Same core features. A fraction of the price. No ads on your youth club site. No triple-charged payments. Live in 5 minutes, not 5 days.
No card needed. No lock-in. No ads, ever.
Why clubs leave Pitchero
These aren't invented gripes. They're patterns from Trustpilot reviews and grassroots football secretary forums.
Pitchero's cheapest plan with meaningful features starts from around £38/month — £456 a year. For a volunteer-run Sunday league club, that's a significant overhead. GrassrootsFC Club plan is £8/month. The free tier is genuinely free.
Pitchero's free tier places third-party ads on your website. Multiple clubs have reported inappropriate adverts appearing alongside content for Under-7s and Under-8s. GrassrootsFC never shows ads on any club site, on any plan.
"We didn't realise there were ads until a parent pointed out what was appearing next to our under-9s photos."
Pitchero's Trustpilot score sits at around 2.3 out of 5. A recurring complaint is duplicate and triple-charged payments, aggressive plan upselling at renewal, and difficulty getting refunds — causing real stress for club treasurers.
"Charged three times in one month. Took weeks to get a refund and they kept trying to upsell me on a plan I didn't want."
Getting a new Pitchero site fully live can take days of manual configuration — colours, team structures, navigation, content. GrassrootsFC reads your badge, extracts your colours, and has your site live in under 5 minutes automatically.
Pricing comparison
Pitchero pricing as published on their website. GrassrootsFC pricing is fixed — no surprise increases.
| Plan level | GrassrootsFC | Pitchero |
|---|---|---|
| Entry / Free | Free Website, shop (5 products), teams, events, gallery, documents, PWA — no ads, ever | Free Limited features; third-party ads shown on your site |
| Core club plan | £8/mo Everything free, plus news, 25 albums, 100 docs, analytics, 1.5% shop fee | from £38/mo Pitchero's cheapest plan with core features enabled |
| Advanced / Pro | £15/mo Custom domain, unlimited storage, 10 admins, priority support, 0% shop fee | Higher tier Advanced features at higher price points |
| Annual cost (core plan) | £96/yr Club plan billed monthly, cancel any time | from £456/yr At the minimum Pitchero core plan rate |
Pitchero pricing based on published plans as of early 2026. Always check current pricing directly with Pitchero.
Feature comparison
A straight look at what each platform offers. Where Pitchero does something we don't yet, we'll say so.
| Feature | GrassrootsFC | Pitchero |
|---|---|---|
| Core platform | ||
| Club website | ✓ Free tier — no ads | ✓ Free tier with ads |
| Team pages | ✓ Free tier | ✓ Free tier |
| Events calendar | ✓ Free tier | ✓ Paid plans |
| News & match reports | ✓ Club plan — £8/mo | ✓ Paid plans |
| Photo gallery | ✓ Free (5 albums), Club (25), Pro (unlimited) | ✓ Paid plans |
| Club documents | ✓ Free (20 files), Club (100), Pro (unlimited) | ✓ Paid plans |
| Video embeds | ✓ Free tier | Partial Limited |
| Safeguarding page | ✓ Free tier | ✓ All plans |
| Custom domain | ✓ Pro plan — £15/mo | ✓ Higher-tier paid plans |
| Shop & payments | ||
| Online shop | ✓ Free (5 products, 5% fee), Club (unlimited, 1.5%), Pro (0%) | ✓ Paid plans |
| Membership payments Collect annual subs from members | ✗ Shop handles kit & products | ✓ Paid plans |
| Trust & safety | ||
| Ads on your site | ✓ Never, on any plan | ✗ Shown on free tier youth risk |
| Trustpilot rating | ✓ New — building our record | ✗ ~2.3/5 with payment complaints |
| Technical | ||
| Mobile-installable PWA | ✓ Free tier — installs to phone home screen | ✗ |
| Google Analytics | ✓ Club plan — £8/mo | ✓ Paid plans |
| Automated setup from badge | ✓ Upload badge → live in ~5 minutes | ✗ Manual configuration required |
| FA Full-Time integration | ✗ Not currently planned | ✓ Available |
Why clubs make the move
We built GrassrootsFC because we ran a grassroots club ourselves. We know what actually matters.
£8/month should not feel like a luxury. We've kept our costs lean so the price reflects what a volunteer-run club can actually afford.
We will never place third-party advertising on your site. Youth clubs, veterans sides, open-age — it doesn't matter. No ads, on any plan, ever.
We use Stripe directly. Clear fees, no surprise charges, no double or triple billing. No convoluted middleware between you and your money.
Upload your badge, verify your email. We extract your club colours and build your site. No support ticket. No waiting. Done.
Cancel any time from your admin panel. No phone calls, no hoops. We keep clubs because we do a good job — not because leaving is a hassle.
We don't upsell you mid-season. You choose your plan, you know what you're paying. "Fair, never greedy" is the principle we build to.
The record speaks
We're not celebrating someone else's bad reviews. We're pointing to patterns that affect real clubs — and that we set out to avoid.
out of 5 stars
Pitchero — TrustpilotTrustpilot score and review themes based on publicly available reviews at time of writing. Check Trustpilot.com for the current rating. We encourage you to read both positive and negative reviews before choosing any platform — including checking for GrassrootsFC reviews as our user base grows.
Upload your badge, get your site in minutes. Upgrade to Club for £8/month when you're ready — or stay free forever.
Start for free →No card needed · Cancel anytime · hello@grassrootsfc.co.uk if you have questions
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