# Is there a free odds API?

> Yes: several odds APIs have a free tier. What free tiers hold back, whether UK bookmakers, bet365 and exchange lay prices are on one, and how to price a call.

Published 7 October 2026

**Yes, there is a free odds API: several vendors run a free tier, all of them cap your usage, and some also hold back bookmakers or exchange prices.** Each vendor counts its cap in its own unit, so a headline figure says little until you know what one of your own calls uses. OddsRelay has a Free plan, and on it you can price a call before any of the allowance is spent.

## What a free tier usually limits

A free tier limits at least one of the things in this table. Most search results for a free odds API are a vendor's own page, so check each one against the rows.

| Limit | How it shows up | What to check |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Requests in a window | A cap on calls in an hour, a day or a month | Whether a test at your product's own pace fits inside it |
| Credits | One call can use several credits, depending on what it asks for | What one of your own calls uses |
| Bookmakers | Only part of the bookmaker list is on the free tier | Whether the bookmakers your product needs are in that part |
| Data held back | Exchange prices kept for paid plans | Whether the lay side you need is there at all |
| A card | Card details asked for at sign-up | Whether the card is charged when the allowance runs out |
| An end date | Access that stops on a date | Whether the offer is a free tier or a free trial |

The last row decides whether your code keeps its data. A free trial is usually fuller access that ends on a date. A free tier carries a standing limit and no end date.

Build against a free tier that carries the data your product will show: one that holds back the lay side cannot tell you whether a back-and-lay tool works.

[The UK odds API roundup](https://oddsrelay.io/compare/uk-odds-apis) says which named providers publish a free tier, with each fact sourced and dated. For the metering models behind the units, see [what drives the cost of an odds feed](https://oddsrelay.io/blog/what-drives-the-cost-of-an-odds-feed).

If no free tier carries what you need, collecting prices yourself swaps the fee for engineering time that does not end. [Buying vs building an odds data layer](https://oddsrelay.io/blog/buy-vs-build-odds-data) sets out what that takes.

## Is there a free odds API for UK bookmakers?

Yes. OddsRelay's Free plan covers the 60+ bookmakers live in the UK & Ireland, with exchange lay prices from Betfair, Smarkets, Matchbook and BETDAQ. The six matched boards and raw are all on Free, and plans differ only in tokens, the unit every call is priced in.

Free gives 2,500 tokens a month, with no card, for as long as you stay on it. The allowance resets each month, and unused tokens do not roll over. To get a key, [sign up free](https://app.oddsrelay.io/signup). The [quickstart](https://oddsrelay.io/docs/guides/quickstart) goes from a new key to a first call.

The allowance is small and meant for narrow calls. That is enough to read the response shape on your own events and build a first client. It will not keep a product polling, and an unfiltered call to the standard, dutching or raw board takes more tokens than Free's whole monthly allowance. [The pricing page](https://oddsrelay.io/pricing) shows roughly how many calls Free buys, beside each paid plan.

The contract and the coverage list answer without a key. `GET /v2/openapi.json` returns the OpenAPI document, and `GET /v2/coverage` returns the status of each product, venue and sport. You can read every field name and check your bookmakers before you sign up, and [how to test an odds feed before you buy](https://oddsrelay.io/blog/how-to-test-an-odds-feed-before-you-buy) walks through both.

## Is there a free odds API with bet365?

Yes. bet365 is on every OddsRelay plan, Free included, for featured football and UK and Irish racing. [The bet365 page](https://oddsrelay.io/bookmakers/bet365) lists what the feed carries for it.

bet365 publishes no public odds API of its own, as [is there a bet365 API?](https://oddsrelay.io/blog/is-there-a-bet365-api) explains, so on any free tier its prices reach you through the vendor. Whether a free tier includes bet365 is a line on that vendor's bookmaker list. Read it before you build.

## How far does a free allowance go?

How far a free allowance goes depends on the price of your own calls, so price one first. On OddsRelay, add `quote=true` to any data request and the reply is that request's price instead of the odds. A quote spends nothing.

Request · price one call · example:

```bash
curl --compressed -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $ODDSRELAY_KEY" \
  "https://api.oddsrelay.io/v2/odds/standard?region=uk&sports=soccer&markets=h2h&bookmakers=ladbrokes&quote=true"
```

GET /v2/odds/standard?quote=true · example:

```json
{
  "cost": …,
  "remaining": …,
  "rate_card": "…"
}
```

`cost` is the price of that exact request in tokens. `remaining` is what you have left until the allowance resets, and `rate_card` names the price table the figure came from. One division tells you how many times the call fits.

Your sum: how many times the call fits · example:

```js
// quote is the reply above. On Free, remaining is your tokens left this month.
const callsLeft = Math.floor(quote.remaining / quote.cost)
```

On the standard board a call costs fewer tokens when you name only the sports, markets and bookmakers you want, and that is how a small allowance stretches. A call is priced from what you ask for, never from how much comes back. [Filters and tokens](https://oddsrelay.io/docs/guides/filters-and-tokens) has the rules for every board.

Quotes aside, these calls never touch the allowance:

- **Discovery and your balance**: the discovery routes (`/v2/sports`, `/v2/events`, `/v2/bookmakers`, `/v2/regions`), your balance at `/v2/usage` and the price table at `/v2/pricing`.
- **`304` replies**: send a reply's `ETag` back as `If-None-Match`, and an unchanged board answers `304` with no body. [Polling an odds feed efficiently](https://oddsrelay.io/blog/polling-an-odds-feed-efficiently) covers the pattern, and the [conditional requests guide](https://oddsrelay.io/docs/guides/conditional-requests) has the detail.
- **Empty replies and refusals**: a reply with no events, and any call that is refused.

When what is left cannot cover a call, the answer is a `402` with the code `insufficient_tokens`, and nothing is served or spent. The body says what the call would have taken, what you have left and when the allowance resets:

A 402 body, trimmed · example:

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "insufficient_tokens",
    "cost": …,
    "remaining": …,
    "resets_at": "…"
  }
}
```

Retrying the same call, or sending it as a conditional request, gets the same answer until the balance covers it. Narrow the filters, choose a plan (the key you hold keeps working), or wait for `resets_at`. On Free, waiting helps only a call that fits inside a whole month's allowance. A quote still works in the meantime, because it is answered before the balance is checked, and its `cost` tells you whether waiting will help.

## Betfair's API has a free key for development

Betfair issues a delayed application key free for development and testing, to private betting customers and to licensed software vendors. A live key carries a one-off activation fee, and Betfair does not permit read-only use of a live key.

That route gives you Betfair's exchange prices, late, and no other venue's. [The Betfair API delay](https://oddsrelay.io/blog/betfair-api-5-second-delay) explains how that key behaves and when it matters.

## Keep the same key when you outgrow Free

Quote the calls your product would make, multiply each by how often it would make them, and set the total against [each plan's monthly allowance](https://oddsrelay.io/pricing). When Free no longer covers it, choose a plan and the key you already hold keeps working, so nothing you built has to change.

## Sources

- [Betfair Developer Program: Are there any costs associated with API access?](https://support.developer.betfair.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003864531-Are-there-any-costs-associated-with-API-access), checked 7 October 2026
- [Betfair Developer Program: When should I use the Delayed or Live Application Key?](https://support.developer.betfair.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009638032-When-should-I-use-the-Delayed-or-Live-Application-Key), checked 7 October 2026

18+ · OddsRelay supplies odds data only and takes no bets. Please gamble responsibly.

Source: https://oddsrelay.io/blog/is-there-a-free-odds-api