Run your program
Free on every planTeam Scout vs. PlayMetrics
Independent, by design.
PlayMetrics is a capable platform — and as of 2026 it's the center of a private-equity roll-up that now owns SportsEngine too. If you'd rather your team's software answer to its customers than to an investment committee, here's the comparison.
PlayMetrics builds real software for real clubs. The question this insight answers isn't whether it works — it's who it works for, and who it answers to.
PlayMetrics is owned by Genstar Capital, a private-equity firm. It merged with Stack Sports in 2025 and acquired SportsEngine in May 2026. That roll-up now sits behind a large share of youth-sports operations software in America. Team Scout is founder-owned, isn't for sale, and is built for the family running the team — not the enterprise club with a front office.
The ownership question
PlayMetrics is the private-equity roll-up.
Genstar Capital acquired PlayMetrics in 2025 and merged it with Stack Sports; PlayMetrics then closed its acquisition of SportsEngine on May 1, 2026. Roll-ups exist to be sold again. When the platform your program depends on answers to an investment committee, the roadmap and the pricing follow the investors — not you.
Our prices are on the website.
The simplest difference you can check in ten seconds: open four pricing pages. Most of the category will hand you a form. We hand you the number.
| Platform | Pricing published? | To get a quote | Typical sales cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team Scout | Yes — every plan, platform fee included | Nothing. Self-serve sign-up. | Same day |
| PlayMetrics | No | Demo + qualifying call | 2–6 weeks |
| SportsEngine HQ | No | Demo + qualifying call | 2–6 weeks |
| TeamSnap (clubs) | No | Demo + qualifying call | 2–4 weeks |
| LeagueApps | No | Demo + qualifying call | 3–8 weeks |
The receipts
What it actually costs.
PlayMetrics now owns SportsEngine — and it's only going to get more expensive. Here's what five years on SportsEngine actually looked like for one real program, every payout reviewed.
| Year | Processed | SportsEngine fees | Processing at cost | Overpaid | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $32,500 | $1,130 | $1,050 | $80 | 3.32% |
| 2022 | $76,800 | $3,065 | $2,460 | $605 | 3.82% |
| 2023 | $101,650 | $3,925 | $3,220 | $705 | 3.70% |
| 2024 | $100,235 | $4,025 | $3,265 | $760 | 3.78% |
| 2025 | $159,000 | $6,165 | $5,085 | $1,080 | 3.67% |
| 5-year total | $470,185 | $18,310 | $15,080 | $3,230 | 3.70% |
The clearest single example
A booster writes the program a $5,000 sponsorship check. On SportsEngine, a bank transfer is charged at almost the same rate as a credit card — even though a bank transfer costs pennies to process. Here's the same $5,000, three ways.
SportsEngine HQ Premium — 3.25% + $1.50 per transaction
A booster writes a $5,000 check. $164 disappears into processing markup you never see itemized.
Team Scout — Stripe bank transfer, 0.8% capped at $5
Processing at cost. Our platform fee is separate and published — on the Club plan the same check is $150 all-in, every line visible.
Team Scout — Stripe card, 2.9% + $0.30
If they pay by card — and our supporter-covers-fees checkout means processing usually never touches program funds.
The bigger lever — how the fee gets presented
Other platforms have the same theoretical option to pass the credit-card fee to parents — but the way it's presented at checkout decides whether parents actually do. Team Scout's checkout positions the fee-cover opt-in as the default, with the math made plain. The result: 90%+ of parents choose to cover the credit-card fee, and every dollar of the program's collection lands with the program. On a year of registrations, that single design choice can outweigh the entire processing-rate gap above.
Let's be straight about this. Team Scout isn't free for organizations collecting money, and we won't pretend to be — paid plans run $29 to $179 a month plus a platform fee of 3.9% down to 1.9% on what you collect. What we are is the transparent option: every one of those numbers is printed on the pricing page, card processing passes through Stripe at cost with no markup, and there's no per-player fee and no surprise checkout line. Most programs don't switch to save a few dollars. They switch because they're tired of not knowing what they're paying.
Your program, in your words.
Most platforms force every group into “player” and “practice.” Team Scout lets your program use its own language.
| Team Scout default | Theater | School co-op | Faith community |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Actor | Student | Member |
| Practice | Rehearsal | Class | Service |
| Coach | Stage manager | Teacher | Small-group leader |
| Director | Director | Program director | Pastor |
| Tryout | Casting | Welcome day | Program kickoff |
Theater, school co-op, and faith community shown as examples — your program writes its own labels.
The biggest worry isn't price
It's the fear of moving. We take that off your plate.
We migrated a five-year SportsEngine program in 48 hours — 82 export files, every payment reconciled. The work is real, but it's our work, not yours. The hesitation is bigger than the move itself.
Straight answers.
Ownership and audience. PlayMetrics is a private-equity-owned platform built for established clubs with staff. Team Scout is founder-owned, built for homeschool, club, and community programs that are volunteer-run — and our pricing is published, not quoted behind a demo call.
Private-equity firms buy companies to sell them again at a higher price, which usually means pricing reviews, cost-cutting, and a roadmap that serves the next sale rather than current customers. PlayMetrics has already changed hands and absorbed SportsEngine. Team Scout has no investor exit clock — we answer to the programs that use us.
PlayMetrics doesn't publish pricing, so there's no honest line-by-line comparison to make — which is part of the point. What we can show you is our pricing, in full, on the pricing page: the monthly rate and the platform fee, both printed. Card processing passes through Stripe at cost with no markup or hidden checkout fee.
It depends on your setup — PlayMetrics is a heavier platform than SportsEngine, so we don't make a blanket 48-hour promise the way we do for SportsEngine. The honest answer is: book a call, show us what you're running, and we'll tell you straight what a move would involve and whether it's worth it for you.
PlayMetrics is built for large, complex clubs and carries features to match. Team Scout is built for programs that don't have a paid front office. If you need deep enterprise club-ops tooling, PlayMetrics may fit you better — and we'll say so. Tell us the job you need done and we'll be honest about whether we're the right tool.
Team Scout syncs directly to QuickBooks Online with line-item detail — every registration, ticket, donation, refund, and processing fee posts to the right account in your chart, automatically. The seeded chart is twenty-seven accounts across ten distinct revenue streams, grouped the way a bookkeeper reads them. The reason we can do that cleanly is architectural: Team Scout is built on a real double-entry ledger, the same accounting foundation banks and Stripe use. To be fair to PlayMetrics — they've built a sophisticated GL-mapped sub-ledger of their own, and their financial system is one of the strongest in the category. The difference is who gets it. PlayMetrics' financial tooling is built and priced for large clubs with paid front offices, with no published price. Team Scout puts the same kind of architecture on every plan — including the free Community plan — and the QuickBooks sync turns on the moment any money starts moving, ticket sale included. See the full chart and how the sync works.
See it for yourself
Start your team free — see what's different.
Skip the demo gauntlet. The Community plan runs your whole program free, forever. When you're ready to collect money, plans start at $29/mo plus a small published platform fee. Self-serve, no contracts, cancel anytime.