Comparison
OddsRelay vs The Odds API
The Odds API is the developer default for raw odds data, and deservedly so: published self-serve pricing with a free tier, fully public docs, and broad multi-sport coverage. The honest difference is what arrives in the payload. It delivers raw per-bookmaker prices you process yourself; OddsRelay's odds data API delivers UK prices already matched against exchange lay odds and rated, with bet365 included as standard. Which one fits depends on which half of that work you want to own.Powers a leading UK matched-betting platform.
Matched · rated
IllustrativeArsenal v Chelsea · Match Odds
Football · Arsenal
- Back · bet365
- 2.10
- Lay · Exchange
- 2.12
- Rating
- 98.1%
Paired, rated, liquidity-gated — qualifying loss and profit already computed. You render the row.
What The Odds API does well
- Genuinely self-serve: published tiered pricing with a free tier, so you can start today without a sales conversation.
- Fully public, well-organised API documentation — no login wall.
- Broad coverage: its homepage states 70+ sports and 40+ bookmakers across US, UK, EU and Australian regions.
- A historical odds archive back to June 2020 on paid plans — a real differentiator for backtesting.
- Mainstream UK books plus all three UK exchanges (Betfair Exchange, Smarkets, Matchbook), with dedicated lay-odds market keys.
- Long-running (since 2017) and the most widely referenced developer odds API in the category.
Side by side
| Dimension | The Odds API | OddsRelay |
|---|---|---|
| Core output | Raw odds per bookmaker, market and outcome — pairing, rating and any matching are your build. | Back prices arrive already paired to a live exchange lay price, rated, with the qualifying loss computed — oddsmatcher-ready. |
| bet365 | Does not list bet365 in its UK region; bet365 appears only in the Australia region, on paid subscriptions, with coverage limited to h2h, spreads and totals for AFL and NRL. | Included as standard across all seven feed types — see the bet365 spoke. |
| UK bookmaker depth | Lists around 20 UK-region bookmakers and exchanges (mainstream names such as William Hill, Sky Bet, Paddy Power, plus the three exchanges). | 60+ UK books including the domestic names big aggregators skip, normalised into one schema — live on the coverage dashboard. |
| Exchange lay prices | Available as raw market data via its h2h_lay and outrights_lay market keys — you pair them to back prices yourself. | Lay prices with liquidity, pre-paired to every bookmaker back price and rated. |
| Regions | Region keys us, us2, us_dfs, us_ex, uk, eu, fr, se and au; does not list a South Africa or Nigeria region. | Deep UK today; South African and Nigerian domestic books are on the roadmap — stated as roadmap, not shipped. |
| Historical data | Archive back to June 2020, available on paid usage plans. | Not a product focus — the feed is built for current, pre-match prices. If backtesting is the job, their archive is the better tool. |
| Pricing posture | Published self-serve tiers with a free tier, metered by a request quota. | Scoped per client: a free trial key first, then a plain conversation — no request-quota arithmetic. |
Where The Odds API is the right pick
Be clear-eyed about this: for a lot of products, The Odds API is the correct choice. If you are prototyping, building a US-facing tool, comparing odds across many sports, or backtesting against its historical archive, its free tier and public docs get you moving the same afternoon — and nothing on this page argues otherwise. It is also a genuinely broad feed: mainstream UK books are present, and exchange lay prices exist as raw market keys.
The comparison only becomes interesting when your product is a UK matched-betting or arbitrage tool. Then the question stops being "how many books?" and becomes "who does the matching?" — and that is a different product decision, covered plainly in the API docs and the rows above.
The gap that decides it: matched output
An oddsmatcher or arb scanner runs on the relationship between a bookmaker back price and an exchange lay price for the same selection. The Odds API delivers both halves raw — real prices, but unpaired: selection-matching across books and exchanges, ratings and qualifying-loss maths become your pipeline to build and maintain. OddsRelay's feed delivers the pair as one row, rated, with liquidity attached — the shape described on the matched-betting spoke and the exchange-lay page.
The second decider is bet365. As of July 2026, The Odds API lists bet365 only for its Australia region, on paid plans, limited to a few markets — its UK region does not list bet365 at all. For a UK audience that is usually the first book on the requirements list, which is why it is included as standard here, already matched. The wider trade-off between building this layer and licensing it is walked through honestly in build vs buy.
Test the difference in an afternoon
Both products let you verify before you commit, which is how it should be. Their free tier shows you raw breadth; a free trial key here puts the matched UK feed — bet365 included — into your own product, and the live coverage dashboard shows freshness and uptime before you even sign up. Other rivals are compared on the comparison hub.
Pick The Odds API if
- You want many sports and regions cheaply, and raw prices are enough.
- You are US-focused, or need its DFS and US-exchange coverage.
- You need historical odds for backtesting — its archive back to 2020 is the better tool.
- You are prototyping and the free tier is the point.
Pick OddsRelay if
- Your product is a UK oddsmatcher, arb scanner or matched-betting tool and you want rows, not raw prices.
- bet365 in the UK is a requirement, included as standard rather than absent or limited.
- You want UK depth beyond the mainstream names, verified on a live dashboard.
- You would rather have a scoped licence and a human than meter requests against a quota.
Questions
Does The Odds API include bet365?
As of 2 July 2026, The Odds API's own coverage page lists bet365 only in its Australia region, on paid subscriptions, with coverage limited to h2h, spreads and totals for AFL and NRL. It does not list bet365 in its UK region. OddsRelay includes bet365 as standard in the UK feed.
Can I build a matched-betting product on The Odds API?
You can, but the matching layer is yours to build: it delivers raw back prices and raw exchange lay prices as separate market data, so selection-matching, rating and qualifying-loss calculations become your pipeline. OddsRelay delivers that processing done — each row arrives paired and rated.
Is OddsRelay cheaper than The Odds API?
Usually not, and price is not the axis to compare on. The Odds API has a free tier and published self-serve plans; OddsRelay is a scoped B2B licence with a free trial. If raw prices at the lowest cost are the goal, they win. If the matched processing layer is the goal, licensing it typically costs less than building and maintaining it.
Where do these competitor facts come from?
Every claim about The Odds API on this page is taken from its own public pages — the homepage, bookmaker-coverage page, V4 docs and historical-data page — each linked in the sources block with the date we last checked it. If something has changed since, their pages win.
Keep comparing
The odds API pillar
The full product: coverage, feed types, processing and delivery.
bet365 odds API
Included as standard, already matched — the beachhead book.
Matched-betting data
What the processing layer replaces in your build.
The comparison hub
Every provider comparison, one honest index.
vs OddsPapi
Breadth-first raw aggregation vs matched output.
Build vs buy
The honest arithmetic of owning the pipeline.
Compare for yourself
A free trial key delivers the matched UK feed — bet365 included — into your own product; the live dashboard shows coverage and freshness first.