How to Choose an Esports Tournament Hosting Platform
With so many platforms to host esports tournaments, deciding on which to use can be difficult. It takes a lot of trial and error and experimenting with different options. If you’re struggling to decide on a platform to host your next esports tournament, check out our recommendations and see how they stack up compared to each other. This post will cover five of the most popular platforms in the competitive gaming community, including Smash.gg, Battlefy, Challonge, and Toornament.
Smash.gg
Smash.gg was created in 2015 as a tournament organization solution for tournament organizers of the popular game Super Smash Bros., but has since expanded to host tournaments for other popular esports games including League of Legends, Rocket League, and CS:GO.
Pros
Able to take payments through their website for entry fees
Has a ticketing system, making in-person events that require tickets easy to run and keep track of
Offers a list of suggested tasks for organizers to follow to aid in the tournament organization process
Lots of different ways to customize a tournament’s setup with very powerful tools available for free
Cons
Complex system, first time users need to read or watch a few tutorials to understand how to use the program to its full potential
May be confusing for users signing up for their first tournament through smash.gg
Optimized more for Smash Bros. than other games
Battlefy
Battlefy
Created in 2013 to host Starcraft 2 and League of Legends tournaments, Battlefy’s history in the Starcraft and League competitive scene has grown it to one of the most popular esports tournament hosting websites on the internet, recently expanding its hosting capabilities to other popular esports titles.
Pros
Easy to discover public tournaments to play in on the home page
Bracket creation is easy and can be done in one click
Participant ranks in ranked games are automatically pulled from game databases to make seeding easy
Participants can message opponent and bring TOs into DMs with opponents to discuss match disputes
Platform is free to use for both tournament organizers and players
Cons
Webpage is confusing to use and it can be easy to get stuck on pages
Cannot take entry fees unless your organization has been approved by Battlefy
Ranks can sometimes be outdated, making seeding incorrect and unbalanced
Optimized more for League of Legends and Starcraft than other games
Challonge
Challonge was released in 2009 originally as a bracket generator. It then expanded to much more beyond that, turning into an easy-to-use online tournament creation tool for many popular esports titles.
Pros
Really easy to create a tournament, website very simple to go through
Bracket generation creates easy to visualize bracket
Can have custom website url to make marketing easier
Can connect to discord using Tourney bot
Able to take payment for entry fees
Platform is free to use for both tournament organizers and players
Cons
Tourney Bot requires additional setup
Players can’t explore tournaments, reducing possible player exposure
Can’t give moderation to other user accounts, must all be logged in to the same account
Toornament
Toornament was launched in 2015, improving on features seen in competitors with success. Currently, Toornament is used in esports operations for many popular esport game developers including Riot Games, Ubisoft, Bethesda and more.
Pros
Has own Toornament API for developers to access tournament results and fully customize their own tournaments
Can link streams to certain matches of a tournament for spectators
Extremely customizable with user friendly interface
Free to start using for tournament organizers and no cost to players
Cons
Needs subscription for service support and access to Toornament API
Lots of setup needed, some set up is manual to improve customizability
Challengermode
Challengermode was founded in 2014 with the goal of creating an easy way to access esports no matter your skill level. One of the company’s beliefs is that everyone should have access to a digital esports arena, with many of its tournament organization and community-building capabilities centred around this ideology.
Check out Challengermode’s quickstart tutorial on how to create and set up a tournament with a group stage here.
Pros
Offers organizations to create “spaces” where players can join as members to view an organization’s tournaments and social feeds
Has a “marketplace” where anyone can browse and hire coaches and freelancers such as casters and graphic designers
Easy to list an organization’s sponsors on the organization’s account
Organizations can set membership fees if players want to be able to join it’s tournaments
Cons
Can be confusing for first-time users to join and explore tournaments and communities
Membership fees may push some players away from joining your community
Challengermode only accepts payments in euros which may incur extra costs to users in countries that don’t use euros when making payments through the site