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Best free tournament bracket and league software, 2026
Eleven tools people use to run brackets, tournaments and leagues: whether each has a free tier, what the first paid step costs, what it is built for, its notable limits and its own fees. Every competitor cell comes from that vendor's public pricing or help page, linked in the row.
EasyChamp publishes this page and is one of the eleven. The table is not a ranking: each tool fits a different job, and the right one depends on yours.
The table
Free tier, price, limits and fees
Quoted wording is in “quotes”. “Not published” and “Quote only” mean the vendor's page printed no figure on 13 October 2026. Fees are the vendor's own; payment processor fees are named only where the vendor names them.
| Product | Free tier | Price from | Best for | Notable limits | Commission and fees | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EasyChamp | YesFree $0, no card and no trial clock. | Club $29/mo or $290/yr · Event Pass $39 once for one competition · Managed league site $79/mo plus $499 setup | Organizers running a league or a tournament end to end: registration, fixtures, standings, brackets and a public league site in one account. | Free goes live with up to 8 teams per competition; Club, or an Event Pass for one competition, lifts that. Round robin, groups, single and double elimination; Swiss is not offered. | No EasyChamp transaction fees. Payment processor fees apply separately. | easychamp.com/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
| ChallongeFull ledger | YesStandard “$0”, “supported by advertising”. | Premier “$6.99 per month billed yearly” | Quick brackets and communities for games, sports and casual events. | Standard: “Up to 256 participants per tournament” and ad-supported. Premier: up to 512, no ads. | Standard: “$0.75/order for paid event and tournament registration” (Stripe). Premier: “No Challonge fee”. | challonge.com/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
| LeagueAppsFull ledger | No“No subscription fees”; a one-time setup fee applies. | Quote only: “a small, one-time fee” to get started. See vendor site. | Youth sports organizations that want registration, payments, websites and apps on one platform. | No price list on the page. Branded apps and website design are optional annual add-ons. | “A small fee as a percentage of each payment transaction”; the percentage is not published. “No cost for offline payments.” | leagueapps.com/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
| TeamSnapFull ledger | YesSingle teams: “$0 to start”. | Clubs & Leagues: “Flexible, customized pricing” (quote). Team upgrade price not printed. See vendor site. | Single teams, coaches and families: schedules, availability and team chat. | Single teams: availability tracking, larger roster sizes and “skill-building drills from the pros” need a coach upgrade. | Not published on the pricing page. | teamsnap.com/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
| SportsEngine HQFull ledger | NoNo free plan on the pricing page; a demo can be requested. | “$67/month, billed annually” or “$79 billed monthly” | Youth sports organizations that want registration, a website, a team app and financial reporting. | Paid from day one; large leagues and affiliates are handled by sales. | “Preferred Processing Rate - 3.25% + $1.50” | sportsengine.com/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
| Start.gg | No subscriptionNo subscription price is published; the platform fee applies only to online payments. | No subscription published. See vendor site. | Esports and gaming community events, from local brackets to large majors. | Paid online events: only its top 100 game titles, United States only, with location restrictions applied automatically. | A 6% Platform Fee on online PayPal and Stripe payments, added to the attendee's subtotal; not charged on on-site or cash payments. Processor fees are separate. | help.start.gg/en/articles/13768814-what-are-the-platform-fee-and-processing-feehelp.start.gg/en/articles/13766243-event-fees-for-online-tournamentschecked 2026-10-13 |
| Toornament | YesFree plan with “All competition formats” and “400+ games”. | Boost “$22 /tournament” · Community “$24 /month billed annualy” or “$34 billed monthly” | Esports tournaments and circuits, including Swiss and battle-royale formats. | Maximum size per tournament: 32 on Free, 128 Boost, 256 Community, 512 Circuit, 2,048 Arena. Paid registrations start on Community. | Paid registrations “(no fee!)” from Community up. | toornament.com/en_US/pricingtoornament.com/en_US/organizerschecked 2026-10-13 |
| BracketHQ | Yes“Free Forever”, “Ad Supported”. | Pro “$4 /mo” “Billed annually at $48”, or $8 monthly | Fast, good-looking brackets to share, export or embed. | Free: “Bracket Size up to 32 Participants”, ads, basic themes. Pro: up to 64, no ads, private brackets. | No registration payments are listed on the pricing page. | brackethq.com/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
| Playpass | Yes“Free for as long as you want”. | Plus “$9 /month” · Pro $19 · Max $99. Registered non-profits: 50% off paid plans, “Starting at $4.50 /month”. | Rec leagues and clubs that want schedules, registration, waivers and a simple website. | Free: 1 live schedule, 1 manager, up to 64 teams per schedule, no custom domain. | Playpass fee per online payment: 3% on Free, 2.5% Plus, 2% Pro, 1% Max, “in addition to Stripe's card processing fee”. | playpass.com/sports-software/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
| Jersey Watch | No“Free to explore”; you pay when you go live. | “$19” for the first month, then “$348/year (that's $29/month)” | Youth leagues that want a website with online registration. | Payment starts when you launch the website or open registration. | Online payment processing: “3.5% plus $1 per transaction”, which can be passed on to registrants; none without online payments. | jerseywatch.com/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
| PlayMetrics | NoNo free plan on the pricing page. | Quote only: “pricing is based on several factors”. See vendor site. | Youth clubs, leagues and associations replacing several separate tools with one system. | No public price list; a conversation with the vendor sets the price. | Not published on the pricing page. | home.playmetrics.com/pricingchecked 2026-10-13 |
Choosing
Which kind of tool fits the job
- One bracket, today. Challonge, BracketHQ and Toornament are built around the bracket itself and are free to start; their free plans cap the field size.
- Esports and gaming events. Start.gg and Toornament focus on gaming communities, with game lists, circuits and paid registration.
- One team's schedule and chat. TeamSnap starts free for a single team.
- A youth organization with registration and payments. SportsEngine HQ, LeagueApps, PlayMetrics, Jersey Watch and Playpass cover registration, payments and websites, priced by subscription, by transaction or by quote.
- A whole league or tournament, start to finish. EasyChamp generates fixtures, computes standings, runs round robin, group stage, single and double elimination and publishes a league site, with registration in the same account. No EasyChamp transaction fees. Payment processor fees apply separately.
Methodology
How this table was made
Every competitor row was read on 13 October 2026 from the page linked in its Source cell: the vendor's own public pricing page, or its help centre where the fee lives there. Pages were loaded logged out, as a US visitor would see them; where a page offers a currency switch, the US dollar figure is quoted.
Where a page prints no figure, the cell says “Not published” or “Quote only” and points to the vendor. No estimates, no third-party price lists, no figures from sales calls. A fee is listed only if the vendor's own page states it.
“Best for” restates the audience each vendor's own page addresses. The table is in no particular order after the EasyChamp row and is not a score. Prices change; the checked date is on every row.
The EasyChamp row is read from the same plan registry that prints /pricing, so the two cannot disagree. EasyChamp publishes this page; weigh that accordingly, and check each vendor's page before you decide.
Questions
Free bracket and league software, asked and answered
Which tournament bracket software is free?
On the date checked, Challonge, BracketHQ, Toornament, Playpass, TeamSnap (single teams) and EasyChamp each published a free plan. Start.gg publishes no subscription and charges its platform fee only on online payments. LeagueApps, SportsEngine HQ, Jersey Watch and PlayMetrics did not publish a free plan.
What does EasyChamp cost?
Free is $0 and goes live with up to 8 teams per competition. Club is $29/mo or $290/yr and lifts that limit on every competition; the Event Pass is $39 once for one competition. No EasyChamp transaction fees. Payment processor fees apply separately.
Is a free plan with ads the same as a free plan without them?
No. Challonge and BracketHQ say their free plans are ad-supported. EasyChamp has no ad slots on any plan; a "Powered by EasyChamp" line stays on public pages. Check what each free plan shows to your players before you choose.
Why do some rows say "Quote only" or "Not published"?
Because the vendor's pricing page did not print a figure on the date checked. We do not fill the gap with estimates or third-party numbers; ask the vendor directly.
A figure here is out of date. How do I correct it?
Send the vendor's own page to the support address in the footer. Corrections backed by a vendor page are applied and the checked date is updated.