The lowest-cost sports registration software, ranked by what you really pay

Above about 100 registrations a year, the lowest-cost sports registration software is a low flat fee at Stripe's plain card rate. Below that, a free plan wins. That isn't because anyone has a cheaper card rate; no platform here publishes one below Stripe's. A small program's per-payment fees just add up to less than a year's subscription. We sell one of these options, so here's the math, including the places we lose.

The ranking

Each figure is a full year for a program charging $90 a registration: software, card processing and platform fees, whoever pays them. The columns are registrations a year, and the list is ordered by the middle one.

Option	At 50	At 150	At 400
mysports.io	~$250	~$540	~$1,260
Spond	~$200	~$590	~$1,580
Sports Connect (being retired in 2027)	~$260	~$770	~$2,060
Playpass, free plan	~$280	~$840	~$2,240
SquadFusion, from	~$540	~$840	~$1,560
Jersey Watch	~$560	~$970	~$2,010
TeamSideline	~$740	~$1,040	~$1,760
TeamSnap (clubs)	~$820	~$1,260	~$2,370
SportsEngine HQ	~$1,030	~$1,470	~$2,570

For scale: card processing alone, with no software at all, is about $150, $440 and $1,160 at those three sizes. Every row above is that cost plus what the system adds. mysports.io adds $99.99 a year; the first three months cost $1, so a club that tries it and leaves pays $1.

This is every registration system we could price from published figures, not every product on the market. TeamLinkt and LeagueApps aren't ranked because their rates are by quote, and Zeffy isn't because its cost is whatever parents tip. Sports Connect, SquadFusion and TeamSideline don't publish a current card rate, so their figures assume Stripe's. TeamSnap's rate is a third-party estimate.

How to read it

• The card cost is the biggest line. At Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢, it's about $2.91 on every $90 registration. Nobody here undercuts that, so the real contest is what each one adds to it.
• Per-payment fees suit small programs. Flat fees suit bigger ones. Spond's rate is higher than Stripe's, about $1.05 more on a $90 registration. Across 50 registrations that's about $53, less than our $99.99, so Spond wins there. We win at 150. The crossover is about 96 registrations a year.
• Your own fee moves the order. A dollar added per payment hurts most on cheap registrations: on a $25 clinic, $1 is 4% of the fee.

What you give up at the cheap end

• Zeffy charges the organization nothing and says it runs on optional tips from parents at checkout. That moves the cost to parents instead of removing it. They can set the tip to zero, but third-party reviews put the suggested amount around 15%. That would be $13.50 on a $90 registration, or about $2,030 a year at 150 registrations if everyone paid it, so look at the checkout yourself. It's for nonprofits with an EIN, and it sells memberships and event tickets rather than running seasons with eligibility rules.
• A form plus a payment link isn't a registration system, which is why it isn't ranked. It costs only the card fee, but there are no eligibility rules and no roster, and someone matches every payment to a child by hand. If that's a volunteer, that's the cost.
• Spond is a team chat app first, with registration second. Its fee comes off what the club receives unless the club passes it to parents.
• mysports.io does registration and payments. There are no schedules, team chat or app, and you need your own Stripe account, which is also why the rate is Stripe's.

Which one should you pick?

• Under about 100 registrations a year: a free plan costs less, if you can live with its fee landing on the club or the parents. Or try us for three months for $1 and see whether the rules and rosters are worth the difference.
• A nonprofit that sells simple memberships: look at Zeffy, and decide how you feel about the tip prompt.
• 100 registrations or more, and you need grade rules, family accounts and rosters: a low flat fee costs the least. We think that's us, at $99.99 a year.
• A big organization that needs schedules, websites and an app: price stops being the main question. See the full comparison.

Work out your own number

Take your registrations and your average fee. For a flat-fee plan, multiply the registrations by the per-payment cost and add the subscription. On a $120 fee at Stripe's rate, each payment costs $3.78, so 200 registrations cost $756 a year in card fees, plus the software. Our cost guide walks through a full example, and what "free" really costs covers the free plans in more detail.