FanRanked › Leagues › Compare › FanRanked vs Fantrax
Fantrax is the deep end of fantasy baseball: minor-league rosters, contracts, salary caps, picks years out, and a dynasty community that settled there over the last decade. It is the platform FanRanked measures itself against, and this page says where each one is ahead.
By the FanRanked staff. Updated 2026-11-07. FanRanked is ahead on 15 features, Fantrax on 5, even on 35.
FanRanked is 100% free to host and free to play. Fantrax Premium is $129.95 per league.
| Category | FanRanked | Fantrax | Even |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Formats and Scoring | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Rosters and Lineups | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Transactions | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Drafts | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Dynasty Economics | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Commissioner Tools | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Community | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Imports and Data | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Apps and Platform | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| All Features | 15 | 5 | 35 |
On the core dynasty machinery the two are closer than most people expect.
On the core dynasty machinery the two are closer than most people expect. Both have minor-league slots with eligibility rules, rookie drafts, keeper costs, a salary cap, picks tradeable years ahead, slow and auction drafts, offline entry, and mid-season settings changes. FanRanked runs salaries through its keeper rules rather than multi-year contracts: a kept player's price rises each season. Most of what Fantrax sells in its Premium tier ($129.95 per league) is also built on FanRanked, free to host and free to play.
FanRanked adds things Fantrax does not have: a weighted and auditable draft lottery, conditional picks and swap rights, a trade finder that builds three-team deals, a Keeper Preview that prices every keeper seasons ahead, a sandbox copy of the league, a commissioner assistant, a Discord bot, side games, and minor-league stats that can score. The rankings and trade calculator read your league. And a Fantrax league imports in one click, history included.
Fantrax is ahead on its store app, on the size of its dynasty community and public league pool, and on ten years of edge cases. A few settings are still Fantrax only, such as multi-year contracts and live scoring pushed to your phone.
Fantrax lists 36 features as Premium, at $129.95 per league for the season. Here is each one on FanRanked, where every league is 100% free to host and free to play. From Fantrax's Premium page, checked November 6, 2026.
28 on FanRanked, 4 partly on FanRanked, 4 not on FanRanked.
| $ Fantrax Premium Feature | On FanRanked (100% Free to Host and Play) |
|---|---|
| Salaries and Contracts | |
| $ Player Salaries and a Salary Cap | Yes · Free. Keeper salaries and an optional team cap |
| $ Automatic Salary Generation | Yes · Free. From Player Values or a rank curve |
| $ Automated Player Contracts | No. Keeper salaries instead |
| $ Contract Renewals and Extensions | No |
| $ Salary Floor | Yes · Free |
| $ Cap Hit Penalties | Partly · Free. Dropping a kept player costs a share of his salary this season only |
| $ Salary and Contract Converter | Partly · Free. Salary Converter: raise or cut salaries by dollars or a percent; no contracts to convert |
| $ Salary Cap Trading | Yes · Free. Cap space in trades |
| Drafts and Picks | |
| $ Multi-Season Pick Trading | Yes · Free. One to five seasons out |
| $ Advanced Draft Options | Yes · Free. An MLB-only draft keeps minor leaguers out; an expired clock can skip the pick; a reversal at any round; equal rosters after the draft |
| $ Reserve Draft | Yes · Free. Supplemental and MiLB drafts |
| $ Player Picker Draft | No |
| Waivers and Free Agents | |
| $ Advanced Claim and Drop Options | Yes · Free. Claim groups, a hold on dropped players, public pending bids, injured and minor-league blocks, forced drops and an anti-churn rule |
| $ Claim Budget Trading | Yes · Free. FAAB is tradeable |
| Rosters | |
| $ Minor League Eligibility Options | Yes · Free. Prospect status, career at-bats and innings, age, games and days on roster |
| $ Rookie Roster Limits | Yes · Free. Minimums and maximums |
| $ Injured Reserve Removal Rules | Yes · Free. Grace days and forced activation |
| $ Illegal Roster Options | Yes · Free. Set what happens for each kind of problem |
| $ Duplicate Player Leagues | Partly · Free. Copies of Each Player, up to 4 teams; not with a salary cap, keeper costs or an auction |
| $ Custom Roster Columns | Yes · Free |
| $ Minimum Active per Position | Yes · Free |
| $ Advanced Stat Limits | Yes · Free. An innings minimum, a games minimum and a games cap per slot |
| $ Specialized Roster Positions | Yes · Free. LF, CF, RF, DH, NA, TAXI and up to nine custom slots |
| $ Player Pool Options | Yes · Free. Set what happens when a player leaves the pool |
| League Size and Playoffs | |
| $ More Than 24 Teams | Yes · Free. Up to 64 teams; Fantrax goes to 2,000 |
| $ Multiple Teams per Manager | Yes · Free |
| $ Reseed Playoffs Each Round | Yes · Free |
| $ Multiple Consolation Brackets | Yes · Free. Consolation bracket, toilet bowl and placement games |
| $ Year-Round League Operation | Yes · Free. Trades and moves reopen in the offseason |
| Scoring | |
| $ Custom Lineup Periods | Yes · Free |
| $ Custom Scoring Periods | Yes · Free. Daily to monthly, or custom dates |
| $ Custom and Specialized Categories | Yes · Free. Formula categories you write |
| League Tools | |
| $ Daily League Backups | Yes · Free. Nightly backups; restore any of the last 30 |
| $ Priority Commissioner Support | No. No paid support tier |
| $ Player Spreadsheet Import | Partly · Free. Rosters and salaries from one spreadsheet |
| $ Prize Management | Yes · Free. Standings, weekly high score and category leaders |
Settings, teams, rosters and past seasons come over from Fantrax.
Start a league on FanRanked and choose Bring a League From Fantrax, then paste the league link. Settings, teams and rosters come over from Fantrax's public API, with injured and minor-league players parked, plus past standings, drafts and rosters. Members-only data such as the season chain, managers, rules, weekly scores and moves comes through a helper script a member runs once in their browser. Salaries can be imported from a spreadsheet.
FanRanked is 100% free: every feature marked Free costs $0 to host and play. A $ marks a feature that costs money on Fantrax, from Fantrax's own Premium page, checked November 6, 2026. The Edge column shows who is ahead; where Fantrax is ahead is also our to-do list.
| Feature ($ Costs Money on Fantrax) | FanRanked (100% Free to Host and Play) | Fantrax | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | |||
| Free to host a full-season league | Yes · Free. Every format is free to host and play: dynasty, keeper, redraft, guillotine, best ball and the special formats | Yes. Free tier with ads; a paid tier for extras | Even |
| $ Ad-free option for the whole league | Yes. The commissioner buys every manager a year of Pro at $15 per team: no ads and every Pro tool; anyone already on Pro is left out of the total | Yes · Paid Add-On. A separate add-on, not part of Premium: $18 per team for 1 year, $45 per team for 3 years | Even |
| Formats and Scoring | |||
| $ Rotisserie with custom categories | Yes · Free. Any 1 to 20 categories from box-score and derived stats, or up to 12 formula categories you write | Yes · Free and Premium. The longest category list anywhere; specialized categories are Premium | Even |
| $ Head-to-head categories, each category or one win | Yes · Free. Each category or most categories; periods daily, weekly, semi-weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or custom dates | Yes · Free and Premium. Daily, semi-weekly, bi-weekly and monthly periods are Premium | Even |
| $ Head-to-head points and season points | Yes · Free. Periods daily, weekly, semi-weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or custom dates | Yes · Free and Premium. Daily, semi-weekly, bi-weekly and monthly periods are Premium | Even |
| Custom point value for every stat | Yes · Free. Any box-score stat, derived stat or formula category, up to 40 per league | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| $ Innings minimum and games-played caps | Yes · Free. Innings minimum and a games cap per slot | Yes · Free and Premium. Games minimums and per-position maximums are Premium | Even |
| $ Configurable playoffs and divisions | Yes · Free. 2 to 32 teams, reseeding, consolation, toilet bowl, placement games, round lengths, up to 16 divisions | Yes · Free and Premium. Reseeding and extra consolation brackets are Premium | Even |
| Best ball with auto-set best lineups | Yes · Free | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| AL-only and NL-only player pools | Yes · Free. AL-only, NL-only or any set of clubs; the pool applies to drafts, waivers and adds | Yes | Even |
| Rosters and Lineups | |||
| $ Configurable roster slots | Yes · Free. C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, IF, LF, CF, RF, OF, DH, UTIL, SP, RP, P, BN, IL, NA, TAXI, MiLB, up to nine custom slots, custom roster columns, rookie minimums and maximums, minimum starters per slot | Yes · Free and Premium. Specialized positions, custom columns, rookie limits and position minimums are Premium | Even |
| $ Minor-league slots with eligibility rules | Yes · Free. By prospect flag or career at-bats and innings, with age, games and days-on-roster caps, optional auto-graduation | Yes · Free and Premium. Slots are free; eligibility options are Premium | Even |
| $ Injured-list slots with rules | Yes · Free. IL10 or IL60, custom injury types, grace days, auto-park, forced activation | Yes · Free and Premium. Slots are free; advanced removal rules are Premium | Even |
| $ Daily or weekly lineups, lock at first pitch | Yes · Free. Daily, daily-tomorrow, weekly or once per scoring period; per-player lock, a fixed time or a time per weekday; nightly auto-start | Yes · Free and Premium. Semi-weekly, bi-weekly, monthly and custom lineup periods are Premium | Even |
| Commissioner-set position eligibility thresholds | Yes · Free. Games this season and last, starts, appearances | Yes | Even |
| Transactions | |||
| $ Waiver order or FAAB bidding | Yes · Free. Rolling, reverse standings or first come; FAAB with minimum bids, tradeable; claim groups and alternate drops | Yes · Free and Premium. Claims are free; claim groups and budget trading are Premium | Even |
| Instant free agents option | Yes · Free. Same day or next day | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Trade review: commissioner, vote or timed | Yes · Free. None, commissioner, league vote with a veto count, or a timed window | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Multi-Team Trades | Yes · Free. Up to four teams in one trade | Yes | Even |
| $ Trade draft picks years ahead | Yes · Free. One to five seasons of future picks, set by the commissioner | Yes · Premium | Even |
| Conditional picks and swap rights | Yes · Free. Finish, protected, usage and swap conditions | No | FanRanked |
| Trade analyzer and trade finder inside the league | Yes · Free. Analyzer, a balance-this-deal helper, and a finder with three-team loops | Partly · Free Tier. A trade block, no finder | FanRanked |
| Drafts | |||
| Live snake draft room | Yes · Free. Clock by round, queue with pick-from-queue, chat, pause, undo, force pick, pick trades on the board, automated drafts | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Auction draft | Yes · Free. Live or slow, proxy or sealed bids, keepers pre-loaded at salary | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Slow draft with hours per pick | Yes · Free. Clock in hours with an overnight pause and custom days off | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Offline draft entry | Yes · Free. Paste snake or auction results with a dry run | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Rookie draft with a first-year-player pool | Yes · Free. Startup, rookie, supplemental and MiLB drafts | Yes | Even |
| Weighted draft lottery | Yes · Free. NBA, NHL, linear or even odds, seeded and auditable | Partly. Randomized or manual order | FanRanked |
| Linear (non-snake) draft order | Yes · Free. Snake, snake with third-round reversal, or linear | Yes | Even |
| Dynasty Economics | |||
| Keepers with a count and a deadline | Yes · Free. 0 to 60 keepers with a minimum, position caps, years limits, hidden or public picks and a deadline default; a flat dollar raise or last price paid in auction leagues | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Keeper cost by draft round | Yes · Free. Round drafted with escalation, a first-round floor rule, a pickup round, first picks or named picks; keepers fill their slots on the board | Yes | Even |
| $ Contracts with years, options and extensions | No. Keeper salaries instead: a price that rises each season he is kept, with finish raises and a yearly limit | Yes · Premium | Fantrax |
| $ Salary cap with hard or soft enforcement | Yes · Free. An optional team cap on keeper salaries: blocked, luxury tax or shown only; a floor; a change by team; cap space in trades | Yes · Premium | Even |
| Arbitration and salary raises | No | No | Even |
| $ Dead money and multi-year cap sheets | No. Dropping a kept player costs a share of his salary this season only | Partly · Premium. Cut penalties, no multi-year sheet | Fantrax |
| Commissioner Tools | |||
| Change settings mid-season with an audit trail | Yes · Free. Every section validated and logged, mid-season included | Yes | Even |
| Constitution page with version history | Yes · Free. 25 versions and read receipts | Partly. Rules text | FanRanked |
| $ Dues ledger and payout table | Yes · Free. Ledger, per-team amounts, part payments, waive and refund, prize pools, payouts by place, reminders; card checkout is not wired yet | Yes · Free and Premium. Its Treasurer collects, holds and pays out league fees, free on both tiers; prize management is Premium | Even |
| Season archives, record book and trophy case | Yes · Free. Archives, record book, awards, trophy case; twelve seasons from Yahoo | Yes | Even |
| Sandbox copy of your league to test changes | Yes · Free. A private copy to try a rollover or a rule change | No | FanRanked |
| Commissioner assistant that reads your rules | Yes · Free. Reads settings, constitution, trades and flags; proposes, never applies | No | FanRanked |
| Community | |||
| Chat, message board and polls | Yes · Free. Reactions and images; threads, pins and polls on the board | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Discord bot and webhooks | Yes · Free. Webhook embeds for chat, trades, waivers and posts; a bot that links accounts and DMs alerts | No | FanRanked |
| Push notifications in a store app | Partly · Free. Web push and email are built; there is no store app to carry push yet | Yes · Free Tier | Fantrax |
| Power rankings, playoff odds, matchup previews | Yes · Free. Plus a news feed filtered to your rostered players | Partly | FanRanked |
| Side games inside the league | Yes · Free. Weekly pick'em and a prospect bracket | No | FanRanked |
| Imports and Data | |||
| Bring a league over from another host with its history | Yes · Free. Yahoo and Fantrax in one click with past seasons; ESPN, CBS, RTSports and NFBC rosters through Connections; rosters and salaries from one spreadsheet | No | FanRanked |
| CSV exports and a read-only API | Yes · Free. Eight CSV datasets and a read-only league API token | Partly. CSV exports of some tables | FanRanked |
| Minor-league stats can score | Yes · Free. Chosen levels and a weight, from the MLB Stats API | No. MiLB stats shown, not scored | FanRanked |
| Apps and Platform | |||
| Apps in the App Store and Google Play | No. Installs to your home screen as a web app; store apps are not published | Yes · Free Tier | Fantrax |
| Live scoring during games | Yes · Free. About every four minutes while games are on | Yes · Free Tier | Even |
| Rankings and trade values that read your league | Yes. Dynasty rankings, trade calculator, StreamMachine and player values read your rosters and settings | Partly | FanRanked |
| Sample leagues to explore without signing up | Yes · Free. Seven sample leagues, each frozen on one day of the season: dynasty, keeper, redraft, season points, weekly head-to-head, and a salary-cap league in season and in the offseason | No | FanRanked |
| Public leagues to join right now | Partly · Free. A marketplace of open seats, but far fewer leagues than the big hosts | Yes | Fantrax |
| Postseason formats | Yes · Free. Long Ball, One and Done, October Box Pool and Playoff Draft | No | FanRanked |
A salary cap, yes: blocked, luxury tax or shown only, with a floor and a drop penalty for kept players. Not multi-year contracts: a kept player's salary rises each season he stays, by a yearly raise and a finish raise.
Yes, in one click from the league link, with past seasons. A member runs a small helper script once to bring over the members-only data.
A store app with live scoring pushed to your phone, a bigger pool of public dynasty leagues, and a few settings FanRanked has not built yet, such as multi-year contracts. One player on more than one team is on both: FanRanked calls it Copies of Each Player, up to four teams, and it does not work with a salary cap, keeper costs or an auction.
Both have a free tier. Fantrax charges $129.95 per league for Premium, which holds settings such as 64-team leagues, custom scoring periods, formula categories and multi-team managers. FanRanked has those in every full-season league, free to host and free to play, with no paid tier for the league.