Thinking about PlayerMaker? Here's the honest comparison.
PlayerMaker is a well-made product. But at £240+ upfront and ongoing monthly fees, it isn't right for every family. Skill Track Pro is a different approach — and for many parents, a better fit.
PlayerMaker
£240+
hardware + £20/month after year 1
vs
Skill Track Pro
£4.99
one-time, no hardware, no subscription
Understanding the difference
They measure different things — and that matters
Before comparing the two, it helps to understand that these apps capture fundamentally different types of data. Neither is a replacement for the other — they answer different questions about your child's development.
PlayerMaker
Physical & Automated
Foot-mounted sensors sample 1,000 times per second. The device runs automatically — no human operator needed. It answers: how far, how fast, and how many?
Sprint speed and distance covered
Ball touches detected by impact sensor
Kick velocity and dominant foot usage
Physical load and work rate metrics
Skill Track Pro
Technical & Tactical
A parent watches the match and taps to record each action. It answers: what decisions did they make, and how did those decisions turn out?
Shot placement — zone on a 3x3 goal grid, foot, goal
Challenge results — five outcome types including timing reads
Goalkeeper actions — saves, claims, distribution (full detail)
Side by side
How they compare on the practical stuff
Beyond what they measure, there are real practical differences that affect whether the product works for your family day to day.
Feature
PlayerMaker
Skill Track Pro
Works with your existing phone (no hardware purchase)
Cost
~£240 + £20/month
£4.99 once
Works offline (no signal needed)
No account or login required
Data stays on your device
Dedicated goalkeeper tracking
Pass success & direction data
Shot zone placement (3x3 grid)
Sprint speed & distance
Runs automatically without operator
Season-long progress charts
Available on iOS & Android
Your child plays in goal? PlayerMaker won't cover it.
Foot-mounted sensors are designed for outfield play. Goalkeeper-specific tracking simply isn't there.
Skill Track Pro has a full Goalkeeper mode you can switch to mid-match. It tracks the four actions that matter most for keeper development — with the level of detail that reveals real patterns over a season.
Saves
Records exactly where in the goal each save is made using a 3x3 zone grid. Build a heat map of save distribution across a full season.
Claims
Tracks claim type (cross or through ball) and location (in box or out of box). See where your keeper is most — and least — confident.
Long Distribution
Records whether long kicks reach a teammate. Tracks success rate to build a picture of goal kick and long pass quality.
Short Distribution
Tracks success on short passes played out from the back — essential for modern keeper development and playing out under pressure.
The real cost
What PlayerMaker actually costs over time
The hardware purchase includes 12 months of app access. After that, the subscription renews. Here's what three years of tracking your child's development looks like.
PlayerMaker
Skill Track Pro
Year 1 — hardware device + 12-month app access included
~£240
device + sub
£4.99
one-time
Year 2 — annual subscription renewal
~£240
£20/month
£0
nothing
Year 3 — annual subscription renewal
~£240
£20/month
£0
nothing
3-year total
~£720
PlayerMaker
£4.99
Skill Track Pro
Why parents choose Skill Track Pro
The practical advantages
Regardless of the price difference, there are real-world reasons parents find Skill Track Pro the better fit for grassroots football.
No hardware to lose
Foot sensors go into kit bags, get left at grounds, run out of battery. Skill Track Pro runs on the phone you're already holding on the touchline.
Your child's data stays private
Nothing is uploaded to any server. No account. No email address. Just first names on your own device — designed for children's privacy from the start.
Works anywhere, no signal needed
Many grassroots pitches have poor or no mobile signal. Skill Track Pro stores everything locally — it works just as well with no internet connection.
Context that sensors can't capture
A sensor knows a kick happened. A parent watching knows it was a 30-yard diagonal under pressure that found a teammate. That context is what drives development conversations.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
No — and it's important to be honest about that. PlayerMaker captures physical data automatically via sensors: sprint speed, distance, ball touches detected by impact. Skill Track Pro captures technical and tactical data via a human observer: pass decisions, shot outcomes, goalkeeper saves and claims. They measure different things. If physical metrics are what you specifically need, PlayerMaker does that job. If you want to track decision-making and technical patterns — particularly for a goalkeeper — Skill Track Pro is the better fit.
Skill Track Pro. PlayerMaker is sensor-based and focused on outfield physical metrics — it doesn't offer goalkeeper-specific tracking. Skill Track Pro has a dedicated Goalkeeper mode covering Saves (with save zone placement on a 3x3 grid), Claims (cross vs through ball, in box vs out of box), Long Distribution, and Short Distribution. Over a season, you build a complete picture of where saves are going, where claiming is strong or weak, and how reliable the distribution is.
Everything, with no time limit and no future charges. Full live match recording for outfield and goalkeeper positions, season-long progress charts, shot zone and save zone visualisations, skills radar charts, match vs season average comparisons, CSV export, 11 languages, and all future updates. One purchase, used for as long as you want.
No. Skill Track Pro works 100% offline. All data is stored on your device. You don't need a WiFi connection, a mobile signal, or even a SIM card active at the pitch. It's designed specifically for grassroots football grounds where signal is unreliable.
No. The match recorder uses four large colour-coded buttons — you tap the action type as it happens, then quickly log the outcome. Most parents pick it up within the first few minutes of their first match. The whole point is that it stays out of the way so you can watch the game.
Skill Track Pro is available on the App Store for iOS devices and on Google Play for Android. It's available in 11 languages — English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, and Italian — and works anywhere in the world.
Try it for the price of a match ball pump.
One-time purchase. No subscription. No hardware. Start tracking at your next match.