FanDuel vs DraftKings: Which DFS Site Is Better?

If you are weighing FanDuel vs DraftKings, you are really asking two questions at once. The first is which site is more fun to play on. The second, the one that actually moves your bankroll, is which site rewards the way you already think about daily fantasy. I have played high volume on both for years, and I started Awesemo.com (now Stokastic.com) because I wanted the math behind that decision to be public instead of folklore. The short version: these are the two biggest DFS operators in the country, they are more alike than the marketing suggests, and the differences that matter are in the scoring and the contest structure, not the logos.

This guide walks through how the two sites differ on contests, scoring across NFL, NBA, and MLB, the apps, payouts, and which one fits a beginner versus a grinder. Wherever it matters, I will show how I let the tools do the heavy lifting instead of guessing. If you want the full foundation first, start with our DFS strategy guide.

In Summary: FanDuel vs DraftKings at a Glance

• DraftKings leans into serious volume play. Full PPR with yardage bonuses in football, double-double and triple-double bonuses in basketball, two pitchers and granular scoring in baseball. It is the data-rich site for grinders who fire a lot of lineups.
• FanDuel is cleaner and more beginner-friendly. Half PPR and touchdown-leaning football, no statistical bonuses, one pitcher and power-hitting rewarded in baseball, plus casual game formats like Quick Pick and snake-style drafts.
• The scoring gap changes which players you target. A bonus-heavy site rewards yardage and stat-stuffing on top of the box score; a no-bonus site flattens those edges and leans more on the players who actually find the end zone or leave the yard.
• The smart move for most serious players is to play both, because the optimal build is different on each. I run the same slate through Stokastic Sims twice with each site's settings and let the simulations tell me where the edge is.
• There is no single "better" site. There is the site that fits your style, and the build that fits the site.

DraftKings vs FanDuel Contests: Formats and Variety

Both sites run the formats you would expect: salary-cap classic, single-game showdown, and large-field guaranteed prize pool tournaments. Where they diverge is in the flavors around the edges.

DraftKings adds Tiers contests with no salary cap, two-pitcher MLB lineups, and some of the largest Best Ball tournaments in the industry. That structure rewards players who want volume and granular roster control.

FanDuel layers in more casual, game-like formats: Quick Pick games, Beat-the-Score, snake-style drafts, and survivor-style eliminations. If variety and a lower barrier to entry matter to you, FanDuel makes it easy to dabble without committing to a 150-max grind.

If your goal is max plus-EV across a slate, both deliver enough volume. DraftKings simply gives you more knobs to turn, while FanDuel gives you more ways in.

DraftKings vs FanDuel Scoring (NFL, NBA, MLB)

This is the section that should drive your decision, because scoring changes which players are actually optimal. Here is how the two sites differ in the big three.

NFL.

• DraftKings: full PPR, plus 3-point bonuses for 100-plus rushing or receiving yards and 300-plus passing yards. Yardage and high-volume usage are rewarded on top of the box score, so a pass-catcher who flirts with 100 yards gets an extra bump here.
• FanDuel: half PPR, no yardage bonuses. With reception value cut in half and no bonus on top, touchdowns carry relatively more of the scoring weight, which tilts you toward players with real end-zone equity rather than volume-only profiles. That is a tilt in player value, not a lower-variance promise; touchdowns are volatile, so it can cut both ways.

NBA.

• DraftKings: bonuses for double-doubles and triple-doubles, plus a slightly higher value on made threes (3.5 versus FanDuel's 3). Stat-stuffing bigs and triple-double threats get an extra bump that does not exist on FanDuel.
• FanDuel: no double-double or triple-double bonuses, and turnovers cost more (negative 1 versus DraftKings' negative 0.5). Steals and blocks are scored the same on both sites (2 each), so the real FanDuel tilt is away from bonus-chasing bigs and toward clean, low-turnover producers.

MLB.

• DraftKings: two pitchers, granular scoring, and negative points for hits and walks allowed. Pitcher selection and downside both matter.
• FanDuel: one pitcher, power hitting rewarded heavily (12 points for a home run), and no penalties for hits or walks allowed. The bar to roster an ace is lower, and bats with pop play up.

The practical takeaway: do not copy a DraftKings lineup onto FanDuel. The bonuses and the negative scoring on DraftKings pull your build toward a different set of players than FanDuel's home-run-friendly, no-penalty structure does. I do not eyeball this. I let the projections and the simulations re-weight every player for each site's exact scoring, which is exactly what tools are for.

How To Build a Site-Specific Lineup: A Worked Example

Here is the part the old "which app is prettier" comparisons skip: the winning move is matching your build to the site's scoring, and that is hard to do by hand.

Take a typical MLB main slate. On DraftKings, the two-pitcher requirement and the penalties for hits and walks allowed mean I want arms with strikeout upside and a low walk rate, and I want hitting stacks that are correlated in the batting order (more on why in our DFS stacking strategy guide). On FanDuel, with one pitcher and a 12-point home-run reward, the math tilts harder toward power bats and the single best-priced ace.

Instead of guessing how those rules reshape the optimal lineup, I run the slate through Stokastic Sims with each site's settings. The Sims build the whole player pool, simulate the contest tens of thousands of times, and the tool surfaces the lineups with the best win probability for that exact scoring system. Correlation is baked in, so the stack tool keeps my hitters near each other in the order rather than scattered. The Top Stacks Tool tells me which teams the field is likely to pile into, and the Ownership Projections show me where I can get leverage by fading over-owned chalk. In a large-field tournament your score only matters relative to the field, so finding the lower-owned upside play is often worth more than the highest projection.

As a concrete example of why this matters: a player like Aaron Judge is valued very differently across the two sites. On FanDuel, his home-run equity is worth a 12-point spike with no penalty risk attached to the pitcher you pair him against. On DraftKings, the same profile is strong but the two-pitcher slot and the hits-allowed penalties change which arms you can afford around him. Same player, two different correct lineups. The Lineup Generator lets me build bulk lineups with exposure controls for each site so I am not hand-typing 40 variations.

Building on both sites this season? Stokastic+ does the site-specific math for you. Stokastic Sims simulate each contest tens of thousands of times and surface the highest win-probability lineups for DraftKings AND FanDuel scoring, with correlation, ownership, and leverage built in. New users get 10% off their first Stokastic+ payment with code STOK10. Start with Stokastic+, or try the DFS Sims for free first.

DraftKings vs FanDuel App and User Experience

Both apps are top-tier, and the difference comes down to who you are.

• DraftKings: a more data-rich interface, faster live scoring, and strong multi-lineup management. If you are firing a lot of entries and want to track them in flight, it is built for you.
• FanDuel: a cleaner, beginner-friendly layout with creative streak challenges and casual games. It gets you in fast without overwhelming you.

DraftKings favors detail-driven players; FanDuel prioritizes speed and simplicity. Neither is wrong. Pick the one that matches how much you want to manage in real time. Whichever you choose, the Live Before Lock workflow and late-swap habits matter more than the interface. Updating for a ruled-out player or a batting-order change is the highest-value thing you can do once lineups lock.

FanDuel vs DraftKings Payouts and Prize Pools

Both sites pay roughly the top 20% of the field in large GPPs, so the basic risk profile is similar. The differences are at the extremes.

FanDuel occasionally offers flatter payout structures and unique contests with smaller fields, which can be friendlier to a player who wants a softer field. DraftKings has historically run some of the largest season-long championships in the space, with milestone live-final tournaments that pay out into the millions across the field; FanDuel runs its own headline championships as well. The exact top prizes change every season, so check each site's current contest lobby for the live numbers before you commit. The structural point is what matters for how you build: DraftKings tends to skew top-heavy on its flagship events, FanDuel more often offers a flatter or smaller-field option.

Flatter payouts reward consistency and a higher floor; top-heavy payouts reward ceiling and correlation. That maps directly onto how you should build. For a flatter structure I lean on a higher-floor build; for a top-heavy one I lean into stacking and leverage to chase the spots that pay. The Sims let me toggle between those two mindsets by changing the contest I am optimizing for.

Is FanDuel or DraftKings Better for Beginners?

If you are new, FanDuel has the gentler on-ramp. It offers quick-pick games, free-to-play contests, and beginner-only lobbies where you are matched against other new players instead of the sharks. The casual formats let you learn the rhythm of a slate without much money at risk.

DraftKings is not hard to start on, but its depth is aimed at players who want to grow into volume. The achievements and rewards structure gives you a reason to stick around as you level up.

My honest advice for a beginner: start where the field is softest and the formats are simplest, get reps, and lean on free tools while you learn. The free DFS Sims and free Projections will teach you why a lineup is good far faster than trial and error will, and the DataHub gives you ownership and matchup context in one place. Process beats results in the short run, and the early goal is to build a good process.

DraftKings vs FanDuel for Tools and Optimizers

Neither site offers a public DFS API, but DraftKings salary and contest data is more widely available to third-party tools, which is why most optimizers and simulators support it first. FanDuel has tighter rate-limiting and less flexibility, so integrations there can lag.

For building lineups, this is largely a non-issue if you use a tool that already supports both sites. Stokastic's Sims, Lineup Generator, Projections, Ownership, and Top Stacks all run for DraftKings and FanDuel scoring, so you are not stuck hand-adjusting for whichever site a given optimizer happens to support. You pick the site, the tool re-weights for its rules, and you build.

Verdict: DraftKings or FanDuel?

There is no universal winner, only the right fit.

• Pick DraftKings if you want depth, volume, bonus-driven scoring, the biggest championships, and granular roster control.
• Pick FanDuel if you want a cleaner experience, touchdown-centric and power-hitting scoring, softer beginner lobbies, and casual formats.
• Want to play both? Smart. Many serious DFS players spread action across both sites, because the optimal build on each is genuinely different. That is where simulating each contest separately pays off, instead of forcing one lineup to fit two scoring systems. It is also why cash games and tournaments need opposite builds on either site.

Whatever you choose, the edge is not the site. It is whether your build is matched to the site's scoring, the field, and the payout structure. That is the work I let the Sims do.

Ready to build smarter on both sites? New to Stokastic? Stokastic Sims simulate each DraftKings and FanDuel contest tens of thousands of times and hand you the highest win-probability lineups, with correlation, ownership, and leverage already factored in. Try the DFS Sims free, and when you are ready, code STOK10 takes 10% off your first Stokastic+ payment: Start with Stokastic+.

FanDuel vs DraftKings FAQ

Is FanDuel or DraftKings better for DFS? Neither is better for everyone. DraftKings rewards ceiling and volume with its bonus scoring and is the deeper site for grinders; FanDuel is cleaner, more beginner-friendly, and its touchdown-centric, no-bonus scoring rewards safer builds. The best site is the one that matches how you play.

Is FanDuel or DraftKings better for beginners? FanDuel generally has the gentler on-ramp, with quick-pick games, free-to-play contests, and beginner-only lobbies that match you against other new players. Lean on free tools like the DFS Sims and Projections while you learn.

How does DraftKings scoring differ from FanDuel scoring? DraftKings uses full PPR with yardage bonuses in football, double-double and triple-double bonuses in basketball, and two pitchers with penalties for hits and walks in baseball. FanDuel uses half PPR with no bonuses, drops the double-double and triple-double bonuses in basketball while penalizing turnovers more heavily, and rewards home runs heavily with one pitcher and no pitching penalties in baseball. Those differences change which players are optimal on each site.

Can I use the same lineup on FanDuel and DraftKings? You can, but you usually should not. The scoring systems reward different players, so the optimal build differs. Running the slate through Stokastic Sims with each site's settings gives you a site-specific lineup instead of forcing one build to fit both.

Do FanDuel and DraftKings pay out the same? Both pay roughly the top 20% of a large GPP field, but the structures differ at the extremes. FanDuel sometimes runs flatter payouts and smaller-field contests, while DraftKings hosts some of the largest top-heavy championships. Flatter payouts reward floor; top-heavy payouts reward ceiling and stacking.