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Sportmonks vs football-data.org (2026)
Short answer: Sportmonks scores slightly higher (69 vs 64). football-data.org is the better pick for football apps and side projects that need fixtures, tables and scores for major European leagues, with a free tier and small monthly upgrades.
From public data checked . How we know
Choose Sportmonks if you…
Sports data API
Best for: Football apps and betting models that need many leagues, lineups, xG and stats on a self-serve monthly plan with a free tier and trial.
- ✓ need Cricket, Formula 1
- ✓ need commercial use allowed in the public terms
Not ideal for: Projects that need US sports or the full league list on a small budget; leagues per plan are capped and history is on Enterprise only.
What developers say
Widely used paid football data API for side projects, dashboards and betting models, with many wrappers and GitHub repos. Users like the stats depth and reasonable price versus Opta or Sportradar, but call it pricey for hobby use, say premium odds lack player props, and report unreliable live data and sales or custom-plan frustrations.
Choose football-data.org if you…
Sports data API
Best for: Football apps and side projects that need fixtures, tables and scores for major European leagues, with a free tier and small monthly upgrades.
- ✓ value a large open-source ecosystem of wrappers and examples
Not ideal for: Projects that need sports other than football, or detailed live and event data on the free plan.
What developers say
Popular free-tier choice for hobby football projects: World Cup predictors, score trackers, league tables, and a fallback when API-Football quota runs out. Developers like the free key and simple docs. Complaints: free tier gives fixtures and final scores but no shots, xG or lineups, history starts around 2019, and a low request rate.
Side by side
| Sportmonks | football-data.org | |
|---|---|---|
| SportDex Score | 69/100 (#4) | 64/100 (#11) |
| Popularity | 76 | 65 |
| Community & reliability | 49 | 55 |
| Transparency | 100 | 85 |
| Developer experience | 51 | 55 |
| Type | Sports data API | Sports data API |
| Starting price | from €29/mo | from €12/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | Not stated |
| Sports | Football (soccer), Cricket, Formula 1 | Football (soccer) |
| Data | Fixtures, Historical data, Lineups, News, Odds, Player stats, Predictions, Live scores, Standings, Team stats, Widgets, xG | Fixtures, Historical data, Lineups, Odds, Live scores, Standings, Team stats |
| 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: not disclosed | Betting: not disclosed |
| Documentation | Docs | Docs |
| Developer discussions | 40 | 31 |
| GitHub repos | 207 | 9.0k |
| Community tone | Mixed | Mixed |
Empty fields mean the provider does not say, not that the feature is missing.
Quick answers
- Is Sportmonks or football-data.org better?
- Sportmonks scores slightly higher (69 vs 64). football-data.org is the better pick for football apps and side projects that need fixtures, tables and scores for major European leagues, with a free tier and small monthly upgrades.
- Which is cheaper, Sportmonks or football-data.org?
- Sportmonks: from €29/mo. football-data.org: from €12/mo. Entry plans differ in limits and coverage, so compare what each plan includes.
- Do Sportmonks and football-data.org have a free tier?
- Sportmonks: yes. football-data.org: yes.