Top 5 Apps Like Dream11 in 2026 & How to Develop a Fantasy Sports App
Fantasy sports are a big deal for new and existing companies that can combine live statistics, good design, safe payment methods, and strong community features. By 2026, this market is still growing fast, especially in India, where many people play cricket fantasy games. If companies want to get involved, they need to know about other successful options besides Dream11, the latest rules and regulations, and the technology needed to keep everything running smoothly. This blog outlines five great alternatives to Dream11 in 2026, talks about how the market works, explains important features to have, suggests useful technology, covers the changing laws in India, and gives an idea of costs. It’s written to give helpful advice for founders and product managers working on fantasy sports software.
5 Best Alternatives of Dream11
Dream11 made fantasy sports popular in India, and many other apps have come up with their own unique ways to play. Here are five popular alternatives in 2026, each offering different features related to cricket and other sports.
1. Vision11
Vision11 is a growing app that focuses on mobile users. It offers daily contests and makes it easy to join. The app promotes both free and paid contests, so there’s something for everyone. Vision11 is designed for quick team setup and has simple promotions for new users. It allows players to easily find different types of contests. The app shows that it’s important to make it easy for users to get started and to offer both practice and real games to keep players engaged. Teams creating a fantasy sports app should look at how Vision11 makes it easy for people to sign up and get help. This helps keep users around while still offering complicated contests.
2. My11Circle
My11Circle is a popular option for Dream11, mainly because it targets cricket fans and makes it easy for players moving from older platforms. They focus on covering matches, special events, and seasonal deals related to big cricket series. Their app suggests contests based on what users like, offers different prize options for all types of players, and makes payouts straightforward. These features help build trust and keep users engaged. Other teams can learn from My11Circle by showing contests that fit what users have done before, making it easy to compare prizes, and simplifying cashing out. This is especially crucial in places where bank rules can change and affect payments.
3. Howzat
Howzat is an app where you can play fantasy cricket for free or pay to play. It handles a lot of users during big matches and gets famous people to promote it. The app lets you see live scores, join different types of contests, and invite friends through social media. For the team making the app, it shows that having live scores and easy-to-use features helps keep players engaged during important matches. It also needs to handle a lot of users well on match days. Howzat shares tips, player stats, and info before matches to keep people using the app and attract new players.
4. BalleBaazi
BalleBaazi started as a fantasy cricket app and has expanded to offer more casual and competitive games for all types of cricket fans. It makes the app simple to use, has attractive match pages, and runs frequent events to keep players coming back. The app is well-designed, with small animations and easy-to-understand rules that make it feel smooth and help reduce the number of questions users have. For safety, it has tools to catch fraud and quickly solve problems to keep users happy when money is involved. The teams that create and build the app should focus on making payouts and rules clear and the app easy to use.
5. PlayerzPot
PlayerzPot mixes fantasy sports with fun games. It offers a range of activities, like fantasy cricket and quizzes, to create a fun gaming experience all in one place. This approach keeps users playing longer and gives the app other ways to make money besides just entry fees. PlayerzPot also grows its user base through referral programs and social media, making sure the app works well on mobile devices and is updated often to keep users engaged. For teams working on a product, PlayerzPot shows that adding more games can help make more money and keep users interested. But to do this, the product needs to be built in a way that allows new games to easily use the same features, like accounts and payment systems. If you're planning to have multiple games, you need to set up your systems to be flexible from the start.
How to Develop a Fantasy Sports App Like Dream11
Creating a product like Dream11 requires careful planning: understanding what users want in contests and sports, having reliable real-time data and scoring, secure payment options, and being ready for busy times during big events. Here are important things to think about.
1. Fantasy Sports Market
Market predictions for 2024–2026 suggest fast growth: the global fantasy sports market was expected to be about $24.85 billion in 2024 and could more than double by 2030. This growth will be driven by more interest in sports like cricket and football, better mobile access, and more available data. India is expected to grow significantly as cricket tournaments and local leagues attract a lot of daily attention. These numbers show there's a great chance to succeed, but there will also be more competition and companies combining together. It's becoming important to stand out while using money wisely. Businesses should use market trends to figure out how big their market is, budget for gaining new customers, and carefully guess how many customers will stick around.
2. Key Features of a Dream11-Like App
A fantasy sports app like Dream11 needs some basic features to be taken seriously. These include an easy way for users to create teams, different types of contests (like one-on-one or leagues), a way to choose team leaders, live scores, notifications for game events, secure payment options, ways to invite friends, rankings, and good customer support. To keep users engaged and make money, advanced features like smart player suggestions, support for multiple sports, custom leagues, social sharing options, and practice modes are useful.
From a technical standpoint, tracking game performance, preventing cheating, and fast payouts are very important. The product team should focus on live experience (like score updates and player changes) because it's what keeps users interested during a game. They should also design the app so that it's easy to add new contests and sports without a lot of extra work, which is important for creating fantasy cricket apps since cricket rules can be tricky and change often.
3. Tech Stack for Fantasy App Development
A good fantasy app setup has different parts that do specific jobs. You need mobile apps for users (like ones for iPhone and Android), a backend with different services (like user accounts, contests, scoring, payouts), a way to send live updates (using tools like WebSocket), a way to temporarily store data (like Redis), and a good database for keeping track of stats and payments (like Postgres or ClickHouse).
Use ready-made services for things like streaming data and a CDN for images and other files. Make sure to get trusted sports data for scoring and check it for accuracy.
For payments, it’s important to follow rules to keep info safe, and you need tools to stop bad activities and limit repetitive actions from bots.
If you’re making software for fantasy sports, you should use systems to manage your software effectively, automate updates, and track how everything is working, especially during busy times like matchdays. Start with a simple version of your app that uses a serverless setup to save money and then switch to more complex setups as you get more users.
4. Legal Rules for Fantasy Apps in India
In the mid-2020s, rules around online gaming changed a lot in India. Before, many fantasy sports were seen as skill-based games, which allowed real money contests in several states. But new laws made it stricter to play for money online. In 2025, the Indian Parliament passed a new online gaming law that put limits on money-based games and required companies to rethink how they operate. Because of this, big gaming companies changed how they do business or paused some real-money options to follow the new rules. Now, these companies have to be ready to: (1) get licenses in some states; (2) have strong systems to check users' identities and prevent fraud; (3) be clear about their rules and how to handle issues; and (4) be open to changing to free games or different systems in places where money games are restricted. It's important for companies to work with legal experts before starting and to keep up with rule changes that can impact how they make money.
5. Cost to Develop an App Like Dream11
The cost to develop an app depends a lot on what features you want. If you want a simple version that focuses on just one sport, has basic contests, and simple payment options, it can start at around $7,000 to $40,000. But if you want a more advanced app with many features like real-time scoring, better fraud protection, and a nice user experience, the cost can go up to $100,000 or more. Research shows that small simple apps can cost between $12,000 and $45,000, while full-featured apps may cost $60,000 to $150,000 or higher, based on design and where it's created. Besides building the app, you should also budget for marketing, customer support, and legal fees. If you want to get the app out quickly and legally, it's a good idea to work with a knowledgeable company that understands how to develop fantasy cricket apps well.
Final Notes
In short, the market still favors unique product experiences like special competitions, great live user experiences, and community features. However, changing rules and higher costs for getting new customers mean businesses need to plan their products and legal requirements carefully. If Dinoustech or any team wants to create a fantasy sports game, they should focus on (1) starting with a simple sport and competition, (2) having a strong setup for scoring and growth, (3) having a secure way to handle user verification and payments, and (4) including a budget for legal and compliance in their plans. They should also closely monitor how many users they have, how many stick around, and the value they get from customers during the first big tournament. This data will help them decide if they should grow or change their product plans. Good planning and a step-by-step approach can help control costs while keeping the product competitive in the future.
