The "free" landscape, honestly
Most "free athlete management software" you find isn't actually free. It's one of three things:
- A time-limited trial. "Free for 14 days." After that, your data is locked behind a paywall or auto-billed.
- A feature-gutted demo. You get the login but can't actually run a test session, log wellness, or invite an athlete without upgrading.
- A pricing page that says "contact sales". No tier you can sign up for without a call.
Performance House Starter is none of those. It's a real product tier with a real athlete cap (five) and no time limit. You sign up, run test sessions, log wellness, watch the Performance Index trend over weeks, and you don't pay anything — unless and until you have more than five athletes and decide Pro is worth $29 a month.
What's actually included in Starter
The complete Starter feature list — no asterisks:
That covers the core workflow: athletes test, you log results, you get a composite score and a per-category radar, and a 90-day trend shows progress. For a coach with under five athletes — a youth academy group, a private S&C client list, a small competitive squad — this is a complete tool, not a teaser.
What's NOT in Starter (and what you'd upgrade for)
Being equally honest about the upgrade path. The features below sit behind Pro ($29/mo) and Team ($79/mo):
Notice what's there and what isn't. The athlete-facing portal is a Pro feature — on Starter, the coach is the only user logging data. AI features are paywalled because they cost real money (Claude Opus 4.7 isn't free for us either) and we'd rather charge for them than pad them onto a "free" tier that loses us money on every signup.
Who Starter is built for
- Solo coaches and private trainers with a small client list (under 5). Wellness check-ins, test sessions, Performance Index — the whole workflow runs on free.
- Youth or academy coaches piloting a workflow with a starter group before rolling it out to the full squad.
- Head coaches evaluating Performance House against TeamBuildr, CoachMePlus, Metrifit, Volt, or TrainHeroic. Sign up with five test athletes, run it for a real training block, then decide.
- Sport-science students learning composite scoring, ACWR, and wellness monitoring on a real platform without a budget.
When you'd outgrow Starter
Three usual triggers:
- Sixth athlete. The cap is hard — if your squad grows past five, Pro is the next step.
- You want athletes logging their own data. Athlete self-access (the athlete portal) is the single biggest jump in workflow efficiency, and it's a Pro feature.
- You're writing programs in the platform. Program Builder, season planning, and AI program drafts are Pro/Team-level features.
How it compares to other "free" options
Across the platforms most small teams realistically consider, here's the actual free landscape (as of May 2026):
The picture is straightforward: among full athlete management systems for small teams, Performance House is currently the only one with a real free tier. TrainHeroic's cheapest plan is close to free (~$10/month for one coach + a couple athletes) but it's a programming app, not a full AMS. Everything else is sales-led, trial-only, or starts in the hundreds-to-thousands per year.
Sign up in under 2 minutes
The signup flow:
- Email + password (or Google sign-in).
- Name your organization (this is just for your dashboard — change it later).
- Invite your athletes by email or skip and add them yourself.
You're testing by the end of the same coffee. If you don't like it, delete the account from settings — your data export is one click and we don't keep anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is it actually free, or is it a trial?
Actually free. The Starter plan stays free forever for up to 5 athletes. No card required to sign up, no end-of-trial cliff, no "free for 14 days then we bill you." If you stay on Starter, you stay free — for as long as you're using fewer than 6 athletes.
What's the catch?
The athlete limit is the catch. Five athletes is a real cap, not a soft nudge. If you have a 10-person team you'll need Pro ($29/month). The other catch is that some features are paywalled — Program Builder, AI features, PDF reports, the athlete-facing portal — but the core testing, wellness, and Performance Index workflow is fully usable on Starter.
Can I export my data if I leave?
Yes. CSV export is available on every tier including Starter. You own your data and can take it with you at any time. GDPR compliance is baked in — see the privacy policy.
Do I need a credit card to sign up?
No. Email + password (or Google sign-in) is all you need. You can stay on Starter forever without ever adding a payment method.
What happens if I add a sixth athlete?
You'll be prompted to upgrade or to archive an existing athlete to stay under the limit. Nothing breaks — and we don't auto-bill you. The choice is yours.
Is Starter useful on its own, or just a try-before-you-buy?
Both. A solo coach with under 5 athletes can stay on Starter indefinitely and get real value — daily wellness, the Performance Index, test sessions, and a 90-day rolling history. Larger teams use Starter as a free pilot before moving the whole squad onto Pro or Team.