Playing is free. You pay for more, never for the basics.
Logging a game, confirming a score and seeing your own rating never cost anything, and there are no ads. Three things are paid: more than one community, a tournament bigger than an afternoon round robin, and a coach listing. All prices are in US dollars.
Free
What every player gets, for nothing
Logging games and confirming scores
Every game, every format, as many as you play.
Your rating and its full history
With the reasoning behind every change, and the band that shows how sure it is.
One community
Its ladder, announcements, pickup games and members. Change which one whenever you like — your games, rating and history come with you.
Pickup games
Post one, join one, and let the app form balanced courts and run the waitlist.
The paddle rack and check-in
Put your paddle in the line at a busy park, see how busy the courts are, and check in when you get there.
Following players
Anyone, in any community — no shared community needed.
Entering tournaments
Any public tournament, whichever community you are in. If the organizer charges an entry fee, that is theirs (see below).
Running a small tournament
Up to 8 players and 1 division, as often as you like.
DinkPartner Plus
One community is free. More, or your own, is Plus.
A free account belongs to 1 community at a time, and you can change which one whenever you like. Plus lifts both community limits.
$2.99a month
- Play in as many communities as you like — every ladder, every pickup game, every announcement.
- Start communities of your own — starting one in the app needs Plus from the first.
- Own or co-own more than one — without Plus you may own or co-own 1 community in total, and co-owning counts the same as owning.
Monthly, through the App Store or Google Play, renewing until you cancel in your Apple or Google account. Cancel any time; it runs to the end of the month you paid for. Your games, rating and history never depend on it, and nothing is deleted if it lapses.
Tournament hosting
One payment, one tournament
Bought inside the app, for the event you are about to run, as a one-off purchase through the App Store or Google Play. Never a subscription.
Free
$0
Up to 8 players, 1 division
A two-court doubles round robin — the Tuesday-night shape. Divisions, seeding, bracket, live board, and scores that move real ratings. Run as many as you like.
Small
Most clubs$24.99
Up to 32 players, 2 divisions
One payment for one tournament. Buy it when you need it; there is nothing to cancel afterwards.
Large
$59.99
Up to 128 players, 8 divisions
Multi-division events with court allocation across the day. Upgrading lifts the cap on a tournament that is already taking registrations.
What every size includes
Divisions, seeding by hand or by rating, round robin and bracket draws, court allocation across the day, co-organizers and scorekeepers, per-player check-in and waivers, score entry with correction, the live board, standings, a public tournament page and a CSV export. The free size is not a demo — it runs the whole flow, and the scores it produces move real ratings. A credit is spent on the tournament you apply it to, and buying the next size lifts the cap on that same tournament.
Entry fees
The organizer sets the fee, and gets all of it
A tournament can charge to enter, per division. Each player pays their own by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, through Stripe. A free division stays free: no fee of any kind.
What a player pays has three parts, and the app shows all three before anyone pays:
- The entry fee — the organizer’s, to the cent, exactly as advertised.
- $2.99 per player — DinkPartner’s fee, per player per paid division. A doubles team is two players, so two fees.
- Card processing — Stripe’s cost (2.9% + 30¢ of the total), passed through at cost rather than taken out of the organizer’s fee.
| Entry fee, to the organizer | $20.00 |
|---|---|
| DinkPartner | $2.99 |
| Card processing | $1.00 |
| The player pays | $23.99 |
DinkPartner collects entry fees through Stripe and pays the organizer’s share to their own Stripe account once the tournament is complete. Refunds follow the organizer’s refund policy, which is shown before you pay and fixed when the tournament is published — and an organizer who cancels before the draw refunds every entry in full. An organizer needs a Stripe account to charge entry fees, and Stripe runs its own identity checks.
Coaches
A coach listing
A coach keeps a profile in the app’s coach directory, where players nearby find them and message them directly.
$9.99a month
A listing, not a booking system — no booking, no cut of lessons. Lessons, times and payment are arranged between the coach and the player. Certifications show as the coach’s own claims; we do not verify them.
Monthly, through the App Store or Google Play; cancel any time in your Apple or Google account. If it lapses the profile stops being listed and is kept, so subscribing again puts it straight back.
Who takes the payment
App stores for the app, Stripe for the event
Everything that unlocks something in the app is an in-app purchase. Money for a real-world event goes through Stripe. Never the other way round, and never mixed.
| What | Who pays | Paid through | Refunds |
|---|---|---|---|
| DinkPartner Plus | A player | App Store or Google Play — an in-app subscription | Apple or Google, under their policies |
| Tournament hosting (Small, Large) | The organizer | App Store or Google Play — a one-off in-app purchase | Apple or Google, under their policies |
| Coach listing | A coach | App Store or Google Play — an in-app subscription | Apple or Google, under their policies |
| A tournament entry fee | The player entering | Stripe — card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, inside the app | The organizer's refund policy, shown before you pay |
Prices on this page are in US dollars. In the app, the App Store and Google Play show their own price for your country, in your currency and including any tax they collect, and that is the price you pay. The full terms are in the Terms of Service.
Questions people actually ask
- Do I need Plus to play?
- No. Logging games, confirming scores, your rating, one community, pickup games, the rack, check-in, following and entering tournaments are all free. DinkPartner Plus is for belonging to more than one community, or starting one of your own.
- Why does starting a community need Plus?
- Because running one is the thing the free tier rations. Plus is $2.99 a month and covers both halves: start communities of your own, and play in as many as you like. Joining a community never costs anything.
- Can a co-owner be on the free tier?
- Yes, for one. Without Plus you may own or co-own one community in total — co-owning counts the same as owning, because a co-owner holds the same powers. To co-own a second, or to own one and co-own another, you need Plus. Offering co-ownership is free; it is accepting it that counts. A community can have up to 3 co-owners, alongside its one owner.
- What happens if my Plus subscription lapses?
- Nothing is deleted and nobody is removed from anything. Communities you started still exist and you are still in them; your games, rating and history are untouched. What stops is the lift: you cannot join, start or accept another community until you are back within the free limit — by leaving one, or by subscribing again.
- Is there a free trial?
- No. Everything that is free is free for good, so there is nothing to trial — and the paid things are cheap enough to try for a month and cancel.
- How do I cancel?
- In your Apple or Google account, where subscriptions are managed — not in DinkPartner, and not by deleting the app. Plus and the coach listing run until the end of the period you have paid for.
- Is a tournament payment a subscription?
- No. You buy it for the tournament you are about to run, and there is nothing to cancel afterwards. A club that runs one event a year pays once a year.
- What if my tournament outgrows the size I bought?
- Buy the next one and the cap on the existing tournament lifts. Registrations already taken stay where they are, nobody re-registers, and money already collected is untouched.
- How do refunds work for entry fees?
- Each tournament shows its organizer's refund policy before you pay, and it is fixed when the tournament is published, so it cannot change under you. Inside that policy, refunds are the organizer's call. One thing is not: if an organizer cancels before the draw, every entry is refunded in full. Refunds go back to the card or wallet you paid with.
- Does DinkPartner take a cut of coaching?
- No. A coach pays $9.99 a month to be listed and that is all we ever receive. It is a listing, not a booking system — no booking, no cut of lessons. Players message a coach in the app; the lesson, the time and the money are arranged between the two of them.
- Can I book a court?
- No. DinkPartner never books or reserves a court. Busyness, check-ins and the rack are players telling each other what is happening at a park — first come, first served — and the facility's own rules always win.
- Why are there two kinds of payment?
- Because the app stores require it. Paying to unlock something inside an app has to go through Apple's or Google's purchase; paying to enter a real-world event must not. So hosting, Plus and coach listings are in-app purchases, entry fees go through Stripe, and the two are never mixed.
- What currency are the prices in?
- US dollars on this page. The App Store and Google Play show in-app prices in your own currency, at their local price for your country, including any tax they collect — the store's figure is the one you pay. Entry fees are charged in the currency the organizer set for the tournament.
Anything else: support →