Spond vs Downwind Crew
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Spond
This app streamlines sports team and club organization. It simplifies scheduling, payment collection, and communication for coaches, admins, parents, and players. Save time on administrative tasks and focus more on the sport.
- Schedule training, matches, and events
- Automatic RSVP tracking
- Secure payment collection
- Group communication tools
- Manage multiple teams and roles
- Sync with personal calendar
- Player of the match voting
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Organize your team, sports club or group. Save time. Focus on what matters. The free app trusted by millions of coaches, club admins, parents and players worldwide. Spond is the app that makes sports happen. Whether you're running a sports club or organizing activities with your friends, Spond keeps everyone in sync. Stop chasing RSVPs, outdated contact info or late payments. What you can do: • Schedule training, matches and events • Set up recurring events for the whole season at once • Sync everything with your personal calendar • See who's coming with automatic RSVP tracking • Collect membership fees and event payments securely • Send reminders and keep track of who has paid • Manage multiple teams with sub-groups and set member roles • Import members from Excel or add via link, email or SMS • Export attendance lists and data to Excel • Set up your starting line-ups for matches • Keep track of match goals and vote player of the match • Communicate via group chats, posts and polls • Store photos and documents in custom folders and file structures • Manage children's accounts safely as a guardian with full visibility of communication with coaches Built for coaches, club admins, parents and players. Spond saves a coach an average of 2 hours per week on admin tasks. That's more time on the field, less time in spreadsheets and group message chats. Works for all sports and activities. Any group that needs to get organized will find their home in Spond. Download Spond and make sports happen.
Downwind Crew
This app connects paddlers for organized downwind runs. It simplifies shuttle logistics, allowing users to find fellow paddlers by craft, pace, and route. Coordinate vehicles, seats, and transport to ensure a smooth paddling experience.
- Organize downwind runs
- Find paddlers by craft and pace
- Coordinate shuttle logistics
- Direct messaging and crew chat
- Browse official routes with safety notes
- Track runs and build paddler profiles
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Downwind Crew helps paddlers find each other, organize downwind runs, and solve shuttle logistics before getting on the water. Built for the paddling community, Downwind Crew makes it easier to coordinate the details that can turn a great paddle into a logistical headache. Use Downwind Crew to: • Create and join downwind runs • See who is available to paddle • Find paddlers by craft, pace, route, and availability • Coordinate vehicles, passenger seats, and canoe transport • See whether your shuttle is ready before launch • Message paddlers directly or chat with your run crew • Browse official routes with maps, difficulty ratings, and safety notes • Track upcoming and completed runs • Build a paddler profile with craft, pace, experience, and favorite routes Shuttle planning is built directly into each run. As paddlers join and add their transportation information, Downwind Crew automatically shows whether the crew has enough vehicles, seats, and canoe capacity to make the shuttle work. Whether you paddle OC1, OC2, surfski, SUP, or other supported craft, Downwind Crew keeps the plan, crew, and logistics in one place. Find your crew. Chase the pace.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Downwind Crew at free against Spond's free with in-app purchases. Downwind Crew also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Spond's advantage is ratings volume (3.7K vs 3) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Spond against 5.0 for Downwind Crew. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spond has 3.7K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Spond ships an update weekly, Downwind Crew monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Spond | Downwind Crew |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (3.7K ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 61.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3.7K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #156 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 118 MB | 188 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SPOND AS | Styron Enterprises, Inc |
Customer experience
Spond
Downwind Crew
Bugs and requests
Spond
Reported bugs
5 issues- Events randomly disappearing
- Inability to create new events in some groups
- Calendar sync issues when crossing time zones
- Verification code not being received
- Crashes when opening messages
Requested features
5 requests- Add goal scorer and stats tracking features
- Improve recurring event creation and management
- Implement a more granular notification control system
- Develop an iPad-specific app
- Add a car pool feature to connect players in the same area
Downwind Crew
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Spond
No in-app purchases
Downwind Crew
No in-app purchases









