Gather Commons vs CourtReserve
CourtReserve is club management software for racquet and paddle sports — courts, lessons, leagues, and pro shop operations. If your courts are one amenity among several in a neighborhood or swim & tennis club, Gather Commons covers the whole community rather than just the courts.
Start free trialWho this comparison is for
Your community has courts, and you need real booking rules for them. But you also have a pool, a clubhouse, a roster, dues to collect, and a website nobody has updated since 2019. Court booking software solves one of those, and you're weighing whether to buy it separately or find something that covers the rest.
Choose CourtReserve if…
- Courts are your entire operation — a dedicated racquet or paddle facility rather than a neighborhood amenity.
- You run lessons, leagues, ladders, and a pro shop, and need software built around those.
- You have staff and a front desk, and court utilization is the number your business turns on.
- You operate multiple locations.
Choose Gather Commons if…
- Courts are one of several amenities — the pool, the clubhouse, and the pavilion matter just as much.
- You want one member roster, not a court system and a community system that drift apart.
- Your members should join the community once, and have court access follow from that.
- You'd rather not pay racquet-club pricing to book four courts.
How the two are positioned
Differences in what each product is built around — not a feature scorecard.
| CourtReserve | Gather Commons | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | The courts — reservations, lessons, leagues, pro shop | The community — courts as one amenity among several |
| Typical customer | Racquet and paddle sports facilities | Neighborhoods and swim & tennis clubs |
| Scope beyond courts | Deep within racquet operations | Pool, clubhouse, events, directory, documents, dues, public site |
| Member record | Lives in the court system | One roster the whole community runs on |
CourtReserve is a racquet club management softwareproduct and may well be the right fit for communities whose main problem lives in that domain. Gather Commons is for communities that lead with engagement. We describe positioning rather than feature lists, because feature claims about other people's software go out of date the week they ship something.
What switching actually involves
The question is usually whether you need a second system at all. If your courts are busy enough to need leagues, ladders and a pro shop, a dedicated racquet platform earns its place and Gather Commons can run everything around it. If you mainly need members to book a court without double-booking, that's included here — along with the pool, the roster and the website — and you're maintaining one system instead of two.
Common questions
Is your court booking as capable as dedicated racquet software?
Not for a competitive racquet program. CourtReserve is built for lessons, leagues, ladders and pro shop operations, and does far more in that domain than we do. Our reservations cover booking windows, time limits, prime-time rules, guest policy and conflict-free scheduling — which is what a neighborhood or swim & tennis club typically needs.
Can we run both?
Yes. Some communities keep a dedicated court platform for a serious tennis program and use Gather Commons for the pool, events, directory, documents, dues and the public site. You end up maintaining two member lists, which is the main cost of that arrangement.
What about the pool and the clubhouse?
Both are first-class here. The same reservation system handles pool pavilions, clubhouses and picnic areas alongside courts, with their own rules and approval settings — so seasonal amenities and courts live in one place.
Can we use Gather Commons alongside CourtReserve?
Yes, and plenty of communities do. Gather Commons handles the community side — events, reservations, the directory, announcements, and a public site — while you keep whatever you already use for bookkeeping or property operations. Nothing about our setup requires you to rip out an existing system.
How long does it take to get set up?
Most communities have a working site and their first event live within an afternoon. Importing a member roster is a spreadsheet upload, branding is colors and a logo, and a custom domain can be connected once DNS propagates.
What does it cost?
Plans start at $149/month with a free trial, billed monthly or annually, and you can cancel yourself from inside the platform at any time. Court and facility reservations and online payments are both included in the base plan — see the pricing page for the full breakdown.
Still comparing? See everything included or what it costs.
Bring your community together
Start a 14-day free trial. No setup fees, cancel anytime.
Start free trial