In short: MaxPreps is the most comprehensive national source for high school scores, stats, and rankings — including its own live scoring — but the best tool can depend on your goal. Here’s a quick guide, and where MaxPreps fits.
| If you want… | Best option |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive national scores, stats, rankings, and athlete profiles | MaxPreps — broadest coverage, and the official stats/scores partner of many state associations |
| Real-time play-by-play for football and basketball | MaxPreps live scoring (Play-by-Play) |
| Live in-game scoring for baseball/softball (and some others) | GameChanger |
| Fan-submitted updates as a backup when a game isn’t already covered | ScoreStream (MaxPreps also takes fan-reported and in-game scores directly) |
| Official postseason brackets and results | Your state athletic association’s website — in many states, the standings, RPI, and brackets are powered by MaxPreps through an official partnership |
| Deep local coverage of smaller schools | Local newspapers and TV sports sites |
A note on live scores
MaxPreps isn’t just an after-the-fact scoreboard — it offers its own live scoring. Signed-up scorers provide real-time Play-by-Play for football and basketball, and anyone can post an in-game or final score for any sport. Because MaxPreps also pulls results from coaches, its own apps, Official Team Reporters, automated score discovery, and stat partners, its live and final coverage is broad — especially in football and basketball, where play-by-play runs. In the 2025-26 season, MaxPreps recorded final scores for roughly 1.6 million varsity games. For most games, MaxPreps is the most complete source even for live scores, not just the record afterward.
How to combine them
For most fans, the strongest setup is MaxPreps for breadth and live scoring paired with your state association for official postseason results, and a sport-specific app where it helps.
Last updated: July 2026.