Best Sport APIs in 2026

In 2026, sports data has advanced significantly. Technologies such as sensor equipped balls and referee cameras have expanded how data is collected and used. As a result, website owners and developers now have more ways to integrate sports content into their products.

However, this growth has added complexity and even higher costs. Enterprise APIs are often expensive, while some lower cost options sacrifice data quality. Features also vary widely between providers. In this article, we review current sports data APIs, ranging from solutions for low - mid-scale projects to enterprise platforms built for B2B use.

Highlightly API

Highlightly is a sports data API that combines match data with video highlights. It provides access to live scores, fixtures, standings, statistics, live and pre-match odds, predictions, player statistics and media content through a REST API in the standard JSON format. Coverage includes many popular sports and leagues, making it suitable for general sports platforms.

One of the API's main features is its focus on highlights and short video clips. This allows developers to present key events, game recaps, and post-match content alongside live scores and various statistics. Data can be filtered by sport, league, date, or country, which helps control content delivery and presentation.

Beyond media content, Highlightly also offers advanced player statistics across major sports such as football, american football (NFL, NCAA), baseball (MLB, NCAA), basketball (NBA, NCAA), hockey (NHL, NCAA), and even cricket. This makes it useful for platforms that need more than just basic data but do not require full enterprise-level analytics.

Highlightly is positioned as a very cost-effective solution, with pricing significantly lower than many competing sports APIs. It is aimed at low to mid-tier companies, startups, and growing products that need reliable data and media features, often serving as a stepping stone before moving to dedicated enterprise-level providers.

Sportradar API

Sportradar is a sports technology company that collects, processes, and distributes sports data for leagues, media companies, sportsbooks, and developers. It works with official partners to capture live event data and deliver accurate information at scale through its APIs.

The platform provides live scores, player and team statistics, schedules, standings, and historical data across many sports and competitions. Its APIs support both real-time feeds and REST access, allowing developers to build fast and stable applications.

In addition to data delivery, Sportradar offers betting odds and integrity services to help protect sports competitions. These services support regulated betting markets and help detect irregular activity. They also support performance analysis and decision-making for teams and leagues. Its data is used for player evaluation, trend analysis, scouting, and coaching workflows.

For media and fan-facing platforms, Sportradar generates live graphics, match trackers, and interactive features. By serving broadcasters, teams, betting operators, and digital products from a single data foundation, they acts as a core infrastructure provider across the global sports industry.

While Sportradar offers a wide range of features and deep data coverage, it is primarily positioned as an enterprise-level solution. Its services are typically licensed at a premium cost and are tailored to large organizations with high data demands. As a result, access is often best suited to established companies, major platforms, and larger businesses that can support the associated costs and long-term partnerships.

Sportmonks

Sportmonks is a sports data provider that offers REST APIs focused mainly on football, with additional coverage for cricket and Formula 1. Its APIs deliver structured data in JSON format, making them suitable for web and mobile applications. Football is the core product and includes coverage of thousands of leagues and competitions worldwide.

The platform provides live scores, fixtures, match events, team and player statistics, standings, and historical data. Sportmonks also offers optional features such as widgets, news feeds, predictions, and betting odds as add-ons. Endpoints allow developers to control how much data is returned per request, which helps manage usage and performance.

Sportmonks especially excels in football coverage. Developers can choose plans based on league access and data depth, scaling from basic live scores to advanced match statistics. Documentation is clear, and the API structure supports efficient data retrieval for live and historical use cases.

However, the main limitation they have is sports breadth. Compared to multi-sport providers, Sportmonks covers fewer sports and focuses more heavily on football. Some advanced features and full league access are restricted to higher-tier plans, which may increase costs as a product scales.

SportsDataIO

SportsDataIO is a sports data provider offering APIs for live and historical data across major professional sports. Its REST APIs deliver data in JSON or XML and support use cases such as media platforms, betting products, fantasy sports, and analytics tools. Coverage includes football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, tennis, golf, motorsports, MMA, and esports.

Their platform provides live scores, schedules, team and player statistics, injuries, depth charts, odds, and fantasy projections. It also includes news feeds, historical archives, and testing tools that allow developers to replay past events before going live. APIs are organized by sport and data type, making them easier to integrate and maintain.

SportsDataIO performs well in breadth and structure. It offers consistent data models across sports and supports high request volumes for production systems. Documentation and developer tools help teams build and scale applications with fewer integration issues.

Despite all the mentioned benefits, their service is less suited for small or low-budget projects. Pricing is not fully public, and most production access requires direct sales contact. Advanced feeds and real-time data may increase costs as usage grows.

API Sports

API Sports is a sports data provider focused on delivering APIs for developers and other digital products. It aggregates data from many leagues & competitions and presents it in a consistent format. The platform is designed to be easy to adopt, even for small teams or solo developers.

The service provides live scores, fixtures, standings, team and player statistics, and historical data across multiple sports. Data is updated frequently during live events and can be accessed through a single dashboard. API Sports also offers prebuilt widgets for quick front-end integration.

One of its main strengths is usability. The documentation is clear, endpoints follow predictable structures, and a free tier allows developers to test and prototype without upfront cost. Paid plans scale gradually, making it suitable for growing applications.

API Sports is not positioned as an enterprise solution. It offers less depth in advanced metrics and analytics compared to premium providers. Lower tier plans have request limits, and there are no strict service level guarantees for uptime or latency.

Overall, API Sports works well for general sports apps, fan platforms, and multi-sport products where speed of integration and cost control matter more than specialized or official data feeds. It is a practical choice for startups, side projects, and low to mid-scale applications.

Conclusion