What each one charges, which formats it runs, and who touches the money. TourneyRun, Easy Office Pools, Print Your Brackets, PoolHost and RunYourPool, side by side.
None of the four above. TourneyRun charges the commissioner a flat fee per pool and never holds the money; Easy Office Pools says it does not manage entry fees; PoolHost says the site is free to use; Print Your Brackets is a sheet you print. On all of them the buy-ins stay between the commissioner and the players.
TourneyRun is $20 for up to 40 entrants, paid once by the commissioner. Easy Office Pools is $5 for its Kentucky Derby squares pool once you pass four entries, paid only by the pool admin. PoolHost is free. Print Your Brackets is free to print.
TourneyRun and Easy Office Pools both list Kentucky Derby pools. Print Your Brackets sells a printable Derby sheet rather than a hosted pool. PoolHost lists no horse racing format, only a custom squares pool. RunYourPool lists football, basketball, golf, baseball, hockey, soccer, the Oscars and the Olympics, and no horse racing.
On TourneyRun a guest opens the invite link and sees the race, the field and the pool before signing up; an account is only needed to take an entry, and nobody enters payment details. Buy-ins go to the commissioner over Venmo, Zelle or PayPal.