# CollegeFootballData.com

> College football API with games, team and player stats, recruiting, betting lines and advanced metrics; free key with monthly cap, higher tiers via Patreon, plus basketball API.

Canonical page: https://sportdex.net/providers/collegefootballdata-com/  
Last checked: 2026-11-03  
SportDex Score: 57/100 (rank 26; popularity 46, community n/a, transparency 65, developer experience 68)

## Facts
- Type: Free / open data
- Website: https://collegefootballdata.com
- Documentation: https://collegefootballdata.com/api-tiers
- Pricing page: https://collegefootballdata.com/api-tiers
- Country: United States
- Sports: College sports, American football, Basketball
- Data types: Fixtures, Historical data, Odds, Play-by-play, Player stats, Results, Team stats
- Protocols: REST, GraphQL
- Delivery: Polling only (REST)
- Live / in-play: not disclosed
- Free tier: yes
- Cheapest public paid plan: not public
- Commercial use: Allowed
- Redistribution: Not allowed
- Authentication: api key
- SDKs: python, typescript, csharp

## Plans
| Plan | Price | Requests | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 1,000 / month | Basic endpoints, historical data, no card |
| Tier 2 (Patreon) | Not public | 30,000 / month | Live play-by-play included; price not in fetched text |
| Tier 3+ (Patreon) | Not public | — | GraphQL, live data, higher limits; price and limits not in fetched text |

## Who it is for

Best for: College football analysts, hobbyists and apps that need games, play-by-play, recruiting and betting-line history through a free key.

Not ideal for: Projects that need other leagues, redistribution of the data, or live data on the free tier; higher tiers run through Patreon.

Use cases: College football analytics; Recruiting trackers; Betting-line history studies; Basketball stats with the companion API

Limitations:
- Free tier is capped at 1,000 calls per month
- Redistribution of data is not allowed
- Live play-by-play and GraphQL need paid Patreon tiers
- No SLA stated

## Quick answers

**What is CollegeFootballData.com best for?** College football analysts, hobbyists and apps that need games, play-by-play, recruiting and betting-line history through a free key. Not ideal for: Projects that need other leagues, redistribution of the data, or live data on the free tier; higher tiers run through Patreon.

**How much does CollegeFootballData.com cost?** CollegeFootballData.com does not publish prices on the pages we checked.

**Does CollegeFootballData.com have a free tier?** Yes. CollegeFootballData.com lists a free plan called "Free" (1,000 requests per month).

**What does CollegeFootballData.com cover?** CollegeFootballData.com is a free / open data. Its sports: College sports, American football, Basketball; data: Fixtures, Historical data, Odds, Play-by-play, Player stats, Results, Team stats.

**Does CollegeFootballData.com have a WebSocket or streaming API?** No streaming is listed. CollegeFootballData.com delivers data by REST, GraphQL, so you poll for updates.

**Can I use CollegeFootballData.com data commercially or for betting?** According to the public terms of CollegeFootballData.com — commercial use: allowed; redistribution: not allowed; storing data: allowed.

**What do developers say about CollegeFootballData.com?** 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.

**What are the alternatives to CollegeFootballData.com?** Close alternatives in the SportDex catalog: nflverse, SportsDataverse, Sportradar, Entity Sport, DunkAPI.

## 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.

Praised for: Free and widely wrapped (Python, R); Includes scores, lines and play-by-play

Complaints: Play data lacks formations

## Method
Facts were read from the provider's own pages on 2026-11-03. Empty fields mean the provider does not say, not that a feature is missing. Method: https://sportdex.net/methodology/