A Spond alternative for weekly pickup groups

Spond is a free team and club app. It handles schedules, sign-ups, messages and payments for teams that train and play together all season. A weekly pickup game asks for different things: a capped list that fills itself, room for guests, new and fair sides every week, and a simple record of who paid back the person who booked the field. That is the job Rostara is built for.

The short answer

• Choose Spond if you run a club or a fixed team with a season schedule, a youth team with parents and guardians, or you want players to pay inside the app.
• Choose Rostara if you run a drop-in game where the players change from week to week, the game is capped, and the hardest part of the evening is making even teams.

What Spond does well

Spond's website says more than 12 million people use it, and it is free to download and use. Highlights from its site and help center:

• Events for a whole season. Single events, events that repeat weekly, every other week or monthly, and a season planner for creating many at once.
• Sign-ups with a limit. A maximum number of participants, first come, first served, with a waiting list, a registration deadline and automatic reminders to people who haven't answered.
• Payments in the app. Payment requests for membership fees, match fees or equipment, and events with a registration fee. Members pay in the app, or by email if they don't use it, and Stripe processes the payments.
• Clubs and teams. Groups and subgroups, built-in messaging, a line-up tool for soccer matches, and Spond Club for running a whole club, with member management, a club website, courses and event registration.
• Apps on every platform. iPhone, Android and Huawei AppGallery apps, and a web version that runs in a browser.

If your group works like a club, those are real strengths, and Rostara doesn't try to match all of them.

Where a pickup game is different

Fair sides every week

A club team picks a line-up. A pickup game splits everyone who turned up into two or more even sides, and the split changes every week. In Rostara, players are rated privately from 1 to 10 on a few skills for your sport, nobody sees who gave which score, and the balancer splits the players who are coming into even teams in one tap. A balance score tells you how close the game should be, and goalkeepers are spread across the teams. See the team balancer and player ratings.

A capped game, a waitlist and guests

Both apps cap a game and keep a waiting list, and they handle an open spot differently. In Spond, the first person on the waiting list gets a push notification offering the spot, and if they decline, the offer moves to the next person. In Rostara, the first person waiting is moved in straight away and gets a "You're in!" notification. Rostara members can also add guests, who count toward the limit and join the waitlist in turn when the game is full. See waitlists and guests.

Money without transaction fees

Spond's help center explains how it earns its money: the app is free, and Spond is paid when groups process payments through it. In the US, the fee is $1.00 plus 3.29% per product. By default the group covers it, or the group can add it to the price so members pay it. On an $8 game fee, that comes to about $1.26 per payment.

Rostara never takes or moves money. Its ledger records who fronted the cost of the field, splits it among the players and shows each player what they owe. Players pay the way your group already does, by cash, Venmo, PayPal or bank transfer. Because no money passes through Rostara, it charges no transaction fees; whatever your payment service charges, if anything, is between you and that service. The ledger is part of Rostara Pro; see splitting field and court fees.

Spond and Rostara side by side

From Spond's website and help center and from Rostara's own guides, checked on October 21, 2026.

When Spond is the better choice

• You run a club, several teams, or a youth team with parents and guardians.
• You want players to pay inside the app, and the fee is worth not chasing anyone.
• You want events that repeat on their own and automatic reminders. Rostara has neither yet: you duplicate last week's game and post a notice when the group needs a nudge.
• You want chat in the same app. Rostara leaves the conversation to your group chat.
• Most of your players want an iPhone app. Rostara doesn't have one yet; on an iPhone it runs in the browser.
• You coach a soccer team and need line-ups in a formation.

How to move a pickup group to Rostara

1. Try the balancer with no account. Paste your player list into the free team generator and rate the players you know. If you like the teams, tap Create this group in Rostara and the list comes with you.
2. Create your group and pick your sport. Getting started walks you through it.
3. Share the invite link in your group chat. Players who open it and sign in land in your group. See members and invites.
4. Add the holdouts by name. Players who don't sign up can still be rated, put on teams and answered for on RSVPs.
5. Post the first game with a player limit and an RSVP deadline. Everyone in the group is notified. See scheduling games and RSVPs.
6. Bring old balances over if your group carries debts. On Pro, Record opening balance adds each one to the ledger.