Is SportsEngine shutting down or forcing us to move?

No — not that anyone has announced. PlayMetrics acquired SportsEngine in May 2026; no sunset or forced migration has been announced. Boards are evaluating alternatives because of the ownership change and negotiated pricing, not because they have to.

How much does SportsEngine actually cost?

We can't tell you, and that's the point of this page: SportsEngine's pricing is negotiated per organization. InSeasonHQ is $750/year flat with both transaction rates published.

What does migration from SportsEngine involve for our board?

From your side: a kickoff call and your data. From ours: site rebuild, document/photo re-hosting, URL mapping, and data import — included in your first year, no migration fee. Details: /switching.

Can families keep one account for all their kids?

Yes. One login per household; children never hold accounts.

What if we register in January — is there time?

Setup takes an afternoon, and the first 30 days are free with no card. Book a demo and bring your real numbers; we'll do the arithmetic with you.

CompareSportsEngine

InSeasonHQ vs SportsEngine, side by side

Which is better for a youth sports association, InSeasonHQ or SportsEngine?

It depends on what your season needs. If you want published pricing, one checkout per family, and volunteering with buyouts built in, InSeasonHQ is the better fit: $750 a year flat, card 3.5% + $3.95 or bank 1.8% + $2.49 once per family checkout. If you need live scoring, stats, or video today, or your governing body standardizes on it, SportsEngine is the better fit. The full side-by-side, including where SportsEngine wins, is below.

If your board runs its season on SportsEngine, you already know the system. This page is the direct comparison — what each platform publishes about price, what each one charges your families, and how each handles the parts of an association season that registration software usually leaves to spreadsheets. We publish our numbers. Where SportsEngine doesn't publish theirs, we say so rather than guess.

One thing this page will not claim: nobody is being forced off SportsEngine. PlayMetrics completed its acquisition of SportsEngine in May 2026, and no sunset or forced migration has been announced (per Versant/PlayMetrics deal coverage, checked Oct 2026). Boards are comparing because of the ownership change and the pricing opacity — that's reason enough, and it's the whole of what we'll claim about it.

The comparison.

	InSeasonHQ	SportsEngine
Published price model	InSeasonHQ$750/year flat, published on our pricing page. Unlimited registrations and admins, no size tiers	SportsEngineCustom/negotiated pricing: an entry price you can buy online, with custom pricing above it, and your rates are negotiated when you join (per SportsEngine's own pricing page and help center, read Sept 2026)^*
Fee structure	InSeasonHQCard 3.5% + $3.95, bank 1.8% + $2.49 — charged once per family checkout, not per child and not per registration. Bank costs families about half of card. Your org chooses: absorb the fees or pass them through. Stripe processing included	SportsEngineProcessing rates negotiated per org, not published (per SportsEngine's own help center, read Sept 2026)^*
Volunteering (volunteer hours & buyouts)	InSeasonHQCore, not an add-on: volunteer shifts, per-family hour requirements, and buyouts ($ due tracked against hours owed) are built into the season	SportsEngineDib Sessions exist, but an independent deep-dive documents real limits for associations running volunteer bond programs — read it before you assume your bond program ports over cleanly (per SportsHelpers, checked Oct 2026)^*
Roster offers	InSeasonHQCore: assign a player, send the offer, family accepts and pays — built for travel-team selection	SportsEngineNot a feature SportsEngine leads with in its published materials (checked Oct 2026)
Family accounts	InSeasonHQOne login per household. Kids never hold accounts; parents see every child, balance, signature and shift in one place	SportsEngineFamilies hold SportsEngine accounts, structured per athlete (per SportsEngine's published model, checked Oct 2026)^*
Schedules & messages	InSeasonHQTeam schedules with an RSVP per kid on every event, and email and opt-in texts to families, sent from the rosters registration already built	SportsEngineTeam schedules and messaging in the SportsEngine app (per SportsEngine's published product, checked Oct 2026)^*
What the one price covers	InSeasonHQCheck-in at the door with QR codes and punch passes; classes, lessons, memberships and rentals; a team store; equipment inventory by where it lives and what size; payment plans and promo codes; a report builder with QuickBooks export; email and opt-in texts to families. The public website is the only add-on	SportsEngineFeatures are packaged by plan, with custom pricing above the entry plan (per SportsEngine's own pricing page, read Sept 2026)^*
Ads, data & ownership	InSeasonHQNo ads. No tracking. No selling family data. That is a product policy, not a pricing tier. One product, one owner	SportsEngineThree owners in under a decade: NBC, then Versant, then PlayMetrics since May 2026. PlayMetrics also owns Sports Connect and Crossbar (per deal coverage and PlayMetrics' own site, checked Oct 2026)^*
Migration help	InSeasonHQDone for you and included in year one: we rebuild your site, re-host documents and photos, map old URLs, and import your data. No migration or onboarding fee	SportsEngineSelf-serve tools and onboarding vary by plan (per SportsEngine's published materials, checked Oct 2026)^*
Scale & track record	InSeasonHQSmall and new (see the honesty section below). In a customer's words, Brian Bambenek, Owner, Great Lakes Baseball Academy (Woodbury, MN): "We run Great Lakes on InSeasonHQ. Registration, payments, and schedules are all in one place, and our families have one login for everything."	SportsEngine45,000+ organizations and 16M athletes (per Versant/PlayMetrics deal coverage, checked Oct 2026)^*

^* Competitor facts as published by the vendor, checked October 2026; the sources are named in each cell.

Why boards switch.

The price conversation ends. No quote, no negotiation, no renewal surprise: $750, and both transaction rates in writing before you ever book a call.
One checkout per family. A family registering three kids pays the fixed fee once on the whole checkout: $31.25 by card or $16.53 by bank on $780 (3 × $260). Both numbers are on our pricing page; SportsEngine's are negotiated.
Volunteering without the workaround. Hour requirements and buyout money live in the same system as registration, so the registrar stops reconciling a spreadsheet against a payments report in April.
A person who has run your registration. InSeasonHQ is built by a travel director who ran seasons on SportsEngine — the workflows are an association's workflows, not a club platform's leftovers.

Where SportsEngine is the better fit — honestly.

If you need live scoring, stats, or video, SportsEngine's ecosystem (and the apps around it) is deeper. InSeasonHQ does not do live scorekeeping, stats, or game video today, and we say so on our own site.
If your governing body standardizes on it, the choice may not be yours — same as any mandated platform.
If sheer scale is your comfort test, SportsEngine has tens of thousands of organizations and a decade-plus head start. We are small. Our answer is published pricing, included migration, and direct access to the people who build the product — but if "nobody ever got fired for choosing the incumbent" is your board's rule, we won't win that argument and won't pretend otherwise.
Tournament brackets and tryout evaluation scoring are coming at InSeasonHQ, not live. If those decide your season today, weigh that.

Questions boards ask about this one.

Is SportsEngine shutting down or forcing us to move?: No — not that anyone has announced. PlayMetrics acquired SportsEngine in May 2026; no sunset or forced migration has been announced. Boards are evaluating alternatives because of the ownership change and negotiated pricing, not because they have to.
How much does SportsEngine actually cost?: We can't tell you, and that's the point of this page: SportsEngine's pricing is negotiated per organization. InSeasonHQ is $750/year flat with both transaction rates published.
What does migration from SportsEngine involve for our board?: From your side: a kickoff call and your data. From ours: site rebuild, document/photo re-hosting, URL mapping, and data import — included in your first year, no migration fee. Details: /switching.
Can families keep one account for all their kids?: Yes. One login per household; children never hold accounts.
What if we register in January — is there time?: Setup takes an afternoon, and the first 30 days are free with no card. Book a demo and bring your real numbers; we'll do the arithmetic with you.

See InSeasonHQ run a season.

Next: SportsEngine alternatives · What switching involves · Every comparison

Facts about SportsEngine checked October 2026 from the sources noted. SportsEngine's pricing and features can change; if we have something wrong, tell us and we'll fix the page — that offer stands for every comparison we publish.