ACTIVE Networkvs
MyRec.com
MyRec.com: A far cheaper recreation platform for small departments with transparent revenue-based pricing
ACTIVE Network
Registration and payment software for parks departments, races and camps, owned by Global Payments
As of 31 August 2026, ACTIVE Network's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. ACTIVENet and ACTIVEWorks run registration for municipal recreation departments, endurance events and camps. Softwr lists it under Events. ACTIVE Network is made by ACTIVE Network, LLC (Global Payments), available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What ACTIVE Network does
ACTIVE Network sells registration and management software across several verticals: ACTIVENet for parks and recreation departments and YMCAs, ACTIVEWorks Endurance for races and mass participation events, Camp and Class Manager for camps, and ACTIVE.com as a consumer event discovery site. Modules cover activity registration, facility and league scheduling, membership, point of sale, childcare and daycamp, and reporting. The ownership is the fact that reframes the product. Global Payments acquired ACTIVE Network in 2017 for around 1.2 billion US dollars, and it sits inside the merchant solutions business rather than being run as a standalone software company. That means the commercial model is payments first: ACTIVE charges a registration processing fee, typically a percentage plus a fixed amount per registration, and the agency chooses whether to absorb it or pass it to the participant. Passing it on is the norm, which is why participants routinely see a service fee added at checkout and agencies experience the software as cheap. Buyers are municipal recreation departments, race directors and camp operators with enough registration volume to make the processing economics work. The trade-off is that the incentive structure favours volume over agency experience: the platform is old in places, upgrade cycles are slow, and support quality is a recurring complaint in the public sector, but the alternative usually means paying an explicit licence fee that a parks budget does not have.
What people use it 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
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of ACTIVE Network
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- ACTIVE NetworkvsOpenGov
OpenGov: If the requirement is broader government operations rather than recreation registration
- ACTIVE NetworkvsiClassPro
iClassPro: For private activity schools rather than municipal recreation departments
Pricing
What ACTIVE Network costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
ACTIVENet
On request
- Registration, facility and membership modules
- Revenue derived primarily from registration processing fees
- Fee can be absorbed by the agency or passed to the participant
- Licence and implementation quoted separately
Camp and Class Manager
On request
- Flat rate or per registration fee model
- Rates quoted per account, not published
ACTIVEWorks Endurance
On request
- Race registration priced on a per registration fee
- ACTIVE.com listing included
Capabilities
Features
ACTIVENet
Activity registration, facility booking, leagues and membership for recreation departments
ACTIVEWorks Endurance
Race registration, wave management, bib assignment and results for endurance events
Camp and Class Manager
Camp registration with flat rate or per registration fee models
Participant-paid fees
Agencies can pass the processing fee to the registrant rather than absorb it
Facility and league scheduling
Court, field and room booking with conflict checking and permits
ACTIVE.com listing
Consumer discovery site that drives registrations to listed events
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
How does ACTIVE make money?
Primarily from registration processing fees, charged as a percentage plus a fixed amount per registration.
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.
Is pricing published?
No. Both licence and processing rates are quoted per account.
Keep looking
Where to go from ACTIVE Network
- ACTIVE Network alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- ACTIVE Network pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- ACTIVE Network badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Events softwareThe full category
- Best Events softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Events software for
Compare ACTIVE Network with
- Regpack
- CampSite
- CIRCUITREE
- CVent Events
- Meetup
- Universe
- Aventri
- Guest Manager
- RSVPify
- Ticketkantoor
- Ticketmaster
- Remo
- Eventix
- Grip
- Planning Pod
- Ticket Tailor
- CIRCUITREE
- Ticketmaster
Other Events software
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From $299/mo13 researched notesCamp and conference centre management for large multi-programme Christian camps
Pricing on request12 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for ACTIVE Network, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on ACTIVE Network
ACTIVE Network alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
ACTIVE Network pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare ACTIVE Network
Put it head to head with anything we hold
ACTIVE Network badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Events software alternatives
Virtual event platform built around seated tables on a floor plan rather than a webinar stage
Per month by attendee capacityCamp management and parent portal for day and residential camps, reported from around 249 USD a month
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