GUIDE · PADEL BOOKING SOFTWARE How to choose software for your padel club.
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Compare software on what matters to your players, your team and your budget. This guide from the Palarena team gives you one set of scenarios to run with every vendor.
What to check before you choose
To compare products side by side, ask every vendor to run through the same steps in their demo, with your courts and your prices.
Your players’ experience
The software’s job is to get your players from wanting a game to having one booked.
On a phone, look for a slot, use a membership or pack and check the final price.
Helping players fill a game
When a game is one player short, an open match offers the spot to other players.
See how those players come across the game, and what information helps them decide to join.
How each player pays
In padel, four players often split a court, and most software lets each of them pay their own share online. Look instead at what the player pays on top of the court price, and what your club receives from each share.
Ask when each player pays, who covers a share left unpaid, and what is taken out of each online payment.
Every booking in one place
A booking taken at the front desk or over the phone should show up on the same schedule as one made online.
During the demo, ask to see a phone booking entered, then moved.
Acting on quieter hours
Occupancy figures are only useful if you can turn them into a decision that suits your club.
Pick a slot that needs a lift, apply your pricing rule and check the price the player sees.
Taking payments at the front desk
A payment taken on-site should stay tied to the booking and the players on it.
Ask to send the amount to the terminal, then look for the confirmed payment in the financial records.
Inviting the right players
An email about a tournament or a lesson should be able to target the right players, in line with what they’ve agreed to receive.
Draft an invitation, exclude anyone already registered and check the preview before you schedule anything.
Getting set up
Before your first online booking, someone has to set up your courts, opening hours and prices, train your team and, if you’re switching software, migrate your data. If payments go through a provider such as Stripe, verifying your account takes its own time too.
Ask who does the work, how long it takes and what it costs.
What’s available today
A feature that’s been announced isn’t always a feature you can use.
For every feature that matters to you, ask to see it working in the demo on your own setup, with your courts, your prices and a booking paid for by several players.
How much does padel booking software cost?
Your total cost is the subscription, plus any commission, plus online payment fees. A commission rises and falls with the bookings it applies to, which may be all of them or only those that come from a particular source. A subscription is a fixed cost that depends on the billing period, the commitment and the add-ons in the plan. Neither model is the cheaper one in every case.
If your club is already open, start from what you collected online over the past twelve months. If you’re about to open, run the numbers on several scenarios, from the most cautious to the busiest.
| Collected online per month | Simulated 3% commission | Simulated 5% commission | Palarena monthly subscription |
|---|---|---|---|
| €2,000 | €60 | €100 | €149 |
| €5,000 | €150 | €250 | €149 |
| €10,000 | €300 | €500 | €149 |
| €20,000 | €600 | €1,000 | €149 |
In this simulation, a 3% commission costs less than the subscription as long as the club collects less than about €5,000 online per month. For a 5% commission, that threshold is about €3,000. The table compares prices, not services. It leaves out payment fees, which apply under both models, and what each offer includes, such as putting your club in front of new players.
What Palarena offers
With Palarena, your players book in your club’s app and can join open matches. Your team sees bookings, players and their payments in one place.
To judge whether it’s right for your club, ask for a demo set up with your opening hours, your prices and a membership or pack your players use.
Frequently asked questions
Do my players need to download an app?
Not necessarily. Some software runs in the phone’s browser, and some requires installing an app. With Palarena, your players open your club’s app from a link, without going through an app store, and can add it to their home screen.
What should I check so I can switch software later?
Ask which data you’ll be able to take with you, in which formats, at what cost and how quickly. Get those terms written into the contract before you sign.