Best football API for a fantasy football app
In a fantasy football game, people pick real players and score points based on what those players do in real matches.
So your app needs to know when the matches are, who actually played, and what each player did — goals, assists, cards, minutes. Injury news helps managers avoid picking someone who is out.
What you need
- Fixtures — when each gameweek’s matches are played (listed by 13 of 17 providers)
- Lineups — who started and who came off the bench (listed by 9 of 17 providers)
- Player stats — goals, assists, minutes and more — the numbers you turn into points (listed by 10 of 17 providers)
- Match events — goals, cards and substitutions as they happen (listed by 10 of 17 providers)
- Injuries — who is injured or suspended (listed by 5 of 17 providers)
- Fantasy — a ready-made fantasy API (rare) (listed by 1 of 17 providers)
Not every app needs every item. Start with the first two or three.
Good places to start
How we chose: each pick must have a self-serve way to start (free plan, trial with stated limits, or a public price); and player stats or a fantasy API listed. Facts below are quoted from the provider's public pages, checked 2026-10-19.
-
API-Football (API-Sports)
Free plan: Yes · From: $19/mo
- Start: Free plan "Free" — $0/mo: 100 requests/day; free plans limited in available seasons.
- Paid plans from $19/mo.
- Lists: fixtures, lineups, player stats, match events, injuries.
- Confirmed leagues: Premier League, Championship, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Primeira Liga, MLS, Champions League.
- Coverage: 1,249 leagues & cups (coverage page, list updated 2026-10-18); all competitions on all plans.
Watch out
- All 9 tracked leagues are listed on the coverage page (updated 2026-10-18). How much data each league has (events, lineups, stats) is not confirmed.
-
Sportmonks
Free plan: Yes · From: €29/mo
- Start: Free plan "Free" — €0: free tier, no card (limits not stated on pricing page); paid plans also have a 14-day free trial, no card.
- Paid plans from €29/mo.
- Lists: fixtures, lineups, player stats, match events, injuries.
- Confirmed leagues: Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1.
- Coverage: 2,200+ (pricing page also says 2,300+ on Enterprise).
Watch out
- Top-5 have dedicated coverage pages; others pick-your-leagues, not individually verified.
-
football-data.org
Free plan: Yes · From: €12/mo
- Start: Free plan "Free" — €0/mo: 12 competitions; scores delayed; 10 calls/min.
- Paid plans from €12/mo.
- Lists: fixtures, lineups, player stats, match events.
- Confirmed leagues: Premier League, Championship, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Primeira Liga, MLS, Champions League.
- Coverage: ~100 competitions in full list; 12 on free tier.
Watch out
- Lineups: paid tiers.
- Player stats: limited (scorers, squads).
- Match events: goals/cards/subs on paid tiers.
- Not confirmed on public pages: injuries.
- Free tier includes PL, Championship, Primeira Liga, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, CL; MLS on paid tiers.
-
Entity Sports
Free plan: Trial only · From: $250/mo
- Start: Trial "Developer (free)" — $0 for 15 days: 2,000 calls total; Ligue 1 & Eredivisie only.
- Paid plans from $250/mo.
- Lists: fixtures, injuries, fantasy.
- Confirmed leagues: Premier League, Ligue 1.
- Coverage: 10 / 35 / 65 / 100+ by plan.
Watch out
- Trial only (15 days) — not an ongoing free plan.
- Injuries: Enterprise.
- Fantasy: Fantasy API on all paid plans.
- Not confirmed on public pages: lineups, player stats, match events.
- An older Entity blog post lists different plans ($150/$250/$400) incl. LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS — conflicts with current pricing page; not relied on.
- Docs URL not found on public pages.
Recommendations are based only on public data we've checked; nobody pays for placement. Always check the provider's terms (especially for commercial use and betting).
Budget option and if you grow
- Budget option: Cheapest paid plan among these picks: football-data.org, from €12/mo (face value; € and $ aren't converted).
- If you grow: API-Football (API-Sports)'s clear public monthly prices run from Pro at $19/mo (7,500 requests/day) to Mega at $39/mo (150,000 requests/day).
- If you grow: Sportmonks's clear public monthly prices run from Starter at €29/mo (€24/mo yearly) (any 5 leagues; 2,000 calls/entity/hour) to Pro at €249/mo (€199/mo yearly) (any 120 leagues; 3,000 calls/entity/hour).
- If you grow: football-data.org's clear public monthly prices run from Free w/ Livescores at €12/mo (12 competitions; live scores; 20 calls/min) to Pro at €199/mo (100 competitions; deep data; 120 calls/min).
- If you grow: Entity Sports's clear public monthly prices run from Starter at $250/mo ($2,500/yr) (10 leagues incl. EPL; 1M calls/mo) to Gold at $1,600/mo ($16,000/yr) (100+ leagues; 6M calls/mo; WebSocket).
Other providers that also match
These pass the same rules from our data. They're not ranked.
- Goalserve — free plan: Trial, cheapest paid: $150/mo
- Highlightly — free plan: Yes, cheapest paid: $9.49/mo
- iSports API — free plan: Trial, cheapest paid: $299/mo
- SportDevs — free plan: Yes, cheapest paid: from €19
- SportsGameOdds — free plan: Yes, cheapest paid: $99/mo
- StatsBomb Open Data (Hudl) — free plan: Yes, cheapest paid: Free only
Next steps
- Open a pick's page and copy its Build with AI starter prompt.
- Sign up on the provider's site and get an API key — here's what that means.
- Paste the prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Lovable, and put your key in the tool's secrets or environment variables — never in the chat.