Comparison

Game Maker vs PickleWave

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Game Maker

Organize pickleball games, find nearby courts, and connect with players. Create custom game formats, manage groups, and communicate with other players.

Highlights
  • Find nearby games and courts
  • Connect with players by DUPR, age, gender
  • Create private groups and chat
  • Organize games with custom formats
  • Scramble, Round Robin, King of the Court modes
  • DUPR rating sessions
Features
Read full description

Game Maker is made for pickleball — the one app you open before, during, and after every session. Find courts and players near you, set up games in seconds, run brackets, track your DUPR rating, and stay connected with the people you play with. Whether you're organizing your regular doubles group or chasing your next rating bump, Game Maker keeps your whole pickleball life in one place. Meet Pickles AI Just ask. Say "set up a private game Saturday morning at 9am with my advanced players group" and Pickles AI — with voice dictation — turns it into a real, confirmable game inside the app. Organizing play has never been this fast. Your games, on your Calendar Every game you create syncs straight to your iPhone's Calendar, including recurring sessions — so your schedule lives where you already look. Find your game • Discover nearby courts and players on the map • Filter by distance to find games that fit • Host or join games and manage invites Play & compete • Build round-robin and tournament brackets • Record match scores • Head-to-head history and leaderboards Track your progress • Connect your DUPR rating • See 90-day performance trends and match insights • Follow your improvement over time Stay connected • Add friends and create groups • Message the players you play with • Game Maker player indicators so you know who's on the app Play anywhere — now in 24 languages Game Maker automatically matches your device language, or pick from 24 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Turkish, and more. Download Game Maker and play more pickleball. By using Game Maker, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Privacy Policy: https://pickleball.com/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://pickleball.com/terms-of-use

About

PickleWave

Get live scores, tournament results, and match histories for professional pickleball. Follow your favorite players and tournaments in real-time with advanced analytics for fans worldwide.

Highlights
  • Live scores and real-time updates
  • Player profiles with rankings
  • Tournament results (PPA, MLP, APP, USAP)
  • Tournament schedules
  • Match history
  • Personalized player and event feed
Features
Read full description

PickleWave gives you live scores, complete tournament results, and full match histories for every professional pickleball player. Track your favorite players, follow tournaments in real-time, and dive into advanced analytics designed for pickleball fans around the world. Features: • Live scores and real-time match updates • Player pages with records, rankings, and recent form • Pro pickleball tournament results from PPA, MLP, APP, and USAP • Tournament schedules with past results and upcoming events • Match history, including scores and opponents • Personalized feed of your favorite players and events PickleWave is built for fans, players, coaches, and brands who to follow the sport’s fastest-growing pro tours.`

Screenshots

Game Maker4 screens
PickleWave4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PickleWave at 5.0 against Game Maker's 3.8. PickleWave also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 64%) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). Game Maker's advantage is ratings volume (18 vs 4). On price, monetization model, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Game Maker sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. PickleWave asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PickleWave holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Game Maker's written reviews are positive against 100% of PickleWave's.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Game Maker versus PickleWave: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGame MakerPickleWave
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (18 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews63.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings18 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 8 days—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size152 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPickleball TopCo LLCAndrew Mauricio

Customer experience

Game Maker

All ratings18 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral5.6%
Negative27.8%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive63.6%
Neutral9.1%
Negative27.3%

PickleWave

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Game Maker

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Access$4.991 Month
  • Pro Monthly Access$19.991 Month
  • Yearly Access$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro Annual Access$199.991 Year
None

PickleWave

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Game Maker free?
Game Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PickleWave free?
PickleWave is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Game Maker or PickleWave?
PickleWave is rated higher. Game Maker averages 3.8 out of 5 from 18 ratings, while PickleWave averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Game Maker or PickleWave have ads?
Game Maker shows ads; PickleWave does not.

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