Free Pinnacle odds API: test real odds before you pay

Two free ways to start with PinnWire

A free Pinnacle odds API should let you validate the actual contract: authentication, event shape, markets, timestamps, errors and request limits. PinnWire makes that test immediate. Pick the path that fits the first few minutes of your project.

Run a free Pinnacle odds API check in three minutes

You can prove the whole REST path with the public demo. Add a random fresh value to make the request URL unique if a browser, proxy or fetch tool might reuse an old copy.

1. Check service health. Confirm that the API responds and inspect the feed-update age.
2. Fetch a real market. Use a sport ID you care about and inspect the event, period and price fields.
3. Test your client with your private trial. Replace demo with the emailed key once you start polling repeatedly.

1. Verify health and freshness

curl "https://pinnwire.com/v1/health?key=demo&fresh=free-guide-1"

Look for status, generated_at and last_odds_update_seconds_ago. generated_at is the server response time; the health age reports how recently the newest odds frame arrived. They answer different questions and are both useful.

2. Fetch current live odds

curl "https://pinnwire.com/kit/v1/markets?sport_id=1&key=demo&fresh=free-guide-2"

sport_id=1 is Soccer. The same endpoint family covers the documented sports. Inspect the event IDs, market keys, periods.num_0, sides, points and decimal prices. A real payload is a much better integration test than a screenshot.

3. Fetch prematch fixtures

curl "https://pinnwire.com/kit/v1/prematch/fixtures?sport_id=1&key=demo&fresh=free-guide-3"

For a single event, use /kit/v1/details?event_id=N. For compact full-game lines, use /kit/v1/prematch/lines?event_id=N. Every response is JSON and the endpoint family is documented in the PinnWire API docs.

What the free Pinnacle API lets you build

The free REST paths are enough to prove a surprisingly large part of a product. You can build the read side first, then add a paid push transport only when your workflow needs it.

REST endpoint coverage

All plans cover the documented 13 sports, live and prematch data, full line depth and available specials. The difference between free and paid is primarily quota and transport: the free keys let you validate the data contract over REST, while paid plans let production traffic and push alerts scale with the application.

Use a free key to test your code, not to hide freshness problems

“Real-time” is only useful when your application can check it. PinnWire puts freshness fields in the response so your client can make a deliberate decision instead of displaying an unqualified timestamp.

• generated_at appears on every odds REST response and records the server response time.
• last_odds_update_seconds_ago on /v1/health reports the age of the newest odds frame.
• last on /kit market responses is an epoch-millisecond compatibility field for the same response moment. It is not the age of the odds.
• API responses use Cache-Control: no-store. If a fetch layer still serves a stale response, retry with &fresh= plus a random value.

# Make a second URL when checking a cache-sensitive client
curl "https://pinnwire.com/v1/health?key=demo&fresh=839214"

When a free Pinnacle API key is enough—and when to upgrade

Start with the smallest PinnWire access path that answers your question. That keeps the first integration clear and gives you an obvious upgrade decision.

SSE plan gate

/odds-drop and /odds-drop-prematch are server-sent event streams. They require Stream ($89/month), Pro+Drops ($139/month) or Scale ($219/month). A free key can use the same drop data through /api/drops or /v1/drops and poll at its published limit.

WebSocket plan gate

wss://pinnwire.com/ws?key=YOUR_KEY is the optional raw real-time stream for subscribed live and prematch market updates. It requires the +$89/month Raw WebSocket add-on on a paid plan. The demo and trial keys are deliberately REST-only, which makes them safe for evaluating the response shape before adding connection management.

All paid plans are flat-rate: no per-request or per-object metering. See the live pricing and WebSocket guide when your acceptance test is complete.

Get a private Pinnacle API trial key

When the shared demo has answered your first questions, request a private key for your own test loop. On the PinnWire homepage, enter an email address and submit the form. The trial key is sent to that inbox; the API response confirms delivery but never prints the credential.

1. Use a real inbox you can open. Check spam if the message is not visible immediately.
2. Put the emailed key in an environment variable. Keep it out of frontend source and public repositories.
3. Repeat the health and market calls. Confirm your client handles 20/min and 100/day without assuming the demo's 10/min and 50/day quota.
4. Choose the production plan by behavior. Upgrade for higher REST volume, SSE alerts or the raw WebSocket—not because a free response was hard to inspect.

# Example: keep the private key out of the command history
set PINNWIRE_KEY=pk_your_emailed_key
curl "https://pinnwire.com/v1/health?key=%PINNWIRE_KEY%&fresh=trial-check"

For shell or CI usage, prefer your platform's secret manager. The API key is the only credential needed for REST, and the documentation also accepts the x-api-key header.

Small Python quickstart

This example uses ordinary HTTP so you can move from the public demo to the private trial without rewriting your client. It prints the freshness signal and the first few events; it does not assume that a particular sport always has a particular number of markets.

import os
import requests

KEY = os.environ.get("PINNWIRE_KEY", "demo")
BASE = "https://pinnwire.com"

health = requests.get(
    BASE + "/v1/health",
    params={"key": KEY, "fresh": "python-free-guide"},
    timeout=10,
)
health.raise_for_status()
print("health:", health.json().get("status"))
print("feed age:", health.json().get("last_odds_update_seconds_ago"))

markets = requests.get(
    BASE + "/kit/v1/markets",
    params={"sport_id": 1, "key": KEY, "fresh": "python-markets"},
    timeout=10,
)
markets.raise_for_status()
payload = markets.json()
print("generated:", payload.get("generated_at"))
for event in payload.get("events", [])[:3]:
    print(event.get("id"), event.get("home"), event.get("away"))

Use PINNWIRE_KEY=demo for the first run. Set the environment variable to the key from your email when you want to test a private trial quota. The official Node.js SDK and Python SDK are available when you are ready to remove repetitive request plumbing.