A Spond alternative for casual five-a-side

If you've looked for an app to run your five-a-side, you've probably come across Spond. It's popular, it's free to start with and lots of clubs swear by it. So is it the right fit for a casual weekly game with your mates?

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes a smaller tool built just for the weekly kickabout fits better. Here's an honest comparison, as of October 2026, to help you decide.

What Spond is good at

Spond is built for organised groups: sports clubs, youth teams, school teams, and plenty of adult teams too. It does a lot, and it does it well.

• Events and availability. Set up training and matches, and members say whether they're coming.
• Recurring events and reminders. Good for a fixed weekly schedule.
• Group posts and messages, so club news lives in one place.
• Payments. You can collect fees through the app. The core app is free. In the UK, payments cost 2.5% + 20p each (as of October 2026).
• Built for clubs. Several teams, parents replying for their children, and admins.

If you run a club, a youth side or a team with fixtures, training and subs to collect, Spond is a strong choice.

Where a casual five-a-side is different

A weekly kickabout isn't a club. There's no fixture list, no coach and no parents. There's a pitch booked for Tuesday at seven, a pool of fifteen-odd mates, and two jobs that matter every week:

1. Getting ten people to turn up.
2. Splitting them into two fair teams, so it's a game and not a hammering.

And there's one thing everyone cares about afterwards: who won, and who's top of the table.

That's where Spond and a casual game part ways. Spond's teams are groups that admins split up by hand, and we couldn't find a way to pick balanced teams from a rotating pool or keep a league table for a casual game (as of October 2026). For a club that's fine. For a five-a-side where different people play each week and the bragging rights matter, it's the missing piece.

What 5asider does

5asider does one thing: the weekly game with your mates. It's free, it runs in the browser and it's been going since 2009.

• One-tap replies by email. When you add a game, everyone in the squad gets an email with I'm in and I'm out buttons. No login needed to reply.
• Who's in, out and yet to reply on the game page, with reserves when more than ten say yes.
• Fair teams. Auto-pick splits whoever is playing into two even teams using the squad's own results and recent form. You can swap anyone before you save. See how to pick fair five-a-side teams.
• Scores and tables. Add the score and the season, form and all-time tables update themselves.
• Player stats. Each player gets their own page with their record, their form and how often they drop out.
• Squads people can find. List your squad as looking for players and people can find you and ask to join.

Spond vs 5asider at a glance

Based on each product's own pages, as of October 2026.

Which should you choose?

Choose Spond if:

• you run a club or a youth team with several teams, training and fixtures;
• you want to collect fees in the app and don't mind the per-payment charge;
• you want chat and announcements in the same place as your events.

Choose 5asider if:

• you run a weekly game where different people play each week;
• you want fair teams without arguing about them in the car park;
• you want results, league tables and stats that keep themselves;
• you're happy to collect money your own way, and keep your WhatsApp group for the chat.

It's not either/or for everyone. Some groups use one tool for money and another for the game. The best setup is whatever means you spend less time organising and more time playing.

If you're weighing up a group chat as well, see running your five-a-side on WhatsApp vs 5asider.

Moving your game to 5asider

1. Create your squad.
2. Paste in your players' names or email addresses to add everyone at once, then send the invitations.
3. Add next week's game. Everyone who has signed up gets the email.

It takes a minute and costs nothing.

Questions people ask

Is 5asider free?

Yes. Creating a squad, replies, team picking, scores and tables are all free.

Can 5asider collect money like Spond?

No. 5asider doesn't handle payments. Most casual groups use bank transfers or payment links, often paying for a block of weeks up front.

Does Spond pick fair teams?

Not that we could find, as of October 2026. Admins can split members into groups by hand, but we found no way to pick balanced teams from a pool of players using their results. 5asider does that.

Do my players need an app?

Not for 5asider. It runs in the browser, and replying from the email needs no login. Players sign in with Google once to start getting game emails.

Can I use 5asider for a club with several teams?

Each squad on 5asider is one group of players with its own games and tables. A club could run several squads, but if you need fees, chat and fixtures in one place, a club tool like Spond is probably a better fit.