SportScore API Review 2026

SportScore is a live scores site that also runs a free public API for football, basketball, cricket and tennis. The API returns JSON, serves CORS headers open to any origin, and needs no key for the main endpoints. The same data runs as an MCP server for Claude, Cursor and other assistants (checked November 2026).

It is a good fit for a first project. You call a URL, you get matches, and you can read the result in a browser tab. The API runs beside the SportScore live scores site, which SportScore Limited operates.

The public API has eight GET endpoints under /api/widget/, and every one takes a sport parameter. The data types are:

• Live and recent matches: scores, status and kick-off time, for up to 50 matches a call.
• Match detail: the score, half-time score, events such as goals and cards, and lineups and statistics where the match has them.
• Team fixtures: a team's recent and upcoming matches.
• Standings and top scorers: a competition's table, and goal or assist leaders.
• Players and brackets: player statistics and knockout draws.

The OpenAPI file also lists a day-by-day fixtures endpoint, head to head and search under /api/v1/. It carries no odds, so pair it with an odds provider from the sports odds API guide when you need prices.

SportScore states the trade openly. The free tier has no key, no ads and a generous rate limit, and in return you show one visible "Powered by SportScore" link on every page that uses its data. The link must be a real, crawlable dofollow anchor to https://sportscore.com/. The portal gives six ready-made badge snippets, and you may restyle them.

Projects that cannot show the link can contact SportScore about a paid or commercial arrangement, and it handles those case by case. There is no revenue share and no lock-in. For hobby sites, bots, open-source apps and early commercial projects, the badge is a small price for real data.

The public API is free, with no card and no sign-up (checked November 2026). The terms say the free tier suits personal projects, open-source apps, community tools and early commercial projects that show the badge.

SportScore posts no paid price list. Commercial deals are by email: if you need to drop the badge, go past the free limit, or want an SLA, custom endpoints or historical data beyond the public API, you describe the use case and it quotes a deal. The terms say most close in under a week.

A free key is optional. It raises the rate limit, adds priority support and gets you advance notice of changes.

You do not need a key. The widget endpoints answer a plain GET with no sign-up and no card (checked November 2026). A free key is optional: you register an email on the key page, and the page says it is instant and needs no card. The key raises your rate limit and gets you priority support and a heads-up before changes.

The OpenAPI file says to send the key in the X-Api-Key header on the /api/v1/ endpoints. You can add ?src=your-app to a call to identify your app, which is also optional. The free tier asks for a visible "Powered by SportScore" link in return, covered in the review above.

This sample calls GET /api/widget/matches/ with no key, asking for five football matches (from the docs, checked November 2026; we also called it with no key and got JSON back).

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "https://sportscore.com/api/widget/matches/",
    params={"sport": "football", "limit": 5},
    timeout=10,
)
resp.raise_for_status()

for match in resp.json()["matches"]:
    print(match["home"], match["home_score"], "-", match["away_score"], match["away"], match["status"])

The response has a matches list. Each match carries home, away, home_score, away_score, status and competition. The scores come back as strings and are null before kick-off. Change sport to basketball, cricket or tennis for the other sports. SportScore caches responses for 60 seconds.

The docs and terms give about 10,000 requests per 24 hours per IP on the free tier, with room for bursts (checked November 2026). SportScore caches responses for 60 seconds at the edge, so cache on your side too; more than 20 requests a second is likely double-fetching. The OpenAPI file adds figures for the /api/v1/ endpoints: about 15 requests a second anonymous, and 6,000 a minute with a registered key. The docs name no error format for a throttled call.

The developer portal holds the endpoint list, an interactive reference and the OpenAPI 3.0 file at /developers/openapi.yaml. There is no official SDK for Python or JavaScript, just the plain quick-start snippets. The MCP server is sportscore-mcp on npm. Questions go to the contact email on the portal. For other free sources, see the free sports APIs guide.

• Hobby developers and students who want live football, basketball, cricket or tennis scores with no sign-up.
• Bot and widget builders making Discord or Telegram match alerts and fan sites.
• AI builders who want an assistant to read scores through the MCP server.

If you need play-by-play, odds or a service-level agreement, SportScore works as the scores layer and you add a specialist feed next to it. The sports data API list has options.

SportScore makes a clear offer: free live scores across four sports, JSON that works from a browser, an OpenAPI spec and an MCP server, in return for one link. That is easy to say yes to.

It is best as a quick way to get matches, standings and top scorers into a project. Try the matches endpoint at sportscore.com, then decide whether you need a key or a commercial arrangement for scale.

Last updated: 5 November 2026 · How providers get listed