GridIron Data vs building your own scraper
Quick answer: Building your own scraper costs nothing up front but needs ongoing work: sources change their pages, player names must be matched across sites, and jobs must run on time every game day. GridIron Data does that work for $0 to $29 a month. Build your own if you need data we don't have, such as live play-by-play.
- Our refreshes
- Daily + game days
- Your setup time
- Minutes
- Free plan
- 100 req/day
- Sources merged
- Stats, news, status
What does running your own scraper involve?
A first scraper takes an afternoon. Keeping it working takes a season. We run these jobs for GridIron, so this list comes from our own logs.
- Pages change. A column moves or a class name changes, and the parser returns nothing. You find out when your app shows zeros.
- Names don't match. One site says "DJ Moore", another "D.J. Moore". Defenses and rookies are worse. You need an ID map.
- Timing matters. Inactives come out about 90 minutes before kickoff. A job that runs once in the morning is stale by lunch on Sunday.
- Requests get blocked. Some endpoints refuse cloud IP ranges or rate-limit hard.
How do the two options compare?
| Question | Your own scraper | GridIron Data |
|---|---|---|
| Up-front cost | Your time | $0 (free plan) |
| Monthly cost | Hosting, plus fixes when sources change | $0, $5 or $29 |
| Player ID matching | You build and maintain it | One ID per player, Name#POS |
| Game-day injury refreshes | You schedule and monitor them | Daily, plus before Sunday, Thursday and Monday games |
| History | You backfill it | Actuals from 2020 to 2026 |
| Live in-game stats | Possible, with more work | Not offered |
| Control over sources | Full | Ours, documented |
When should I build my own?
Build your own when you need data GridIron does not have. Live play-by-play is the main case. Free open-data projects such as nflverse publish play-by-play and are a better start than scraping. Build your own if the scraping itself is the project you want to learn from. And build your own if you need a source we don't use.
Also check each site's terms of service before you scrape it. Many sites limit automated access.
When is an API the better choice?
Use an API when the data is a means, not the goal. If you are building a start/sit tool, a draft board or a league bot, your time is better spent on the tool. GridIron merges projections, actuals, snap share, news and injury status under one player ID. It refreshes on game days. And it is watched by an automated check every hour, so a broken source gets fixed by us, not by you at 12:55 on a Sunday.
How do I switch from a scraper?
- Get a free key.
- Replace one scraper call with one API call, such as weekly projections.
- Compare the output for a week, then move the rest.
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" \
"https://api.gridirondata.com/api/v1/projections/4?position=WR"The API reference shows every field. The news pipeline guide explains how we collect and match news.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to scrape fantasy football data myself?
It costs less money but more time. You pay for hosting and for every fix when a source changes. GridIron's free plan costs $0 for 100 requests a day.
Does GridIron Data have live play-by-play?
No. GridIron has next-day actuals, projections, snap share, news and injury status. For play-by-play, open data such as nflverse is a good free option.
How often does GridIron refresh injury status?
Every day at 11:00 ET, and again after inactives on Sundays (about 11:45 am, 2:50 pm and 6:45 pm ET) and before Thursday and Monday night games.