How to Choose Camp Registration Software: 12 Questions to Ask

Most camps choose registration software in the fall, set it up over the winter, and open registration somewhere between January and April. That makes right now the moment the decision gets made, and it is a decision you live with for at least one full season.

Feature lists all look the same. Every vendor says they do online forms, payments and reports. The differences show up when you ask specific questions about your camp: your families, your prices, your arrival day. Here are the twelve we would ask, what a good answer sounds like, and what should make you nervous.

I have run camps for a long time, and I have been through a software switch myself. What I learned is that a long feature list matters less than what the experience is like for the two groups who live in it: parents and staff. Can a parent sign up without calling the office? Do they hear from you at the right moments, so nobody is left wondering whether the form went through or what to bring? Is arrival day a quick hello at the table, or a line out the door? And for staff, is everything in one place, or are they chasing forms, payments and answers across emails, spreadsheets and paper? The feature that ended up saving me the most running around was not even on my list when I started looking: approving staff and assigning them in the same place the campers register. So use the twelve questions below, then add one of your own for whatever has you chasing things down today.

Money

1. What will each camper really cost me, card fees included?

Pricing comes in three shapes: a monthly or yearly subscription, a fee per registration, or a percentage of what you collect. Many vendors combine two of them. On top of that, a card processor takes its own cut of every payment, usually around 2.9% plus 30 cents in the US.

Ask the vendor to price one real camper at your real price, with everything included. Then ask what changes if you turn on the features you actually need. A low headline rate with a paid add-on for payment plans or waivers is not a low rate.

• Good answer: a single number per camper that you can check yourself, and a clear list of anything that costs extra.
• Be careful: setup fees, annual contracts, a minimum monthly charge in the months your camp is closed, or pricing that is only available on a sales call.

2. Where does the money go, and when do I get it?

Some systems collect the money themselves and pay you out later on their schedule. Others connect to a payment account that belongs to you, so payments land in your account directly. Ask who the parent sees on their card statement, how long payouts take, and who handles a disputed charge.

3. Can families pay a deposit now and the rest later?

A deposit gets a family to commit in February instead of waiting until May. Ask whether the system can take a deposit, schedule the remaining payments, charge them automatically, and remind a parent when a card fails. Then ask what you see as the director: who has paid in full, who is on a plan, and who is behind.

• Good answer: the parent picks pay in full or the plan at checkout, later payments charge on their own, and failed payments are retried and reported to you.
• Be careful: plans that are really just manual invoices you have to send and chase yourself.

Registration

4. Can a parent register all their kids in one checkout?

A parent with three campers should not fill in their own name, address and card three times. Ask to see a family of three go through the form. Watch whether the parent's details carry over, whether each child gets their own questions, and whether there is one payment at the end.

5. Does each camper get their own form, with follow-up questions?

Good forms only ask what applies. "Any allergies?" should open a details box only when the answer is yes. A question about a guardian should appear only for minors. Some things are asked once per family, like a photo release, and some once per child, like a T-shirt size. Ask how the system handles both.

6. Does it handle ages and grades on its own?

If junior camp is ages 8 to 11 and teen camp is 12 to 17, the form should work that out from the birth date and only offer what fits. Otherwise you spend the spring emailing parents who signed a nine-year-old up for teen week.

7. Are waivers and health forms built in, and who can see health information?

Waivers and health forms belong inside registration, so no camper arrives on Monday with missing paperwork. Ask whether a waiver can be signed, not just ticked, and whether you can pull up the signed copy later.

Then ask the question most camps forget: who on my staff can see health answers? A volunteer checking campers in does not need the medication list. The nurse does. A system that shows every answer to everyone with a login is a privacy problem waiting to happen.

8. Can I sell lodging, meals and extras, with limits and waitlists?

Cabin types, meal plans, a camp shirt, a bus seat. Ask whether these can be sold per camper alongside the registration, each with its own price and its own limit. When something sells out, ask what happens: is there a waitlist, and does the next family get invited automatically when a spot opens?

Camp week

9. How fast is check-in on arrival day?

Arrival day is where registration software earns its keep or embarrasses you in front of two hundred families. Ask how a family is checked in: a code they show, a name search, or a printed list. Ask whether a whole family can be checked in at once, whether it works on a phone, and what your staff see about each camper at the table.

10. Can it do cabin assignments?

If the software stops at the registration list, cabin assignments go back to a whiteboard and a spreadsheet. Ask whether you can build your cabins, place campers by age or group, see who is not yet placed, and print a roster for each cabin door.

11. How does pickup work at the end of camp?

Ask whether parents can list the adults allowed to pick up each child, and whether there is a record of who took which camper and when. This matters most on the one day when everybody is tired and the parking lot is full.

12. Can I get my data out, and what help do I get in peak season?

You should be able to export your registrations, answers and payments to a spreadsheet at any time, without asking anyone. And ask how support works the week registration opens, because that is when you will need it. Is there a person to talk to? Will they help you set up your first event?

A quick way to compare costs

Take one camper at your real price and add up every fee. Here is the math for a $350 week of camp on Regify, so you can see the kind of breakdown to ask every vendor for.

You choose whether those fees are added to what the parent pays or come out of your share. The card processing line assumes one camper paid for alone. A family paying for several campers in one checkout pays the 30 cents once.

How Regify answers the 12 questions

We built Regify for camps, churches and community events, so here are our own answers, including where a feature costs more.

1. Cost. Free events are free. Paid events are 1% + $0.50 per registrant, capped at $4.99 per registrant, plus Stripe's card processing. An event that turns on a premium feature (signed waivers, payment plans, nightly roll call, pickup checkout, staff management or text messaging) is 1% + $1.50 per registrant instead. No monthly fee, no setup fee, no contract.
2. Where the money goes. You connect your own Stripe account. Payments go straight to it, and your camp's name is on the parent's statement.
3. Deposits and plans. Parents choose pay in full or your plan at checkout. Later payments charge automatically, a failed card is retried, and you see what has been collected and what is still owed. Payment plans use the premium rate.
4. Families. One order covers every camper in the family, with one payment. Parents with an account can save their kids and pick them next year.
5. Forms. Each camper has their own card with their own questions. Follow-up questions appear only when they apply, and you choose whether a question is asked once per family or once per camper.
6. Ages. Put an age range on a ticket or an add-on and each camper is only offered what fits their birth date.
7. Waivers and health. Waivers sit inside registration, with a drawn or typed signature on the premium rate. You can keep health answers in a view that only the people you choose can open. For everyone else they are left off the registrant list, the exports and the check-in screen.
8. Lodging, meals and extras. Sold per camper as add-ons, each with its own price, limit and age range. Sold-out options have a waitlist that invites the next family when a spot opens.
9. Check-in. Each camper gets one QR code. Staff scan it, search by name, or type the code, and can check in a whole family with one tap, on a phone.
10. Cabins. Build your cabins and beds, drag campers in or let it place them by age and the rules you set, then print rosters. For camp week there is a nightly roll call that each cabin leader runs from a link on their phone (premium rate).
11. Pickup. Parents list authorized adults when they register and get a pickup code. Staff check the adult against the list and the release is recorded (premium rate).
12. Your data and help. Export registrants, answers and orders to a spreadsheet whenever you like. You can book a 30-minute demo, and if you would rather not build it yourself we offer a done-for-you setup.

If you want to see it with your own camp, you can describe your camp in a sentence or two and Regify drafts the whole event for you to review. More detail is on our camp registration page.