FPL alternatives for 2026/27: what each one does that the official game does not
Updated · Gaffer
The official Fantasy Premier League game is free, enormous and the same for everyone, which is exactly why groups look for an alternative: a draft where each player belongs to one manager, scoring rules of your own, or a prize pool that collects itself and pays the winner without anyone chasing the money. Here are the alternatives for 2026/27 and what each one adds.
What the official game does not do
- No prize pool. A private mini league in the official game plays for the table only. Anything your group plays for is collected and paid by one of you, by hand.
- No scoring of your own. Every league scores the same way. The classic rules are excellent, but a group that wants five-a-side, no bench or bonus-free scoring cannot have it.
- One squad for every league. Your team is the same in all your mini leagues; you cannot run a second, different squad for the work league.
The alternatives, compared
| Game | Format | Private league with friends | Entry fee and payout built in | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official FPL | Classic: 15 players, £100m, captain, chips | Yes, any size | No | Free |
| FPL Draft (official) | Draft: each player in one squad, no captains, classic or head-to-head table | Yes, 2 to 16 managers | No | Free |
| Fantrax | Draft with commissioner-set scoring | Yes | None described | Free app with in-app purchases |
| Sleeper | Draft with commissioner control of scoring, waivers and trades | Yes | SleeperSafe: dues collected into a wallet inside Sleeper, payouts proposed from the standings; United States first | Free app |
| Draft Fantasy | Snake draft or live auction; each player to one manager | Yes | None described | Free to play, per its listings |
| Gaffer | Classic one-to-one with the official game, plus no chips, no bench, five-a-side, draft, biggest losers and custom rules; Champions League too | Yes, one link to the group | Yes: paid at the moment of joining into the league's own vault, nobody holds it, paid out automatically by the final table; 5% service fee on each entry | Free; the fee only on paid entries |
Facts in the table are what each product says about itself at the time of writing; formats and prices change between seasons, so check the game before you set up a league.
Which one, for which group
- The same game, with a prize pool that runs itself: Gaffer. The classic rules are one-to-one with the official game, so nobody learns anything new; the entry fee and the payout are part of the league, so nobody is the banker. The paid mini league guide walks through it.
- A free draft, nothing else: FPL Draft, the official one. Same login as the main game, leagues of 2 to 16, no captains.
- A draft with an auction or deep custom scoring: Draft Fantasy for the auction, Fantrax for scoring that rewards things like crosses and aerial duels. Both are draft games for a group, not the classic format.
- A US group that wants dues collected in the app: Sleeper, where SleeperSafe keeps the dues in a wallet inside Sleeper and proposes payouts from the standings. Outside the United States, check what is available to you.
- A format the official game does not have: Gaffer's five-a-side, no-bench, biggest-losers and custom-rules formats, free or with an entry fee, and the Champions League game on the same account.
Questions people ask
Is there an FPL alternative with a prize pool built in?
Yes. On Gaffer the entry fee is paid at the moment of joining into the league's own vault, nobody holds it, and the winners are paid automatically by the final table, with the classic rules one-to-one with the official game. Sleeper collects dues into a wallet inside Sleeper for its draft leagues, United States first.
Which FPL alternatives are free?
The official game and FPL Draft are free. Fantrax and Sleeper are free apps (Fantrax sells in-app purchases). Draft Fantasy lists itself as free to play. Gaffer is free; a 5% service fee applies only to paid entries and is shown before anyone pays.
Can I play an alternative and the official game at the same time?
Yes. Gaffer leagues are their own game with their own squads, so your official FPL team is untouched; the same is true of the draft games. Most groups keep the official mini league for the table and run the paid or draft league alongside it.
What is the difference between FPL Draft and Draft Fantasy?
FPL Draft is the Premier League's own free draft game, with leagues of 2 to 16 and no captains. Draft Fantasy is a separate game built for leagues of friends, with a snake draft or a live auction. They are not the same product.
Related
The game you know, the prize pool that runs itself.
Create a league