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Scheduling · head to head

Amilia SmartRec vs SportsEngine

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
SportsEngine logo

SportsEngine

Sports

Registration and governance platform mandated by several United States national governing bodies

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only SportsEngine 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.; SportsEngine a large part of the cost is the payment processing percentage on registrations rather than the platform quotation, so the true seasonal cost scales with the money you collect and is usually passed on to families.
  • They diverge on capability: Amilia SmartRec covers Activity registration, SportsEngine covers Online registration.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Amilia SmartRec and SportsEngine differ
AttributeAmilia SmartRecSportsEngine
Starting price$99/monthFree
Pricing modelPer month plus 1% of invoiced itemsquote
Free tierNoYes
CategorySchedulingSports

Identical on both: 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 Amilia SmartRec

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

Only in SportsEngine

  • Online registration
  • Compliance and screening
  • Governing body integration
  • Scheduling and tournaments
  • Organisation websites
  • Free team tier

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 SportsEngine
  • A community centre that needs one family account covering several children across different activitiesnot SportsEngine
  • A bilingual Canadian organisation required to serve residents in English and Frenchnot SportsEngine
  • A sports club running leagues, camps and memberships that currently sit in three separate systemsnot SportsEngine

SportsEngine

  • A club affiliated to a national governing body that runs its member registration and safeguarding on SportsEnginenot Amilia SmartRec
  • A league that needs background screening status tracked against every volunteer before the season startsnot Amilia SmartRec
  • An organisation collecting several hundred registrations with instalment payment plans across multiple programmesnot Amilia SmartRec
  • A tournament organiser needing brackets, schedules and public results pages in one placenot 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.

SportsEngine

  • A large part of the cost is the payment processing percentage on registrations rather than the platform quotation, so the true seasonal cost scales with the money you collect and is usually passed on to families.
  • The free team tier is a funnel rather than a complete product, and organisations that adopt it discover the features they need are on the quoted club product.
  • The product line has grown through acquisition and corporate reorganisation under NBC Sports Next, so overlapping products and periodic retirements happen on a schedule set by the parent rather than by you.
  • Website building and communication tools are dated compared with general purpose alternatives, and clubs that care about their public presence often end up running a separate site anyway.
  • Outside the United States and outside the sports whose governing bodies mandate it, the case for choosing SportsEngine over a simpler and cheaper registration tool is weak.

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

SportsEngine

Free
  • SportsEngine HQFree
    • Free for individual teams
    • Rosters, schedules and messaging
    • Parent application access
  • SportsEngine for Clubs and Leagues$undefined/year
    • Quoted per organisation
    • Registration, payments and compliance tracking
    • Websites and multi-team scheduling

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 SportsEngine if

  • You need online registration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want compliance and screening.
SportsEngine review

Questions people ask

Is Amilia SmartRec or SportsEngine better?
Neither clearly leads. Amilia SmartRec starts at $99/month and SportsEngine at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amilia SmartRec or SportsEngine?
SportsEngine has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $99/month for Amilia SmartRec and Free for SportsEngine.
Does Amilia SmartRec or SportsEngine run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use SportsEngine for free?
Yes. SportsEngine 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 SportsEngine is typically brought in for.
What can Amilia SmartRec do that SportsEngine cannot?
Amilia SmartRec covers Activity registration, Family accounts, Memberships, Facility booking. SportsEngine covers Online registration, Compliance and screening, Governing body integration, Scheduling and tournaments.

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.

SportsEngine: Do we have to use it?

If your national governing body runs member registration and safeguarding compliance on SportsEngine, effectively yes, unless you are prepared to duplicate registration in two systems.

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.

SportsEngine: What does it cost?

The organisation product is quoted, and on top of that there is a processing percentage on every registration payment. Model the processing against your registration volume.

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.

SportsEngine: Is SportsEngine HQ really free?

Yes, for individual teams. It is deliberately limited compared with the club and league product it is designed to lead you towards.

Amilia SmartRec: Can it replace a municipal recreation system?

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

SportsEngine: How does it compare with TeamSnap?

TeamSnap is stronger at team-level communication and cheaper for a single team. SportsEngine wins where registration, payments and governing body compliance are the requirement.

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