Best Daily Fantasy Sports Apps For 2023

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is an excellent way to test your sports knowledge, connect with millions of players, and win money. Compared to standard Fantasy Sports leagues, these one-day sports apps are more popular and easier to use than ever. So, what are the best Daily Fantasy Sports apps for 2023?

The five best Daily Fantasy Sports apps are:

1. Best All-round DFS App: DraftKings
2. Best DFS App for Newcomers: FanDuel
3. DFS App with the Highest Payouts: Underdog Fantasy
4. DFS App with Greatest Variety: Monkey Knife Fight
5. DFS App with Fun Social Features: Vivid Picks

Now that we know the contenders for the best DFS apps, we can rank and compare them. Each DFS app is unique and targets a specific market, so it’s vital to understand the features you’ll be using. Because while you can win real money daily with DFS, you can also lose it. The correct choice is crucial.

Daily Fantasy Sports Apps: A Quick Guide

Although you typically play fantasy sports through a website, there’s no reason that you can’t use a mobile app for it instead. For the rapid nature of DFS, that makes plenty of sense. However, apps come with unique challenges, including design and security.

The best DFS apps must be connected to reliable, profitable platforms that reward regular users. Besides that, DFS apps also need to be widely available and offer unique features to keep players on their phones and off their laptops. 

Below is our choice of the best DFS apps, each fulfilling a standout niche.

1. Best All-Round Features: DraftKings

The original and still the all-around best, DraftKings is the DFS app that other DFS apps aspire to become. 

While certain apps might outdo one or two of its features, DraftKings dominates the market because it excels at everything a DFS app must do. It’s quick to use, with high rewards and an astonishing variety of sports and contests on which to bet.

The comprehensive sports list is one of this app’s most vital features. As well as having the expected NFL, NBA, and MLB, DraftKings offers nearly every other sport you can imagine. You can bet on everything from NASCAR to golf or Esports to MMA. 

This tremendous variety is why DraftKings has been on top for so long. Even dedicated players get tired of playing the same fantasy sports games. Still, DraftKings always has a new contest to try out.

Those contests also have some of the most competitive rewards in the business. DraftKings regularly offers millions in prize money. Even for its daily tournaments, the winnings are significant compared to the low buy-ins. 

That’s what DraftKings’s insane popularity will get you, with hundreds of players betting on even the lowest-ranking tournaments.

DraftKings offers some of the best bonuses and rewards, too. You can earn loyalty points by playing games and cash those in for real-world prizes.

If you ever get tired of DFS, you can still stick with DraftKings. This app offers an online casino and sportsbook. Their sportsbook is a great feature, though, and if you’ve ever thought about betting on one, DraftKings has you covered.

Regardless of what you win, DraftKings also accommodates you. The app has no maximum payouts, which is ideal for high rollers. In case you had a tough week, the minimum payout is only $20.

DraftKings’s popularity comes with a few downsides, though. Thanks to their massive user base and loads of queries accompanying it, customer service is often slow to reply via email and unavailable through instant messaging.

Because it is the archetypal DFS site, you can’t expect much elegance from it. Although the app is perfectly functional, it won’t win any design awards.

Likewise, DraftKings still doesn’t have a forum. However, thanks to its ubiquity, you can find several sites devoted to DraftKings talk.

2. Best For Newcomers: FanDuel

FanDuel is one of the all-time great DFS apps, and it isn’t hard to see why. This app has been around since the beginning of DFS. It has remained the best platform for DFS newcomers and a favorite for veteran players.

As one of the industry leaders, FanDuel boasts a massive user base and some of the biggest prize pools. For instance, they offer a $1 million per week NFL contest. With such a broad reach, it’s no surprise that this site can offer consistently impressive rewards to players across almost all American states and Canada.

Not only is this big community one of the most rewarding to bet against, but they’re also helpful. 

This app is famous for the sheer amount of advice and strategies surrounding its games, letting a new player quickly learn the ropes even without an official forum.

Friends Mode also makes up for the lack of a forum. This setting is a form of invite-only casual play, letting you bet against your friends. If you’re anything like us, Friends Mode will be a great way to unwind with your bros, even if the cash is tight.

FanDuel is also our choice for a new player because of its unique rookie contests. These tournaments let newcomers ease themselves into DFS without the pressure of losing their hard-earned cash to more experienced opponents. It’s a great tactic and an excellent, low-risk way to get into fantasy sports.

Don’t worry if you’re an experienced DFS fan, though. FanDuel offers various contests and sports to bet on, including exclusive high-roller tournaments.

You can bet on everything from football to basketball to hockey or soccer in FanDuel. Women’s sports are also frequently available. FanDuel is also a go-to platform for college sports betting.

This betting takes place through one of the best-designed apps available across all platforms. The mobile version of FanDuel is effortless to navigate, often outpacing their website. That isn’t to say that their homepage is lacking anything, though. It has an ergonomic design that accommodates new players just as quickly as it welcomes returning fans.

This app isn’t perfect, though. FanDuel’s promotions are lackluster. Don’t expect frequent bonuses or player rewards from this app; look towards its guaranteed prize pools instead. For many players, the two $10 vouchers on sign-up will be their only reward.

Similarly, FanDuel has slow cash-out systems since they’re manually approved. Although this practice adds a layer of security to the process, it also means that you won’t have cash on hand immediately after your big win.

3. Highest Payouts: Underdog Fantasy

Underdog Fantasy is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding DFS apps available. Not only does it have the highest average payouts of any popular DFS app, but it also has an elegant, intuitive UI. There’s nothing like winning big and looking good doing it.

With this app, prize pools can get as large as $50,000 for the Big Board NFL or $1 million for the Best Ball tournament! Buy-ins are low, too, typically ranging from $5 to $10.

That’s a great reason to play, and even players ranking as low as 7,000^th can still walk away with a few dollars. 

Although their Best Ball tournament is their flagship game, Underdog Fantasy offers several others, like pick ’em games and prop contests. For these, you win a multiple of your initial bet, going as high as a 40x reward. 

Regarding fantasy tournaments, the NBA and NFL options were always top-of-the-line.

You gamble through one of the most straightforward and accessible websites we’ve ever seen in fantasy sports. Underdog Fantasy’s website might be minimalist, but that also means it’s completely absent of clutter and easy to navigate.

Not only that, but Underdog Fantasy also offers 24-hour customer support, which is reliable and helpful. The operator is also consistently reachable on social media and has a YouTube channel.

Suppose you need any guidance or just looking for community. In that case, the official Underdog Network forums, blog, and discord are also great places. The Underdog Fantasy developers have made excellent efforts to make them welcome and helpful.

However, Underdog Fantasy remains the underdog when it comes to loyalty programs. Their new player bonuses are mediocre, while their rewards program is non-existent. The message is clear – players will make money through payouts, not other channels.

We also found that Underdog Fantasy has only a few ways to deposit funds. While they accept all major credit cards, they lack other cashier methods.

On the other hand, withdrawing and depositing funds is entirely secure, and they don’t ask for your personal details either. With high-profile backers like Adam Schefter, Mark Cuban, and Matthew Dellavedova, we wouldn’t expect anything less from this app.

4. Greatest Variety: Monkey Knife Fight

Don’t let the quirky name fool you. Monkey Knife Fight is serious about being one of the best DFS apps. It offers a gambling-style playthrough that’s quick, fluid, and seriously addictive. The variety on offer is genuinely astonishing.

In addition to having classics like over/under and prop games, Monkey Knife Fight also lets you win cash with rapid-fire, star shootout, fantasy challenge, Hail Mary, and rush hour. 

The prop games are particularly well done, always focusing on two high-class players. Remember that you’ll bet against the house, not other players. Prop bets also offer some of Monkey Knife Fight’s best multipliers, up to 15x.

These challenges are well-designed and simple, with prompts that take you directly to your favorite teams, sports, and games. Their variety of sports is impressive also, including standard options like NFL, NBA, and MLB, plus some alternatives like League of Legends and golf.

With such an impressive selection, you’ll never get bored with Monkey Knife Fight. 

That’s especially true since you can play for free using your sign-up reward.

Another attractive feature is that Monkey Knife Fight doesn’t set a maximum player count on its bets. That bonus, combined with the quick playthrough, ensures that you can still compete even if you turn up late that day.

However, you probably won’t become a millionaire playing Monkey Knife Fight. Although this DFS app offers several excellent bonuses, it doesn’t have the high payouts of its competitors. 

We admit that its game-like interface will also alienate some fantasy sports diehards. It plays like a digital sportsbook at times. It lacks some traditional DFS gameplay loops or the care that goes into an entire fantasy sports season. For example, it doesn’t have a salary cap.

Monkey Knife Fight struggles with geographic availability, too, being legal in only about half of all American states. If you’re based in Florida, this app isn’t for you.

You can rest assured that your money is safe, though. Not only is it easy to deposit and withdraw funds, but the developers also plan to add PayPal in an upcoming update. Otherwise, your withdrawal options include receiving a check in the mail or using ECheck.

Last, Monkey Knife Fight’s mobile app is one of the best. It is sleek and fast-running, with all of the website’s elegance. You can play high-speed DFS on the go without any trouble.

5. Fun Social Features: Vivid Picks

If you want to make friends while winning cash, Vivid Picks is the DFS app. This simple and easy-to-use betting platform offers an outstanding suite of social features that make gaming rewarding even when you don’t win.

Vivid Picks offers a friend list plus a $100 reward for inviting somebody onto the platform. You can compete against your friends in daily challenges, plus compare your DFS entries.

Not only that but there’s also a chance to win trophies and put your name on the Vivid Picks leaderboard or hall of fame – another incentive to download this quality app.

Despite its excellent social features, Vivid Picks doesn’t pull punches when it comes to being a DFS platform. Thanks to its innovative take on over/under contests, you’ll get an experience that stands out from the crowd. Instead of picking an entire roster at once, you choose from two players and build a team around them.

Guessing correctly on the over/under for five players earns you nine times your original bet!

You have an exciting spread of sports to bet on, also. Vivid Picks lets you gamble on Esports, college sports, and F1.

Vivid Picks also offers good security and a straightforward UI design, letting you add friends and double your money without any headaches.

However, like all DFS apps, Vivid Picks has a few flaws. The long withdrawal times and mediocre customer support stood out the most. You need to provide your personal information to withdraw cash, too.

Additionally, there’s a limited variety of contest options. You only have access to three player combinations for each event. Besides the over/under contests, Vivid Picks doesn’t offer any other games.

Conclusion

To conclude, the best DFS apps are DraftKings and FanDuel, with newer apps like Monkey Knife Fight, Vivid Picks, and Underdog Fantasy coming shortly behind. Each app excels at a specific niche, but DraftKings remains the best all-around DFS app for 2023.