TheRundown API Review 2026

TheRundown is a sports data API that bundles odds, scores, stats, and same-game parlay data into one product. It started as an odds comparison tool for bettors and grew into a developer-facing API with public, tiered pricing. The tagline on the site is "sub-second on sharp books," which tells you the target audience: people building tools that react to line movement.

The directory marks TheRundown with Pinnacle coverage, SGP odds, deep links, futures, closing odds, bet settlement, stats, a WebSocket feed, and an official MCP server. That is a wide feature set for a product that also offers a free tier.

TheRundown covers the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football (NCAAF), and college basketball (NCAAB), and extends into tennis, cricket, golf, F1, fighting, and soccer. Market types include moneylines, spreads, totals, futures, and same-game parlay odds. SGP coverage is uncommon: most odds APIs skip parlays because the data is harder to source and normalize. Deep links are available to send users directly to a sportsbook's bet slip.

The feed pulls from 25 sources, all listed on the TheRundown API page. That includes Pinnacle, Circa, DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Hard Rock, and offshore books such as Bovada, BetOnline, and BookMaker. It also carries three exchanges (Matchbook, ProphetX, and Novig) and three prediction markets (Kalshi, Polymarket, and Polymarket US), so you can put sportsbook prices and contract prices side by side. See the Pinnacle API guide and the betting exchange API guide for context.

The free tier restricts you to three books: BetMGM, FanDuel, and DraftKings. Every paid plan opens all 25 sources.

TheRundown publishes its prices on the pricing page. There are eight plans, and the main levers are data delay, WebSocket access, odds history, and rate limit:

• Free ($0): 3 books (BetMGM, FanDuel, DraftKings), 5-minute data delay, 1 request per second, and 200,000 data points a month (20,000 a day). No live odds and no odds history.
• Starter ($49/mo): all sources, live odds, 60-second delay, 7 days of history, 2 requests per second.
• Pro ($149/mo): 30-second delay, 30 days of history, 5 requests per second.
• Ultra ($399/mo): real-time data, 1 WebSocket connection, 90 days of history, 10 requests per second.
• Super ($649/mo): real-time, 3 WebSocket connections, 6 months of history, 15 requests per second.
• Mega ($999/mo): real-time, 5 WebSocket connections, 1 year of history, 20 requests per second.
• Max ($2,499/mo): real-time, 10 WebSocket connections, unlimited history, 50 requests per second.
• Enterprise (custom): unlimited history, custom volume and SLA.

Every plan also has a monthly allowance of data points, where one data point is one returned price row. It runs from 25 million on Starter to 2.5 billion on Mega. Paid plans stop at the cap by default, and overage is optional.

The free tier is enough to test your integration. Starter is the cheapest way to get every book and live odds, and Ultra is where the data goes real-time.

TheRundown is a REST API with JSON responses, authenticated with an API key. A WebSocket feed pushes real-time updates on Ultra and above, and the WebSocket docs are public. Plans below Ultra poll the REST endpoints.

Rate limits are published per plan, from 1 request per second on Free up to 50 on Max. Data delay drops from 5 minutes on Free to 60 seconds on Starter, 30 seconds on Pro, and real-time from Ultra up. An odds-history endpoint gives lookback windows that scale with the plan.

TheRundown also runs an official MCP server at mcp.therundown.io/mcp, with source on GitHub and a listing in the official MCP Registry. It serves live data: an AI agent can list events and pull current lines per book with your API key. A second MCP server at docs.therundown.io/mcp searches the API documentation, which helps an agent find the right endpoint while you build. See our sports MCP servers page for how they compare.

TheRundown's free plan has no end date and asks for no card (checked November 2026). Create a free account, copy the key, and make your first call. The docs say the dashboard's request log shows what each call cost.

Paid plans start at $49 a month for Starter and check out through Stripe. The FAQ says there's no trial of a paid plan, though every paid tier can bill weekly for short jobs. TheRundown limits Starter to internal or personal use. Showing odds to your own users starts at Pro, $149 a month, with attribution. The pricing page lists the rest.

The key goes in an X-TheRundown-Key header, from server-side code only. The docs say never to put it in a URL, a browser bundle or a mobile app. The OpenAPI file still accepts a query-string key for older clients, but new code should use the header.

The quickstart's first call lists the sports and their IDs, using GET https://therundown.io/api/v2/sports with the key in X-TheRundown-Key (from the docs, checked November 2026). The endpoint is public, but the docs advise sending your key from the start so you see the headers production will see.

import os

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "https://therundown.io/api/v2/sports",
    headers={"X-TheRundown-Key": os.environ["THERUNDOWN_API_KEY"]},
    timeout=10,
)
resp.raise_for_status()

for sport in resp.json()["sports"][:8]:
    print(sport["sport_id"], sport["sport_name"])

The reply is a sports list, and each entry has a sport_id and a sport_name. The docs' examples show NFL as 2, NBA as 4 and NHL as 6. Pass an ID to /api/v2/sports/{sport_id}/events/{date} with market_ids, affiliate_ids and main_line=true to get events with prices.

TheRundown enforces two limits per key: a burst ceiling in requests per second, and data points (checked November 2026). A returned event costs 2 points and each returned price costs 1. Metered responses carry X-Datapoints, X-Datapoints-Remaining and X-Rate-Limit, so you can watch the spend. A 429 means a burst, a daily cap or a monthly cap, and Retry-After plus the JSON error field tell them apart. Narrow calls with market_ids, affiliate_ids and main_line=true.

There's no packaged SDK yet. The Python, JavaScript and Go pages use plain HTTP libraries and say an official SDK is coming, and the MIT-licensed examples repo has runnable versions. The docs publish an OpenAPI 3.1 file and a changelog, and there's a status page. Support is support@therundown.io.

The combination of odds, scores, SGP data, and deep links fits a few specific use cases:

• Betting apps that need same-game parlay odds. SGP data is hard to find in the API market. If your product surfaces parlay builders, TheRundown is one of the few options that provide that data.
• Odds-comparison tools that want sharp books, soft books, exchanges, and prediction markets in one feed, with deep links for click-to-bet.
• Value-bet and arbitrage scanners on Ultra or higher, where the WebSocket and real-time data let you react to line movement.
• AI agents and assistants that pull odds through the MCP server.
• Media and content sites that display live scores, odds, and stats together.

The betting apps, comparison tools and media sites above show odds to their users, and that starts at Pro, $149 a month, with attribution, because TheRundown limits Starter to internal or personal use (checked November 2026). The exchange coverage is US-facing (Matchbook, ProphetX, Novig). If you need Betfair or Smarkets, look elsewhere in the exchange guide.

TheRundown sits in a middle tier between free-tier-friendly generic odds APIs and enterprise data feeds. The SGP data, Pinnacle coverage, and US exchange and prediction-market sources push it above the commodity APIs that only carry mainstream US books. Public pricing from $49 lets you start small and scale up, which is more approachable than contact-sales vendors.

Against aggregators that cover 200+ books, 25 sources is a focused list rather than a long one. If raw breadth across international and crypto sportsbooks is your priority, a broader aggregator in the sports odds API directory will cover more ground. TheRundown wins on the SGP angle and on bundling scores, stats, and prediction markets into the same product.

TheRundown packs a lot into one API: odds, scores, stats, SGP data, deep links, Pinnacle, US exchanges, prediction markets, a WebSocket feed, and a live-data MCP server. The pricing is public and the steps are gradual, from free to $2,499 a month.

Start on the free tier and check that the sports and markets you need are there. Move to Starter for every book and live odds in internal tools, to Pro when your users see the odds, and to Ultra when you need real-time data over WebSocket.

Last updated: 2 November 2026 · How providers get listed