A comparison of Pickleball Session and Court Management Apps

A comparison of Pickleball Session and Court Management Apps

If you are running a Pickleball Club - or a venue that hosts pickleball sessions - you are hopefully already using an app to help you manage the process of booking players into sessions. This article provides an overview of the main features of 4 such apps - Spond, OpenSports, PlayByPoint and CourtReserve - and a comparison of key features & pricing.

Spond

Spond offers a robust set of features specifically tailored for managing sports teams and clubs, including pickleball. It's designed to streamline various administrative tasks from scheduling and communication to payments and file storage. Key features of Spond include:

  1. Event Management: Spond allows you to organize single and repeating events, manage RSVPs, and automatically notify members about available slots through a waiting list system.
  2. Communication: The app provides a centralized messaging tool for group communication, ensuring GDPR-compliant interactions.
  3. Payments: Integration with Stripe allows for secure processing of payments for membership dues, match fees, and more.
  4. Fundraising: Tools for easy setup of fundraising campaigns are available, with Spond handling most of the logistics.
  5. File Storage: Secure cloud storage is provided for important documents, accessible directly from the app.

Importantly, and a key differentiator to the other apps described here, Spond is free to use and offers its main functionalities without a subscription fee, making it an economical option for managing sports teams and clubs at various levels - however any payments run through Spond attract a fee of 5% + AUD 0.50 in Australia, so if you want to get AUD 10 for a 2 hour session from your players, you will need to get them to pay AUD 11, aus Spond is taking 5% (AUD 0.50) + another fixed AUD 0.50 from that payment.

OpenSports

OpenSports is a comprehensive sports management platform that supports the organization of leagues, tournaments, pickup games, classes, and memberships. It's particularly strong in managing multiple types of sports events and includes features such as:

  • Automated Scheduling: Helps in organizing events with tools for recurring events and bulk editing.
  • Communication Tools: Includes direct messaging, event chat, and team chat options to facilitate communication within the app.
  • Payment Handling: Integrated with Stripe for secure payment processing, and supports multiple payment methods including credit cards and digital wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay.
  • Refunds and Waitlist Management: Automatically manages refunds and waitlists, ensuring a smooth experience for event organizers and participants.
  • Customization and Reporting: Offers custom reporting, a branded interface, and Google Analytics integration for detailed insights into event and membership performance.

The pricing for OpenSports starts at $20 per month, and the platform charges a transaction fee of 3% on events, league, tournament, and membership fees, exclusive of additional Stripe fees. OpenSports does not offer a free trial, but it does provide a demo period where users can explore the features without making public events or collecting payments​.

This makes OpenSports a versatile choice for those looking to manage diverse and recurring sports events, with a strong emphasis on payment and communication functionalities.

PlayByPoint is a versatile management software designed for racquet sports like pickleball, offering extensive customization options to suit various club needs. Key features include:

  • Unified Customer Profiles: Consolidates all member activities and payments in one place.
  • Seamless Payments: Facilitates easy and secure online payment transactions.
  • Robust Booking Rules: Customizable booking configurations to meet specific club requirements.
  • Program Management: Allows easy creation and management of club programs.
  • Staff and Lesson Bookings: Enables staff to manage lessons and tracks revenue generated from these sessions.

PlayByPoint pricing starts with a Starter plan at $99.99 per month, moving up to more advanced plans that provide additional features like advanced booking rules, dedicated support, and white label services. The most advanced plan costs $399.99 per month.

CourtReserve

CourtReserve offers a comprehensive club management system that's well-suited for pickleball clubs. The software, having been founded by a tennis and pickleball playing couple in 2016, is heavily used in the United States, where outside of free play Pickleball play is driven by commercial venues, and hence is focused heavily on maximising court utilisation.

Here are some key features and pricing details:
  • Online Court Reservations & Scheduling: Facilitates the booking of courts and scheduling of lessons through an intuitive app.
  • Program & Event Management: Enables easy registration and management of classes, leagues, and events with features for waitlisting and upfront payments.
  • Mobile App: Provides a seamless experience for both staff and players to manage bookings and payments on the go.
  • Membership Management: Includes tools for member CRM, billing, and invoicing, which helps in managing renewals and marketing communications effectively.
  • Integrated Payments: Supports online payments, making financial transactions easy and secure.
  • Customizable: The platform can be tailored to specific club needs, enhancing functionality and user experience.
Pricing starts at $25 per month, with additional costs for courts and teaching pros at $7 each. CourtReserve also offers a 30-day free trial to test its features before committing to a subscription and offers daily webinars to onboard new customers.
Price Comparison
App Monthly Fee  Transaction Fee Comments
Spond 0 AUD 0.50 + 5.0% No refund management
OpenSports ~AUD 170 (USD 110)* AUD 0.30 + 4.7%** Complex Featureset, including automatic refunds when players cancel before the assigned deadline
PlayByPoint ~AUD 600
(USD 400) according the US website

Customers connect their own Stripe account, so:

AUD 0.30 +1.7%

 Refunds are possible, but no concept of an "Account Balance"

CourtReserve ~AUD 180*** Not clearly documented, but likely passed through as cost like PlayByPoint

 

Cost Comparison
So as far as costs go, Spond will become more expensive than OpenSports if you have more than 740 transactions of $10 each. Assuming a club has 10 sessions a week with 16 players attending, that makes approx. 700 transactions a month.
Amongst PlayByPoint, OpenSports and CourtReserve, OpenSports stands out by charging an extra fee on top of the basic credit card transaction fees imposed by Stripe.
Feature Comparison
PlayByPoint, OpenSports and CourtReserve offer more configuration options than Spond, particular around bookings & cancellation. We haven't done more detailed feature by feature comparison between those three, but if you are managing a venue where you have full control over the courts at all time, then CourtReserve is built for you, whereas PlayByPoint and OpenSports are more focused on session management.
Summary
Spond stands out amongst the compared apps as the only one that doesn't offer a refund mechanism, which is a major headache and will require manual admin work for your team. It also only looks cheap on paper, as any medium sized club would quickly reach the number of transactions required to make one of the other apps financially more viable. If you are a small group, possibly only have one or two courts to manage, and don't expect lots of transactions, then Spond is the best option for you - it's quick to setup and has no ongoing subscription fees.
The other 3 apps, OpenSports, PlayByPoint and CourtReserve, have a much bigger focus on dealing with payments - they offer configuration options for event cancellations and ultimately allow you to refund money to players - however for refunds back to credit cards via Stripe the stripe fees are generally not refunded; if your club doesn't want to actually make a loss on a refunded transaction this needs to be clearly communicated to players.
If you run your own venue, we would recommend CourtReserve as that software was built for that; for anything else, i.e. if you are a club that is using one or more shared venues to run your sessions, PlayByPoint seems to be the best option, in particular if you can get the discounted monthly fee; the fact that OpenSports adds a transaction fee on top of the Stripe fees seems like double dipping.
PlayByPoint was founded in 2016 by Andres Robelo in Florida, OpenSports is a canadian company founded in 2014 by James Gibbons; CourtReserve is the brainchild of Ashley and Tim Owens and was started in 2016. Spond was founded in 2014 in Norway.
*Other monthly plans are available - I picked the price for a plan I would use to manage a small to medium club (i.e. not just a group of mates) with at least 100 members and at least 10 weekly sessions with a 2 hour duration.
**includes Stripe - the card payment processor used - of AUD 0.30 +1.7% (for domestic, i.e. Australian, credit cards). The same rate applies for using Apple Pay or Google Pay.
***CourtReserve comes at USD49/month, plus USD 7 per court you want to manage, and USD 7 per coach. The figure in the table is based on 8 courts and two coaches - this pricing model highlights the software's focus on venue management as the assumption is that if there is 8 courts then those 8 courts are available to be 'sold' 7 days a week, all day long - which is not a reality in Australia, where most Pickleball clubs use shared venues (for indoor play anyway) where they only get access to courts on certain days and times.
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