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Scheduling · head to head

Amilia SmartRec vs Picktime

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
Picktime logo

Picktime

Scheduling

Appointment, class and resource booking with an unusually capable free tier

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Picktime has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Picktime the Pro plan is cheaper per user than Starter because it is sold in a ten user block, so a business with four or five staff pays more per head than a business with ten and has no tier that fits it well.
  • They diverge on capability: Amilia SmartRec covers Activity registration, Picktime covers Free tier with three staff.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amilia SmartRec and Picktime actually diverge.

Attributes where Amilia SmartRec and Picktime differ
AttributeAmilia SmartRecPicktime
Starting price$99/monthFree
Pricing modelPer month plus 1% of invoiced itemsPer user per month
Free tierNoYes

Identical on both: platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Scheduling).

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 Amilia SmartRec

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

Only in Picktime

  • Free tier with three staff
  • Resource booking
  • Class and course booking
  • SMS reminders
  • Two way calendar sync
  • Payments
  • Multilingual booking pages
  • Booking approval

What people use each for

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

Amilia SmartRec

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

Picktime

  • A public library booking study rooms and equipment where there is no budget for scheduling software at allnot Amilia SmartRec
  • A two person tutoring business that needs a booking page, reminders and card payment for under ten dollars a monthnot Amilia SmartRec
  • A community centre running classes with capacity limits and a waitlist across two venuesnot Amilia SmartRec
  • A small salon that wants staff and chair availability booked together rather than assuming every stylist has a stationnot Amilia SmartRec

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Picktime

  • The Pro plan is cheaper per user than Starter because it is sold in a ten user block, so a business with four or five staff pays more per head than a business with ten and has no tier that fits it well.
  • SMS is only on paid plans and the free tier is email only, so the no cost option loses the single feature that most reduces no shows.
  • Reporting is limited to basic booking counts and revenue totals, so any business that wants utilisation by resource, staff productivity or cohort retention will be exporting data and analysing it elsewhere.
  • Integrations beyond calendar, payments and Zapier are sparse, with no native connection to mainstream CRM or practice management systems, meaning customer data lives in a second silo that someone reconciles manually.
  • Support is email only with no phone or guaranteed response time, which is acceptable at three dollars a user but a genuine risk if the booking page goes down on a trading day.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Picktime

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Three staff members
    • Two locations and three resources
    • Unlimited appointments
  • Starter$3/month
    • Per user, billed annually
    • Three staff and two locations
    • SMS notifications and reminders
  • Pro$2.25/month
    • Per user, billed annually, minimum ten users
    • Unlimited locations
    • Customisable emails

Which should you pick?

Choose Amilia SmartRec if

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

Choose Picktime if

  • You need free tier with three staff.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want resource booking.
Picktime review

Questions people ask

Is Amilia SmartRec or Picktime better?
Neither clearly leads. Amilia SmartRec starts at $99/month and Picktime at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amilia SmartRec or Picktime?
Picktime has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $99/month for Amilia SmartRec and Free for Picktime.
Does Amilia SmartRec or Picktime run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Picktime for free?
Yes. Picktime has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Amilia SmartRec starts at $99/month.
What is Amilia SmartRec best used for?
Amilia SmartRec is most often used for a municipal recreation department replacing paper and phone registration for seasonal programmes, a community centre that needs one family account covering several children across different activities, a bilingual canadian organisation required to serve residents in english and french, a sports club running leagues, camps and memberships that currently sit in three separate systems. Of those, a municipal recreation department replacing paper and phone registration for seasonal programmes and a community centre that needs one family account covering several children across different activities are not what Picktime is typically brought in for.
What can Amilia SmartRec do that Picktime cannot?
Amilia SmartRec covers Activity registration, Family accounts, Memberships, Facility booking. Picktime covers Free tier with three staff, Resource booking, Class and course booking, SMS reminders.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Picktime: Is the free plan actually usable long term?

Yes. It allows three staff, two locations and unlimited appointments permanently. The main limits are no SMS and PayPal only for payments.

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.

Picktime: Can it book rooms and equipment?

Yes. Resources are first class objects and can be booked alongside or independently of staff.

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.

Picktime: Why does Pro cost less per user than Starter?

Pro is priced for a block of ten users. Below that headcount the per user rate on Starter is what you pay.

Amilia SmartRec: Can it replace a municipal recreation system?

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

Picktime: Does it take card payments?

Stripe and Square on paid plans; the free plan supports PayPal only.

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