{"id":144,"date":"2026-01-31T15:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T15:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oddspapi.io\/blog\/?p=144"},"modified":"2026-10-15T20:55:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T20:55:44","slug":"free-odds-api-350-bookmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oddspapi.io\/blog\/free-odds-api-350-bookmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Odds API: 250 Requests, 274 Bookmakers in One Call"},"content":{"rendered":"

You Need Data Before You Can Afford Data<\/h2>\n

You want to build a betting model, an arbitrage scanner or a value finder. First you need odds to prove the idea works, and most feeds want money before you write a line of code.<\/p>\n

OddsPapi’s free plan gives you every sport and every bookmaker for 250 requests a month, with no credit card. The number that matters is what one request returns. On 29 September 2026 we sent one \/odds<\/code> call for Spain v Croatia in the UEFA Nations League. It came back with 274 bookmakers, 871 market IDs and 194,745 prices<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This guide measures that board, shows you how to spend 250 requests without waste, and gives you five tested Python scripts: live odds, sharp versus soft prices, and free opening and closing lines from history.<\/p>\n

What the Free Plan Includes<\/h2>\n

The sign-up page states the plan in one line: all sports and all bookmakers, 250 requests a month. Here is what that covers, measured on 29 September 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Feature<\/th>\nFree plan<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Bookmakers<\/strong><\/td>\nAll of them: 361 slugs in \/v4\/bookmakers<\/code>, 286 flagged liveOdds<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sports<\/strong><\/td>\nAll 69 in \/v4\/sports<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sharp books and exchanges<\/strong><\/td>\nPinnacle, Singbet, Betfair Exchange, Polymarket and Kalshi all priced Spain v Croatia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Soft books<\/strong><\/td>\nbet365, DraftKings, FanDuel and 1xBet all priced Spain v Croatia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Historical odds<\/strong><\/td>\nIncluded. Full snapshot history per fixture, up to 3 bookmakers per call<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Requests<\/strong><\/td>\n250 a month<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Credit card<\/strong><\/td>\nNot needed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

250 Requests vs 500 Credits<\/h2>\n

The Odds API’s free Starter plan gives you 500 credits a month. The count looks bigger until you read how their docs charge a call. A live odds call costs 1 credit per region per market. A historical call costs 10 credits per region per market. Their pricing page lists “most bookmakers” on the free plan. For the full breakdown, read The Odds API free tier limits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
One call for…<\/th>\nOddsPapi free<\/th>\nThe Odds API free<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Moneyline, spreads and totals, US + UK + EU regions<\/td>\n1 request<\/td>\n9 credits (3 markets x 3 regions)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Every market a fixture carries (871 on Spain v Croatia)<\/td>\n1 request<\/td>\n1 credit per market per region<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Historical 1X2 for one fixture, full snapshot history<\/td>\n1 request (3 books)<\/td>\n10 credits per region, one snapshot per call<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monthly allowance<\/td>\n250 requests<\/td>\n500 credits<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

The Odds API rates are from their v4 docs and pricing page, read on 29 September 2026. If you need a wider comparison of paid tiers, see Odds API pricing compared<\/a>. For every free plan and trial in one list, see the free odds API roundup on SportsAPIs.dev<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get Started: Python Tutorial<\/h2>\n

Step 1: Get Your Free API Key<\/h3>\n

Sign up at oddspapi.io<\/a>. You get a key at once. OddsPapi reads the key from the apiKey<\/code> query parameter, not from a header.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Verify Your Key<\/h3>\n
import requests\n\nAPI_KEY = \"YOUR_FREE_API_KEY\"\nBASE_URL = \"https:\/\/api.oddspapi.io\/v4\"\n\nresponse = requests.get(f\"{BASE_URL}\/sports\", params={\"apiKey\": API_KEY})\nprint(f\"Status: {response.status_code}\")\nprint(f\"Sports available: {len(response.json())}\")\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Output on 29 September 2026:<\/p>\n
Status: 200\nSports available: 69\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Step 3: Browse Sports<\/h3>\n
import requests\n\nAPI_KEY = \"YOUR_FREE_API_KEY\"\nBASE_URL = \"https:\/\/api.oddspapi.io\/v4\"\n\nresponse = requests.get(f\"{BASE_URL}\/sports\", params={\"apiKey\": API_KEY})\nfor sport in response.json()[:10]:\n    print(f\"{sport['sportId']}: {sport['sportName']}\")\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
10: Soccer\n11: Basketball\n12: Tennis\n13: Baseball\n14: American Football\n15: Ice Hockey\n16: ESport Dota\n17: ESport Counter-Strike\n18: ESport League of Legends\n19: Darts\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Cache this list and the bookmaker catalogue. They change rarely, and every call you skip is a call you keep for odds.<\/p>\n
Step 4: Find Tournaments with Fixtures<\/h3>\n
import requests\n\nAPI_KEY = \"YOUR_FREE_API_KEY\"\nBASE_URL = \"https:\/\/api.oddspapi.io\/v4\"\n\nresponse = requests.get(f\"{BASE_URL}\/tournaments\", params={\n    \"apiKey\": API_KEY,\n    \"sportId\": 10,  # Soccer\n})\ntournaments = response.json()\n\n# futureFixtures > 0 means the tournament has fixtures on the calendar\nactive = [t for t in tournaments if t.get(\"futureFixtures\", 0) > 0]\nprint(f\"Soccer tournaments: {len(tournaments)}, with future fixtures: {len(active)}\")\n\nfor t in sorted(active, key=lambda t: -t[\"futureFixtures\"])[:5]:\n    print(f\"  {t['tournamentId']:>6}  {t['categoryName']} \/ {t['tournamentName']}: {t['futureFixtures']}\")\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Soccer tournaments: 1967, with future fixtures: 607\n     544  Spain \/ Segunda Federacion: 1605\n   48343  Spain \/ U19 Division de Honor Juvenil: 1567\n   46053  Greece \/ Gamma Ethniki: 1168\n   26178  USA \/ NCAA Regular Season, Women: 999\n   26176  USA \/ NCAA, Regular Season: 934\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Filter on futureFixtures<\/code>, not upcomingFixtures<\/code>. On 29 September the Premier League showed 330 future fixtures and 0 upcoming, so an upcomingFixtures<\/code> filter drops it.<\/p>\n
Step 5: Get Fixtures for a Tournament<\/h3>\n
import requests\nfrom datetime import date, timedelta\n\nAPI_KEY = \"YOUR_FREE_API_KEY\"\nBASE_URL = \"https:\/\/api.oddspapi.io\/v4\"\n\nTOURNAMENT_ID = 23755  # UEFA Nations League; 17 = Premier League, 8 = LaLiga\n\ntoday = date.today()\nresponse = requests.get(f\"{BASE_URL}\/fixtures\", params={\n    \"apiKey\": API_KEY,\n    \"tournamentId\": TOURNAMENT_ID,\n    \"from\": today.isoformat(),\n    \"to\": (today + timedelta(days=10)).isoformat(),\n})\n\n# A 404 means an empty window (off-season or international break), not an error\nfixtures = response.json() if response.status_code == 200 else []\nwith_odds = sorted((f for f in fixtures if f.get(\"hasOdds\")), key=lambda f: f[\"startTime\"])\nprint(f\"Fixtures: {len(fixtures)}, with odds: {len(with_odds)}\")\n\nfor f in with_odds[:3]:\n    print(f\"  {f['fixtureId']}  {f['participant1Name']} v {f['participant2Name']}  {f['startTime']}\")\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Fixtures: 62, with odds: 62\n  id1002375568932360  Moldova v Faroe Islands  2026-09-29T16:00:00.000Z\n  id1002375568932506  Finland v Belarus  2026-09-29T16:00:00.000Z\n  id1002375568931694  Czechia v England  2026-09-29T18:45:00.000Z\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
If a tournament has no fixtures in the window, \/fixtures<\/code> returns 404. On 29 September, during the international break, LaLiga and the Champions League both returned FIXTURE_NOT_FOUND<\/code> for the next ten days. The script treats 404 as an empty list.<\/p>\n
Step 6: One Request, the Whole Board<\/h3>\n
This script spends one request on one fixture and counts what comes back. Then it pulls the 1X2 (market 101) from three sharp or exchange prices and three soft books.<\/p>\n
import requests\n\nAPI_KEY = \"YOUR_FREE_API_KEY\"\nBASE_URL = \"https:\/\/api.oddspapi.io\/v4\"\n\nFIXTURE_ID = \"id1002375568931696\"  # Spain v Croatia, from Step 5\n\nresponse = requests.get(f\"{BASE_URL}\/odds\", params={\"apiKey\": API_KEY, \"fixtureId\": FIXTURE_ID})\nresponse.raise_for_status()\nbooks = response.json()[\"bookmakerOdds\"]\n\n# Drop internal test feeds before you count anything\nbooks = {s: b for s, b in books.items() if not s.startswith(\"pinnacle+\") and s != \"demo\"}\n\nmarket_ids, prices, active = set(), 0, 0\nfor b in books.values():\n    for mid, market in (b.get(\"markets\") or {}).items():\n        market_ids.add(mid)\n        for outcome in market[\"outcomes\"].values():\n            for p in outcome[\"players\"].values():\n                prices += 1\n                active += bool(p.get(\"active\"))\n\nprint(f\"One request: {len(books)} bookmakers, {len(market_ids)} market IDs, \"\n      f\"{prices:,} prices ({active:,} active), {len(response.content) \/ 1e6:.1f} MB\")\n\n# Market 101 = Full Time Result (1X2); outcomes 101 home, 102 draw, 103 away\ndef one_x_two(slug):\n    m = (books.get(slug, {}).get(\"markets\") or {}).get(\"101\")\n    if not m:\n        return None\n    legs = [m[\"outcomes\"].get(k, {}).get(\"players\", {}).get(\"0\", {}) for k in (\"101\", \"102\", \"103\")]\n    if not all(p.get(\"active\") for p in legs):\n        return None\n    return tuple(p[\"price\"] for p in legs)\n\nquotes = {s: q for s in books if (q := one_x_two(s))}\nprint(f\"Active 1X2 quotes: {len(quotes)} books, {len(set(quotes.values()))} distinct price tuples\")\n\nfor slug in [\"pinnacle\", \"singbet\", \"betfair-ex\", \"polymarket\", \"bet365\", \"draftkings\"]:\n    q = quotes.get(slug)\n    if q:\n        margin = sum(1 \/ x for x in q) - 1\n        print(f\"  {slug:<11} {q[0]:>6} {q[1]:>6} {q[2]:>6}   margin {margin:.2%}\")\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Output, 29 September 2026 at 13:15 UTC, five and a half hours before kick-off:<\/p>\n
One request: 274 bookmakers, 871 market IDs, 194,745 prices (153,280 active), 65.4 MB\nActive 1X2 quotes: 264 books, 98 distinct price tuples\n  pinnacle     1.202   7.45  12.97   margin 4.33%\n  singbet       1.21    6.8   14.0   margin 4.49%\n  betfair-ex    1.22    8.0   16.5   margin 0.53%\n  polymarket    1.22  7.692 14.286   margin 1.97%\n  bet365        1.19    6.5   11.0   margin 8.51%\n  draftkings     1.2    6.5   11.0   margin 7.81%\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Three findings come out of that one request:<\/p>\n