---
title: "Compared with Refr Sports — Assignary"
description: "How Assignary and Refr Sports each assign officials, reach them and pay them, with each one’s prices as it states them and how to move from one to the other."
canonical: "https://assignary.com/compare/refr"
---

compared

# Assignary and Refr Sports

Assignary is where a club, league or association assigns its referees and judges, records the work and pays for it. A league or an association is a club here too. This page puts Assignary and Refr Sports side by side: what each does and what each costs, as each states it. Every fact about Refr Sports was read on Refr’s own site, help center and store listings on October 20, 2026.

## Which is better, Assignary or Refr Sports?

It depends on how you pay officials and when you need to start. Refr Sports suits an assignor who works for several organizations, wants officials on an app with push notices, and wants a yearly plan of game credits, with officials cashing out once each game is certified [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1) [\[2\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-2) [\[3\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-3) [\[4\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-4). Assignary suits a club, league or association that wants free assigning, offers by email and nothing for officials to install. Assigning is free. Each seat your club pays through Assignary has a price. Assignary opens in January 2027. Until then, the way in is its waitlist.

Who each one suits
| Who | What matters | Fits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| An assignor who works for several organizations | A yearly plan of game credits, with officials cashing out once each game is certified | Refr Sports [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1) [\[2\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-2) [\[3\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-3) [\[4\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-4) |
| A club, league or association | Free assigning, offers by email and nothing for officials to install | Assignary |

## What are Refr Sports and Assignary?

**Refr Sports**

Refr Sports describes itself as tools for assigning officials, managing games, and handling payments [\[9\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-9). It has accounts for assignors, for the sports organizations that own the games an assignor assigns, and for officials [\[14\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-14). Its app, Refr Sports, is listed in both app stores for referees, assignors and sports organizations [\[15\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-15) [\[16\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-16). Refr Sports also offers RefrAI, which answers questions about officials, games, assignments and payments from Refr data, and RefrSites, a website for an assigning business [\[17\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-17).

**Assignary**

Assignary assigns referees and judges: a referee crew on a match, or a judging panel on a division. A seat is one official’s place on a game’s crew. Assignary is new. Your club would be among its first. It opens to new clubs in January 2027, and until then the way in is its [waitlist](https://assignary.com/waitlist).

## How does each one assign a game?

**Refr Sports**

Refr’s importing guide names three ways to add games: manual entry, a CSV built on Refr’s template with its columns mapped, or AI import of a CSV, PDF, photo or screenshot [\[7\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-7). Imported games are drafts, and officials can’t see them until they’re published [\[7\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-7). Its page for assignors says games import from CSV or Excel [\[2\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-2), and its guide for assignors offers to have Refr’s support upload a schedule emailed to it [\[14\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-14). An assignor assigns an official directly, reviews officials’ requests for open positions, or opens positions through a self-assign process [\[8\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-8). Bulk editing applies a supported change to every selected game [\[8\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-8). Game fees are set by sport, level and role, and the matching fee follows each assignment into its payment record [\[18\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-18). An assignor discusses a game with its assigned crew in a crew chat tied to the game [\[8\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-8).

**Assignary**

Import the league’s .csv or .xlsx workbook, or write the games in. One file carries up to 200 games. Before anything is saved, Assignary shows you every row. For each seat, you see everyone who can work it. They’re free, close enough, certified and cleared for the day of the game, with no conflict and no other game in the way. You also see why everyone else is out. You choose who to offer it to. You send every first offer. [How it works](https://assignary.com/how)

## How does each one handle availability and conflicts?

**Refr Sports**

An official marks the times they can’t work in the Refr app, month by month, and any time not marked is treated as available [\[11\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-11). On the web, assigning an official to a game that overlaps another of their games opens a warning that lists the conflicting games [\[12\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-12). Refr redesigned that warning in its release of October 15, 2026 [\[12\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-12). Where games are linked, a fix in the same release extends the check to every game in the link [\[12\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-12). Officials add certifications, such as USSF, to their profile, and each organization and sport sets its requirements [\[5\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-5).

**Assignary**

An official keeps the times they’re available, and the dates they’ve blocked out. A seat goes only to somebody who passes every check. They’re free at that time and inside their own travel radius. They’re at the level the game asks for, and hold every clearance its sport requires when the game starts. They have no declared conflict, no other game in the way, and room under their own cap for the day. A declared conflict is a team, a venue, or a gym, club or school entered in a competition. Your club records each clearance itself: what it is, who issued it, who entered it, who checked it and when it runs out. Assignary never contacts the issuing body.

## How does an offer reach an official?

**Refr Sports**

An assignor chooses whether officials accept or decline each assignment, or are assigned without needing to accept [\[14\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-14). With accepting on, an assignment waits for an answer for an expiration window, 72 hours unless the assignor changes it, and an unanswered one drops off so the assignor can reassign [\[14\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-14). Officials review and answer assignments in the Refr app for iOS and Android [\[5\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-5) [\[10\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-10), where Accept all, released October 15, 2026, confirms every waiting assignment at once [\[12\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-12). Reminders go by push and email [\[9\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-9). An assignor sends notices as push notifications, or as emails with files attached where needed, to officials chosen by tag, by game or all at once [\[3\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-3), and a change to a game’s time or location notifies its assigned officials [\[2\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-2).

**Assignary**

An offer arrives by email. There’s no app to install. The offer’s link opens in the phone’s browser. Its email shows the seat, the game, its sport and level, when it starts and ends, the venue and its address, and the pay. The official answers Accept or Turn down. Every offer has a time limit. If nobody answers before then, the offer runs out. If someone turns an offer down, or lets it run out, it goes to the next person who can take it. Assignary asks the nearest first, and the better record of turning up breaks a tie. The game’s history shows that Assignary moved it. You can turn off a game’s automatic re-offers. Then a seat that opens up on that game waits for you. An official can say yes ahead of time, before anyone asks. Then a seat that matches is theirs the moment it’s offered. They choose what counts as a match: the levels they work, a radius, a cap for the week, weekdays they keep free, the lowest fee they’ll take and a pair of dates. [What an official meets](https://assignary.com/officials)

## How does each one keep the record of who worked?

**Refr Sports**

The assignor certifies each completed game for payment, one at a time or up to 250 at once [\[13\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-13). A game can be certified for 60 days after it ends, and one not certified by then has its payouts set to zero and locks [\[13\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-13). Officials submit game reports on the assignor’s templates, and the assignor can have each one emailed as it’s submitted, a setting released in October 2026 [\[12\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-12).

**Assignary**

The assigner marks a no-show or an excused seat. Every accepted seat on a game that has started is paid. The seats left out are the ones marked a no-show or excused, and any whose official disputes the record. A disputed seat is held out of the payment until an assigner answers. Each seat keeps a history of who offered it, who took it and who marked it. The Pay page shows what the club paid each official in a calendar year. It counts each payment on the date the money moved. A referee or a judge can download a signed record of their own work in a club. It shows their offers and accepts, whether the work happened and the clearances they hold. Whoever they hand it to can check it against a published key, without asking Assignary.

## How are officials paid?

**Refr Sports**

Organizations fund officials’ pay through RefrPay, which is billed weekly and apart from the platform plan [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). They either preload funds, which are deducted weekly, or use AutoPay from a connected bank account by ACH [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). Billing periods run Wednesday to Tuesday [\[19\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-19). Each Wednesday the organization receives a report of the charge for every game it’s billed for [\[19\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-19). Once the assignor certifies a game, its earnings become available when the organization has enough available spending and the official has a payout method set up [\[4\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-4). That can be the same day as the game, and it means available to cash out, not delivered to the bank [\[4\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-4). The official then requests a cashout, and a standard ACH transfer is free [\[6\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-6). An Instant Cashout costs 2.9% + $0.75 per transfer, paid by the official, and the smallest is $1.00 [\[6\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-6). Instant Cashouts were released on April 23, 2026 [\[6\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-6). The fee is shown before the official confirms [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). Payments are processed through Stripe [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). Officials’ bank details are never accessible through Refr’s servers [\[20\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-20).

**Assignary**

A club’s treasurer pays for a weekend at Stripe’s checkout, by card, bank transfer or bank debit. Each referee and judge is sent the whole fee on their seat. The club doesn’t open a payments account of its own. Officials give their bank details to Stripe, never to Assignary. How soon an official is paid depends on how the club paid:

-   A card the bank confirmed, or Apple Pay or Google Pay: as the charge clears
-   A US wire for the whole weekend: as it arrives
-   A bank debit from an account Stripe reports as a business account: 2 business days after it clears
-   Any other bank transfer: 6 business days after it arrives
-   Any other bank debit, the wait to plan on: 65 days after it clears
-   A card the bank didn’t confirm: 120 days after it clears

Pay lands in the official’s Stripe balance first. It reaches their bank on Stripe’s usual schedule, at no cost to them. Having it sent right away costs 1.75% of what is paid out, at least $1. They see the fee before they confirm. One payment carries up to 50 seats. A club starts with a limit of $5,000 on payments that could still be taken back at any one time. [How the refs are paid](https://assignary.com/pay)

## What does each one cost, as each states it?

**Refr Sports**

**Refr Sports, as its own pages stated it on October 20, 2026.** Assignors pay a subscription for scheduling, organizations opt in to RefrPay, and officials pay nothing unless they buy optional services [\[2\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-2). A plan is a year of game credits, where a game is any scheduled contest or match assigned to at least one official [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). Starter is $250 a year for 200 credits ($1.25 per game), Professional $750 for 1,000 ($0.75 per game) and Commercial $2,500 for 5,000 ($0.50 per game) [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). Billed quarterly on a one-year term, Professional is $900 a year and Commercial $3,000, and Starter costs the same either way [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). More credits are added at the plan’s per-game rate [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). Plans include up to 10, 20 or 50 paired organizations, and each additional one is $30 a year [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). A background check is $30, and a website build and hosting is $749 a year on Starter and Professional and included with Commercial [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). The first 20 games are free with no credit card, and there are no setup fees [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1).

**Assignary**

These prices hold from October 6, 2026. Assigning is free. Each seat your club pays through Assignary has a price. For each seat it pays for, a club adds $3.50 plus 3.5% of that seat’s fee by card, or $3.50 plus 1.25% by bank. The seat’s referee or judge is still sent the whole fee. A bank debit through Stripe’s checkout adds Stripe’s $1.50 fee for linking the bank account, as a line of its own. A wire adds Stripe’s $15 to what the club owes. A seat with no fee is never part of a payment and never charged for. There’s no subscription, no setup fee and no contract. A referee or a judge pays nothing to take a seat or to be paid. If your purchasing office wants one invoice, a season plan prepays the $3.50 part of each seat’s price in a block. It’s sold on a quote, at no more than $3.25 a seat for 250 seats, $3.15 for 500, $3.05 for 1,000 and $2.95 for 2,500. Seats the weekends don’t use stay in the block until the plan’s term ends, after 3 to 12 months. Whatever’s left then expires, unless the plan is renewed before the term ends. A renewal carries what’s left forward, up to 10% of the smaller of the two blocks. [What it costs](https://assignary.com/pricing)

The two price lists count different things. A Refr Sports game credit counts a game assigned to at least one official, bought as part of a plan [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1). An Assignary seat is one official’s place on a game’s crew, and is charged only when its fee is paid through Assignary, unless a season plan prepaid its $3.50 part.

## How would I move from Refr Sports?

**Refr Sports**

Refr exports games as a CSV from its Export tab, with the fields and the date range you choose, and one file can hold past and upcoming games together [\[21\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-21).

A game already worked on Refr can be certified there for 60 days after it ends, and one left uncertified by then has its payouts set to zero [\[13\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-13). Refr’s help center says unused preloaded funds are refundable, processed within 30 days [\[19\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-19).

**Assignary**

Assignary imports a .csv or .xlsx workbook and makes each row a game. It reads the columns its [switching page](https://assignary.com/switching#workbook) lists, up to 200 games a file. Before anything is saved, it shows you every row. For a row it can’t read, it says what’s wrong. Officials come over through the club’s join link, which puts whoever signs up through it on the roster, or through an invitation mailed to one address.

You can put one weekend’s games into Assignary, offer their seats and fill them, while the rest stays where it is. Assignary charges nothing for a weekend your club doesn’t pay for through it.

## How would I move from Assignary to Refr Sports?

**Refr Sports**

It invites officials one at a time by email, or as a group from a CSV [\[22\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-22).

**Assignary**

A club’s owner can download one zip of spreadsheets for a range of dates. It holds the games and every offer of a seat on them, and the roster and members as they are now. It also holds what the club was charged and what its officials were paid. Each person can download their own record as one file from their Account page. An official’s signed record of their work goes with them.

## What if my association requires another system?

**Assignary**

Assignary doesn’t replace a system an association requires.

## Side by side

Assignary and Refr Sports side by side, Refr Sports as its own pages stated it on October 20, 2026
|  | Assignary | Refr Sports |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Who pays for the software | The club, for each seat it pays for through Assignary | Assignors, by a yearly plan of game credits [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1) [\[2\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-2) |
| What it costs | Assigning is free; paying a weekend adds $3.50 a seat plus 3.5% of each fee by card, or $3.50 a seat plus 1.25% by bank | $250, $750 or $2,500 a year for 200, 1,000 or 5,000 game credits [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1) |
| To start | Opens to new clubs in January 2027, with a waitlist until then | The first 20 games free, no credit card required [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1) |
| What an official pays | Nothing to take a seat or to be paid; 1.75% of what is paid out, at least $1, to have pay sent at once | Nothing for an account; a standard payout is free; an Instant Cashout is 2.9% + $0.75 per transfer [\[5\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-5) [\[6\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-6) |
| Schedule import | A .csv or .xlsx workbook, up to 200 games a file | A CSV or Excel file [\[2\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-2); a CSV on Refr’s template, or AI import of a CSV, PDF, photo or screenshot [\[7\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-7) |
| Who fills a seat | The assigner sends every first offer; one that’s turned down or runs out goes to the next person who can take it, unless re-offers are switched off | The assignor assigns directly, reviews officials’ requests or opens positions to self-assign [\[8\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-8) |
| How an assignment reaches an official | By email, opened in the phone’s browser | In the Refr app, with reminders by push and email [\[9\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-9) [\[10\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-10) |
| What an official installs | Nothing | The Refr Sports app, for iOS and Android [\[10\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-10), where availability is set [\[11\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-11) |
| Availability | The times they’re available, the dates they’ve blocked out, and saying yes ahead of time | Times they can’t work, marked month by month in the app [\[11\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-11) |
| Conflicts | Checked before a seat is offered: declared conflicts and other games in the way | A warning when an assignment overlaps another of the official’s games, across linked games [\[12\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-12) |
| Credentials | Clearances the club records, with the day each runs out | Certifications on the official’s profile [\[5\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-5) |
| The record of the work | No-show and excused marks, disputes, a history on each seat and a signed record the official carries | Each completed game certified by the assignor, and game reports [\[12\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-12) [\[13\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-13) |
| How the crew is paid | The club pays each weekend at Stripe’s checkout, by card, bank transfer or bank debit | The organization funds RefrPay from preloaded funds or ACH AutoPay, billed weekly, and officials cash out [\[1\]](https://assignary.com/compare/refr#source-1) |

## Sources

1.  [Refr Sports, Pricing](https://refrsports.com/pricing), `https://refrsports.com/pricing`, read October 20, 2026.
2.  [Refr Sports, For assignors](https://refrsports.com/assignors), `https://refrsports.com/assignors`, read October 20, 2026.
3.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Custom Notifications](https://support.refrsports.com/assignor-features/custom-notifications), `https://support.refrsports.com/assignor-features/custom-notifications`, read October 20, 2026.
4.  [Refr Sports, RefrPay](https://refrsports.com/refr-pay), `https://refrsports.com/refr-pay`, read October 20, 2026.
5.  [Refr Sports, For sports officials](https://refrsports.com/sports-officials), `https://refrsports.com/sports-officials`, read October 20, 2026.
6.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Instant Cashouts](https://support.refrsports.com/referee-features/instant-cashouts), `https://support.refrsports.com/referee-features/instant-cashouts`, read October 20, 2026.
7.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Importing Schedules](https://support.refrsports.com/assignor-features/game-importing), `https://support.refrsports.com/assignor-features/game-importing`, read October 20, 2026.
8.  [Refr Sports, Scheduling and assigning](https://refrsports.com/solutions/scheduling-assigning), `https://refrsports.com/solutions/scheduling-assigning`, read October 20, 2026.
9.  [Refr Sports, home page](https://refrsports.com/), `https://refrsports.com/`, read October 20, 2026.
10.  [Refr Sports, Download the app](https://refrsports.com/download), `https://refrsports.com/download`, read October 20, 2026.
11.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Setting Your Availability](https://support.refrsports.com/referee-features/availability-setting), `https://support.refrsports.com/referee-features/availability-setting`, read October 20, 2026.
12.  [Refr Sports Help Center, October 2026 Product Update](https://support.refrsports.com/recent-releases/october-2026-product-update), `https://support.refrsports.com/recent-releases/october-2026-product-update`, read October 20, 2026.
13.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Billing and Payment System Update](https://support.refrsports.com/recent-releases/october-2026-billing-payments), `https://support.refrsports.com/recent-releases/october-2026-billing-payments`, read October 20, 2026.
14.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Setting Up as an Assignor](https://support.refrsports.com/onboarding/setting-up-as-assignor), `https://support.refrsports.com/onboarding/setting-up-as-assignor`, read October 20, 2026.
15.  [App Store, Refr Sports](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/refr-sports/id1629866058), `https://apps.apple.com/us/app/refr-sports/id1629866058`, read October 20, 2026.
16.  [Google Play, Refr Sports](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.refrsports.app), `https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.refrsports.app`, read October 20, 2026.
17.  [Refr Sports, Technology and AI](https://refrsports.com/solutions/technology-ai), `https://refrsports.com/solutions/technology-ai`, read October 20, 2026.
18.  [Refr Sports, Payments](https://refrsports.com/solutions/payments), `https://refrsports.com/solutions/payments`, read October 20, 2026.
19.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Organizations: Setting Up Refr Pay](https://support.refrsports.com/refr-pay/orgs-setting-up-pay), `https://support.refrsports.com/refr-pay/orgs-setting-up-pay`, read October 20, 2026.
20.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Refs: Setting Up Pay](https://support.refrsports.com/refr-pay/refs-setting-up-pay), `https://support.refrsports.com/refr-pay/refs-setting-up-pay`, read October 20, 2026.
21.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Exporting Games](https://support.refrsports.com/assignor-features/game-exporting), `https://support.refrsports.com/assignor-features/game-exporting`, read October 20, 2026.
22.  [Refr Sports Help Center, Inviting Officials](https://support.refrsports.com/assignor-features/inviting-officials), `https://support.refrsports.com/assignor-features/inviting-officials`, read October 20, 2026.

Refr Sports and its marks belong to its owner, which is not affiliated with Assignary and has not reviewed this page.

[Join the waitlist](https://assignary.com/waitlist) [How Assignary compares](https://assignary.com/compare) [Switching](https://assignary.com/switching)