Best Sports Scores Apps: Top 10 Apps Ranked for 2024
The new Sports app from Apple garnered a ton of hype prior to it's February release, and I have to admit, I was excited to get my hands on it.
Apple excels in numerous areas, one of which is launching flawless, industry-leading products. Given the buzz around this app release, and the fact they took the time to integrate live betting odds from DraftKings, I expected this app to immediately cut into the market share for theScore and ESPN.
To call the app a disappointment would be an understatement.
The Sports app from Apple is beautiful, easy to use, and has plenty of slick features that you won't find on any other scores app. I do not doubt that Apple built this with sports bettors in mind, and I'm fairly certain DraftKings didn't become the official odds provider for free. However, Apple neglected what matters most to sports bettors, the data.
In an attempt to find a hidden gem we could bring to the masses, we thoroughly tested a lot of scores apps when researching this article. Here is a simple test that the Sports app fails:
To test the depth of data available in your app, open a box score for a live (or completed) game. Click on the team name or a player name. Are stats available? Is a game log available? Or in Apple's case, is the name even clickable?
We have no doubt that Apple will improve the app, and it will be near or at the top of our rankings in the near future. However, as for today, what are the best scores and stats apps available?
Top 10 Scores and Stats Apps for 2024
Let's first start by identifying the criteria we judged each app by. To even be included in this list an app would need to check the following boxes:
Real-time scores and stats across a wide variety of sports and leagues. From college sports to international soccer, a scores app has to offer whatever an avid sports fan is looking for.
Pre-match odds including spread, total, and moneyline odds. Sports betting is more popular today than ever, and even casual sports fans expect to be able to find odds for a game in their score app.
Get live notifications and alerts for favorite teams. A scores app should give you an alert when your favorite team is playing. Once opened, the app should have broadcast information available so you know where to watch the game.
For the most part, every app we tested checked all three of these boxes, which allowed us to rank the apps based soley on user experience and quality/depth of data.
Before we jump into the results of our testing, here is how our overall rankings shook out:
Best Overall App: theScore
We came into this exercise hoping to find an app worthy of knocking off theScore. It has been our goto app for years despite undergoing very little change since it's launch in 2007. Looking back at the screenshots from the app's launch, they are almost indistinguishable from the current version of the app.
The lack of change speaks to the fact that the team nailed the user experience from the start. As new apps enter the space and attempt to 'improve' the way the end user navigates between leagues and games it just further highlights the simple, intuitive approach that theScore offers.
The only real flaw we can highlight is the occasional data inaccuracy, but given all of these apps rely on third-party data providers, that is a problem that will be consistent across the board.
Most Improved: CBS Sports
With March Madness right around the corner, the CBS Sports app is about to see a surge in downloads.
Most sports fans are likely familiar with this routine: download the CBS Sports app for a bracket challenge or March Madness coverage, open it daily for a month, and delete it in April.
However, we are willing to bet that this year's version of the app will be much stickier than previous versions.
The user experience has been radically improved. The app loads to a news feed that you are able to curate to display your favorite teams and leagues. Scores are on the next tab, with dates at the top, breaking news directly under the dates, and a two-column scoreboard as the primary content on the screen.
Games open in a closable window, which means no back button or swiping required. Simply close the window and return to the scoreboard. Within an individual game users will find a gametracker, box score, feed of tweets, and live betting odds. Looking to dig deeper? Click on any team or player name to view news, stats, and a game log.
We have to mention ads anytime we discuss an app from a major news outlet like CBS Sports or ESPN. There are ads on every page of the app, but we would not describe any of them as being intrusive.
ESPN still has a slight edge in terms of data, and as a result, a slight edge in our rankings, but the gap in our rankings has narrowed considerably.
Best Social Experience: Real
The live chat feature in theScore app has long been a source of entertainment for sports fans. It has become a hub for trash talk and a go-to outlet for bettors looking to complain about a team, player, or ref.
Real - Sports from Real Valut, LLC takes that fan interaction to the next level. Fans can share picks for games and player props, take part in daily polls, and, of course, chat with one another while the action plays out.
The look and feel of the app is extremely polished, and we were surprisingly impressed with the amount of data that is accessible for live games. Real not only offers a best-in-class social experience, but you find data in the app that you won't find with any of their competitors.
So why isn't it higher in our overall rankings?
Put simply, there are bugs everywhere in this app. As an example, if you load the chat for a game, you're trapped and there is no way out. If you want to get back to the box score or scoreboard, you will have to close the app and start from scratch.
Best Paid App: The Athletic
The Athletic is an awesome app and deserves to be higher in our rankings, but what is more frustrating than a paywall? How high can we actually rank an app that injects paywall-protected content throughout the user experience?
As a scores and stats app, The Athletic is passable. However, if you are willing to pay for the full experience, The Athletic is actually worth the cost. They employ top-notch writers that are dedicated to covering every team. It feels like following the beat writers from all of your favorite teams in one app.
Beyond just the team-specific content, The Athletic does a great job of covering every sport year round. If you are a hockey fan, it can be tough to find fresh, engaging content during the summer months, and that is exactly where The Athletic shines.
Is it worth $72/year? Probably not for most fans, but The Athletic is the only app where paying a ontly subscription for content is even worth considering.
Current Rankings and Future Updates
To recap our picks for the top 10 scores and stats apps for 2024, here is our current list:
theScore
ESPN
Real
CBS Sports
Socascore
Sports Alerts
Sports (Apple)
The Athletic
Bleacher Report
365 Scores
When we sat down to start researching this article we started by reviewing what other outlets had to say about the current landscape of scores apps. To our surprise, there has been little coverage in this space over the past few years. Our team will continue to monitor the industry every month and will update and republish this articles as our rankings change.
Did we miss your favorite app? Contact us and let us know which apps we missed and why you think they should be included in our rankings.