It's hard to remember the era when fantasy sports were just a small niche hobby for random groups of friends around the country. Fantasy sports have come a long way over the years — football broadcasts even include fantasy stats now — and a huge reason for the growth has been the rise in fantasy sports technology. In the last 20 years, tons of websites (and eventually apps) have popped up, making fantasy football, baseball, basketball, and more easy to access and hard to avoid. 

Fantasy sports are a way to connect with the game. But more than that, they're a way to connect with friends — and possibly earn serious money. In this article, we’re going to share our expert picks for the best websites for learning, playing, and running your fantasy league. Now, strap on your helmets. We’re going sports mode.

The Best Sites for Daily Online Fantasy

FanDuel

If you’re a sports lover and a fantasy fanatic, you know how addicting it can be to check in on your teams and players. So much so, that maybe it’s driving a wedge between you and your loved ones. Well, OK, maybe not a wedge. But playing fantasy sports is fun and exciting and if you want to play daily (instead of waiting out an entire season), you should hit up FanDuel. This company was founded in 2009, and currently has six million registered users betting on their favorite sports, teams, and players. 

FanDuel also has contests exclusively for beginners, since you really don't have to be an expert at football, basketball, baseball, soccer, or any other sport to play. This site is set up to help you learn about your sport along the way. Seasoned fantasy players can play against friends or other FanDuel users, as well as bet on races and fights. Users play for real money in leagues starting at a $1 commitment. 

DraftKings

Play 15 different fantasy sports all over the world with DraftKings. On this site, you can enter new contests every day — draft a new lineup whenever you want, pick from your favorite players each week (or least favorite players who you reluctantly admit are going to have huge performances), and play against friends or other DraftKings users. 

If none of the 15 fantasy sports is for you, check out the DraftKings Casino, where there are more than 300 games that you can play 24/7. You can also bet on sports at DraftKings for more traditional sports gambling. Users play for real money in leagues starting at a $5 commitment.

FantasyLabs

FantasyLabs isn’t a site where you play daily fantasy sports, but it is one that will help aid your game. FantasyLabs provides daily analytics and trends of the sports you’re playing so you don’t have to. For $15 per month, you have access to their massive database that offers daily slate breakdowns, strategy podcasts, and fantasy tutorials. 

The Best Sites for Fantasy Research and Info

Elite Fantasy

Playing fantasy sports is more than just auto-setting your lineup weekly and hoping for the best. Well, it can be just that. But if you’re in a competitive league, or there’s a lot at stake (like money, glory, fame, or an embarrassing tattoo for the last place finisher), then you need to do your research before blindly picking the players on your teams. EliteFantasy gives you the chance to learn about sports strategy and player rankings, and gives you tips on your potential picks. EliteFantasy has articles, cheat sheets, optimizers, live streams, podcasts, and chats available to members. Subscriptions start at $49.

Daily Fantasy Nerd

Nerdy is cool. Especially when it comes to fantasy sports where obscure details and over-analyzed stats can make or break your week. Daily Fantasy Nerd is a way to analyze these stats, identify top teams and players, and manage projections of your fantasy teams. Daily Fantasy Nerd isn’t a place to play, it’s a place to learn. It’s a place to win. This site works in conjunction with sites like DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Sports, meaning you can import your team info into Daily Fantasy Nerd automatically. At Daily Fantasy Nerd, you can download your fantasy history and upload your results into the site’s bankroll tracker to learn where you're performing best. Get started for free and elevate your win rate.

StatShark

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could predict the future? Stop a fight with the missus before it happens? Exit the freeway early so you don’t get in that fender bender? Choose the right tight end to win your fantasy matchup? OK, StatShark can’t help with the first couple of things, but this site is great when it comes to crunching numbers and predicting the stats of the players on your fantasy team. StatShark is a top-tier sports analytics site that can instantaneously calculate performance probabilities between players. Sign up for a StatShark free trial to see if this site helps win you the champion trophy before the year’s end. 

RotoGrinders

RotoGrinders is more than a fantasy research website, it’s a community. This web-based fantasy sports site is chock-full of blogs, discussions, stats, and rankings, and provides lineup optimizers that can be directly imported into your DraftKings or FanDuel accounts. RotoGrinders allows you to customize lineups for 14 different sports. Join RotoGrinders Pro, with subscriptions starting at $50, and get access to player projections, projected ownership percentages, and premium articles and videos that can help you win your tournament.

BeerLife Sports

Don’t let fantasy sports become a chore. If you are playing fantasy sports, and you aren’t using BeerLife, we can see how it could be a tedious thing to keep up with. BeerLife Sports is all about sharing the wealth of information that’s been carefully curated to give you the best tips to winning the most points or even earning the most on a sports bet. With cheat sheets, betting news, and handicappers, you have the ability to change your luck. Or at the very least, your fantasy sports strategy.

The Best Sites for Running Your Fantasy League

Fantrax

If you’ve been playing fantasy sports for a while now, it may be time to take the commissioner reins into your own hands. And you can do that with Fantrax. This fantasy sports site offers the most customizable league management service out there (yes, more than the big names like ESPN) with lots of nuances and settings you won't get with other sites. Fantrax also has quick and thorough customer email support for commissioner emergencies.

Yahoo Sports

Yahoo is more than a search engine. It’s a fantasy hub where you can be in charge of your own league, not just your own team. In fact, today, it might even be more popular as a place to run fantasy leagues than run web searches. Yahoo Sports lets you manage your team with live scoring as stats come in in real time.This site offers expert advice so you can play the right guys at the right time. Yahoo Sports allows you to run your own football league and more. 

Fantasizr

Calling all Bachelor Stans, because this fantasy site isn’t just for sports. Fantasizr is a one-stop-shop that allows you to build a fantasy league for anything. And we mean anything. Got a bet running to see which coworker uses the restroom the most per day? You can create a league for that. Love the Bachelor or Bachelorette? Make a league for it. Want to wager who gets the drunkest during familial holiday events? Go to Fantasizr. You can get a free plan with Fantasizr, or join the membership program for email support, sales leaderboards, and API integration.