Program Registration Software
Sign-ups arrive by email, text, and cheque, and someone types every one into a spreadsheet. Communal takes registration for your classes, leagues, and community events online, and builds the roster for you.
- Families register and pay online instead of emailing you a form
- Member rates applied at checkout, with no membership to look up
- Full sessions take a waitlist, and the waitlist hears when a spot opens
- Attendance sheets filled from the signups
Powering 500+ community organizations
Leagues, classes, and drop-in activities
Registration season should not run on email and cheques
- Forms arrive by email, by text, and on paper, and somebody retypes each one
- Cheques and cash get matched against the list by hand
- Nobody can say how many spots are left without counting rows
Every signup lands in one place, already paid
- Families register from your program page and pay by card
- The member rate is applied at checkout, with nothing to look up
- A full session starts a waitlist, and attendance sheets fill from the signups
No more sign-ups by email and cheque
Online Registration for Programs and Events
- Sessions, dates, and a capacity limit on each program
- One checkout for the whole family, with a signup per child
- Registration windows that open and close on the dates you set
- Custom questions and waivers collected during signup
See it running at a soccer club.
Nobody works out the discount by hand
Member Pricing Applied at Checkout
- A different rate per membership type, plus a guest rate
- A volunteer rate for the people who help you run it
- Payment plans that charge a saved card on your schedule
- Promo codes with an expiry date, for early bird and sibling offers
More on membership and event management software, and on the discount codes that cover your exceptions.
A spot opens, the waitlist hears about it
Capacity Limits and Event Waitlists
- A capacity limit per session, and one for the program overall
- Signups stop at the limit instead of overbooking a coach
- When a spot opens, everyone on the waitlist gets an email
- Or turn on the priority waitlist to offer it one family at a time, in join order
No clipboard, no retyping after practice
Attendance Sheets Filled From Your Signups
- One sheet for a single date or the whole series, filled from signups
- Present, late, absent, or excused, marked in one tap
- A note per participant for the ones you follow up on
- Attendance for every date included in the signup export
More on attendance sheet software, and on how to check people in at the door.
Class and Activity Registration for Weekly Programs
A weekly class is one sign-up and eight dates. Communal treats it as one registration on a repeating schedule, and the attendance sheet still tracks every date.
- One signup covers every date in the series
- Weekly, biweekly, and every other Saturday schedules
- Single-date sessions for people who pay as they come
- Age ranges checked against the participant's date of birth
Running a whole department rather than one class? The recreation facility software page covers programs alongside the rooms and fields they run in.
Waivers and Custom Forms Collected During Registration
Paper waivers come back creased and half of them unsigned. Collect them during registration instead, agreed to, dated, and attached to the participant.
- Waivers agreed to at signup and dated, with a signature where the PDF has one
- Emergency contacts, allergies, and medical notes on the record
- A different waiver per program, so the youth form is not the adult one
- Files uploaded at signup, such as a medical form or a photo consent
More on digital waivers and liability agreements and on custom registration forms.
Date changes reach every subscriber
A Program and Event Calendar People Can Subscribe To
Half the questions you field are people asking what is on and when. Put the month calendar on your program page and they can look, then click through to register. Anyone who subscribes gets the schedule in Google Calendar or Apple Calendar, and it stays current when a date moves. Staff share one feed URL from program settings, so there is no second schedule to keep in step.
- A month calendar on your public and member program listings
- iCal feeds for the whole schedule or a single program
- Add to Calendar downloads on individual program pages
- Calendar entries that link back to registration
Program Registration Software vs Standalone Sign-Up Tools
A sign-up tool takes the registration and stops there. The rest of the job is what happens to it afterwards.
| Feature | Standalone Sign-Up Tools | Communal |
|---|---|---|
| Member pricing | Checked by hand | Applied at checkout |
| Participant records | Export and import CSV | One record per person |
| Waitlists | A list somebody keeps | Emailed when a spot opens |
| Attendance sheets | Printed roster, retyped later | Filled from the signups |
| Waivers | Separate system | Attached to the participant |
| Payment plans | Rarely offered | Instalments on a saved card |
| Program calendar | PDF schedule, updated by hand | Live calendar and iCal feeds |
| Facility booking | Not included | Same system as programs |
Programs share a calendar with facility booking, so the room is held for the class that meets in it.
Comparing named platforms instead? Read the RecDesk alternative, the Amilia alternative, the ACTIVENet alternative, the Eventbrite alternative, the SignUpGenius alternative, or the head to head on Communal vs Eventbrite. For nonprofit events, see how nine event management tools for nonprofits compare.
Who Runs Programs on Communal
The people running registration are usually running four other things at the same time.
Recreation departments and community centres
Seasonal program guides, weekly classes, and drop-in activities, with resident and non-resident rates on the same session.
Clubs and associations
Coordinating community events with the same software that holds your membership roll, so members pay member rates and the board can see who came.
Nonprofits and cultural centres
Classes, workshops, and community events run by a small team, with waivers collected up front and volunteers tracked in the same place.
Camps and youth programs
Multi-week sessions, medical forms, and payment plans. Camp has its own page, because the parts specific to camp deserve their own answers.
What Program Registration Software Costs
Communal starts at $75 per month flat for up to 250 members, which covers member records, volunteers, donors, and point of sale. Programs and events are a $50 per month add-on, and it includes registration, member pricing, waitlists, payment plans, waivers, and attendance. There are no per registration fees.
No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time.
Connected to your entire operation
Programs shares one database with every other module. No duplicate entry, no data silos
Powering 500+ community organizations
We love hearing from our customers and are proud to have helped 500+ organizations drive more impact and grow their communities.
We are finally able to communicate with our members, run booking software and a program payment platform all in one application. The cost to our Community is very reasonable and the team is fantastic to work with.
My experience with the software and the team has been overwhelmingly positive. We switched from another provider and the difference was night-and-day!
Revenue from membership sales and renewals increased, and we save a significant amount of staff time and paperwork. The customer service is outstanding and the team at Communal continues to add helpful features.
See Program Registration in Action
How community organizations run their registration season on Communal.
Program and Camp Registration Guides
Practical guides for taking registration online, from weekly recreation programs to summer camp.
Parks and Recreation Registration Software
Read Guide →ComparisonRecreation Software vs Membership Software
Read Guide →GuideFree Camp Tools vs Registration Software
Read Guide →ComparisonSummer Camp Registration Software Compared
Read Guide →Why SwitchBenefits of Online Registration
Read Guide →Program Registration Software FAQ
Yes. Set a capacity on each session and Communal stops taking signups when it is full, and anyone who tries after that joins the waitlist. When someone cancels, everyone on the waitlist gets an email and the first to register takes the spot. If you would rather go in order, turn on the priority waitlist: Communal offers the spot to one person at a time, oldest signup first, at an interval you set, and each person can claim it or decline it.
Communal knows who is a member because memberships and programs are the same system. When someone registers, the software checks their membership and charges the member rate. Everyone else pays the guest rate. You can set a different rate per membership type and a volunteer rate, and promo codes cover early bird and sibling offers.
Yes. A parent picks the children they are registering, chooses sessions for each, and pays once. The signups stay attached to each child's record, so rosters, waivers, and attendance are per participant even though the payment was one transaction.
Run them from the same place your members live. Programs and events sit next to memberships in Communal, so a club can post the spring social, charge members less than guests, and take attendance at the door without exporting a list first. The volunteers pouring coffee that night are tracked in the same system.
Yes. Create a sheet for one date or the whole series and it is already filled with the people who registered, including anyone who signs up later. Staff mark people present on a phone or a laptop at the door. A series sheet puts the season on one grid, and the signup export carries a column per date, so you can see who attended without building a report by hand. There is more on the attendance sheet software page.
Communal starts at $75 per month for up to 250 members, which covers member records, volunteers, donors, and point of sale. Programs and events are a $50 per month add-on on top of that, and it includes registration, member pricing, waitlists, payment plans, waivers, and attendance. There are no per registration fees. No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time. Full detail is on the pricing page.
Yes, camps run on the same programs module: multi-week sessions, capacity, waitlists, medical forms, and payment plans. If camp is your main use case, start with the day camp registration software page, which covers the parts specific to camp, and the comparison of summer camp registration software.