Compare
Head-to-head analysis of the two leading football APIs.
API-Football
850+ leagues, strong free tier
API-Football wins for most football-only projects thanks to deeper coverage, a more generous free tier, and broader SDK support. Choose SportMonks if you need cricket or prefer transparent upgrade pricing.
SportMonks
Predictable pricing, multi-sport
Coverage
API-Football covers more European leagues; SportMonks adds cricket and women's football depth.
Pricing
SportMonks pricing scales linearly; API-Football packs more requests into lower tiers.
Developer Experience
Both have clean REST docs. API-Football has more community SDKs; SportMonks has better support SLAs.
| Feature | API-Football | SportMonks |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | 850+ leagues | 600+ leagues |
| Pricing | Free tier + paid | Free tier + paid |
| Live Data | ||
| Historical | ||
| Odds | ||
| GraphQL | ||
| WebSocket | ||
| SDK | JS, Python, PHP, Go | JS, PHP |
| Docs | ||
| Support | Community + Email | Priority support |
| Commercial Use |
API-Football is best for
SportMonks is best for
Recommended default: API-Football
Highest quality score for football, strongest free tier, and the most SDK options make it the safer starting point for most developers.