The short version: The mock draft simulator space is more crowded — and more expensive — than it has ever been. Some tools are free. Others lock the single feature that makes mock drafting fun — trades — behind a $10 to $25 per month subscription. We build On The Clock, so we have a side in this, but we've kept every feature and price below straight and let the facts speak. Bottom line up front: in 2026 you do not need to pay $25/month to run a great NFL mock draft — the best free and low-cost tools, On The Clock among them, now match or beat the premium suites on the features most people actually use.
The 60-Second Pricing Table
Of the eight major NFL mock draft simulators in 2026, only two charge for a meaningful simulator (PFF and StickToTheModel gate core use); the cheapest paid tier of any tool is On The Clock's Ultimate GM at $19.95/year — roughly one-sixth of PFF's $119.99/year.
| Simulator | Free to start? | Signup required? | Cost for full features | Pick trades | Player-for-pick trades |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On The Clock (Fanspeak) | Yes — unlimited, all day | No | Ultimate GM: $19.95/yr | Yes — live acceptance odds | Yes |
| Pro Football Network | Yes | No | Free | Yes (multi-directional) | No (picks only) |
| PFF | Limited | Yes | PFF+: $24.99/mo or $119.99/yr | Yes | Yes |
| StickToTheModel | 1 draft/day | No | Paid beyond 1/day | Yes | Yes |
| The Draft Network | Yes (basic) | Yes | TDN Premium: ~$9.99/mo or $29.99/yr | Premium only | No |
| A to Z Sports | Yes | No | Free | Yes | No |
| Underdog | Yes | Sign-in to save | Free | Yes | No |
| ESPN | Yes | No | Free | Limited | No |
Prices reflect publicly listed rates at time of writing and shift during draft season; check each site for current pricing. Last verified June 2026.
What You're Actually Paying For
Every mock draft simulator does the same core thing: you pick for your team, the CPU drafts for the other 31, and you watch the board fall. Four differences justify — or fail to justify — a price tag:
- Trades — Can you move up and down, and does the CPU evaluate offers realistically? This is the feature people want most, and the one most often paywalled.
- Custom data — Can you build and save your own big board and team needs, or are you stuck with someone else's rankings?
- Depth — Multi-team drafting, multiple draft years, scouting detail, per-pick draft grades.
- Friction — Signup walls, ads, paywalls on saving your work, and caps on how many mocks you can run.
A $24.99/mo tool that gates trades is not automatically better than a free tool that includes them — and a tool that's "free" for exactly one draft a day is not the same as one that's free all day, every day.
The Reviews
1. On The Clock by Fanspeak — Best Overall Value
The original "be the GM" mock draft simulator, rebuilt into the most complete free-to-start experience available in 2026. You click a team logo and you're drafting — no signup, no email wall, and unlimited mocks, all day, with no daily cap. Run one or run twenty, then scale up as far as you want to take it.
What stands out:
- The best trade interface online. Propose a deal and a live acceptance-probability meter updates in real time as you build the package. The CPU evaluates offers using the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart — the same framework NFL front offices reference — weighing pick value, the other team's remaining capital, and which prospects they could still land. One-for-one swaps are deterministic; multi-pick packages run on a realistic probability curve, so you can't fleece the CPU with junk, but a fair overpay moves you up the board.
- Player-for-pick trades. Package a veteran with a pick to move up, exactly like real draft weekend. Few simulators allow this.
- 28 official big boards, fully customizable. Use any official board or build and save your own; your board drives both the available-players order and how your picks are scored.
- Compare against 1.2 million completed mock drafts. Our Compare page measures your draft against the entire On The Clock community — over 1.2 million real user mock drafts, a crowd dataset no single analyst can match.
- Multi-year. Run the 2026 and 2027 classes, or redraft past years to grade what teams actually did.
- 1 to 7 rounds, quick scenarios or the full developmental-pick deep dive.
- Multi-team drafting and Force Trade for users who want to run the whole league or pull offers on the clock.
The cost: The core simulator — pick a team, run a full mock, use any official big board — is free with no daily limit. Ultimate GM ($19.95/yr) adds multi-team drafting, custom big boards, advanced trade tools, and an ad-free experience. One subscription, one price, no per-feature nickel-and-diming.
Best for: Everyone from the casual fan running a quick first-round mock to the diehard rebuilding a roster with player trades and a custom board. The free tier alone outdoes most paid competitors.
2. Pro Football Network — Best Free Multiplayer
The go-to for drafting live with a group, and it costs nothing. PFN's simulator is completely free with no signup; its calling card is scale — up to 32 users drafting simultaneously in public or private password-protected lobbies. Trades move in every direction (user-to-sim, sim-to-user, sim-to-sim), you can redraft classes back to 2020, and scouting reports are included free.
Worth knowing: Trades are pick-for-pick only (no player trades), and there are no per-pick draft grades.
The cost: Free.
Best for: Draft parties, league nights, and large-group live drafts without paying.
3. PFF — Most Expensive, Most Paywalled
Deep data and a feature-rich 2026 simulator — behind the steepest subscription in the category. PFF's 2026 simulator added player and pick trades, multiplayer draft rooms, a custom big-board builder, live ADP leaderboards, and a choice of PFF's internal grades, public consensus, or a blended board. The data underneath is genuinely strong.
The catch: Almost all of it lives behind PFF+ at $24.99/mo or $119.99/yr — the highest price in this roundup by a wide margin, and the simulator is one feature inside a broader fantasy/betting subscription. A nice bonus if you already subscribe; hard to justify as a standalone mock tool when free options now match its simulator features.
The cost: $24.99/mo or $119.99/yr (PFF+).
Best for: Existing PFF+ subscribers.
4. StickToTheModel — Capable, but One Free Draft a Day
A genuinely deep simulator that has grown fast — just don't mistake it for free. Credit where due: player-and-pick trades, a custom data editor with cloud save, a five-year draft archive (2023–2027), per-pick and per-team grades, community consensus data, real-time and async multiplayer, scouting reports, and an analytics dashboard. On features, it's one of the most complete tools here.
The catch most roundups miss: StickToTheModel's free tier is capped at one draft per day. Run your daily mock and you're done until tomorrow unless you pay for unlimited access — a real difference from On The Clock, where you can run as many mocks as you want, all day, for nothing.
Also worth knowing: STM markets itself as the only simulator with player trades. That hasn't been true for a while — On The Clock and PFF both support player-for-pick deals. Its published comparisons also tend to leave established competitors off the list, so treat any "only we do this" framing with a grain of salt and try the tools yourself.
The cost: Free for one draft a day; a paid plan unlocks unlimited mocks.
Best for: Players who want a custom board editor and multiplayer, run one mock a day, and don't mind paying once they want more.
5. The Draft Network — Best Scouting Reports, but Trades Cost Extra
Excellent prospect analysis; the fun part is paywalled. TDN's scouting library is among the best in the business — a 6,000+ prospect database with multiple full-length reports on the top several hundred players, plus a Build Your Own Big Board tool. The Mock Draft Machine is usable on a free account, and you can control anywhere from one to all 32 teams.
The catch: Trades — and saving your mocks and big boards — require TDN Premium (historically ~$9.99/mo or $29.99/yr). So a "free" mock here means no trading and no saving.
The cost: Free account for basic mocks; ~$9.99/mo or $29.99/yr for trades and saving.
Best for: Prospect researchers who value deep scouting alongside a mock and will pay to trade.
6–8. A to Z Sports, Underdog, and ESPN — Free and Light
These three are free, fast, and feature-light — fine for a quick mock, thin if you want depth.
- A to Z Sports (free, no signup) — Clean UI, a smart availability-probability readout (the odds a player is still there at your pick), AI pick suggestions, mid-draft speed controls, and unlimited undo. Pick-only, no scouting reports, no draft grades, single-player, 2026 only.
- Underdog (free; sign-in to save) — A scoring-and-leaderboard spin on mock drafting, plus a shareable Round 1 heatmap and stock-up/stock-down trends. Pick-only, no scouting, single-player, 2026 only.
- ESPN (free, no signup) — Simple, brand-name, with post-draft grades and a Draft Day Predictor. No scouting reports, no rich trade engine. Good for total casuals.
Best for: Quick one-off mocks when you don't need a trade engine, custom boards, or scouting.
So What's Actually Worth Paying For?
The honest framing, even from the team that sells a Premium tier:
- Never pay for trades alone. On The Clock, Pro Football Network, and A to Z Sports all include trading free and unlimited; StickToTheModel includes it too, but only inside your one free mock a day. Paying TDN purely to unlock trades, or paying PFF $25/mo for a feature you can get free elsewhere, is hard to defend.
- Pay for depth you'll actually use. Multi-team drafting, custom savable big boards, advanced trade controls, and an ad-free run are worth a subscription — and at $19.95/yr, On The Clock's Ultimate GM bundles all of them for less than a single month of PFF+.
- Pay for data if data is your thing. TDN's scouting library and PFF's grades are legitimately premium content. If you live in the reports, those subscriptions make sense — for the content, not the simulator.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best free NFL mock draft simulator in 2026?
On The Clock's free tier is the most complete starting point — unlimited mocks all day, live trades, 28 official big boards, draft grades, and a Compare page measured against over 1.2 million completed mock drafts, all with no signup. Pro Football Network is also a strong fully-free option. StickToTheModel is capable, but its free tier is limited to one draft per day.
Which mock draft simulators charge money?
PFF is the priciest at $24.99/mo or $119.99/yr. The Draft Network gates trades and saving behind a premium tier (historically ~$9.99/mo or $29.99/yr). StickToTheModel is free for only one draft a day and charges for unlimited. On The Clock's Ultimate GM tier ($19.95/yr) adds multi-team drafting, custom boards, advanced trade tools, and ad-free. Pro Football Network, A to Z Sports, Underdog, and ESPN are free.
Which simulators let you trade players, not just picks?
On The Clock, StickToTheModel, and PFF support player-for-pick trades. The others — The Draft Network, Pro Football Network, A to Z Sports, Underdog, ESPN — are pick-for-pick only.
Do I have to create an account to mock draft?
Not with On The Clock, Pro Football Network, A to Z Sports, or ESPN. The Draft Network, PFF, and Underdog require an account for full functionality or to save.
Can I build my own big board?
On The Clock (Ultimate GM), StickToTheModel, PFF (PFF+), and The Draft Network all offer custom big boards. On The Clock also lets you save multiple named boards.
The Bottom Line
The market has never given fans more options — or more reasons to read the price tag carefully. Free tools have closed the gap on the paid suites, and the single most-wanted feature, trades, is now free almost everywhere worth playing. Just watch the fine print: "free" sometimes means "free once a day."
Our recommendations:
- Best overall value: On The Clock — free to start, unlimited all day, with the deepest paid tier at the lowest serious price ($19.95/yr).
- Best fully-free experience: On The Clock's free tier or Pro Football Network.
- Best for large live group drafts: Pro Football Network.
- Best scouting content (if you'll pay for it): The Draft Network.
- Skip the $25/mo unless you're buying PFF+ for everything else it does.
Run a few. The right one is the one that gets out of your way and lets you draft.
