5 best fantasy football apps in 2024

Fantasy football is a staple of American sports culture and has become a part of most fans' lives. As new players enter the scene each year, so have the options of sites to use.

It may be hard to believe in 2024, but the early years of fantasy football had managers manually track their players' stats and points. Thankfully, those days are long gone.

In the modern era of fantasy football, hundreds of different sites, apps and platforms offer their services for fans to host their leagues with. They all provide the same general idea but for one reason or another, a few stick out above the rest.

As the 2024 NFL season approaches, here are the four best fantasy football sites to use in your league:

Sleeper

Of the four sites that we have listed as the best in the industry, Sleeper is by far the newest. The app was not founded until 2014 and did not begin hosting fantasy leagues until 2017. Just a few years later, it already began competing with the top sites as one of the best options for fantasy gaming.

As the company told CNBC in 2019, their goal is to appeal to casual and newer fans. Through this strategy, Sleeper aims to provide detailed information on each player to give their target audience a better idea of how to construct a team.

Their goal may have been to appeal to an inexperienced audience, but the app has become one of the most-used platforms by fantasy managers of all experience levels.

Since its inception, Sleeper has added several new functions to become a source of breaking news for its users and launching their DFS pick 'em section Sleeper Picks. In the updated app, users can toggle between their fantasy sports leagues, Sleeper Picks, game scores, news feed, and a section titled "Minis."

The "Minis" tab includes links to fantasy football videos and podcasts along with several resources including FantasyPros, Dynasty Nerds and Fantasy Genius.

ESPN Fantasy

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That has been the corporate motto for ESPN's fantasy sports app, leading to it becoming one of the most reliable and popular apps in the industry. As of 2024, ESPN is still the most-used fantasy football app in the business. It certainly helps to be a part of an established brand.

There is nothing flashy about the ESPN Fantasy app, which makes it a consistent and convenient service for players of all levels. In terms of user experience, the ESPN Fantasy app is one of the easiest to use.

As a part of ESPN, their fantasy app gives managers access to all of their in-house fantasy content. This includes weekly advice and breakdowns from fantasy football analysts Field Yates, Mike Clay, Eric Karabell and others.

Chances are, if you've played even one season of fantasy football, you likely used ESPN Fantasy at some point.

Yahoo Fantasy

Much like Sleeper, Yahoo Fantasy did not launch until 2017, making it a late addition to the field. However, unlike Sleeper, it was a subset of the already established and recognized brand Yahoo Sports.

While fantasy football is their primary market, Yahoo Fantasy also offers leagues in fantasy baseball, basketball and college football. Lovers of DFS, best ball, survival football and March Madness can also find their niche in the app.

Furthermore, Yahoo Fantasy's partnerships give managers additional access to services that improve their performance. Yahoo exclusively partnered with BetMGM in 2019 for convenient betting actions and uses RotoWire's player write-ups to assist users with weekly decision-making.

Players will need to have a Yahoo email to use the app but setting up the free account has been worth it for most who have joined the network.

NFL Fantasy

When considering leagues to use to play fantasy football, many often forget that the NFL provides an app of its own. NFL Fantasy Football launched in 2010 and unsurprisingly became an immediate player within the scene.

Like ESPN, the app is not extravagant but is fairly straightforward. For managers valuing reliability, it does not get much better than the NFL itself.

For live updates and player analysis, the NFL Fantasy app is not the best but it offers several services that its competitors cannot match. As a part of the NFL, their fantasy app is the only of the industry that allows users to watch games in-app with direct links to NFL+, NFL Network and NFL Red Zone. Most fantasy football players will cherish this function.

The app also provides an abundance of fantasy-related content in both article and podcast form. Most of their content is free but eager consumers can subscribe to Fantasy+, a premium service with fantasy tools that NFL Fantasy Football offers.

Of course, the traditional NFL app allows fans to access those same functions while operating fantasy leagues on another site. While the app is still reliable and its name value still holds weight amongst users — particularly new players — the convenience factor is minute, making the other three apps stronger options.