Updated 22 September 2026
SharkScope alternatives, and what it actually covers
Most people looking for an alternative have discovered the same thing: it does not cover their game. Here is why, and what that leaves.
Short answer. SharkScope’s database holds tournament and sit-and-go results only. It has no cash game data and it never will, because cash results are never published anywhere to collect. If you play cash and wanted opponent research, there is no alternative to look for. If you wanted to know what you are doing wrong, a hand history tracker does that better and costs less.
Where the confusion comes from
SharkScope is a database of results, and it works by gathering results that networks publish. When a tournament finishes, the finishing positions and prizes go up publicly. Collect that across dozens of networks since 2007 and you can look up any player’s lifetime record without them agreeing to it.
Cash games have no equivalent. Nobody publishes who won what at a $1/$2 table, and no amount of software makes that data appear. So the famous thing SharkScope does has a hard boundary, and cash players run into it constantly.
| What you want | Tournaments | Cash games |
|---|---|---|
| Look up a stranger’s results | Yes, this is the product | Impossible, the data does not exist |
| Track your own results | Yes | Yes, through its desktop tool reading your own hands |
| Find your own leaks | Partly | Use a hand history tracker |
The middle row is the bit that makes this confusing. SharkScope does sell a desktop tool that reads cash hands. It works like every other tracker, on files your poker client wrote, about hands you were in. That is a normal tracker feature and has nothing to do with the database people buy the brand for.
If you play tournaments
There is no strong alternative, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. The database is the product and nobody else has built one at that scale.
The gap worth knowing about is GGPoker, which has been blocking SharkScope’s collection. As more tournament volume moves to GG, more of the field becomes invisible. If most of your play is there, you are paying for coverage you increasingly do not get.
If you play cash games
Stop looking for an opponent database. It cannot exist, and any product claiming otherwise is either reading your own hands or doing something your poker room prohibits.
What is available, and what most cash players actually needed, is analysis of your own play. Your poker room writes a file for every hand you play, or lets you export one. Read those and you get your win rate, your leaks, and the spots costing you money.
- Getting your hands out of your room, which works differently on every site
- What the stats mean, one at a time, with the number a winning player shows
- The trackers compared, with prices and one real weakness each
On prices
We have not listed SharkScope’s tiers. Its pricing page does not render without a browser session, and the figures published elsewhere disagree with each other by enough to matter. Rather than repeat a number that might be wrong, check the site.
Frequently asked questions
Does SharkScope track cash games?
Its database does not, and no database could. SharkScope is built from tournament results that poker networks publish. Cash game results are never published, so there is nothing to collect. Its desktop tool does read your own cash hands, like any tracker, but it can tell you nothing about an opponent you have not played yourself.
What is SharkScope actually for?
Looking up tournament and sit-and-go results for any player on a covered network, without their cooperation. Return on investment, in-the-money percentage, average buy-in, total profit, games played. It has been collecting since 2007 across dozens of networks, and for tournament players it has no real equivalent.
What is the best SharkScope alternative?
It depends which half you wanted. For cash games there is no alternative to the database because the database cannot exist; use a hand history tracker on your own play instead. For tournament results on networks SharkScope does not cover well, the choices are thin, and that is the honest answer.
Why does SharkScope not cover GGPoker properly?
GGPoker has been blocking its data collection. Since GG is now one of the largest networks in the world, a results database that cannot see it has a widening gap, and that gap grows as more volume moves there.
Is SharkScope free?
There is a free tier with a small number of searches a day, and paid tiers above it that raise the quota and add features. We are not quoting prices here because its pricing page does not load without a browser session and the figures published elsewhere disagree with each other. Check the site.
Can I use SharkScope as a HUD?
On its paid tiers it offers one, showing tournament statistics for players at your table. It is a different thing from a normal poker HUD, which is built from hands you have played against someone. Whether you may use it depends on your room, and several rooms prohibit displays of any kind.
Is SharkScope worth it for a cash game player?
Usually not, if you were buying it for opponent research. The thing it is famous for does not cover your game. If you want to know what you are doing wrong in cash games, a tracker reading your own hand histories answers that, and the web-based ones cost a fraction as much.
Educational only. No real-money play. 18+. We are not affiliated with SharkScope.