Cito API alternative for CS2 data
, 8 min read
Bottom line: On 2 November 2026, Cito Starter costs $15 a month and EsportsOdds Standard costs $99 a month. Cito costs less per request on every paid plan, and its Free, Pro and Scale plans cover more than one game. If you want a Cito API alternative for CS2, EsportsOdds fits when you need one key with a market line, a WebSocket that uses no requests, or, on Pro, unlimited bulk export and a display licence.
Pick Cito if you want:
- A lower price per request than ours, from a $15 entry plan.
- More than one game. Or a higher request limit on Pro and Scale.
- Webhooks. Or a 99.9% uptime SLA on its Scale plan.
Pick EsportsOdds if you want:
- One CS2 key with match data, stats and a de-vigged market line: one combined price with the built-in margin taken out.
- A WebSocket that does not use your request allowance.
- On Pro, unlimited bulk export and a licence to show most of the data on a public site.
Who looks for a Cito API alternative
These points come from Cito's own pricing page:
- The Cito Free plan is not for commercial use.
- Starter covers one game of your choice, and Pro and Scale carry a daily cap.
- WebSockets are an add-on on Pro.
- Starter allows 10,000 requests a month.
Cito API and EsportsOdds at a glance
Cito API is a self-serve data API; cs2-api.org is its CS2 site. EsportsOdds is a CS2 data API. Cito Free, Pro and Scale cover more than one game, and Starter covers one game of your choice (pick CS2).
| Plan | Cito Free | Cito Starter | Cito Pro | Cito Scale | EsportsOdds Standard | EsportsOdds Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price a month | $0 | $15 | $59 | $100 | $99 | $299 |
| Billed yearly, per month | none | none listed | lower rate | lower rate | $82.50 | $249.17 |
| Requests a month | 500 | 10,000 | 250,000 | 1,000,000 | 50,000 | 150,000 |
| Rate limit | 10 a minute | 30 a minute | 100 a minute | 400 a minute | 20 a second | 20 a second |
| History | 30 days | 90 days | full archive | full archive | back to 2020 | back to 2020 |
| Update delivery | 60-second delay | 60-second delay | no delay listed | no delay listed | WebSocket, no delay listed | WebSocket, no delay listed |
| Use in a product | building and testing only | one product | yes | yes | your own product | your own product, plus most of the data on public pages |
| Support | community | none listed | email, 24 h | email, 12 h, 99.9% SLA | first reply in 1 business day (a target) |
Cito facts come from cs2-api.org/pricing, /endpoints, /historical-data and /ai-agents, read on 2 November 2026. Its pricing page says "Updated 2026-10-03". Our facts come from our own pricing page on the same day. Our rate limit is per key, with a burst of 100 and 1,200 a minute sustained; see the rate limits guide. The monthly quota is a separate cap.
What each plan costs per 1,000 requests
This is list price divided by the monthly request allowance, on monthly billing for all five plans. Cito figures are as of 2 November 2026.
| Plan | Price a month | Requests | Per 1,000 requests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cito Starter | $15 | 10,000 | $1.50 |
| Cito Pro | $59 | 250,000 | $0.24 |
| Cito Scale | $100 | 1,000,000 | $0.10 |
| EsportsOdds Standard | $99 | 50,000 | $1.98 |
| EsportsOdds Pro | $299 | 150,000 | $1.99 |
Cito is cheaper per request on every paid plan. Standard costs about 8 times Cito Pro per 1,000 requests ($1.98 against $0.24). Against Cito Starter the gap is smaller: $1.98 against $1.50.
Billed yearly, our Standard plan works out at $1.65 per 1,000 requests and Pro at $1.66. Cito Pro and Scale cost less a month when billed yearly too, so Cito stays lower per request on every paid plan, billed monthly or yearly.
Which plan covers my monthly volume?
The table shows the lowest-priced listed plan that allows each volume, on monthly billing. Cito's daily caps (200 on Free, 25,000 on Pro, 100,000 on Scale, none on Starter) do not change these rows if you spread requests evenly. A month of 100,000 requests on Pro needs about 3,300 a day.
| Requests a month | Cito | EsportsOdds |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | Starter, $15 | Standard, $99 |
| 40,000 | Pro, $59 | Standard, $99 |
| 100,000 | Pro, $59 | Pro, $299 |
| 500,000 | Scale, $100 | no listed plan above 150,000 |
Cito costs less at every volume in this table. Choose EsportsOdds for the market line, a WebSocket that uses no requests, or, on Pro, unlimited bulk export and the display licence.
Keeping a stream open
The two counting rules differ here.
On Cito, a server-sent events stream counts one request when it connects and one more for every 15 seconds it stays open. One hour open is 241 requests. A full 24 hours is 5,761 requests (1 + 86,400 / 15). On Starter's 10,000 a month, that is under two days of one open stream.
On EsportsOdds, the WebSocket uses no requests on Standard and Pro. One connection pushes updates for many matches. It is not on the sandbox.
Cito also offers WebSockets, included on Scale and as an add-on on Pro. Its server-sent events are on every plan.
Where Cito fits
Cito is the choice when price or volume decides.
- Price: it costs less per request on every paid plan, from $15 a month against our $99.
- Volume: Scale allows 1,000,000 requests a month, and we list no plan above 150,000.
- Webhooks are listed on Pro and Scale. EsportsOdds does not list webhooks.
- Scale lists a 99.9% uptime SLA and 12-hour email support. Our support times are targets, not an SLA.
- Its archive lists 22,408 completed matches back to October 2017, for CS2 and CS:GO, with the full archive on Pro (as of 2 November 2026).
- You can build and test on the free plan, which allows 500 requests a month.
Where EsportsOdds fits
We fit buyers who want one CS2 key for several kinds of data, not the smallest bill.
- Match data, stats and the market line come from one key. The line has been available since July 2026.
- Bulk export: Standard includes 250 requests a month for accounts that first subscribe on or after 30 October 2026. Pro has unlimited export and a weekly bulk file.
- The WebSocket does not touch the monthly allowance.
- Our rate limit is 20 requests a second per key with a burst of 100. Cito lists 10 to 400 requests a minute.
- Only Pro carries a display licence. It covers most of the data, and the guide lists the exclusions, which include odds and market lines. A credit to esportsodds.gg is required.
- Standard lets you build the data into your own product and show it to your users. Whole public tables need Pro.
- Our own Glicko-2 team ranking is public on the rankings page.
What this page does not compare
We have not called Cito's API, and its free plan is for building and testing, not commercial use. So this page does not compare coverage, freshness or accuracy. Both vendors have an MCP server for AI tools; ours is described in the AI assistants guide.
Counts of matches, requests and history follow each vendor's own definition. For our part, our archive held 28,005 completed CS2 matches on 2 November 2026, the earliest scheduled on 14 November 2020. That is our own count and it includes matches played before CS2 replaced CS:GO. We do not set it against Cito's figure.
Prices change, so read both pricing pages before you buy. For more vendors, see the best esports data APIs, the HLTV API page, PandaScore and GRID.
Try the data before you pay
The sandbox key costs nothing and needs no card. You get 2,000 requests in total, and they never reset. The sample is every completed match of two past events, about a hundred matches. Calls outside the sample, such as team and player routes, are refused, and the sandbox has no current data and no WebSocket. Setup steps are in the sandbox guide.
Start free with a sandbox key: a fixed sample of past matches, no card.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free Cito API plan?
Yes. As of 2 November 2026, Cito lists a free plan with 500 requests a month, a rate limit of 10 a minute and a cap of 200 a day. It has a 30-day history window and is not for commercial use.
How much does the Cito API cost?
As of 2 November 2026, Cito lists Starter at $15 a month, Pro at $59 and Scale at $100. Lower rates on annual billing apply to Pro and Scale only. Enterprise is custom, and paid plans need no attribution.
Is EsportsOdds cheaper than Cito?
No, not per request. Our Standard plan is $1.98 per 1,000 requests, against $1.50 for Cito Starter and $0.24 for Cito Pro.
Does EsportsOdds have a free plan?
Not for current data. There is a free sandbox key with 2,000 requests for the life of the key, on a sample of past events.