The Spond alternative that runs your whole club
Spond is a free, much-loved app for organising teams and group messaging. ClubLono is built to run the whole club — paid memberships and sessions, drop-in court queues, leagues and tournaments across 24 sports. Here's an honest comparison.
What ClubLono adds on top of scheduling
Spond does team scheduling, availability and group chat brilliantly, and has built-in membership and event payments (processed through Stripe). ClubLono starts from the same place and keeps going: it's a club operating system, not just a team organiser.
The big additions are the things racket, bat and social clubs actually run on — a live court or table queue with QR join that auto-matches fair games, social-night formats like Mexicano and Americano, full leagues, ladders and box leagues with automatic standings and Glicko-2 player ratings, and pay-per-session and one-off guest payments via Stripe that land straight in your club's bank account, with auto-refund when you cancel.
Where Spond is a great fit
ClubLono vs Spond at a glance
| ClubLono | Spond | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Running a whole sports club — members, sessions, payments, leagues and social nights | Organising teams & groups — scheduling, availability and messaging |
| Payments | Stripe — memberships, pay-per-session fees and one-off guest dues, paid straight to your bank; auto-refund on cancel | Built-in membership & event payments (via Stripe) |
| Court / table queue | Live queue with QR join and fair auto-matching | — |
| Social-night formats | Mexicano, Americano and round-robin / knockout tournaments | — |
| Leagues & ratings | Box leagues, ladders, season tables and Glicko-2 ratings | — |
| Sports | 24 sports, including racket & social sports | Any team or group (team-sport focused) |
| Platforms | iOS, Android & web | iOS, Android & web |
| Price | Free for one club; Premium £19.99/mo or £199.99/yr | Free |
Comparison reflects publicly described features and is kept fair; Spond's product may have changed — check their site for the latest.
Why clubs choose ClubLono
Drop-in nights, sorted
A live court/table queue that auto-matches fair games — the thing a scheduling app was never built for.
Leagues & ratings
Box leagues, ladders and Glicko-2 ratings keep members coming back, all handled automatically.
Payments to your bank
Memberships, session fees and guest dues via Stripe, settled straight to the club account.
Many sports, one app
Badminton, padel, pickleball, squash, table tennis and 19 more — not just team sport.
ClubLono vs Spond — FAQ
Is ClubLono a good alternative to Spond?
Yes — especially if your club runs paid sessions, drop-in nights, leagues or tournaments, or covers more than team sport. ClubLono keeps the scheduling and messaging you get from Spond and adds a court queue, social-night formats, leagues with ratings, and Stripe payments straight to your bank.
Does ClubLono do something Spond does not?
A few things Spond is not built for: a live court/table queue with fair auto-matching, Mexicano and Americano social formats, box leagues and ladders with Glicko-2 player ratings, and pay-per-session plus one-off QR guest payments. ClubLono also supports 24 sports out of the box.
Can ClubLono collect payments like Spond's?
Yes. ClubLono uses Stripe to collect membership subscriptions, per-session fees and one-off guest dues. The money is paid straight into your club's own bank account via Stripe Connect, and cancelled sessions auto-refund every booked player.
Is ClubLono free like Spond?
ClubLono is free for a single club with no time limit, including paid sessions (a 5% platform fee applies on the free plan). Premium is £19.99/month or £199.99/year and drops that fee to 1% while adding multi-club hosting, leagues and kiosk mode.
Run your club, not your admin
Free for a single club, no card needed to start. Set up members, sessions and payments in minutes.
Get started — it's free