KeepTheScore, Scoreholio, ScoreZen: which one should you pick?

One sentence each

KeepTheScore is an online scoreboard built to be ready in seconds and to sit inside a video broadcast. It is the tool of the streamer, the gym, the screen at the end of the hall.

Scoreholio is a tournament manager aimed at North American bar and backyard sports. Their headline is "Professional Tournament Management", with the subtitle "Run amazing tournaments with digital scoreboards, live updates, and automated brackets".

ScoreZen is a multi-sport live scoring app: you tap the points on a phone, and everyone who could not be there follows the match live, for free and without an account. Thirty-four sports run on one engine, in twenty-five languages.

The prices, as shown on 1 October 2026

KeepTheScore has a free plan at $0 limited to 2 scoreboards and 10 saved teams, then Plus (10 scoreboards, 25 saved teams) and Pro (unlimited scoreboards and teams). The "$14/mo" and "$26/mo" shown on their page are not monthly subscriptions: they are the monthly equivalent of annual subscriptions billed once a year, $168 a year for Plus and $312 for Pro. Without a subscription, a single month costs $36.00 for Plus or $64.00 for Pro, and nothing renews; their "Save up to 61%" compares the annual plan with that one-month price. Prices are in US dollars, excluding tax, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Worth knowing before you choose a plan: removing their branding and using custom colours and logos start at Plus ($168 a year, or $36.00 for one month), and the custom broadcast overlay and custom CSS are Pro features ($312 a year, or $64.00 for one month). If a clean, branded overlay is the reason you are shopping, that is the Pro tier.

Scoreholio has a free organiser plan called Social, shown at $0 and "Never Expires", then Competitive at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, Advanced at $9.99 or $99.99, and Pro at $19.99 or $199.99, with annual billing advertised as "Save 2 months!". They also sell a separate player subscription, SPR+, at $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year for advanced and historical player statistics. Between KeepTheScore and Scoreholio, theirs is the cheaper paid entry point.

ScoreZen is not a subscription for an individual organiser: three trial matches for life, then ScoreZen Essentiel, €1.99 (launch offer) once, for life, for unlimited matches; tournaments and the championship of the month each take their own pack, also paid once. Spectators are always free and unlimited, with no account. Club spaces are monthly subscriptions (€4.99, €9.99 and €29.99) for organisations managing members and cloud competitions.

One honest remark about comparing prices: a subscription is entirely reasonable when the tool earns you money — if it collects your entry fees, for instance. Compare what you will actually use, not just the number on the page.

What KeepTheScore does better than us

They publish an API that also WRITES. On ten scoreboard types — basketball, baseball, American football, hockey, soccer, volleyball, pickleball, badminton and squash (those three sharing one set-based namespace), and their universal scoreboard — an outside program can set the score, run the timers, and handle fouls and possession. Our public API is read-only: it is there to display, not to drive. If you want to automate a scoreboard from your own software, they are ahead.

Their API is documented at keepthescore.com/docs/api, authenticates with the 13-character token already sitting in your board URL, and is rate-limited to 5 requests per second per board. Everything not on the read-write list, including tennis and softball, is read-only. The same documentation covers driving a board from a Stream Deck.

Broadcast integration is at the heart of their product: customisable overlay, custom CSS, colours and logos. We offer a transparent OBS overlay and an embeddable widget. Their basic transparent overlay is free too, as is Scoreholio's live-scoring widget for OBS (all its plans, the free one included); what KeepTheScore charges for is the custom overlay, custom CSS, logos and removing their watermark — and on that ground their ecosystem is more mature. The direction matters here: their strength is putting a scoreboard INSIDE a broadcast you produce yourself, with production software. If a styled stream overlay is what you are shopping for, they are ahead.

They also accept purchase orders and issue invoices for schools, districts and organisations, which matters when an institution is paying.

What Scoreholio does better than us

Paid registration and player check-in. An organiser can charge an entry fee and manage teams arriving on the day. We do not do that at all: we never take money on an organiser's behalf.

Their range of tournament formats. Besides round robin, pool play and single elimination, their free plan offers double elimination, ladder and king of the court, and their Pro plan adds a Swiss system and best-of-3, 5 or 7 series. We have no double elimination, no ladder and no king of the court.

Their specialisation. On cornhole, axe throwing, darts and table shuffleboard they are specialists, with a community that runs leagues on it. Their sports list: axe throwing, billiards, bocce, cornhole, darts, horseshoes, pickleball, pong, popdarts, table tennis, table shuffleboard, tennis, volleyball, and an "other sports" entry.

If you run a cornhole league in the United States, there is no question to ask: take Scoreholio.

What ScoreZen does differently

The spectators. With us they are free, unlimited, and need no account: you share a link or a QR code, and the grandmother who could not travel watches the score move in real time. That is not a pricing detail, it is the product — the app exists for the people who are not at the side of the pitch.

The breadth. Thirty-four sports on a single engine, from volleyball to petanque by way of judo and CrossFit. If your discipline is missing from the other two lists, this is probably where you will find it.

The language. Twenty-five languages, including Arabic and Urdu right-to-left. A neighbourhood club should not have to speak English to count its own points.

The keepsake. At the end of a match, ScoreZen builds a cinematic recap and a vertical image ready to share. Neither of the other two presents a per-match recap: KeepTheScore exports a tournament bracket as a PNG image, and Scoreholio offers a year-end player recap.

Video, the other way round (since 08/09/2026). Where an overlay sends the score out to a production setup, ScoreZen brings your YouTube or Twitch stream INTO the score page: a spectator opens one link and watches the picture under the points, with no account and nothing to install. No production software is needed — a phone filming is enough. ScoreZen hosts no video: it only keeps the link to your stream.

Tournament formats: single-elimination bracket, round-robin league, groups feeding a knock-out bracket, Swiss system, best-of-3 or best-of-5 series, and rotating partners for an americano or a petanque mêlée. One QR code covers a whole tournament: each player finds their own match and scores it from their phone. Results export to CSV, a public read-only API and an ICS calendar feed are open to anyone, and the score keeps counting without a network, syncing when the signal returns.

And the price: ScoreZen Essentiel, once, €1.99 (launch offer), for life, for unlimited matches; the tournament formats above take their own pack, also paid once. No subscription to keep an eye on.

Pick by your situation

You already have a production setup (OBS, vMix, Streamlabs) and want to drive the board from your software: KeepTheScore — or our OBS overlay, if the score is all you need.

You film with a phone, no production software, and you want the people who could not come to see the picture AND the score on a single link: ScoreZen. Start your stream on YouTube or Twitch, paste the link, the match appears under the score, and you set the score delay so it matches the picture.

You run cornhole, darts or axe-throwing leagues and you want to charge entry fees: Scoreholio.

Your sport is not on their lists, you want everyone to follow along for free in their own language with no subscription, and you want to leave with a keepsake of the match: ScoreZen.

And if you are still hesitating: all three have a free tier. Try them on a real match day, not on paper.

Frequently asked questions

What is the real price difference between the three?

Beyond their free tiers, KeepTheScore sells annual subscriptions ($168 or $312 a year) or one-off months that do not renew ($36.00 or $64.00 a month), and Scoreholio sells monthly or yearly subscriptions ($4.99 to $19.99 a month, $49.99 to $199.99 a year, plus a $2.99 player plan). ScoreZen Essentiel is a single €1.99 (launch offer) payment, for life, for unlimited matches; tournaments take their own pack, also paid once. Over a season the difference shows; over three years it is stark.

Do spectators have to pay or create an account?

With ScoreZen, never: the link or the QR code is enough, and there is no cap on spectators. With KeepTheScore, whoever you share a board with does not need an account either, but removing their branding from what those people see starts at their Plus plan ($168 a year, or $36.00 for one month).

Can I get my data out of each tool?

KeepTheScore publishes a documented API with reads on every sport and writes on ten scoreboard types, authenticated by the 13-character board code, rate-limited to 5 requests per second. ScoreZen publishes a read-only API with no key and no account, plus a CSV export of fixtures and a calendar feed. Scoreholio offers webhooks with Scoreholio Seasons, on its Pro plan, and its documentation states: "There is no public REST API."

Which one handles a tournament best?

Scoreholio for a tournament that needs paid registration, team check-in or a format we lack: double elimination, ladder and king of the court, all on its free plan, or best-of-7 series (Pro). ScoreZen covers single elimination, league, groups, Swiss system, best-of-3 or best-of-5 series and rotating americano partners; with us, every fixture in the tournament stays a real live match that anyone follows by link, with no account, in 34 sports and 25 languages.

What if my sport is on none of the lists?

ScoreZen covers thirty-four disciplines on one engine, and offers a generic mode when yours has no dedicated profile. That is the usual situation for sports with little media coverage.

Is this comparison up to date?

It was compiled on 14 August 2026 and checked again on 1 October 2026 against the public pages of all three sites. Pricing pages move: check with them before deciding, and write to us if you spot an error — we will correct it.