KeepsYa™ vs Upper Hand
Rent a platform, or own your software. The trade is real; here is both sides of it.
Updated August 18, 2026 · KeepsYa 0.185.2 + KeepsYa Pro 0.26.55 · Upper Hand, current cloud release (SaaS)
The short version: Upper Hand is a capable sports-business platform, and renting one makes sense for multi-facility operations with front-desk staff. KeepsYa makes the opposite bet: your website, your database, your payment methods, no monthly platform bill and no per-registration fees. For a coach, club or studio that already has a WordPress site, owning usually wins.
The structural difference matters more than any feature row. With a SaaS platform, your registrations, families and payment history live in someone else’s cloud, behind a subscription that scales with your success. Cancel, and you are exporting CSVs under deadline. With KeepsYa, the software and every byte of data live in your WordPress database, on hosting you already pay for. Cancel Pro and the free core keeps running; your data never moves.
Side by side
| KeepsYa | Upper Hand | |
|---|---|---|
| You own your data ⓘ | ✓ | — |
| Monthly platform fee | — free core; flat yearly Pro license |
✓ subscription, see their pricing |
| Per-registration platform fees | — | depends on plan; see their pricing |
| Runs on your existing WordPress site | ✓ | — hosted pages / embeds |
| Offline payments tracked (cash, Zelle, Venmo, check) | ✓ | — |
| Events, camps, schedules, capacity, waitlists | ✓ | ✓ |
| Family accounts and rosters | ✓ | ✓ |
| Memberships and recurring billing | prepaid packages + punch cards (Pro) | ✓ |
| Facility / court resource scheduling | — | ✓ |
| Point of sale for retail | — | ✓ |
| Referral program with store credit | ✓ | — |
| Rename the app to your program’s words (participant, coach, roster) | ✓ | fixed platform terms |
| Built-in AI (discovery interview, content & ad writer, flyer maker, parent chatbot) | ✓ Pro: discovery interview, writers, flyer maker, chatbot |
— no native AI suite |
Where KeepsYa wins
The bill never grows
Free core, flat Pro license. Your best season ever costs the same as your worst.
Your brand, your domain
Families register on yoursite.com, not a platform subdomain. SEO, analytics and the relationship stay yours.
Cash-friendly by design
Offline payments are not an afterthought: tracked, reminded, reconciled, with QR pay links for Zelle and Venmo.
Private clubs and delegated partners
Run hidden, invite-only sessions and give a partner club its own member group, share link and a delegate who invites and manages their own families, all on your site with the same booking and no per-player fee.
Where Upper Hand fits better
Multi-facility operations
Court and resource scheduling across locations, with front-desk staff working in one system.
Retail at the counter
Integrated point of sale for gear, drinks and pro-shop inventory.
No website, no problem
If you have no web presence at all, a hosted platform gets you live without building one.
The money math
KeepsYa’s cost never scales with your success: the core plugin is free forever, and KeepsYa Pro is one flat yearly license. Platforms priced per month, per player or per registration take a growing cut as you grow. Run your season’s numbers against their pricing page; the gap usually pays for your whole website.
What they cost
Start $79/mo, Grow $199/mo (billed annually); Scale is quote-based. Optional add-ons from $50/mo each. See their pricing →
Keepsa: free core, flat yearly Pro license. We re-check these figures weekly; tell us if you spot a change.
or lock founders pricing: KeepsYa Pro at $149/yr for the first 500 (regular $199/yr)
More comparisons: Eventbrite · Event Tickets Plus · Amelia & Bookly · TeamSnap · Sawyer · WooCommerce Bookings · SportsEngine · Jackrabbit Class · LeagueApps · Jersey Watch · RegFox · all comparisons
Or see KeepsYa for your activity: browse 68+ activities. Grow it with our guides and free AI marketing prompts, including the downloadable AI Prompt Pack.
Feature notes reflect each product’s public documentation and published feature lists as of June 12, 2026. Products change; check their site for current details and pricing. All trademarks belong to their owners; KeepsYa is not affiliated with or endorsed by any product compared here.
Our 30-day, no-questions-asked guarantee
Try KeepsYa Pro and love it, or get a full refund, automatically. If Pro is not right for your program, just log in and cancel within 30 days of your purchase and we will refund your charge automatically. No emails, no hoops, no questions. And if you ever get stuck before then, a real person replies within one business day.
More than an affiliate program: a growth flywheel
KeepsYa Pro turns your own families into your marketing engine and rewards them for it. Affiliate commissions, family referrals and the stored-value ledger are not three features, they are one self-perpetuating loop:
A family shares their link
Every family gets a personal referral link, and partners get an affiliate link, straight from your KeepsYa site.
A friend signs up
The new registration is tracked automatically and attributed to the referrer, first-touch, no codes to chase.
The family earns spendable credit
They receive real, owner-funded account credit (or a cash commission), held in your stored-value ledger and payable after the service is delivered.
They come back and spend it
That credit pulls the family into next season, and their friend now has a link of their own.
The result: your customers promote you, get rewarded, and keep coming back, while you keep every dollar and own all the data. One referral can pay for a whole year of Pro. See how the Pro flywheel works →