Alternatives · For organizers comparing options

A start.gg alternative free for pools, Swiss and live brackets

Whether your next event is an online qualifier or a room full of stations, the questions worth asking are the same. Below is a neutral checklist covering both, and what Tournamyx does on each point.

Try Tournamyx free

Free for small events · Nothing to install

Price to start: Free up to 8 entrants, unlimited events, no card
Large fields: Swiss and pools — nobody eliminated in round one
At a LAN: Station assignment plus per-station result entry
Current gap: No double elimination yet

Decide what your next three events actually look like

Competitive events split along a line that is easy to miss when comparing tools: whether the players are in the same room. An online qualifier needs a bracket, a check-in, and a way for results to arrive from participants. A LAN needs station assignment, a schedule with real times, someone reporting from the floor, and a view that works on a phone in a venue with poor reception.

Field size is the other axis. A straight bracket is the right shape for a small invitational and the wrong one for a large open, where eliminating half the entrants in round one defeats the point of an open. Swiss and pools exist for exactly that case: everyone keeps playing, and the standings still separate the field.

Write down what your next three events are before you compare anything — sizes, and whether they are online or in a venue. Then answer the checklist below against whatever you are considering, including this product.

The checklist

What to look for in a start.gg alternative

6 questions to answer against whatever you are evaluating, this product included. We have filled in our own column; the point is that you can check every one of these yourself rather than take anybody’s word for it.

Does it run pools and Swiss, or only a straight bracket?
At open-entry sizes a knockout eliminates half your entrants in round one. Swiss and pools keep everyone playing and still produce a ranked field.
In Tournamyx
Swiss, round robin pools, single elimination, and pools that chain into a knockout are all supported natively.
Can the same event shape run online and then in a venue, without relearning it?
Many organizers run a qualifier online and the finals on site. Two tools for one competition means two sets of results to reconcile.
In Tournamyx
Format logic and venue scheduling are separate — add stations and time slots for the on-site event, leave them out for the online one.
Can stations or setups be part of the schedule?
On the day, "which setup" is as important as "who plays". A fixture list without station assignment leaves the hard part to a whiteboard.
In Tournamyx
Matches are assigned across your real station count with nobody double-booked, and the assignment shows on the public link.
Who is allowed to report a result, and can they report only their own?
Delegating reporting is what lets one person run a large event. Delegating it badly is how a bracket gets edited by someone who should not have.
In Tournamyx
Roles are granted per tournament, so a floor scorer or a team rep can enter the results you allow and nothing else.
Does the spectator view hold up on a phone with bad reception?
Venues have poor signal and spectators will not install anything. A heavy page behind a login is a page nobody opens.
In Tournamyx
One public URL, no login, no install — the bracket, schedule and results in any mobile browser.
What happens when an entrant no-shows mid-bracket?
It happens at every open. The question is whether recording it takes five seconds or a redraw that invalidates the version already posted.
In Tournamyx
Record the walkover and the bracket resolves onward from it; the public link updates for everyone at once.

What Tournamyx does

Swiss and pools, and why field size decides the format

Twenty-four entrants is twenty-three matches as a straight knockout, and twelve of them go home after one game. The same twenty-four in a five-round Swiss is sixty games with nobody eliminated early, and the standings still separate a winner. That is the entire argument for Swiss at open-entry sizes, and it is why chess and large esports events have used it for decades.

Tournamyx supports Swiss, round robin, single elimination, and pools that feed a knockout. You can test the arithmetic for your own field before committing: the round robin generator and the group stage + knockout generator run in the browser with no account and save nothing.

One gap worth mentioning up front: double elimination is not supported yet. If your event needs a losers bracket, this is not the right fit today — better to hear that now than halfway through setting one up.

Running the day itself, not just the draw

The part that consumes an organizer is not generating the bracket — it is the hours afterwards, when results arrive from six places at once and everyone needs to know what is next. Every Tournamyx event publishes one public URL with the bracket, the schedule and the station assignment, and it updates the moment a result is saved.

Reporting is delegated by role rather than by sharing a login, so the person at station three can enter station three’s results from their own phone without being able to touch the draw or your other events. That is what makes a two-person crew able to run a floor.

The esports segment page covers this from the online side; if the same committee also runs physical sport, university sport covers the other half.

What it has actually been run at

The largest Tournamyx event so far is 406 teams across 755 matches at multiple venues — the case study has the detail. We would rather point at one real event than quote a theoretical entrant ceiling.

Small events are free: up to 8 entrants, unlimited events, no card. Beyond that there are paid plans and a one-off unlock for a single event, which suits a community that runs one large event a year and weeklies in between. Current tiers are on the pricing page.

Questions

Before you move anything across.

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Is there a free alternative to start.gg?

Tournamyx is free for events up to 8 entrants with no limit on how many you run, and the bracket, Swiss and pool generators on this site are free with no account at all. Larger events use a paid plan or a one-off unlock for a single event.

Which start.gg alternatives handle Swiss and pools?

That is the first thing to check at open-entry sizes, because a straight bracket eliminates half the field in round one. Tournamyx supports Swiss, round robin pools, single elimination, and pools that chain into a knockout — twenty-four entrants in five Swiss rounds is sixty games with nobody knocked out early.

Does Tournamyx support Swiss?

Yes. Swiss is available alongside round robin, single elimination, and pools that chain into a knockout. It is usually the right choice for large open fields where eliminating half the entrants in round one would defeat the point.

Can I run a losers bracket?

Not yet — double elimination is the one major format Tournamyx does not cover. Single elimination, round robin, Swiss, group stages feeding a knockout and attempt-based scoring are all supported. If a losers bracket is essential to your event, this is not the right fit today, but do tell us — we like knowing what people are asking for.

Who enters results during a LAN?

Whoever you choose, per tournament. A floor scorer, a station marshal or a team representative can be given result entry for their own matches without the ability to edit the draw or touch anyone else’s results — so one person does not have to walk the room collecting scores.

Does it work for an online-only event?

Yes. Station and time-slot scheduling is available when you need it for an on-site event and ignorable when you do not. The bracket, Swiss rounds and public viewer link work either way.

Can I test it before creating an account?

Yes. The generators on this site run entirely in your browser — paste a real entrant list, see the match count, rounds and byes, and type scores to watch the bracket resolve. Nothing is saved and no account is created.

How many entrants can it handle?

The free browser generators cap at 24 to stay fast. The product itself has run a 406-team, 755-match event across multiple venues, which is the honest reference point rather than a theoretical maximum.

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