The best Heylo alternatives for run clubs
Heylo is a solid community platform, but it is built for groups in general — not for clubs that meet at a start line every week. If you are shopping for an alternative, here are six real options, what each is actually good at, and how the pricing and features stack up against JoinRun.
The short answer
- Best overall for run clubs: JoinRun. All premium features included — more than Heylo — from $15/mo, with no transaction fees.
- Best free option: Strava clubs, if you only need a page and a route feed and can live without registrations or attendance.
- Best for discovery: Meetup, as a funnel on top of a real platform.
- Best for a one-off race: Eventbrite. Not for weekly sessions.
Everything JoinRun includes — and what Heylo charges for
This is the whole point of the comparison. On JoinRun the premium feature set is the plan; on Heylo, several of these are a tier up, a fee on top, or absent.
| Feature | JoinRun | Heylo |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited events | ||
| Unlimited participants | ||
| Unlimited clubs | Organization plan (custom pricing) | |
| Unlimited team members | ||
| Custom registration forms | Limited RSVP fields | |
| Public run club page | ||
| Attendance tracking — geo-located check-in | ||
| Data export — full access to your data | Partial | |
| API support | $199/mo (Business) | |
| Transaction fees | None | 1–5% + $0.10–$0.59 per txn |
| Email send limits | None | Metered, with overage charges |
| Starting price | $15/mo | $19/mo (paid tiers) |
Pricing, tier for tier
Both platforms price per group, per month, with no contract. JoinRun is cheaper at every comparable step — and the plan price is the total price, because there is no percentage taken from what your members pay.
| What you are buying | JoinRun | Heylo |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | $15/mo (Base) | $19/mo (Plus) |
| The tier most clubs land on | $25/mo (Plus) | $59/mo (Pro) |
| API access | Included with Enterprise | $199/mo (Business) |
| Multi-chapter / multi-club | Included — unlimited clubs | Organization (custom) |
| Fees on top of the plan | None | Transaction + email overages |
The fee structure matters more than the sticker price for any club that collects money. A club moving $2,000/month through Heylo's free tier pays roughly $100+/month in transaction fees — four times what JoinRun Base costs, and more than JoinRun Plus. For a fuller breakdown, see JoinRun vs Heylo.
The six alternatives, ranked
JoinRun
From $15/mo per group · no transaction fees
JoinRun is built for one job: running a run club. Every premium feature is in the plan — unlimited events, unlimited participants, unlimited clubs, unlimited team members, custom registration forms, a public club page, geo-located attendance tracking, full data export and API support. There is no per-transaction cut and no email metering, so the number on the pricing page is the number on your card.
The feature no other tool on this list matches is geo-located attendance: runners check in at the start line, location is requested only at the moment they tap check-in, and you get a verified headcount instead of an RSVP guess. That difference compounds — after a season you have real attendance data on every route, every pace group and every regular.
Pros
- All premium features included — nothing gated behind a fee
- Unlimited clubs and team members at no extra cost
- Geo-located, verified attendance tracking
- Full data export plus API support — your data stays yours
- Flat pricing from $15/mo, cheaper than Heylo's paid tiers
Cons
- Focused on run and community clubs rather than every group type
Heylo
Free tier · paid from $19/mo · Pro $59/mo · Business $199/mo
Heylo is a general community-group platform: members, events, dues, email blasts and waivers, with a genuinely free Base tier. It is a capable product, and if you need waiver collection or embedded event widgets today it is a reasonable home.
The friction is the pricing model. Heylo recovers revenue through per-transaction fees — up to 5% + $0.59 on the free tier, falling only as you buy up the ladder — and it meters email sends with overage charges. A club moving $2,000/month in dues on the free tier can pay more in fees than a JoinRun subscription costs outright. Analytics, advanced event management and API access each sit a tier higher than most clubs expect.
Pros
- Free forever tier
- Waivers and embedded event widgets
- Built-in dues collection and email blasts
Cons
- Transaction fees on every payment
- Metered emails with overages
- No geo-located attendance verification
- API costs $199/mo
Strava clubs
Free
Your runners are already on Strava, so a club page there is the lowest-friction way to be found and to share routes and leaderboards. What it is not is an operations tool: there are no custom registration forms, no verified attendance, no member list you can export, and no way to cap a session or collect the information you need before someone shows up. Most clubs keep a Strava club and a real platform — the two are complements, not substitutes.
Pros
- Free
- Runners are already there
- Routes and leaderboards built in
Cons
- No registration or attendance
- No exportable member data
- No admin roles
Meetup
Paid organizer subscription
Meetup's advantage is its marketplace: people looking for a running group in your city actually search there. The trade-offs are that your club lives inside Meetup's branding rather than your own, member data is largely Meetup's to hold, and the event model is generic — no pace groups, no route detail, no attendance verification beyond a manual checkbox. Good as a top-of-funnel channel, weak as a system of record.
Pros
- Strong organic discovery
- Familiar RSVP flow
Cons
- Limited branding and ownership
- Restricted data export
- No attendance tracking
Eventbrite
Free to publish free events · per-ticket fees on paid tickets
Eventbrite is excellent at selling tickets to a single event and poor at running a club across a year. Every session is an isolated listing, there is no club identity holding them together, no member directory, and no attendance history. Per-ticket fees also make it an expensive way to handle a recurring $5 weekly run. Use it for your annual race; use something else for Tuesday nights.
Pros
- Trusted checkout
- Strong for paid, one-off events
Cons
- No club or membership model
- Per-ticket fees
- No recurring-session tooling
WhatsApp or Instagram groups
Free
A group chat and a story post is how nearly every run club begins, and it works right up to about thirty regulars. Past that you are counting thumbs-up reactions to guess a headcount, re-posting the meeting point to people who joined last week, and holding your entire member list in one admin's phone. There is no registration, no record, and nothing to hand over when that admin steps back.
Pros
- Free
- Zero setup
- Everyone already has it
Cons
- No registrations or headcounts
- No data you can export
- Breaks down as the club grows
How to choose
- Do you need to know who actually showed up? Only JoinRun verifies it with geo-located check-in. RSVPs are a wish; attendance is a fact.
- Do you collect money? Then compare fees, not sticker prices. A percentage of every payment beats a flat subscription only if your club is tiny.
- Do you run more than one club or chapter? JoinRun includes unlimited clubs and unlimited team members; Heylo moves you to a custom-priced Organization plan.
- Can you get your data out? Full export and API access are the difference between using a platform and being locked into one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Heylo alternative for a run club?
JoinRun. It is purpose-built for run clubs rather than general community groups, and every premium feature is included in the plan price — unlimited events, unlimited participants, unlimited clubs, unlimited team members, custom registration forms, a public run club page, geo-located attendance tracking, full data export and API support. Plans start at $15/month, below Heylo's paid tiers.
Is there a free alternative to Heylo?
Strava club pages and Instagram or WhatsApp groups cost nothing, and Heylo itself has a free Base tier. The catch is that free options either have no registration, no attendance record and no exportable data, or they recover the cost through per-transaction fees. If your club only posts a weekly meeting point, free works; once you need registrations, headcounts and a member list you own, you need a real platform.
Is JoinRun cheaper than Heylo?
Yes. JoinRun Base is $15/month and Plus is $25/month, versus $19/month for Heylo Plus and $59/month for Heylo Pro. JoinRun also charges no transaction fees and no email overage fees, so the plan price is the total price.
Can I move my club off Heylo without losing my members?
Yes. Export your member and event data from your current tool, then import it into JoinRun. JoinRun gives you full export access to your own data on every plan, so the same door you came in through is the one you can leave through — you are never locked in.
Does a Heylo alternative need to be run-club specific?
It helps. Generic community and ticketing tools handle sign-ups, but they do not model a run's route, pace groups, distance, or who actually showed up at the start line. Attendance tracking is the feature run clubs miss most when they use a generic tool.
Heylo pricing and features referenced from their public pricing page as of July 2026; third-party pricing changes often, so check each vendor's site before deciding. JoinRun prices shown are current launch pricing.
Every premium feature. One flat price.
Unlimited events, participants, clubs and team members — from $15/mo.