# TheSportsDB

> Crowd-sourced sports database with artwork, teams, players, events and league tables. Free API with tight limits; paid keys add livescores, highlight links and higher rate limits.

Canonical page: https://sportdex.net/providers/the-sports-db/  
Last checked: 2026-11-03  
SportDex Score: 65/100 (rank 8; popularity 70, community 54, transparency 85, developer experience 52)

## Facts
- Type: Sports data API
- Website: https://www.thesportsdb.com
- Documentation: https://www.thesportsdb.com/documentation
- Pricing page: https://www.thesportsdb.com/pricing
- Sports: Multi-sport (40+)
- Data types: Fixtures, Historical data, Images, Results, Live scores, Standings, Team stats, Video
- Protocols: REST
- Delivery: Polling only (REST)
- Live / in-play: not disclosed
- Free tier: yes
- Cheapest public paid plan: $9/mo
- Commercial use: Paid plans only
- Authentication: api key

## Plans
| Plan | Price | Requests | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 30 / minute | Core search/lookup, most queries limited |
| Single Developer (Premium) | $9/mo | 100 / minute | Premium JSON data, 2-min livescore, YouTube highlight links, higher limits |
| Small Business | $20/mo | 120 / minute | No limit on returned data, private API key, email support |

## Who it is for

Best for: Hobby and early-stage apps that need team, player and event metadata plus artwork across many sports, at a low monthly price.

Not ideal for: Projects that need live scores on the free tier, licensed logos or photos, or a published app without a paid key.

Use cases: Team and player lookup pages; League tables and fixtures; Artwork and badge galleries; Highlight link apps

Limitations:
- Free key allows 30 requests per minute and is for development lookups only
- Livescores and the v2 API need a paid key
- Artwork is mostly user-made; third-party logos and photos are not cleared
- Data is crowd-sourced

## Quick answers

**What is TheSportsDB best for?** Hobby and early-stage apps that need team, player and event metadata plus artwork across many sports, at a low monthly price. Not ideal for: Projects that need live scores on the free tier, licensed logos or photos, or a published app without a paid key.

**How much does TheSportsDB cost?** The cheapest public paid plan of TheSportsDB is $9/mo. Listed plans: Single Developer (Premium) $9/mo; Small Business $20/mo.

**Does TheSportsDB have a free tier?** Yes. TheSportsDB lists a free plan called "Free" (30 requests per minute).

**What does TheSportsDB cover?** TheSportsDB is a sports data api. Its sports: Multi-sport (40+); data: Fixtures, Historical data, Images, Results, Live scores, Standings, Team stats, Video.

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

**Can I use TheSportsDB data commercially or for betting?** According to the public terms of TheSportsDB — commercial use: paid plans only; storing data: allowed.

**What do developers say about TheSportsDB?** Crowd-sourced sports database popular for hobby apps, tutorials, student projects and Plex metadata agents, with many wrappers in several languages. Praised as free and good for artwork. The free tier is tight, paid keys are needed for more, and developers report image and RapidAPI access problems and gaps in per-season artwork.

**What are the alternatives to TheSportsDB?** Close alternatives in the SportDex catalog: Sportradar, Goalserve, iSports API, Cito API, StatPal.

## What developers say

Crowd-sourced sports database popular for hobby apps, tutorials, student projects and Plex metadata agents, with many wrappers in several languages. Praised as free and good for artwork. The free tier is tight, paid keys are needed for more, and developers report image and RapidAPI access problems and gaps in per-season artwork.

Praised for: Free tier for hobby use; Strong artwork and metadata; Many community client libraries

Complaints: Tight free limits; Artwork gaps and access errors reported

## 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/