What's the best membership management software for clubs in 2026?
The right tool turns registration night into a link: members sign up, pay, and your roster updates itself.
Every season it's the same. A spreadsheet three volunteers edit at once, checks to log by hand, family discounts nobody remembers, and a treasurer chasing the last twenty members who haven't paid.
The short answer. Jersey Watch is the best pick for a US youth club: $348 a year, with the processing fee passed to families. MembershipWorks has the lowest flat price at club scale, $35 a month up to 300 accounts, and takes no cut of your dues. Spond costs nothing until a member pays. TidyHQ handles many membership levels, Pitchero fits UK clubs with several teams, and SportMember blocks members who haven't paid.
What other roundups skip: the cost of a full season. We priced every tool for 150 and 300 members paying $120, fees included. The gap runs from $0 to almost $1,900.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The best club membership software for your case
$348 a year, one plan
Best flat price$35 a month up to 300 accounts
No subscriptionPay per payment only
Best for member levelsUnlimited levels, even on Starter
Best for UK clubsFree for one team
Best for late payersBlocks unpaid members
6 club membership tools compared
This ranking is for amateur sports and social clubs of 50 to 500 members, run by volunteers, that register members every season. Every ranked tool publishes its price on its own site. Rank follows score, and the score weighs the real cost of a season and the dues cycle first.
| Best for | What sets it apart | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jersey Watch | Best for youth sports clubs | One plan, fee passed to families | 4.2/5 | $348 a year after a $19 first month | — | US youth clubs | Visit → |
| 2 | MembershipWorks | Best flat price | No cut of your dues | 4.2/5 | Free up to 50 accounts, then $35/mo | ✓ | Clubs of 50 to 600 members | Visit → |
| 3 | Spond | No subscription | Zero fixed cost | 4.1/5 | $0; 3.29% + $1.00 per US payment | ✓ | Clubs under 100 members | Visit → |
| 4 | TidyHQ | Best for member levels | Unlimited levels and contacts | 4.0/5 | Starter $0; Pro $690 a year | ✓ | Clubs with many member types | Visit → |
| 5 | Pitchero | Best for UK clubs | Website, members and subs | 4.0/5 | Free for one team; Standard £38/mo | ✓ | UK multi-team clubs | Visit → |
| 6 | SportMember | Best for late payers | Automatic dues, unpaid blocked | 3.9/5 | Basic $0; Pro $0.21/member/mo | ✓ | Clubs under 150 members | Visit → |
Scores on five weighted criteria, explained in the method. Prices read in 2026 on official vendor pages. SportMember prices exclude VAT; Pitchero amounts are in pounds.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared and scored
This page covers a club's member database and its registration cycle: the sign-up form, membership levels, family pricing, collecting dues, tracking checks and cash, and renewals. It doesn't cover game scheduling and line-ups, which have their own ranking in our sports club software guide.
First filter: price. A tool whose price we couldn't read on the vendor's site can't be compared fairly, so TeamSnap club plans (quote only) stay out. Second filter: online payments. A club collecting 300 dues of $120 runs $36,000 through the tool, and the fee often costs more than the plan.
Weighting follows what costs a volunteer board time and money. Real cost of a season counts for 25%, the dues cycle 25%, the database and member portal 20%, online payments 15%, ease of use and support 15%.
We then read what treasurers say. On a sailing forum, clubs describe old spreadsheets and Access files that were hard to hand to the next treasurer, and keep finance access limited to the treasurer while wider access to personal data raised legal worries. A vendor guide from TidyHQ makes the same point from the other side: link the tool to accounting so payments aren't typed twice.
- Cost at 300 membersPlan price, per-payment fees, member tiers and add-ons, priced for 150 and 300 members.25%
- Dues cycleRegistration form, membership levels, family pricing, renewals and reminders.25%
- Database and portalMember records, custom fields, roles per volunteer, import and export.20%
- Online paymentsCard and bank payments, who pays the fee, checks and cash logged in the same place.15%
- Ease and supportTrial length, clarity for volunteers, support channels, treasurer handover.15%
No affiliate link changes a score or a rank.
Pricing changes before every season. Get the new numbers before registration opens
Jersey Watch
Jersey Watch keeps its pricing to one line: $19 for the first month, then $348 a year. There is no setup fee and no contract. The plan bundles the club website, online registration and the migration of your old site, so the registrar and the webmaster stop being two volunteers with two logins.
Registration is where the money moves. Each payment carries 3.5% + $1. On $120 dues that is $5.20 per member: $780 for 150 members, $1,560 for 300, if the club absorbs it. Add the $348 plan and a 300-member season costs $1,908.
The way out is a setting. Jersey Watch lets you pass the fee to families, and its own pricing page shows the math: 120 athletes at $100 each net the club $11,460 if it absorbs fees. Pass the fee on and the club keeps the full amount, with the plan as the only cost.
Its limit: there is only one plan, and the processing fee is the highest in this ranking. A club that collects most dues offline by check gets less out of it.
- One plan, $348 a year
- Fee can go to families
- Site migration included
- ✓Flat yearly price, any club size
- ✓Website and registration together
- ✓No contract, no setup fee
- ✗3.5% + $1 per registration
- ✗No cheaper registration-only plan
- ✗Built around the US market
The easiest pick for a US youth club that registers families every season. Pass the processing fee to parents and your season costs $348.
MembershipWorks
MembershipWorks prices by account count and stays cheap at club scale. It's free up to 50 accounts, $35 a month up to 300 and $59 up to 600. For a 150- or 300-member club, that's $420 a year. There's no contract.
It takes no cut of your dues. You connect your own gateway and pay only its processing fee, so on $36,000 of dues the vendor's share stays at zero. That keeps it the cheapest flat option in this ranking at 300 members.
Its limit: there's no free trial, only a 30-day money-back guarantee. And when you reach your account limit, new sign-ups stop until you upgrade. For a club, that means a closed form on the first night of registration if you sit at 298 accounts.
- $35 a month up to 300
- No cut of your dues
- No contract
- ✓Lowest yearly cost at 300 members
- ✓Prorated plan changes
- ✓Bring your own gateway
- ✗No free trial
- ✗Sign-ups stop at the account limit
- ✗No team or game tools
The best value if your club mostly needs a member list, renewals and payments. Upgrade a tier before registration opens, not during it.
Spond
Spond Club has no subscription. It charges per payment: 3.29% + $1.00 for a US club, 2.5% + £0.20 for a UK club. On $120 dues, a US club pays $4.95 per member: $742.20 for 150, $1,484.40 for 300.
You can add the fee to the member's price instead. The choice is made per payment request and locks once the request goes out, so decide before you send the season invoice. Fees are always included in the price for classes and booking forms.
Its limit: tracking who still owes. The help center doesn't give a club-wide view of unpaid dues, and a member added after the request pays the full price, so family discounts need manual fixes.
- $0 subscription
- Fee can go to the member
- Free app for families
- ✓No fixed cost at all
- ✓Familiar app for parents
- ✓UK fee lower than US fee
- ✗$4.95 per $120 payment in the US
- ✗No club-wide unpaid view
- ✗Family discounts fixed by hand
Great for a club under 100 members with no budget line. Past 150 members, pass the fee to members or pick a flat-price tool.
TidyHQ
TidyHQ is built around memberships. Even the free Starter plan has unlimited contacts and unlimited membership levels. Pro costs $69 a month or $690 a year, and lifts the email cap from 100 a month to 30,000, with digital membership cards.
The service fee decides which plan you need. Starter takes 3% + $0.20 per payment, Pro 1% + $0.20, and Stripe's fee comes on top. On $120 dues, Starter costs $3.80 per member and Pro $1.40. That $2.40 gap pays for Pro at 288 payments. Below that, stay on Starter.
For 150 members, Starter costs $570 in TidyHQ fees. Pro costs $690 plus $210, or $900. At 300 members, it flips: $1,140 on Starter, $1,110 on Pro, before Stripe.
Its limit: Stripe fees are extra, so the real payment cost is above TidyHQ's own fee. Team scheduling is thin.
- Unlimited membership levels
- 1% fee on Pro
- Digital cards on Pro
- ✓Free plan with unlimited contacts
- ✓Clear fee math between plans
- ✓Prices in GBP and EUR too
- ✗Stripe fees on top
- ✗Starter capped at 100 emails a month
- ✗Weak on team scheduling
The right tool for a club with many membership types. Below 288 payments a season, Starter is cheaper; above it, Pro.
Pitchero
Pitchero is free for a single-team club, with ads and no online payments. Standard costs £38 a month for up to 20 teams, plus £2.50 per extra team. Pro costs £99 a month. Both include a member database with import, export and verification, plus custom forms.
Processing starts at 2.42% + 17p on Standard and 1.67% + 15p on Pro. On £120 subs, that's about £3.07 per member on Standard. For 150 members: £456 for the plan plus about £461 in fees, around £917 a season.
Its limit: the free plan can't take payments, so the cheapest paying setup is £456 a year. A 30-day trial lets you build the forms before you commit.
- Free for one team
- Custom member forms
- 30-day trial
- ✓Import, export and verification
- ✓Up to 20 teams on Standard
- ✓Lower fees on Pro
- ✗No payments on the free plan
- ✗Ads on the free plan
- ✗£456 a year before fees
A strong fit for a UK club with several teams that will use the website too. Price it with fees, not just the plan.
SportMember
SportMember has a free Basic plan. Pro costs $0.21 per member per month, with a $25 monthly minimum, excluding VAT. Under 120 members you pay the floor. For 150 members, that's $378 a year; for 300, $756.
Its club-specific trick: dues and invoices are created and sent automatically, and members who haven't paid can be blocked from signing up to activities. That turns the treasurer's chase list into a rule.
Its limit: the price grows with every member, and the website is a $35 monthly add-on. Payment processing fees aren't listed on the pricing page.
- Free Basic plan
- Automatic dues and invoices
- Unpaid members blocked
- ✓Low cost under 150 members
- ✓Collections become a rule
- ✓No ads, even on Basic
- ✗Price rises with each member
- ✗Website costs extra
- ✗Payment fees not listed
A cheap, tidy option for clubs under 150 members that struggle with late payers. Check the payment fees before you switch.
What a season costs at 150 and 300 members
Assumption: every member pays $120 in dues online. That's $18,000 through the tool at 150 members and $36,000 at 300. Here's the season cost at official prices, plan and fees included, with the club absorbing fees unless noted.
Flat price, no cut
MembershipWorks: $420 a year at 150 and at 300 accounts, plus your gateway's fee. SportMember Pro: $378 at 150, $756 at 300, excluding VAT, payment fees not listed.
Free plan, fee on every payment
Spond in the US: $742.20 at 150, $1,484.40 at 300. TidyHQ Starter: $570 and $1,140 in TidyHQ fees. TidyHQ Pro: $900 and $1,110. Stripe comes on top of both TidyHQ plans.
One plan plus registration fees
Jersey Watch: $348 plus $780, or $1,128 at 150; $348 plus $1,560, or $1,908 at 300. Pass the 3.5% + $1 to families and the season drops to $348.
- Does the plan count members, contacts or accounts?
- What's the fee per payment, and who pays it?
- Are processor fees on top of the vendor's fee?
- Can checks and cash be logged next to online payments?
- Can you export the full roster as CSV?
- What happens at the member limit?
Other options worth knowing
You'll also run into these when looking for a place to keep your member list. We left them unranked: no published club pricing, or a job other than managing members.
TeamSnap: team plans priced, club plans quoted
QuoteTeamSnap prices single teams from $0, but club and league plans are by quote. We don't rank what we can't price. Ask for a written quote for your member count and compare it with the season costs above.
- Price
- Quote for clubs
- For
- Leagues and big clubs
Wild Apricot: the classic membership suite
AssociationsWild Apricot is ranked on our membership management page for associations. Its pricing page prints the 100-contact tier ($66 a month) but not the larger tiers, so we couldn't price a 300-member club here.
- Price
- $66/mo for 100 contacts
- For
- Associations
ClubExpress and Join It: worth a quote
CompareBoth come up often in roundups. Join It is ranked on our association page; ClubExpress is used by sailing and social clubs for directory, email and event registration. Get a written price before you compare.
- Price
- See vendor
- For
- Social and sailing clubs
A spreadsheet: how far it goes
FreeA shared sheet works below about 30 members and one admin. Past that, it sends no renewals and doesn't record who changed what. If you stay on it, give each volunteer their own login and keep finance tabs to the treasurer.
- Price
- $0
- For
- Under 30 members
What your tool must handle on sign-up night
A club registers people differently from a professional association. These four points separate the tools when 200 families sign up in the same week.
Membership levels and family pricing
PricingJunior, senior, family, social: each needs its own price before the form opens. TidyHQ allows unlimited levels on every plan. Fixing a discount after payment means a refund.
- Rule
- One price per case, set early
Who carries the fee
PaymentsDecide before the first invoice. On Spond, the choice locks once the request is sent. On Jersey Watch, passing the fee on saves a 300-member club $1,560 a season.
- Saving
- $1,560 at 300 members
Checks and cash in the same list
TrackingSome members will always pay by check. Clubs on forums keep separate systems because of it, then lose track. Pick a tool where the treasurer marks offline payments next to online ones.
- Check
- One unpaid list for all methods
The member cap
PlanOn MembershipWorks, sign-ups stop at the account limit. On SportMember, the price climbs with each member. Count last season's roster plus 20% before you pick a tier.
- Buffer
- Last season + 20%
Pay less and save time this season
These settings come from official pricing pages and treasurer forums. Each takes an evening.
Pick TidyHQ's plan by payment count
PriceAt $120 dues, Pro's lower fee saves $2.40 per payment. That covers the $690 plan at 288 payments. Under that, Starter wins.
- Break-even
- 288 payments at $120
Start trials before the season
TimingPitchero offers 30 days, Jersey Watch a $19 first month. Start six weeks before registration opens, build the forms, and run two board families through them.
- Lead time
- Six weeks
Connect to accounting once
TimeThe treasurer reconciles every month. A link to Xero or a monthly CSV export avoids typing each payment twice, and makes the handover to the next treasurer a file, not a story.
- Habit
- Monthly export
One login per volunteer
DataA shared admin password is the most common mistake on forums. Give each volunteer a role, keep finances to the treasurer, and remove access when someone leaves the board.
- Rule
- Roles, not shared logins
Want registrations to reach your accounting without retyping? Get our automation guides
Keep going
These pages cover the rest of running a club.
Your questions on club membership software
Is there free membership management software for clubs?
Yes. TidyHQ Starter, SportMember Basic and Spond Club cost $0 a month, and MembershipWorks is free up to 50 accounts. Free plans make money on payments: TidyHQ Starter takes 3% + $0.20, Spond 3.29% + $1.00 in the US.
Who should pay the processing fee, the club or the member?
Most clubs pass it on. Jersey Watch and Spond both let you add the fee to the member's price. Tell families in the registration email, so the extra dollars don't feel hidden.
How much does club membership software cost for 300 members?
From $420 a year (MembershipWorks, plus your gateway) to about $1,900 (Jersey Watch with fees absorbed, on $120 dues). The fee on each payment often costs more than the plan.
Can I keep using a spreadsheet for club membership?
Below about 30 members with one admin, yes. Past that, a spreadsheet doesn't send renewals, doesn't track who paid by check, and is painful to hand over to the next treasurer.
How do I handle family memberships and sibling discounts?
Create a price per case (second child, family plan) before registration opens. On Spond, a member added after the request pays full price, so set discounts up front.
Should the membership tool connect to my accounting software?
Yes, if your treasurer reconciles monthly. Linking the tool to accounting software (TidyHQ cites Xero) saves typing each payment twice. Otherwise export a CSV of payments at month end.
What happens when I hit my plan's member limit?
On MembershipWorks, new sign-ups stop until you upgrade. Check your count a month before registration and move up a tier early.