PrizePicks vs. Underdog Fantasy | Which DFS App Should I Use?

When faced with two titans of the fantasy industry, two titans that many people love and tout every single day, it is natural to wonder which is the better option for you. After all, you want the most out of your fantasy sports experience — the most fun, the most money, what have you. One of the biggest rivalries in this arena is PrizePicks vs. Underdog Fantasy, two DFS sites/apps that have taken the country by storm almost simultaneously. But one of them has to be better, right? Well, let’s find out with a little PrizePicks vs. Underdog app review.

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PrizePicks vs. Underdog Fantasy: Which DFS App Is Better?

PrizePicks and Underdog are two of the biggest players in the fantasy sports space, and in many ways they are quite similar. They offer many of the same contests, sports and payouts, and their projections are typically right in line with each other. However, there are distinct elements of each that make PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy different experiences, sometimes drastically so. So which one should you use?

Here we will review both apps over a number of categories to determine which is actually better: PrizePicks or Underdog.

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PrizePicks vs. Underdog: Contests & Sports

Both of these operators offer similar, if not completely identical, DFS pick’em contests where you select a player and whether they will go for more or less than a statistical projection like points, yards, etc. Where Underdog separates itself, however, is by having another pick’em contest called Rivals, which are picks on players head-to-head. PrizePicks offers nothing like this.

Additionally, Underdog has its Best Ball contests and other weekly/daily drafts for a variety of sports, whereas PrizePicks is all pick’em. Now, PrizePicks does have a peer-to-peer contest called Pick ‘Em Arena where you can compete with others, but even that is a pick’em contest. PrizePicks keeps it simple. In terms of sheer options, Underdog is the clear winner here.

Sports-wise, these are the different options for which each operator has picks available:

Based on the clearly longer list of sports offerings, not to mention some of the subcategories within each, PrizePicks provides the more expansive sports choices for pick’em contests.

PrizePicks vs. Underdog: App Functionality

This is where we start to get into a degree of subjectivity. That said, in terms of responsiveness and navigability, both apps pass with flying colors. Considering the number of options and features it needs to showcase, Underdog keeps everything pretty neat and easy to flip between. PrizePicks has fewer things to sort through, but everything is neatly contained in a sharp and intuitive space. Picks screens are simple and elegant, and everything on both apps is cleanly separated by tabs to help you move around easily.

Where PrizePicks gets a slight edge, however, is in the design of pick’em player cards. Underdog opted to place all of a player’s stats in one card, which takes up a lot of space, and thus you can only see one player at a time if you’re browsing. That means a lot of scrolling unless you know exactly what you want to search for. PrizePicks keeps things smaller and more efficient.

Again, the larger size and more options in one spot could be your style, but we found it to be a bit more cumbersome. PrizePicks gets a slight nod here.

PrizePicks vs. Underdog: Payout Multipliers

PrizePicks and Underdog both have two types of entries in their pick’em games: One that’s all or nothing, one that allows you to miss a pick or two and still win some cash. PrizePicks calls these Power Plays and Flex Plays, respectively, and Underdog goes with Standard and Insured. Here are payout multipliers for all of your entry options on both sites:

All or Nothing Entries

You’ll notice that Underdog has a higher maximum for picks (five instead of four) and also 6x for three correct picks compared to 5x for PrizePicks.

Flex/Insured Entries

On these entries, Underdog offers a higher maximum number of picks and also allows you to miss two on your five-pick entries and still get some return. PrizePicks also allows two misses across bigger entry sizes, but the maximum is six picks. Also, again Underdog has the higher payout on perfect four-pick entries, one-wrong five-pick entries and one-wrong six-pick entries, but PrizePicks has the higher payouts for two-wrong five- and six-pick entries.

Overall, Underdog is better for the user if going all or nothing and has more picks available now that they have launched Pick8. The payouts are slightly higher in most spots where these two operators differ, as well.

PrizePicks vs. Underdog: Promos and Rewards

Underdog Fantasy has a great ongoing promotion:

• Underdog: Get your first deposit bonus to $1,000

Both sites also offer regular discounted picks on sale — Underdog has them more often (as in every day), but typically for new users. Discounts for existing users are less common. PrizePicks, on the other hand, has fun branding on its discounts (Taco Tuesday, Flex Friday), offers them for all customers and also allows users to vote on who gets discounted. In terms of overall user experience for their promotions, PrizePicks is the winner for promotions.

PrizePicks vs. Underdog: Active States

These are the states that offer pick’em contests for one or both of PrizePicks and Underdog:

PrizePicks also offers a peer-to-peer contest called Pick ‘Em Arena that is available in Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming. New York, Colorado and Michigan have free-to-play contests only.

All told, there is only one PrizePicks state that is not also available for Underdog users as well: Kansas. Underdog, meanwhile, has standard pick’em contests in Wyoming, Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, Wyoming and (for the time being) New York. PrizePicks took New York off its list of states for paid contests, whereas Underdog seems to be waiting for more explicit orders in that regard.

Underdog gets the edge for the number of legal states, but PrizePicks has more users and some of the states where regular pick’em is not offered, PrizePicks has another paid contest in Pick ‘Em Arena. In terms of total availability, this is about even, but Underdog is slightly ahead.

Is PrizePicks or Underdog Better?

If we’re scoring each category like a fight, here’s how we’ll judge PrizePicks vs. Underdog:

• Contests and Sports: Underdog 10, PrizePicks 9
• App Functionality: PrizePicks 10, Underdog 9
• Payout Multipliers: Underdog 10, PrizePicks 9
• Promos and Rewards: PrizePicks 10, Underdog 9
• State Availability: Underdog 10, PrizePicks 9

So after five rounds, the final score is Underdog Fantasy 48, PrizePicks 47. In other words, this is a tight heat, but Underdog edges it out slightly.

We will see there are absolutely things we prefer about PrizePicks such as its app design and weekly promotions, and we like Underdog more in other ways like its Best Ball product. From a purely pick’em app standpoint, PrizePicks is probably the best in the business — therefore, there’s no shame in Underdog being second in that regard. However, Underdog’s other fantasy offerings even the playing field and make it the more complete fantasy operator.

Try them both out, see which better suits your style, and then get back to us with your thoughts on PrizePicks vs. Underdog.