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. Community centers, associations and YMCA branches outside municipal procurement usually need a third option.
Enterprise parks and recreation platform with a per-transaction model.
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.
| 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 add-on |
| Program & class registration | Included | Included | Add-onWaitlists, capacity, attendance, rosters |
| Facility booking & rentals | Included | Included | Add-onApprovals, 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 |
Pick Xplor Recreation if you are a mid-size parks and recreation department that wants highly configurable fields and workflows, court booking and kiosks, 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 and needs enterprise hosting and ACTIVE Hub data access. Pick neither if you are a community center, association or YMCA branch: both are municipal platforms with multi-year 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 and invoices, donations with tax receipts and volunteer shifts. There is no contract, migration is free and scoped, and the 30-day trial is self-serve. 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.
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.
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, and reviewers describe Xplor's 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, with no contract, free migration and a 30-day trial. It is not built for a large city RFP.