The best fantasy football apps are built with a specific type of fanbase in mind. First-timers will want an easier platform that's free to use, while more advanced players will want customization options and reliable player updates.
Here are the best fantasy football apps for any kind of player, no matter what experience level you are.
1. ESPN Fantasy Football
As the largest promoter of sports in the nation, it's no surprise ESPN has its own fantasy football app. ESPN isn't just trying to cash in though, it's trying to make an actual contribution to the community with a well-built app made for casual and diehard fans.
Constant sports news articles and updates on players and teams give fantasy players a competitive edge when managing their teams. Using that info they can create a league, join an existing one, run mock drafts, and manage players throughout the season.
As one of the most comprehensive fantasy football apps, ESPN even sends report cards at the end of each week of the season to summarize all the games. Adding to the competition for the next round of games.
There are quite a few ads that display on the app when using your smartphone but it's worth putting up with to be able to use this app absolutely free.
Download: ESPN Fantasy Football for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)
2. Yahoo Fantasy & Daily Sports
The Yahoo! Fantasy Football app is user-friendly and caters to casual football fans even more than its main competitor, ESPN. You still get up-to-date news articles and player updates but without all the information becoming overwhelming.
The mock drafts give you a grade at the end to motivate and inform you on how to make better decisions in the future. While competing in games, you can use real-time scoring in the app to get immediate updates instead of having to constantly refresh your phone.
Yahoo has been a mainstay of fantasy football for years and was an original in the industry. It's completely free and is easy enough to use that anyone without a background knowledge of playing fantasy football can get started.
You won't find the level of customization that other, more in-depth, apps offer. Keeper leagues, dynasty leagues, and redraft leagues won't be possible to set up using Yahoo.
Download: Yahoo Fantasy & Daily Sports for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
3. NFL Fantasy Football
This relative newcomer to the fantasy football game has made strides to provide an easy-to-use and clean app. You can be sure that your news and updates are coming directly from the people involved in the league as NFL Fantasy Football goes out of its way to provide quality material.
Each week, new player videos are added to the app to give you the best possible chances of winning.
Go through unlimited mock drafts ahead of the season to prepare for your future team. All the standard tools to manage your team are included, like trading, dropping, and adding players from the waiver.
It's free to use NFL Fantasy Football and you're able to set up your own league or join an existing one. If you're looking for an app that is purely focused on football with experts you can trust, it's not going to get much better than the NFL app.
Download: NFL Fantasy Football for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
4. Sleeper
Made as an alternative to some of the larger apps that dominate the industry, Sleeper has built its app to offer features you won't find elsewhere, using technology to improve the sport.
Setting up a dynasty league, redraft league, or keeper league is easy using Sleeper and there's even a chat feature inside the app. Players can message each other, talk trash, or receive league-wide announcements from the commissioner.
You won't get a dedicated team of analysts and reporters making content for Sleeper, but the app does a good job of finding content from all over the internet that relates to your players and team.
This allows you to get reliable and trusted information from some of the top sources from around the nation.
Another nifty feature is being able to personalize your notification features so that you aren't receiving an annoying amount of messages from your league. It's completely free to use the Sleeper app on any smartphone.
Download: Sleeper for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
5. MyFantasyLeague
There aren't many apps that can match the complexity and customization that MyFantasyLeague offers for fantasy football aficionados. This all comes with an equally distinguishing price tag, starting at $69.95 to host a league.
As the only required paid option on this list, MyFantasyLeague has dedicated itself to developing an app that the most diehard football fans would enjoy. Leagues that are in it for the long haul should consider this app as their main option.
You can set up a dynasty, keeper, or fully customized league in the app's settings and rules. Because of the amount of customization you can accomplish, it can take some getting used to.
It's not for a first-time player or league that is just getting together. You'll want to have some background knowledge of fantasy football and experience going through a season or two before taking on the responsibility.
The app starts at $69.95 and increases by $10 depending on what date your team signs up for. The closest date to the draft date pays the highest amount of $89.95.
Even though there is no official app made for this platform there are several third-party apps that have been developed.
6. CBS Sports Fantasy
Although not as comprehensive as other options on this list, the CBS Sports Fantasy app does cover many of the standard tools available for fantasy football.
You can go through mock drafts, manage players on your team, trade, and manage your waiver wire. The app does cover player updates more thoroughly than other apps and can be used for this reason even if you don't want to use it to host your league.
The app is free to use and also offers fantasy play for other sports like hockey, baseball, and basketball. You can also set up your own rankings for players so you don't have to follow the default options.
Download: CBS Sports Fantasy for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
The Best Fantasy Football Apps
The experience of managing your fantasy football players and team using any of the apps on this list will be fairly similar. Where the apps separate themselves from each other is in how you get your news and what kind of customization you can accomplish.