Festival day volunteers
A public signup lets volunteers claim tent shifts or parking duty without joining a crew or creating an account.
A SignUpGenius alternative for dragon boat crews
Turn practice signups into a boat lineup.
SignUpGenius handles recurring signups and offers automatic waitlists on paid plans. DragonSignUp adds paddling profiles and editable boat lineups, so the names on your practice list can become a seating plan in the same app.
Free for clubs up to 30 members, waitlist included. No credit card required. Paddlers do not pay a DragonSignUp subscription.
Illustrative signup list
20 slots, 17 taken
Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Slot 4
Slot 5
Slot 6
Slot 7
Slot 8
Slot 9
Slot 10
Slot 11
Slot 12
Slot 13
Slot 14
Slot 15
Slot 16
Slot 17
Slot 18
Slot 19
Slot 20
Example only. SignUpGenius can collect custom answers; a coach can use those answers to build a separate boat lineup.
Illustrative DragonSignUp lineup
A boat
Drum
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
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9
9
10
10
Steer
Left 1,412 lbRight 1,398 lbOff by 14 lbStroke pair set
Left filledRight filledOpen roster capacityExample weights, not a target or a guarantee. Review the suggested lineup and check the loaded boat.
Week three
Schedule the season. Keep the lineup with it.
Illustrative workflows. Both tools support recurring signups; the seating workflow is the difference.
With a sign-up sheet
- SunCheck the recurring signup. Recurring dates are already posted. Review Thursday’s participants and any custom answers.
- ThuThe sheet comes back full. Use the signup list and paddler details to update your separate seating chart.
- SatRegatta. Keep a separate lineup for each heat and revise it when a substitute is needed.
With DragonSignUp
- SunCheck the practice. Upcoming dates are generated from your recurring practice. Paddlers stay on the crew roster and choose each date.
- ThuReview the crew and draft the lineup. Request a suggestion using the available paddlers, review the balance and side warnings, then edit and print the lineup.
- SatRegatta. Save a lineup for each heat. After a substitution, review the whole boat and publish the revised assignments.
Sixteen weeks
What a season asks of you
Example: two practices a week for sixteen weeks means 32 practice dates. Add two regatta days, which may each need several race lineups.
Example season · 32 practices · 2 regatta days
Each regatta day may need several lineups
Practice Regatta, several lineups in one day
SignUpGenius does more than people expect. You can set recurring dates, send automatic reminders and run unlimited sign-ups on the free plan. If your crew is coping with it, you are not doing anything wrong.
Its recurring-date tools reduce scheduling work. The question for your crew is where you keep paddling details and how you turn the latest signup list into a seating plan.
DragonSignUp keeps those tasks together. A suggested lineup is a starting point for the coach to review, not a promise that every possible crew will balance.
Clubs that run a general team app instead of a sheet have the same gap. The TeamSnap comparison covers that side.
Feature by feature
SignUpGenius against DragonSignUp, a sheet against a roster
Plans are named where they matter. SignUpGenius includes automatic waitlists on Gold and above.
| For a dragon boat crew | DragonSignUp | SignUpGenius |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring practice signups | Yes Set a recurring practice. Upcoming dates are generated on a rolling 60-day window. Paddlers choose each date they can attend. | Recurring dates can be generated together; you do not need to rebuild a sheet every week. |
| Automatic waitlist | Yes Automatic promotion when a confirmed paddler cancels, with email. Free and Pro include opt-in promotion texts. The coach still reviews the lineup. | Gold, Platinum and Enterprise include automatic promotion and email when a place opens. |
| Boat seating | Yes Build and edit a seat-by-seat lineup. Suggestions use recorded weights, side preferences and role eligibility; the coach reviews the result. | Custom questions can collect paddler details. A dragon boat seating optimizer is not listed in the feature overview. |
| Paddler information | Members keep side preferences and paddling details in their profiles. Coaches use them when building lineups. | Groups, custom questions and reports help organize participants. These are useful tools; they are not the same as a paddling profile. |
| Sharing signups | Members join a crew through an invite and sign in to claim practice places. | Participants can sign up without an account, which suits public volunteer events. |
| Several crews | A club calendar with separate crew rosters and lineups. Club admins can open spare seats to other members 24, 48 or 72 hours before practice. | Tabbed signups and multiple admins help organize several signups. |
| Off-water events | Slots for dishes, shifts and tasks for your crew. | Volunteer slots, public signups and payment and donation tools. |
| Free plan | Up to 30 members and 2 admins; automatic waitlists and boat lineups included, with no ads. | Unlimited signups; waitlists require Gold or above. Check current plans. |
Pricing
SignUpGenius free plan against DragonSignUp free plan
Compare the free options first, then check whether you need a paid waitlist or more members. Prices in USD.
DragonSignUp Free
One club with up to 30 members.
$0
- 2 admins; every feature
- Automatic waitlists and opt-in promotion texts
- Paddling profiles and editable lineups; no ads
SignUpGenius Free
A starting point for public signups.
$0
- Unlimited signups
- Participants can join without an account
- Automatic waitlist requires a paid plan
SignUpGenius Gold+
For signups that need automatic waitlists.
See current plans
- Automatic promotion and email notifications
Try the workflow before switching. DragonSignUp is free for up to 30 members; Pro is $180 a year or $19 a month for up to 75. SignUpGenius waitlists start on Gold; check its current pricing and billing terms rather than treating a monthly price multiplied by twelve as an annual offer.
Try it on one Thursday
Move one practice over
You don't have to migrate a season to find out. Pick next Thursday.
- 1
Create the crew and post one practice. Set the date, meeting point and capacity.
- 2
Send the invite link to your paddlers. They add themselves, so you retype nobody, and their details stay on the roster for the rest of the season.
- 3
Let the waitlist do Thursday. When a confirmed paddler cancels, the next eligible waiting paddler is promoted. Review the roster and lineup before practice.
Team events and volunteer slots for your members live in DragonSignUp too, so the banquet, the pot-luck and the regatta shifts move over with the practices. The public festival crowd, two hundred strangers claiming tent shifts, can stay on a sheet.
Fair is fair
When SignUpGenius is still the right tool
Keep it for the jobs it already does well. You can trial DragonSignUp alongside it.
Fundraisers and public events
SignUpGenius offers public signup, payment and donation tools. Review those options if collecting money is central to the event.
The rest of your club
If the banquet, the raffle and the board meetings already run through SignUpGenius, leave them there. Move the practices and the lineups and keep the sheets.
From crews on the water
In their words
“Dragon SignUp has streamlined what used to be an involved process. There are so many advantages, my favorites include: the ability to sign up for multiple days at once, the clarity in paddle side preference, and the elimination of accidental double sign ups.”
Start with your winter group
Try it with your winter workouts
Set up two weeks of pool sessions, erg workouts or strength practices. Invite the regulars and see how it works before the full crew returns in spring. The kit includes a SignUpGenius handover checklist and messages you can copy.
Move one practice over and see.
Free for clubs up to 30 members, waitlist and seating included, no ads. Share one invite link so paddlers can join your crew.