Bottom line: The Odds API is an excellent self-serve odds API, but it covers no esports at all. EsportsOdds is the same model built for CS2: match, player and team data behind a de-vigged line, self-serve at $99/month.
The short version
The Odds API is one of the best self-serve sports-odds APIs on the market: clean design, transparent pricing, and a genuine free tier. It is also the product EsportsOdds is modelled on. But it has one hard limit for anyone in esports: it covers no esports at all. Its published sports list is traditional sports (American football, soccer, tennis, basketball and the like) plus a single US-politics market. There is no Counter-Strike, no League of Legends, no Dota 2, no Valorant.
EsportsOdds is the same idea, self-serve and developer-first, built for CS2 instead: match, player, team and tournament data, plus a single de-vigged market line, from one REST + WebSocket API. If you came to The Odds API looking for CS2 and left empty-handed, this is the page for you.
Who looks for a The Odds API alternative
Almost everyone who wants The Odds API for esports:
- Esports media and stats tools that need CS2 fixtures, results and player numbers for tables, widgets and editorial.
- Developers and data hobbyists building bots, dashboards or models around Counter-Strike.
- Fantasy and prediction platforms that need a structured feed for CS2 matches.
- Analysts and traders who want a neutral, market-implied probability for a CS2 match rather than a screen-scrape.
The Odds API serves the traditional-sports version of every one of these users very well. The gap is purely the vertical.
The Odds API vs EsportsOdds at a glance
| The Odds API | EsportsOdds | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | ~70 traditional sports/leagues + US politics | CS2 esports (esports-first) |
| Esports / CS2 coverage | None | CS2 matches, players, teams, tournaments |
| Underlying data | Odds only | Match, player, team & tournament data |
| Odds format | Per-bookmaker prices | One de-vigged market line |
| Access | Self-serve, no sales call | Self-serve, no sales call |
| Free to start | 500 credits / month | 7-day trial (1,000 requests) |
| Pricing | $30 / 20k credits → $249 / 15M credits | $99 / month, 20,000 requests |
| Metering | 1 call = markets × regions credits (historical ×10) | 1 call = 1 request |
| Best for | Broad traditional-sports odds | CS2 data + a clean market line |
The same request, but for CS2
The Odds API's ergonomics are a big part of why it's popular: one key, query params, JSON. EsportsOdds follows the same shape (it accepts the key as an ?apiKey= query parameter too), so the mental model carries straight over:
# The Odds API - traditional sports only
GET /v4/sports/{sport}/odds?apiKey=… # {sport} = soccer, nfl … never cs2
# EsportsOdds - the same idea, for CS2
GET /v1/cs2/odds?apiKey=$ESPORTSODDS_API_KEY
The difference is what comes back. Full details are in the v4 docs on their side and the endpoint reference on ours.
Where The Odds API genuinely wins
An honest comparison starts with what the other product does better, and here there is a lot.
Breadth of traditional sports. The Odds API aggregates odds across roughly seventy sports and leagues: deep soccer, tennis and US-sports coverage that EsportsOdds does not touch. If your project is about the NFL, the Premier League or the ATP tour, The Odds API is the right tool and EsportsOdds is not.
A dead-simple, well-documented API. One API key as a query parameter, JSON responses, clean endpoints, and usage counters in the response headers. Its documentation is a fair benchmark for the whole category, and EsportsOdds deliberately follows the same conventions rather than reinventing them.
Transparent pricing and a real free tier. Published tiers on the public site, no "contact us", starting from a free plan with 500 monthly credits and no card. For traditional sports, The Odds API is often cheaper per request than EsportsOdds is for CS2, and its historical odds go back to 2020.
None of that changes the one thing it cannot do for you: esports. Its coverage page lists dozens of categories, none of them a game.
The line, and the data behind it
EsportsOdds does two things The Odds API doesn't, both of which matter for CS2.
First, it returns the data behind the line (the teams, the players, the tournament, the per-match stats) from the same key that returns the market line. The Odds API prices lines and nothing else; for context you would integrate a separate stats vendor and join the two yourself. For a media tool or a fantasy product, the bundle is the point: the number and the story behind it.
Second, it publishes a single de-vigged market line rather than raw per-book prices: a market-implied win probability combined from multiple bookmakers and exchanges, with the bookmaker margin removed and no individual book named or priced. The rows are flat, one per outcome, and because the margin is out, the two sides sum to exactly 100% across every live market:
// GET /v1/cs2/odds (illustrative prices; the flat shape and the 100% sum are real)
{ "match_id": "0191f2c8-…", "outcome_key": "team_a", "label": "Team A",
"price": 1.80, "source": "eo_market", "book_count": 2 } // 1 / 1.80 = 55.6%
{ "match_id": "0191f2c8-…", "outcome_key": "team_b", "label": "Team B",
"price": 2.25, "source": "eo_market", "book_count": 2 } // 1 / 2.25 = 44.4%
It is a clean, neutral input for a model, a widget or an article, not a betting come-on. A proprietary model line is on the way, publishable only once it clears validation. The Odds API, by contrast, returns each bookmaker's own prices to work with directly. Both approaches are valid; they suit different jobs.
Pricing and access
Both products are self-serve with no sales call, and on headline price The Odds API is cheaper: 20,000 credits for $30/month, 100,000 for $59 (as of July 2026). EsportsOdds is a flat plan: $99 per month for 20,000 requests, every endpoint included, cancel anytime, with a 7-day trial carrying 1,000 requests.
The one thing worth reading carefully is what a "credit" buys, because the two units aren't the same. The Odds API meters on a credit model where a single /odds call costs [number of markets] × [number of regions] credits, and historical queries cost ten times that — so a request for three markets across two regions is six credits, and the same request against history is sixty. EsportsOdds meters flat: one call is one request, whatever it returns and however far back it reaches. Which works out cheaper depends entirely on the shape of your queries, so compare on your own call pattern rather than on the headline number.
Even so, the two aren't really competing on price. For traditional sports, The Odds API is the cheaper, broader choice. For CS2, it isn't a choice at all, because the data isn't there.
Who should choose The Odds API
Choose The Odds API if your product is about traditional sports (US majors, global soccer, tennis, and the rest) and you want broad, cheap, simple odds delivered self-serve. It is an excellent product for that job, and nothing here suggests otherwise.
Who should choose EsportsOdds
Choose EsportsOdds if you are building on Counter-Strike 2 and want the same self-serve, transparently-priced experience with esports actually covered: CS2 matches, players, teams and tournaments, plus a de-vigged market line, behind one flat $99/month key. If you already know The Odds API's ergonomics you'll feel at home immediately.
The Odds API is the right tool for traditional sports and the model EsportsOdds is built on. It simply has no esports. For CS2 data and a clean market line, self-serve, EsportsOdds is the esports-native alternative.
Frequently asked questions
Does The Odds API cover CS2 or any esports?
No. Its published sports list covers around seventy traditional sports and leagues plus one US-politics market, and no esports titles (confirmed on its own coverage page, as of July 2026).
What does EsportsOdds cost compared to The Odds API?
EsportsOdds is a flat $99/month for 20,000 requests, all endpoints included, with a 7-day trial (1,000 requests). The Odds API uses credit tiers, from a free 500-credit plan up through $30 for 20,000 credits and $59 for 100,000. Its credits and our requests are different units, though: one of its /odds calls costs markets × regions credits, and historical calls cost ten times that, where one of ours always costs one request. On headline price The Odds API is cheaper for traditional sports; for CS2, it has no coverage to price.
Can I get a single win probability for a CS2 match?
Yes. EsportsOdds serves a de-vigged market line: a market-implied win probability combined from multiple bookmakers and exchanges, with the margin removed and no book named, as a neutral input for models, widgets or editorial. For the wider field, see the best esports data APIs roundup, or the PandaScore alternative for a stats-first esports vendor.