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Events · head to head

ACTIVE Network vs Amilia SmartRec

ACTIVE Network logo

ACTIVE Network

Events

Registration and payment software for parks departments, races and camps, owned by Global Payments

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Amilia SmartRec logo

Amilia SmartRec

Scheduling

Registration and activity management for community recreation, with a 1% fee on top of the subscription

From
$99/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: ACTIVE Network revenue comes from registration processing rather than licence fees, so the vendor is aligned with transaction volume and not with the quality of the administrative experience.; Amilia SmartRec the 1% fee on each new invoice item sits on top of both the subscription and card processing, so an organisation invoicing two million dollars pays around twenty thousand a year in a fee that never appears in a plan comparison.
  • They diverge on capability: ACTIVE Network covers ACTIVENet, Amilia SmartRec covers Activity registration.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ACTIVE Network and Amilia SmartRec actually diverge.

Attributes where ACTIVE Network and Amilia SmartRec differ
AttributeACTIVE NetworkAmilia SmartRec
Starting priceOn request$99/month
Pricing modelquotePer month plus 1% of invoiced items
CategoryEventsScheduling

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in ACTIVE Network

  • ACTIVENet
  • ACTIVEWorks Endurance
  • Camp and Class Manager
  • Participant-paid fees
  • Facility and league scheduling
  • ACTIVE.com listing

Only in Amilia SmartRec

  • Activity registration
  • Family accounts
  • Memberships
  • Facility booking
  • Point of sale
  • Online store
  • Financial reporting
  • Bilingual interface

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

ACTIVE Network

  • A city parks department taking swim lesson, camp and league registrations online with fees passed to residentsnot Amilia SmartRec
  • A race director who wants registration, bib assignment and a consumer listing from one vendornot Amilia SmartRec
  • A YMCA needing membership, childcare billing and facility booking in one systemnot Amilia SmartRec
  • An agency with no software budget that can fund registration through participant-paid processing feesnot Amilia SmartRec

Amilia SmartRec

  • A municipal recreation department replacing paper and phone registration for seasonal programmesnot ACTIVE Network
  • A community centre that needs one family account covering several children across different activitiesnot ACTIVE Network
  • A bilingual Canadian organisation required to serve residents in English and Frenchnot ACTIVE Network
  • A sports club running leagues, camps and memberships that currently sit in three separate systemsnot ACTIVE Network

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

ACTIVE Network

  • Revenue comes from registration processing rather than licence fees, so the vendor is aligned with transaction volume and not with the quality of the administrative experience.
  • Passing the processing fee to participants is normal practice, which makes the cost invisible on the agency budget and visible to residents as a service charge at checkout.
  • The ACTIVENet codebase is long-lived and parts of the administrative interface remain dated, with upgrade cycles driven by the parent rather than by agency requests.
  • Support responsiveness is a persistent complaint among municipal customers, and escalation paths are slower than in a standalone software vendor.
  • Because Global Payments owns the merchant relationship, moving off ACTIVE means changing processor as well as software, which usually requires a procurement process rather than a simple switch.

Amilia SmartRec

  • The 1% fee on each new invoice item sits on top of both the subscription and card processing, so an organisation invoicing two million dollars pays around twenty thousand a year in a fee that never appears in a plan comparison.
  • Implementation is charged separately, from $899 on Standard and $2,999 on Advanced, which for a small community organisation is several months of subscription before the system goes live.
  • Parks and facilities management is shallower than a dedicated municipal recreation platform, so departments managing complex field allocation and maintenance schedules will still need another system.
  • Reporting is oriented towards revenue rather than programme utilisation, so recreation managers analysing attendance patterns and capacity end up exporting to spreadsheets.
  • Its strength is in Canada, and US municipalities find fewer local references, fewer integrations with American finance systems and less familiarity with state-specific requirements.

Pricing, plan by plan

ACTIVE Network

On request
  • ACTIVENet$undefined/year
    • Registration, facility and membership modules
    • Revenue derived primarily from registration processing fees
    • Fee can be absorbed by the agency or passed to the participant
  • Camp and Class Manager$undefined/year
    • Flat rate or per registration fee model
    • Rates quoted per account, not published
  • ACTIVEWorks Endurance$undefined/year
    • Race registration priced on a per registration fee
    • ACTIVE.com listing included

Amilia SmartRec

$99/month
  • Standard$99/month
    • Activity registration and online store
    • Family accounts
    • 1% fee on each new invoice item
  • Advanced$499/month
    • Memberships, facility booking and point of sale
    • Advanced reporting
    • 1% fee on each new invoice item
  • Custom$undefined/year
    • For YMCAs, JCCs and parks and recreation departments
    • Scoped and quoted individually
    • Fee structure negotiated

Which should you pick?

Choose ACTIVE Network if

  • You need activenet.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want activeworks endurance.
ACTIVE Network review

Choose Amilia SmartRec if

  • You need activity registration.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want family accounts.
Amilia SmartRec review

Questions people ask

Is ACTIVE Network or Amilia SmartRec better?
Neither clearly leads. ACTIVE Network starts at On request and Amilia SmartRec at $99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ACTIVE Network or Amilia SmartRec?
ACTIVE Network starts at On request and Amilia SmartRec at $99/month.
Does ACTIVE Network or Amilia SmartRec run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is ACTIVE Network best used for?
ACTIVE Network is most often used for a city parks department taking swim lesson, camp and league registrations online with fees passed to residents, a race director who wants registration, bib assignment and a consumer listing from one vendor, a ymca needing membership, childcare billing and facility booking in one system, an agency with no software budget that can fund registration through participant-paid processing fees. Of those, a city parks department taking swim lesson, camp and league registrations online with fees passed to residents and a race director who wants registration, bib assignment and a consumer listing from one vendor are not what Amilia SmartRec is typically brought in for.
What can ACTIVE Network do that Amilia SmartRec cannot?
ACTIVE Network covers ACTIVENet, ACTIVEWorks Endurance, Camp and Class Manager, Participant-paid fees. Amilia SmartRec covers Activity registration, Family accounts, Memberships, Facility booking.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ACTIVE Network: Who owns ACTIVE Network?

Global Payments, which acquired it in 2017 for around 1.2 billion US dollars. It sits in the merchant solutions business.

Amilia SmartRec: What is the real total cost?

Subscription from $99 or $499 a month, plus roughly 1% on each new invoice item, plus card processing around 2.85% plus $0.30, plus a one-off implementation fee. The percentage fees dominate at any real volume.

ACTIVE Network: How does ACTIVE make money?

Primarily from registration processing fees, charged as a percentage plus a fixed amount per registration.

Amilia SmartRec: Is the 1% negotiable?

On the Custom tier for larger organisations, the fee structure is part of the negotiation. On the published plans it is not.

ACTIVE Network: Can we absorb the fee instead of charging residents?

Yes, the agency chooses. Most pass it to the participant, which is why registrants see a service fee.

Amilia SmartRec: Does it work in French?

Yes, throughout. That is a practical requirement for Quebec and many bilingual Canadian public bodies and a genuine reason to choose it there.

ACTIVE Network: Is pricing published?

No. Both licence and processing rates are quoted per account.

Amilia SmartRec: Can it replace a municipal recreation system?

For registration and memberships, often yes. For parks asset and facility maintenance management, no.

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