Comparison
Fast Odds API vs Betfair Exchange API: an alternative built around Australian bookmakers
Betfair Exchange API: Betfair Australia; Mitch Motyka is named as its automation lead. Its strength is exchange prices and bet placement, free with an account, and the sharpest Australian prices going. Here is how it lines up against Fast Odds API on twelve facts, each read from the provider's own page on 12 Oct 2026 and linked beside it. The verdict at the end says when Betfair's API is the better pick.
| Fast Odds API (SockOdds) | Betfair Exchange API | |
|---|---|---|
| Australian bookmakers | 37 Australian books and exchanges, each priced separately, from Sportsbet, TAB and Ladbrokes to the small books; brands that copy one shared price board are flagged as such sockodds.com/bookmakers | One venue: the Betfair Exchange itself, back and lay prices with bet placement betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| Other sources | Pinnacle, Matchbook, ProphetX, Kalshi and Polymarket in the same response: 42 bookmaker keys sockodds.com/bookmakers | None: it is the exchange's own API betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| Free plan | 2,500 objects a month, 10 requests a minute, AFL, NRL, NFL and MLB from Sportsbet, TAB and Ladbrokes; no card, no expiry sockodds.com/pricing | Free app key with a Betfair Australia account in good standing: a delayed key at once, a live key on application betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| Paid plans | Rookie US$99 a month (100,000 objects, every league, 10 books); Pro US$299 (unlimited objects, every book, history); Platform custom; 20% off annually sockodds.com/pricing | No data charge stated betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| What a plan counts | Event objects returned: one game with every market and bookmaker inside it is one object sockodds.com/pricing | Not metered as a data product betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| How fresh | About every 5 minutes, pre-match first; every quote carries the time it was seen sockodds.com/faq | Not stated betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| In-play | No: live games carry a live status, but prices move on the same five-minute cycle sockodds.com/faq | Yes: exchange markets trade in play betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| Price history | Recorded price changes per event, and opening and closing prices, on Pro, since 14 August 2026 sockodds.com/docs | Not stated on the hub page betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| Racing | No sockodds.com/faq | Yes: thoroughbred, harness and greyhound betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| Australian codes | AFL, AFLW, NRL, NRLW, the Rugby League World Cup, rugby union internationals, the NBL and the IPL; no A-League or Big Bash as named leagues sockodds.com/leagues | AFL, NRL, cricket, soccer, golf, politics betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| Fair (no-vig) price | No fair price field: Pinnacle and Betfair Exchange prices sit beside the bookmakers', so you remove the margin with the method you choose sockodds.com/docs | Exchange prices are the usual input to a fair price, not a field betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
| Streaming | WebSocket snapshots on Pro, refreshed every 15 seconds sockodds.com/docs | A streaming API exists in its developer docs betfair.com.au/hub/automation/betting-api |
Every fact read from the linked pages on 12 Oct 2026. Out of date? Email [email protected] and we will correct and re-date it. The full field: every Australian odds API compared.
Fair verdict
When each one is the better pick
Choose Betfair's API for automation on the exchange, and as the fair-price leg next to a bookmaker feed. Exchange prices and bet placement, free with an account, and the sharpest Australian prices going.
Choose Fast Odds API for products that need the whole Australian market, props and alternate lines included, with sharp prices to measure every quote against. Every Australian book priced separately in one response, Pinnacle and the Betfair Exchange beside them, and a bill that does not grow with markets or bookmakers.
Watch for, with Betfair's API: one venue, not a comparison; an account and a live-key application before real prices; no bookmaker odds at all. With us: a five-minute refresh (not an in-play feed), no racing, and a price archive that only began in August 2026.
If you switch
What changes in your code
Not a replacement either way: we carry Betfair Exchange prices inside the same object as the bookmakers, and Betfair's own API is where you place the bet.
Both have a way to try before paying, so the honest test is a day of your own requests against each. Our quickstart gets you to a first response in minutes.
Questions
Moving from Betfair's API
Does Fast Odds API cover the same bookmakers as Betfair's API?
Betfair's API: One venue: the Betfair Exchange itself, back and lay prices with bet placement. Fast Odds API: 37 Australian books and exchanges, each priced separately, from Sportsbet, TAB and Ladbrokes to the small books; brands that copy one shared price board are flagged as such. Compare the named lists rather than the headline numbers, because providers count different things.
How do the bills compare?
Betfair's API counts not metered as a data product. We count event objects returned: one game with every market and bookmaker inside it is one object. Put your real request shape through both before deciding; a narrow request can be cheaper on a credit meter, a wide one is cheaper per event.
Can I run both while I decide?
Yes. Free app key with a Betfair Australia account in good standing: a delayed key at once, a live key on application on Betfair's API; 2,500 objects a month, 10 requests a minute, AFL, NRL, NFL and MLB from Sportsbet, TAB and Ladbrokes; no card, no expiry here. Point both at the same games for a day and compare the named books, the prices and the timestamps.
Start now
Your first Australian price is one request away.
Free key, no card, AFL and NRL included. Keys are issued on sockodds.com.