The short version.

The best app for running an adult rec sports team in 2026 depends on what you care about most:

Spond if you want completely free (it shows full-screen sponsor ads when the app opens), BenchApp for text-message RSVPs, TeamSnap for the deepest feature set (ad-supported), or Firstplace for its zero ad policy and flat pricing ($5/month for teams over 5 members, no added payment fees).

Heads-up on the "free" apps: BenchApp, TeamLinkt, Heja, Team App and TeamReach all show ads on their free tiers (removing them costs extra: per player on TeamLinkt, Team App and TeamReach, and a flat team fee on BenchApp and Heja).

Many apps also add extra payment processing fees.

Author Steven Kovar
Founder of Firstplace Published Last Updated
Changelog DisclosureAs the makers of Firstplace — a sports team management app for adult rec teams — our rules for this page are that every number is cited, and to be honest where a competitor is the better pick.

So which should you choose?

See what each app actually does.

Sourced from each vendor's own pricing and help pages, June 2026 — full methodology and sources at the bottom of the page.

Yes Favorable Partial Partial / Unclear No Watch Out Not applicable Not Applicable

Swipe sideways to compare all 8 apps →

Firstplace1 TeamSnap2 Spond3 BenchApp4 TeamLinkt5 Heja6 Team App7 TeamReach8
Ad-Free Extra cost to remove ads Yes: $0 · Zero Ads Policy No: $5.99/mo/player No: Cannot remove ads No: $9/mo (team) No: ~$3.58/mo/player No: $18.99/mo (team) No: $2.99/yr/player No: $9.99/yr/player
Payment Fees At Cost = 2.9% + 30¢ Yes: 2.9% + 30¢ No: 3.25% + $1.50 No: 3.29% + $1 No: 3.9% + 30¢ No: 3.5% + $1 No: ~4–5% No: ~4.4% Not applicable: No payments
No-App RSVP What a player needs to reply Yes: Email link, no signup Partial: Email link; account for more Partial: Account, usually Yes: Text reply (SMS) No: Install app + account No: Install app + account Partial: Web login, no app needed No: Install app + account
Guests & Substitutes Yes: Guest invite link, save guests No: Add to roster only Yes: Invite per event Partial: “Spares,” roster-first No: Add to roster only No: Add to roster only No No: None documented
Dues & Payments Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes: Pro tier Yes No: No payments
Calendar Sync Partial: Add-to-calendar Yes: Subscribe feed Yes: App-to-phone, one-way Yes: Subscribe feed Yes: Subscribe feed Partial: Paid add-on only Yes: Subscribe feed Partial: Add-to-phone only
Fully Cross-Platform Web + iOS + Android Yes: Same app on all 3 Partial: Chat mobile-only Partial: Some web gaps Yes Yes Partial: Web is Pro-gated Yes No: No web version
Basic Features Messaging · Polls · Scheduling · RSVP · Roster Yes Partial: Polls = reactions only Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial: Basic member list
Best for No Ads + Flat Pricing The Most Features Completely Free Text-Message RSVPs Clubs & Nonprofits Free Youth-Team Basics A Custom Club App Simple Group Communication

The rundown, app by app.

The hidden costs of "free" apps. Going ad-free costs extra.

An ad-funded app earns money every time your team looks at it—your attention is the inventory, so the business is built to show more ads, not fewer. The only way out is then sold back to you as an upsell. The table below shows the cost of that upsell: how much extra you'd pay per year just to remove ads for every member, on top of subscription fees.

Least Expensive → Most Expensive

Swipe sideways to compare all 8 apps →

MembersFirstplaceTeamSnapSpondBenchAppTeamLinktHejaTeam AppTeamReach
5$0$359Cannot remove ads$108$215$140$15$50
10$0$719Cannot remove ads$108$430$140$30$100
15$0$1,078Cannot remove ads$108$644$140$45$150
20$0$1,438Cannot remove ads$108$859$140$60$200
30$0$2,156Cannot remove ads$108$1,289$140$90$300

TeamSnap, TeamLinkt, Team App and TeamReach charge each player to remove ads. BenchApp ($108/yr, PRO) and Heja ($140/yr, Pro Max) charge a flat team fee. Spond has no ad-free option at any price. Firstplace is the only app in this comparison that has a zero ads policy.

For a 30-player team to go ad-free for a year costs $0 extra on Firstplace (but with a $60 flat subscription), $108 on BenchApp (PRO), $140 on Heja (Pro Max) — and about $2,156 on TeamSnap, because TeamSnap+ ad removal is $5.99 a month per player (last verified June 2026).

More hidden costs. Payment processing fees.

Then there's payment processing. The rates read as relatively close (from 2.9% to 4.5%) but combined with a fixed per-transaction fee, the real cost of small payments quietly inflates.

The chart shows the effective rate by payment size: on a $25 payment the rates range from 9% on TeamSnap to about 4% on Firstplace. The bigger the payment, the more they converge — yet Firstplace stays the lowest.

The ways free apps make their money.

  • 7 of 8 apps in this comparison show ads on their free tier. Firstplace is the one that doesn't.
  • 6 of 7 apps that collect dues mark up payment processing above Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢. Firstplace is the one that doesn't.

Counted from the eight apps on this page — sources below.

Effective payment-fee percentage by payment size Effective payment-processing fee (all in, including the base rate) by payment amount from $25 to $150. A fixed per-transaction fee inflates the real rate on small payments: a $25 dues payment costs 9.3% on TeamSnap, 7.5% on TeamLinkt, 7.3% on Spond, 5.1% on BenchApp, 4.5% on Heja, 4.4% on Team App, and 4.1% on Firstplace. At a $50 payment the rates are 6.3% TeamSnap, 5.3% Spond, 4.5% BenchApp, 3.5% Firstplace. By $150 they converge between 3.1% and 4.5%. Firstplace is lowest across this range; below about $20, apps with no fixed fee (Heja, Team App) edge it. 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% Effective fee % $25 $50 $100 $150 Payment amount At a $50 payment: TeamSnap 6.3% Spond 5.3% BenchApp 4.5% Firstplace 3.5%
  • TeamSnap
  • TeamLinkt
  • Spond
  • BenchApp
  • Heja
  • Team App
  • Firstplace
Effective payment fee (all in, including the base rate) on a single payment, by amount. The smaller the payment, the more a fixed per-transaction fee bites — the dashed line marks a typical $50 dues payment. Firstplace is lowest from $25 up; below ~$20, apps with no fixed fee (Heja, Team App) have a slight edge. Published rates, June 2026.

How much does each app cost for a normal team? 30 players with $150 in dues each, no ads.

FirstplaceTeamSnapSpondBenchAppTeamLinktHejaTeam AppTeamReach
All-in annual cost 30 players · ad-free · $150/player dues ~$218$60 plan + fees ~$2,558$120 + ad-free ×30 + fees ~$238Free + fees · cannot remove ads ~$311PRO $108 (ad-free incl.) + fees ~$1,536Ad-free ×30 + fees ~$342Pro Max + fees ~$288Ad-free ×30 + ~4.4% fees (unverified) ~$300Ad removal ×30 · no dues collection

How these are figured. "All-in annual cost" = minimum required subscription level + making all 30 members ad-free + payment fees on $150 per player in dues ($50 × 3 seasons ≈ $4,500 across ~90 transactions), at each app's published payment processing rates.

TeamReach can't collect dues in-app, so its figure is ad removal only. Each app's plan pricing is in the rundown above. Figures rounded; rates in Sources below, last verified June 2026.

How much would each app cost your team? Calculate your costs.

Determine the all-in cost of subscription + making the whole team ad-free + payment fees on dues collected. Drag the sliders to adjust to your team's figures.

Yearly cost per app, all-in — subscription + ad removal + payment fees. Defaults shown: 30 players, $150/player in season dues, ad-free (June 2026).
FirstplaceTeamSnapSpondBenchAppTeamLinktHejaTeam AppTeamReach
Subscription /yr$60$120$0$108$0$140$0Free
Ad-free /yrIncl.$2,156NoneIncl.$1,289Incl.$90$300
Payment fees /yr$158$281$238$203$248$203$198—
Per season$73$134$79$104$83$114$66$0
Total /yr w/ Ads$218$401$238$311$248$342$198$0
Total /yr Ad-Free Yes: $218 No: $2,558 Yes: $238 Partial: $311 No: $1,536 Partial: $342 Partial: $288 Not applicable: $300

Collect dues outside the app, or not at all? Set dues to $0 — then it's just subscription + ad removal.

Per-season = annual ÷ # of seasons.

Subscriptions assumed: Firstplace $5/mo ($60/yr; $0 for teams of 5 or fewer); TeamSnap Premium ~$120/yr once over the 15-player free cap; BenchApp PRO ($108/yr — and it removes ads for the whole team) and Heja Pro Max ($139.99/yr — includes Team Pro's dues features plus team-wide ad removal) required to collect dues. Ad-free-for-team: TeamSnap+ $5.99/mo ×players; TeamLinkt+ ≈US$3.58/mo (CA$4.99 at ~0.72, sold per household — effectively per player on an adult-rec roster) ×players; Team App $2.99/yr ×players; TeamReach $9.99/yr ×players; BenchApp and Heja included with the subscriptions above.

Payment fees per the Sources below. TeamReach can't collect dues in-app, so its total is subscription + ad removal only and it isn't rank-shaded (neutral icon).

Hidden costs to watch for. Understand the price you're paying.

How we compared these.

We compared eight sports team management apps the way an adult recreational coach or captain actually uses them. Pricing, ad policy, and payment fees come from each app's own pricing and help pages — pulled June 5, 2026, and last verified June 12, 2026 (per-claim dates in the sources below).

For our own app, every claim is something that's actually shipped: no roadmap promises. We weighted what a captain actually feels: money, ads, payment fees, RSVPs, team communication, and how painlessly players can join. Re-verified quarterly.

And if you're still running the team from a group text, a spreadsheet, and Venmo: any of these apps replaces the captain-as-reminder-system — this page is about which one.

Out of scope of this report (i.e.: a different job): deep youth-org/league admin (SportsEngine, LeagueApps), league/club websites + registration (Jersey Watch), scorekeeping (GameChanger), video/analytics (Hudl).

Sources.

  1. Firstplace — firstplace.app/pricing + shipped-feature audit (verified 2026-06-05). Stripe 2.9%+30¢ pass-through, no markup; US-only payments. Ownership: bootstrapped, founder-owned, no outside investors. Features (2026-06-08): shipped-code audit — Messaging, Scheduling, RSVP, Rosters, one-off Guest players, Payments (Stripe Connect), Polls, on web/iOS/Android; per-event add-to-calendar is shipped, subscribe-feed calendar sync is not yet (in development).
  2. TeamSnap — teamsnap.com/teams (plans; ad-free for owners/managers); helpme.teamsnap.com (free-tier ads; TeamSnap+ per-user ad removal — $5.99/mo per user per the iOS App Store in-app-purchase list (apps.apple.com, verified 2026-06-09); 3.25% + $1.50 processing). Verified 2026-06-05. Ownership: Waud Capital Partners took majority ownership in a growth-capital partnership announced 2021-04-14 (teamsnap.com/company/press-releases + waudcapital.com, accessed 2026-06-10). Features (2026-06-08): teamsnap.com/teams/features + helpme.teamsnap.com — Team Chat is mobile-only (absent on web), live iCal/Google calendar subscription ("automatically updated any time the schedule is changed" — helpme.teamsnap.com/article/1245, accessed 2026-06-12); availability can be set from reminder emails with "no need to log in" (helpme.teamsnap.com/article/95, accessed 2026-06-12); no real poll object (chat reactions only); no one-off guest invite.
  3. Spond — spond.com/en-us; help.spond.com (US fee $1.00 + 3.29%; free/ad-free model). Verified 2026-06-05. Features (2026-06-08): spond.com/features-for-teams-overview + help.spond.com — one-off guest invite per event (by email/phone); calendar sync is the app writing events into your phone calendar — Spond-to-calendar only, no subscribe feed (help.spond.com/app/en/articles/115529, accessed 2026-06-12); members can reply to event invitations via email on a computer (help.spond.com/app/en/articles/115108, accessed 2026-06-12); web version does "most but not all" (some payments mobile-only). Canada: published CAD fee CA$0.50 + 5% (help.spond.com/en/articles/26015, accessed 2026-06-12). Ads (2026-06-08): help.spond.com (brand partnerships) — the free app is funded by sponsor "brand partnerships," and users report full-page interstitials on launch, so Spond is not ad-free. Ownership: venture-backed — $11M Series B led by Verdane (2021), ~$17M raised total (tracxn.com/d/companies/spond + uktech.news, accessed 2026-06-10).
  4. BenchApp — benchapp.com/pricing; help.benchapp.com (3.9% + 30¢ fee; SMS RSVP needs PRO). Verified 2026-06-05. Ad removal (verified 2026-06-09): PRO ($9/mo per team) "removes ads from the team experience… for managers and players" (help.benchapp.com, "What is BenchApp PRO?") — team-wide; BenchApp Plus ($1.99/mo) is a personal subscription that removes ads only for the subscriber ("only you need it, not your whole team" — help.benchapp.com, "What is BenchApp Plus?"). Features (2026-06-08): help.benchapp.com — "spares" can be invited per game but must be added to the roster first (partial guest support), auto-updating iCal/WebCal feed, full on web/iOS/Android. Ownership: bootstrapped — "BenchApp is bootstrapped, according to [founder Jon] Marus"; four-person team, Vancouver (techcouver.com, 2023-01-20, accessed 2026-06-10).
  5. TeamLinkt — teamlinkt.com/pricing + /resources/for-brands (free-tier ads); /pricing/teamlinkt-plus (CA$4.99/mo per household ≈ US$3.58 at CA$1 = US$0.718, rate of 2026-06-09); 3.5% + $1 standard (as low as 2.7%+30¢ at volume). Verified 2026-06-05. Ownership: CA$8.3M (~US$6M) Series A led by Growth Street Partners (San Francisco growth-equity firm), closed Jul 2025; ~CA$9.7M raised total (betakit.com + prnewswire.com, accessed 2026-06-10). Features (2026-06-08): teamlinkt.com + help.teamlinkt.com — webcal/iCal calendar subscribe feed (help.teamlinkt.com/en/articles/4938653, accessed 2026-06-12), polls, web admin + iOS + Android; no one-off guest (permanent roster adds only); payments connect the team's own Stripe account (help.teamlinkt.com/en/articles/4938744, accessed 2026-06-12) — Saskatoon-founded (betakit.com).
  6. Heja — heja.io/pricing (ad-supported free; Team Pro from $8.33; Pro Max = ad-free for all members, $18.99/mo or $139.99/yr per heja.io/buy-pro, verified 2026-06-09); help.heja.io (~4–5% US, payer pays). Verified 2026-06-05. Ownership: venture-backed (Stockholm) — $4.2M seed led by Peak Capital (2021), ~$6.9M raised total (peak.capital + crunchbase.com/organization/heja, accessed 2026-06-10). Features (2026-06-08): help.heja.io — messaging, RSVP, fees + polls (Pro); calendar subscription is gated behind the paid Heja Plus add-on, not free-tier (help.heja.io/en/articles/3064266, accessed 2026-06-12); no one-off guest (roster members only); desktop/web access is Pro-gated (partial parity).
  7. Team App — support.teamapp.com (free + ad-supported; ad removal $2.99/yr per user per the in-app Advertising screen, “Remove Ads – Individual User,” verified 2026-06-12 — the vendor's own how-to video at youtube.com/watch?v=LDYgJf7TfE0 lists $4.49, which appears outdated or regional); payment fee ~4.4% reported via third-party (Member Jungle), unverified on vendor site. Verified 2026-06-05. Ownership: acquisition by Stack Sports announced 2021-11-22 (send2press.com/wire/stack-sports-to-acquire-team-app + support.teamapp.com, accessed 2026-06-10); later rebranded "Stack Team App." Features (2026-06-08): support.teamapp.com + teamapp.com/about-how-it-works — events (single/recurring) and voting/surveys (teamapp.com/about-how-it-works); a live calendar subscribe feed (support.teamapp.com/en/knowledgebase/6/docs/81-syncing-events-to-calendar + /5/docs/95-adding-and-removing-team-calendar, verified 2026-06-12); members without the app are "manual members" who receive email updates and get full website access (teamapp.com/faqs, accessed 2026-06-12) — email is receive-only, so RSVPs happen via the website login; no guest-invite feature found; admin via website + iOS + Android.
  8. TeamReach — teamreach.com + iOS App Store (free, unlimited groups; "Remove Ads" IAPs $9.99/yr or $2.99/mo; v9.9.2 Apr 2026 — actively maintained; 6.8K iOS ratings at 4.7, 1M+ Android installs), accessed 2026-06-10. Ad removal is per user: "that fee is required of everyone you invite to your TeamReach group and there is no option for the group owner to pay for no-ads for the entire group" (App Store review by a paying subscriber, Jan 2026); in-app ads (incl. the calendar) since Aug 2023. No payments/dues feature (absent from all vendor materials). No web version — every member installs the app and creates an account; joining is by group code. Ownership: "the TeamReach service was acquired by HCP Reach LLC" on 2026-03-05 per TeamReach's own privacy policy (updated May 2026) — no independent confirmation, buyer identity, or transaction details are publicly documented, so whether this was an arm's-length sale or a corporate restructuring is unverifiable (legal venue did move from Tulsa, OK to Nassau County, NY). Policy covers IDFA/AAID mobile-ad identifiers with a targeted-advertising opt-out. Features (2026-06-10): teamreach.com + store listings — messaging, scheduling + availability RSVP, Flash Polls, photo sharing; basic member list (no documented guest/sub invites); add-to-phone calendar only (an iCal feed exists but is undocumented); iOS + Android only.
Change log
  • June 17, 2026 — Copy and layout pass: reframed the payment-model section heading, tightened the fee stats (dropped a markup figure that didn't apply to every app), and polished the mobile layout (breadcrumb, hero, tables, fee chart).
  • June 12, 2026 — Re-verified RSVP and calendar-sync mechanics against vendor help centers: Heja's calendar subscription is a paid add-on (was shown as included free); Team App's email option is receive-only for RSVPs (website login is the app-free path); Spond's sync writes to your phone calendar rather than a subscribe feed. Split the calculator into "with ads" and "ad-free" totals so the cost of removing ads is explicit.
  • June 10, 2026 — Replaced sportsYou with TeamReach (sportsYou targets high-school athletics; TeamReach is genuinely adult-rec). Added sourced ownership for all eight apps. Corrected BenchApp: PRO ($9/mo per team) removes ads team-wide, not per player.
  • June 9, 2026 — Corrected Spond (free app runs full-screen sponsor ads on launch — not ad-free), TeamSnap+ ad removal ($5.99/mo per player, per the App Store), and Heja Pro Max ($139.99/yr per team, not per player).
  • June 8, 2026 — Removed Jersey Watch (league-website platform, wrong category). Feature matrix sourced per app from vendor help centers.
  • June 5, 2026 — Published.

Last updated June 17, 2026. We re-verify quarterly. See something out of date or wrong? Email help@firstplace.app and we'll fix it.