2007.
- Which is cheaper, CollegeFootballData.com or MoneyPuck Data?
- CollegeFootballData.com: Free tier. MoneyPuck Data: Free tier. Entry plans differ in limits and coverage, so compare what each plan includes.
- Do CollegeFootballData.com and MoneyPuck Data have a free tier?
- CollegeFootballData.com: yes. MoneyPuck Data: yes.