Overview
Understat is a free football analytics platform specializing in Expected Goals (xG) data. It provides detailed shot-level data for major European leagues, including shot locations, xG values, and match timelines. While not a traditional API provider, Understat's data is accessible via JSON endpoints and is widely used by football analysts, bloggers, and data scientists for xG-based analysis and visualization.
Pros
- Completely free xG data
- Shot-level granularity
- Major European league coverage
- JSON endpoints available
- Trusted by football analytics community
Cons
- No official API or documentation
- Limited to top-5 leagues + Russia
- No commercial use allowed
- No WebSocket or streaming
- Scraping required for some data
Best For
Not Ideal For
Specifications
SDKs
Leagues
Our Verdict
Understat is a solid choice for football analytics and xg research, with an overall score of 7.0/10. While it performs well in most areas, consider no official api or documentation when making your decision.
Coverage
Sports Supported
Leagues & Competitions
6 leagues and competitions covered
Developer Experience
API Paradigms
SDKs
Documentation
Commercial Terms
Pricing Plans
Free
Unlimited (fair use)
- All xG data
- Shot-level data
- Match timelines
- Player xG stats
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Building something commercial?
Understat is fine for hobby projects and prototypes. For production apps, compare licensed sports data APIs with real SLAs: