Neither vendor publishes pricing and both sign multi-year municipal agreements, so choose on fit.
Xplor Recreation (now nextRec) suits a mid-size department that values highly customizable fields and workflows, court booking and responsive support and does not run sports leagues through the system. ACTIVENet suits a large city or county that needs league scheduling, childcare, enterprise hosting and BI access and can absorb a per-transaction model with a significant implementation. Community centers, associations and YMCA branches outside municipal procurement usually need a third option.
Enterprise parks and recreation platform priced per transaction.
Enterprise recreation platform (formerly PerfectMind, now nextRec).
Communal is listed as a third column because organizations comparing these two usually need the same things it was built for: memberships, programs and facilities in one database at a flat price.
| Feature | ACTIVENet | Xplor Recreation | Communal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership management | Included | Included | IncludedTiers, custom fields, segments |
| Automated renewals | Included | Included | IncludedReminders and auto-renew |
| Digital membership cards (Apple / Google Wallet) | Not listed | Not listed | IncludedIncluded in every plan |
| Event registration & ticketing | Included | Included | Add-onPrograms & events, +$50/mo |
| Program & class registration | Included | Included | Add-onWaitlists, capacity, attendance, rosters |
| Facility booking & rentals | Included | Included | Add-onFrom +$50/mo; approvals, invoices, agreements, iCal |
| Volunteer shifts & hour tracking | Included | Not listed | IncludedShifts, hours, auto volunteer discounts |
| Donations & fundraising | Not listed | Not listed | IncludedIncluded; donor covers fees option |
| Automatic tax receipts | Not listed | Not listed | IncludedAutomatic |
| Member self-service portal | Included | Included | Included |
| Email campaigns | Included | Not listed | IncludedCampaigns and segments |
| Website builder | Not listed | Not listed | Not offeredWorks beside your site |
| Public API | Included | Included | IncludedREST API, Zapier webhooks, MCP server |
| Detail | ACTIVENet | Xplor Recreation | Communal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Quote (per transaction) | Quote only | $75/mo |
| Pricing model | Transaction-based + implementation | Quote; multi-year | Flat, by member band (to 250 members at the floor) |
| Contract | Multi-year agreements typical for municipal deals (not published) | Multi-year term contracts implied by vendor blog ('what you'll pay throughout the term of your contract'); exact term not published | No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time |
| Payment fees | Processing fee is a percentage plus dollar amount per registration;Detailsagency can absorb or pass to participant; exact rates via account manager | Processing via Xplor Pay;Detailsdifferent rates for online vs in-person transactions; specific percentages not published | Card-processing application fee set in your agreement, often 2%; no monthly minimums |
| Free trial | No free trial | No free trial | Free trial, no credit card |
Pick Xplor Recreation if you are a mid-size parks and recreation department that wants highly configurable fields and workflows, court booking and kiosks, values responsive support, and does not need league scheduling. Pick ACTIVENet if you are a large city or county that runs leagues and childcare through the rec system, needs enterprise hosting and ACTIVE Hub data access, and can carry a per-transaction fee model plus implementation consulting. Pick neither if you are a community center, association or YMCA branch: both are quote-only municipal platforms with multi-year terms.
You will not find a price for either product on the web. ACTIVENet charges a percentage plus a dollar amount on each registration, which you absorb or pass to residents, on top of a hosted annual minimum and an upfront implementation engagement that is mostly consulting. Xplor Recreation sells on a quote with a multi-year term implied by its own materials, payment processing through Xplor Pay at different rates for online and in-person transactions, and onboarding that may be invoiced separately. Neither offers a free trial. Bring the same worksheet to both demos (annual registrations, average price, facilities, staff seats, number of sites) and ask for a full-term total including implementation, minimums, processing, escalation and exit terms.
| If you are... | Lean towards |
|---|---|
| A department that runs leagues through the registration system | ACTIVENet |
| A department that needs recurring facility rentals handled in the system | ACTIVENet |
| A large city or county with childcare, many sites and a BI team | ACTIVENet |
| A mid-size department that needs deeply customized fields and workflows | Xplor Recreation |
| A department with courts and kiosks that wants responsive support | Xplor Recreation |
| A community center, association or YMCA branch outside local government | Neither; see the third option |
If you are a small town, community center, community association or YMCA branch, you are not the buyer either of these platforms was designed for. Communal covers memberships with household accounts and resident pricing by map boundary, program registration with waitlists and attendance, facility booking with approvals, recurring and seasonal bookings (leagues and recurring blocks) and invoices, donations with tax receipts and volunteer shifts, at $75/mo flat to 250 members, programs +$50/mo, facilities from +$50/mo, no contract, free scoped migration and a 30-day self-serve trial. It does not have a website builder, a native mobile app, kiosks or a childcare module, and it is not built to answer a large municipal RFP. Communal is our product; the comparison above is drawn from the two vendors' published materials and reviews.
Short answers, with the numbers where they exist.
Yes. PerfectMind was acquired by Xplor Technologies in 2020, rebranded Xplor Recreation in 2022, and rebranded nextRec in 2026 after the Xplor and Club Essentials merger. Reviews and RFP references under any of the three names describe the same product line.
Neither publishes pricing. Review sites list Xplor Recreation at A$100 per feature per month, which is a listing placeholder rather than a vendor price; the vendor's own blog promises a transparent fee breakdown over the term of a contract and says onboarding may be invoiced separately. ACTIVENet is transaction-based with upfront consulting; a 2011 Costa Mesa proposal showed $3.94 on a $105 registration and a $12,000 annual hosted minimum, and third parties estimate implementation at $10,000 to $150,000.
No. Xplor Recreation has no league or sports scheduling module, and reviewers have asked for one. ACTIVENet includes league scheduling. If you run adult softball, youth soccer or hockey leagues through the registration system, this decides the comparison.
Neither publishes contract terms. ACTIVENet deals with municipalities are typically multi-year. Xplor's blog refers to what you will pay over the term of your contract, and reviewers describe its cancellation and transition process as difficult. Negotiate data export and exit terms before signing either.
Both are built for municipal buyers. A community center, community association or YMCA branch that runs memberships, programs, room and court rentals, donations and volunteers without a procurement process can use Communal at $75/mo flat to 250 members, programs +$50/mo, facilities from +$50/mo, no contract, free migration and a 30-day trial. It is not built for a large city RFP.