Playmaker vs TacticalPad
With Playmaker a coach can send an animated play to the whole team as a link: free, no account, nothing to install. TacticalPad is an app you install and license per device, with 3D, video export and a desktop build. Here is when each one is the right tool.
We make one of these. Playmaker is our own product, so read this the way you would read any vendor's comparison. What we can offer instead of neutrality is checkable: every figure below was read off the other tool's own pages on , those pages are linked at the foot of this one, and anything we could not verify says so instead of carrying a number.
Two different kinds of tool
TacticalPad is a tactics board you install. It runs on Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone and Android, and its own site lists no browser version. It has been around a long time, it is well liked by the people who use it — 4.7 stars from about 1,200 ratings on the App Store on the day we checked — and it does things a web page does not, starting with 3D. Its site sells "Animations in 2D/3D", and its App Store listing says you can "visualize in 3D with realistic graphics" and export animated plays as video files.
Playmaker is a web page. You open it, draw, press play, and copy a link. That is a narrower product, and it is aimed at a different moment in a coach's week: not building a presentation for the analysis room, but getting tonight's set piece to sixteen players before Saturday.
Sports, honestly
TacticalPad lists football/soccer, futsal and handball, basketball, ice hockey, field hockey, rugby, GAA, volleyball, lacrosse, tennis, badminton, padel and floorball, "and more". We draw eight: soccer, basketball, American football, field hockey, rugby, netball, baseball and volleyball. If you coach futsal, handball, GAA, ice hockey, lacrosse or a racket sport, TacticalPad has a surface for it and we do not. We have netball, baseball and American football, which its list does not name, though the list does end in "and more".
How they compare
Read off each vendor's own page on 8 November 2026. TacticalPad sells yearly licences only and prices them per platform: a licence for a phone or tablet does not cover a computer, and its page says a single-platform licence is "not valid nor transferable to a different platform device". On the App Store the same yearly subscription is listed as an in-app purchase at $24.99.
| Tool | Platforms | Sports | Free tier | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlaymakerThis is us | Any browser, on a phone, tablet or laptop | Eight sports, including soccer | Unlimited plays drawn, animated and shared by link with no account at all; 3 saved plays per free account | $6/month or $50/year USD |
| TacticalPad | Windows, macOS, iPad/iPhone and Android apps | More than a dozen named, including soccer | A free download; its limits are not described on the vendor's pages | $24/year for a phone or tablet; $39/year for a PC or Mac; $63/year for both; yearly only, in US$ |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column — the tool's name stays put.
What TacticalPad does that we do not
3D. TacticalPad animates in 2D and 3D. We draw in 2D, from above, and that is all.
A desktop application. A real installed program on Windows and Mac, which matters if you build sessions at a desk with a mouse and keyboard and present them on a projector.
Video export of animated plays. Its App Store listing lists exporting animated plays as video files, plus images, social networks and cloud services. We export MP4 too — and GIF, PNG and a printable PDF — watermarked on the free tier.
Breadth of sports. More than a dozen named sports, several of which we do not draw.
Bulk licences for clubs. TacticalPad offers special pricing for clubs, federations and groups of four or more coaches, by quote. We have no team plan on sale yet.
What we do that TacticalPad does not
Nothing to install, for you or your players. A player does not need TacticalPad to watch a Playmaker play. They tap the link and it animates on whatever phone they have.
A play lives in a link, so a new phone or tablet loses nothing. TacticalPad works in project files, and its App Store notes say they can be synced with Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, which is the right thing to set up if you use it. A Playmaker link needs no setup: open it on the new device and the play is there.
One price for every device. Our Pro is $6 a month or $50 a year and works in any browser you sign in on. There is no per-platform licence.
Free to start, with no account. Draw, animate and share without registering. You only need an account to save plays, and the first three saves are free.
Who should use which
If you want 3D, a desktop program, or a sport outside our eight, TacticalPad is the better tool, and at $24 a year for a phone or tablet it is not an expensive one.
If you coach soccer or one of our other sports and what you need is for every player to see the movement before the next session — on their own phone, with nothing to download — start with the soccer play designer. It is free, and the link is the whole product.
Try the free one first
It opens on a real soccer pitch, there is nothing to install, and you do not need an account to draw a play and send it to your team as a link.
Open the play designerCommon questions
How much does TacticalPad cost?
On its own site on 8 November 2026: 24 US dollars a year for a licence on one phone or tablet, 39 US dollars a year for a Windows or Mac computer, and 63 US dollars a year for a computer plus a phone or tablet. Licences are yearly only. On the App Store the yearly subscription is an in-app purchase at 24.99 US dollars.
Is there a free version of TacticalPad?
The app is a free download on the App Store, with in-app purchases, and its site has a download link. Neither page we read describes what the free version can and cannot do, so we cannot tell you its limits.
Does TacticalPad work in a browser?
Its site lists Windows 10 and 11, macOS, iPad and iPhone, and Android. It does not list a browser version. Playmaker runs only in a browser, on any phone, tablet or computer.
Do my players need the app to see a play?
TacticalPad's pages describe sharing a play as an exported image or video file, or through social networks and cloud services, and anyone can watch a video. We did not find a link that opens the play itself in a browser. A Playmaker play is a link that animates in any browser, with no app and no account.
Will I lose my plays if I change phone?
TacticalPad works in project files on the device, and its App Store notes say they can be synced with Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. A Playmaker play lives in its link, so opening that link on the new phone shows the play, with nothing to transfer.
What we checked, and when
Read on . Vendors change their pricing without telling us — if one of these pages now says something different, believe the vendor and tell us so we can fix ours.
Other comparisons
- Best free soccer play designers in 20266 tools · checked 21 August 2026
- Best free basketball play designers in 20266 tools · checked 21 August 2026
- Best free football play designers in 20269 tools · checked 22 August 2026
See what it draws
- Five soccer set pieces for U12s that actually work3 interactive plays
- How to build a flag football playbook: six plays to install2 interactive plays
- Basketball inbound plays that actually work2 interactive plays
Coach another sport?
The same designer draws every one of them, which is the thing the table above is really about.
Page updated · figures checked