Free tournament tools that actually run the event.
Every generator below runs in your browser: paste a team list and see the real shape of your event: match counts, rounds, byes and standings. Then type scores and watch it resolve. Nothing is saved and nothing is emailed. When you want the same format to stay live for everyone else, it runs on Tournamyx Scores.
Free for up to 8 players · $12 per event beyond that · Nothing to install
By format
Start here if you know the shape.
The format decides everything else: how many matches you play, how many games each team is guaranteed, and whether you finish before the venue closes. Each page shows the real numbers for your team count before you commit to anything.
- Bracket generatorAny format, seeded or random, scored live from any phone.
- Round robin generatorEvery team plays every team. Fixtures, standings and live scores.
- Group + knockout generatorWorld Cup format: groups that feed a bracket automatically.
- Schedule makerMatch times laid out across your real courts.
- Single elimination bracketStraight knockout, with byes placed and winners advancing live.
- Swiss generatorPairs teams on equal records each round. Nobody is eliminated, and Buchholz is included.
- Double eliminationTwo lives per team, losers bracket included. Free in your browser, and live in Tournamyx Scores.
By team count
Start here if you know the number.
Team count changes more than it looks. Eight and sixteen fill a bracket exactly; twelve needs four byes and twenty-four needs eight, and where those byes land decides whether the draw is fair. An odd field in a round robin sits somebody out every round. Each page opens with that many teams already loaded and its own arithmetic worked out.
Single elimination
One defeat and you are out. The fastest way to a winner, and the format where byes decide whether the draw is fair.
- 4 team bracketThree matches over two rounds, and a round robin is probably better.
- 6 team bracketFive matches, two byes placed on the top seeds.
- 8 team bracketThree rounds, seven matches and no byes: the cleanest draw there is.
- 10 team bracketNine matches and six byes, the most lopsided draw of any size.
- 12 team bracketEleven matches and four byes, placed on the top seeds automatically.
- 16 team bracketFifteen matches, four rounds and no byes: the classic full draw.
- 20 team bracketNineteen matches and twelve byes, so four groups of five is usually better.
- 24 team bracketTwenty-three matches, eight byes, five rounds, so plan the courts first.
- 32 team bracketThirty-one matches, five rounds, no byes, and court count is everything.
- 64 team bracketSixty-three matches over six rounds: a logistics problem, not a bracket one.
- 5 team bracketFour matches, three byes placed on the top seeds.
- 7 team bracketSix matches, one bye placed on the top seeds.
- 9 team bracketEight matches, seven byes placed on the top seeds.
- 11 team bracketTen matches, five byes placed on the top seeds.
- 13 team bracketTwelve matches, three byes placed on the top seeds.
- 14 team bracketThirteen matches, two byes placed on the top seeds.
- 15 team bracketFourteen matches, one bye placed on the top seeds.
- 18 team bracketSeventeen matches, fourteen byes placed on the top seeds.
- 48 team bracketForty-seven matches, sixteen byes placed on the top seeds.
Round robin
Everyone plays everyone. The longest format and the only one that guarantees every entrant a full card of games.
- 4 team round robin6 matches over 3 rounds, with every team playing all 3 others.
- 5 team round robin10 matches over 5 rounds, with every team playing all 4 others.
- 6 team round robin15 matches over 5 rounds, with every team playing all 5 others.
- 7 team round robin21 matches over 7 rounds, with every team playing all 6 others.
- 8 team round robin28 matches over 7 rounds, with every team playing all 7 others.
- 9 team round robin36 matches over 9 rounds, with every team playing all 8 others.
- 10 team round robin45 matches over 9 rounds, with every team playing all 9 others.
- 12 team round robin66 matches over 11 rounds, with every team playing all 11 others.
- 16 team round robin120 matches over 15 rounds, with every team playing all 15 others.
- 20 team round robin190 matches over 19 rounds, with every team playing all 19 others.
- 24 team round robin276 matches over 23 rounds, with every team playing all 23 others.
Double elimination
Two lives each. Roughly twice the matches of a knockout, and nobody drives home after losing once.
Before and after the draw
The two jobs either side of a bracket.
Splitting a group chat into teams comes before you pick a format, and something always has to be printed for the registration desk afterwards. Neither is a tournament shape, and both are the step people actually get stuck on.
- Random team generatorSplit a name list into balanced teams with a snake draft, not a coin toss.
- Match calculatorMatches, rounds and run time for any field from 4 to 64, across all four formats at once.
- Printable bracketBlank or filled brackets for 4, 8, 16 and 32, to print or save as PDF.
- Seeding generatorPaste teams best first and get the bracket seed order, byes included.
- Printable score sheetA score sheet for every match, one score or set by set, on A4 or Letter.
Ready-made
Event templates
Schedules by court count
By sport
Or start from what you actually run.
Slot lengths are what make a format work or fail, and they are entirely sport-specific. A fixture list that fits a pickleball morning needs three days of football pitches. These pages do the arithmetic with the right numbers.
Before you pick a format
Match counts and run times, by format and field size
Sixteen teams is 15 matches as a single-elimination bracket, 31 as four groups of four feeding quarter-finals, 32 as a Swiss event, and 120 as a full round robin. On 2 courts at 30-minute slots, that is the difference between finishing in about 4 hours and needing about 30 hours, which no longer fits in a single day.
Pick the format against the court hours you have actually booked, not the other way round. Every format here has a free generator on this page that builds the fixtures for it.
Try your own field
Courts
- Single elimination
15 matches · 4 hFits one day
- Groups + knockout
31 matches · 8 hFits one day
- Swiss
32 matches · 8 hFits one day
- Round robin
120 matches · 30 h · 4 days
30-minute slots, rounds in sequence, 8-hour day. Pink is the fastest format for 16 teams on 2 courts. Open the full calculator
Matches and run time on 2 courts
| Teams | Single eliminationMatches · hours | Groups + knockoutMatches · hours | SwissMatches · hours | Round robinMatches · hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 7 · 2 h | 15 · 4 h | 12 · 3 h | 28 · 7 h |
| 12 | 11 · 3 h | 23 · 6 h | 24 · 6 h | 66 · 16.5 h |
| 16 | 15 · 4 h | 31 · 8 h | 32 · 8 h | 120 · 30 h |
| 24 | 23 · 6 h | 47 · 12 h | 60 · 15 h | 276 · 69 h |
How many matches does each tournament format need?
A round robin needs n × (n − 1) ÷ 2 matches, a single-elimination bracket needs n − 1, a Swiss event needs ⌈log₂ n⌉ × ⌊n ÷ 2⌋, and a group stage of four-team groups feeding a knockout needs 1.5n plus its bracket. For 16 teams that is 120 matches as a round robin, 15 as a single-elimination bracket, 32 as a Swiss event, and 31 as four groups of four into quarter-finals.
What is the difference between a Swiss tournament and a round robin?
A Swiss tournament and a round robin both rank a whole field without eliminating anyone, but a Swiss event plays only ⌈log₂ n⌉ rounds while a round robin plays every possible pairing. Sixteen teams in a Swiss tournament is 4 rounds and 32 matches; the same 16 teams in a round robin is 15 rounds and 120 matches.
What is the difference between single elimination and a group stage into knockout?
Single elimination sends half the field home after one match: a 16-team single-elimination bracket is 15 matches and guarantees every team one game. A 16-team group stage of four groups of four feeding quarter-finals is 31 matches and guarantees every team three games, so it costs roughly twice the court time to give every entrant a real day out.
Which tournament format is the fastest to run?
Single elimination is the fastest tournament format at every field size, because it eliminates one team per match and needs only n − 1 matches in total. Sixteen teams finish in 15 matches as a single-elimination bracket, against 31 as groups into a knockout, 32 as a Swiss event, and 120 as a full round robin.
How long does a tournament take to run?
A tournament's run time is the number of matches in each round divided by the number of courts, rounded up, multiplied by the slot length and summed across rounds. Rounds are sequential, so a flat matches-÷-courts estimate runs short. A 16-team single-elimination bracket on 2 courts at 30-minute slots takes about 4 hours; the same 16 teams as a full round robin takes about 30 hours.
How many courts do I need for a tournament?
One court running 30-minute slots fits 16 matches in an eight-hour day, so the number of courts you need is set by the format, not just by the field size. Sixteen teams finish inside a single eight-hour day on 1 court as a single-elimination bracket, on 2 courts as four groups of four into quarter-finals, on 2 courts as a Swiss event, and on 8 courts as a full round robin.
What do you do with an odd number of teams in a round robin?
A round robin with an odd number of teams gives one team a bye in every round, and the bye rotates so nobody sits out twice before everybody has sat out once. An 11-team round robin therefore runs 11 rounds and 55 matches, with each team idle for exactly one round; an even field needs only n − 1 rounds because nobody sits out. Tournamyx rotates the bye automatically rather than leaving a gap in the grid.
How many byes does a knockout bracket need?
A knockout bracket needs enough byes to reach the next power of two above the field size, and they are seated on the top seeds so the strongest teams enter in round two. A 12-team bracket takes 4 byes and 11 matches, a 20-team bracket takes 12 byes and 19 matches, and a 24-team bracket takes 8 byes and 23 matches. A field that is already a power of two, such as 8, 16 or 32, needs none.
What does tournament software pricing depend on?
Tournament software is priced on one of three axes: per participant in an event, per event run, or per organization. Which axis a tool uses matters more than its headline number for an organizer running many small events. Tournamyx prices on participants per tournament: $0 for up to 8 players, $19 per month for up to 64, and $49 per month for up to 256, with no limit on how many tournaments you run on any tier including Free.
The honest bit
What these tools don’t do.
Nothing on these pages is saved. Close the tab and the bracket is gone. There is no account, no database, and no link to send anyone. That is deliberate: it means you can try a format with your real team list without signing up for anything or handing over an email address.
What it also means is that these are planning tools, not event tools. The moment the first result comes in, a bracket that only exists in your browser stops being useful. You end up screenshotting it into a group chat, and then re-screenshotting it after every match.
That handover is the whole point of Tournamyx Scores: the same formats, but the draw, the schedule, the scoring and one public link are a single system. Events up to 8 teams are free, and the same engine has run a 406-team, 755-match event.
If you are weighing this up against something else, the comparison checklist lists the questions worth asking of any tournament tool, including this one.
Kickoff
Plan it free.
Then run it live.
Free for up to 8 players · $12 per event beyond that · Nothing to install