We build and run our own software: GridIron Data
GridIron Data is a fantasy football data API that 45Squared designed, built and runs every day. Developers send one key and get projections, weekly stats, injuries and news back as clean JSON. We handle the rest: keys, billing, game-day data refreshes, monitoring and a free plan.
At a glance
- REST APIProduct
- 1,000+ playersTracked each season
- 100 a day freeNo credit card
- Hourly checksHealth monitoring
Why did we build our own product?
Fantasy football apps need player data they can trust, in one format, on time. Most free sources cover one piece, such as play-by-play or league rosters. Building a scraper means maintaining it every week of the season.
We saw room for one clean API, so we built it and put our own name on it. Running a product people pay for keeps our skills sharp in the work clients hire us for: planning, building, and keeping software running long after launch.
What we did
- Designed a simple API: one key, one header, predictable JSON
- Built self-serve signup, API keys and card billing
- Scheduled data refreshes around NFL game days
- Added hourly health checks that alert us before users notice
- Launched a free plan so developers can try it with no card
How is the API designed?
An API is a way for one program to ask another for data. GridIron Data’s API is built so a developer makes a first call in under 5 minutes. Every request sends the same key in one header. Every answer comes back in the same JSON shape. It has 9 main endpoints. Players are searchable by name, position, team or ID. Projections come in 3 scoring styles, and actual stats go back to 2020.
When something goes wrong, the error says why. A request over the limit gets a clear message and a link to the plans, not a vague failure. The GridIron Data site has live examples that call the real API, so visitors can try it before signing up.
How do keys and billing work?
Signup is self-serve. A developer enters an email and a password, confirms the email, and finds a key on the dashboard. Only then is a key issued. That confirmation step, along with per-key limits, cuts down junk signups without making real people solve a puzzle. It’s the same layered idea we recommend for small business contact forms, explained in why your contact form fills up with junk.
Paid plans use card billing with a customer portal, so people upgrade, update a card or cancel without emailing us. Upgrading keeps the same key, so nobody has to change their code. Each plan’s limits are enforced on every request, per key.
What plans does GridIron Data offer?
There are three self-serve plans, published on the GridIron Data pricing page. All three read the same data. They differ in volume, speed and one Pro-only feed. Publishing prices is a deliberate choice: a developer can decide in a minute whether the product fits, without booking a sales call. Larger users can ask for a custom plan.
| Plan | Price | Requests | Injury changes feed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, no card | 100 a day | No |
| Basic | $5 a month | 5,000 a month | No |
| Pro | $29 a month | 50,000 a month | Yes |
How does the data stay fresh on game day?
Stats, projections and injury status update every morning at 11:00 ET during the season. Game days need more. Injury news breaks right before kickoff, so status refreshes again after inactives are announced.
| Day | Refresh times |
|---|---|
| Every day | 11:00 am |
| Sunday | About 11:45 am, 2:50 pm and 6:45 pm |
| Thursday and Monday | About 7:15 pm |
About 10 minutes after each refresh, the system records every player whose status changed. Pro users ask for “what changed since my last check” and get only the new items. An app built this way is right at kickoff, not a day late.
How do we know it’s working?
Every hour, an automated check calls the live API the way a customer would. It confirms that the service answers, that injury data is present, and that player data is less than 26 hours old. Every 6th hour it runs the full test suite of more than 20 checks. When a check fails, we get one alert when the problem starts and one when it clears. There is no flood of messages.
This is the same habit we bring to client websites. We don’t wait for a customer to report a problem; the checks tell us first.
Live audit score
Measured 26 September 2026
The gridirondata.com homepage, scored with SEO Score API, the same engine behind our free audits.
Common questions
What is GridIron Data?
GridIron Data is a fantasy football data API. It returns projections, weekly stats from 2020 onward, snap share, injury status, news and matchup history for every fantasy-relevant NFL player. Developers use it to power draft tools, lineup helpers and league bots. 45Squared designed it, built it and runs it day to day, including support and billing.
Does 45Squared build custom software for clients?
Yes. Most of our work is WordPress and WooCommerce websites, but we also build custom software when a plugin won’t do the job, such as integrations, data feeds and small web applications. We scope and price the work before we start, and you own what we build. If an existing plugin or service already does the job well, we’ll say so, because it’s usually cheaper to run.
Why does running our own product matter to a client?
Launch is the easy part of software. Keeping it running through updates, busy days and odd edge cases is the real work. We do that for our own product every week of the season, and we bring the same habits to the sites and tools we build for clients: automated checks, planned updates and a clear record of what changed.
Can I try GridIron Data for free?
Yes. The free plan gives 100 requests a day with no credit card. You sign up with an email, confirm it, and copy your key from the dashboard. The free plan includes every standard endpoint, so you can build a real project on it. If you outgrow it, upgrading keeps the same key and your code keeps working.
Where it stands
GridIron Data is live for the 2026 season, with weekly stats and projections updating every day. We keep adding to it, most recently the free plan and the Pro game-day injury feed. Try it at gridirondata.com.
If your business needs a tool a plugin can’t provide, tell us what it should do. We’ll tell you plainly whether custom software is worth it.