Tornelo and Chess67 agree on the big thing — tournaments belong in the browser — and differ on what the tournament is. Tornelo is built around online and hybrid play: a web pairing engine, an online game server, fair-play reports, and an arbiter-led workflow that's earned real adoption at online youth and federation events. Free events are free; paid entries carry a Tornelo processing fee of 2.75% plus about 25 cents, on top of Stripe or PayPal fees.
Chess67's center of gravity is over-the-board: US scholastic Saturdays, club nights, and weekend opens, with USCF rating reports and membership checks, family accounts, on-site check-in from phones, and the club itself — members, messaging, storefront — in the same product.
Playing online or hybrid? Tornelo is purpose-built for it. Running over-the-board events for a US club or school program? That's what Chess67 is for.
| Fact | Chess67 | Tornelo |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Web platform for chess clubs and tournaments: registration, payments, pairings, standings, and member management | Web tournament platform with a built-in online playing server |
| Runs on | Any browser — phone, tablet, or laptop | Any browser |
| Price | Free to use*; 2% platform fee on Chess67 sales, plus processor fees that may include Stripe nonprofit discounts | Free for free events; paid entries carry Tornelo's processing fee |
| Payments | Stripe or PayPal/Venmo checkout built into registration | Built in; 2.75% + ~25¢ per paid transaction plus Stripe/PayPal fees |
| Formats & reporting | Swiss, round robin, double round robin, and quads; USCF tiebreaks and rating report export; FIDE TRF preparation | Web pairing engine for online, hybrid, and over-the-board events; fair-play reports |
| Best for | Over-the-board US clubs and scholastic programs | Online and hybrid events with arbiter-led workflows |
Tornelo's fees were checked at tornelo.com/services on the date below; rates vary by currency — verify before pricing your event.
*Free to use means no base subscription: publish events, run tournaments, and manage members at $0. Chess67 takes a 2% platform fee only on sales processed through Chess67; merchant processing fees are separate. Eligible nonprofits may qualify for Stripe's discounted nonprofit processing rates where available. The optional PayPal add-on gives a 0% platform fee on PayPal and eligible Venmo sales while active. Full details on the pricing page, and Stripe's nonprofit-pricing details are available from Stripe.
Venmo appears only where PayPal marks it eligible: US merchant and buyer, USD checkout, supported browser/device, and the Venmo app installed. PayPal eligibility docs
Chess67 replaces the toolchain, not one link of it. The club website, the registration form, tournament day, and the rating report all read and write the same records — and the people who register become the club that fills your next event.
Everyone who registered is already in your member list — there is no export at the end and no starting over.
Where Tornelo fits: Tornelo runs this line well for online and hybrid play. Chess67 runs it for the room you rent on Saturday — and adds the membership loop underneath.
Tornelo can host the games themselves — it's a playing platform with fair-play tooling, which is why online youth and federation events use it. Chess67 doesn't host online play; it runs the room where over-the-board chess happens: check-in from phones, results from the floor, live standings for the parents in the hallway.
Chess67 is built for USCF events: rating report export, rating syncs, and membership validation at registration. Tornelo's reporting and conventions lean FIDE. If you file with US Chess every month, that layer alone decides a lot.
Both are free for free events. On paid entries, Tornelo charges 2.75% plus about 25 cents per transaction, plus processor fees. Chess67 charges a 2% platform fee on sales processed through Chess67, plus processor fees that may include Stripe nonprofit discounts where available — and the optional PayPal add-on ($10/mo billed yearly) drops Chess67's fee to 0% on PayPal and eligible Venmo sales. On a $30 entry: roughly $1.08 to Tornelo, 60 cents to Chess67, or $0 with the add-on.
Both screenshots come from public pages, linked below each image.
Chess67Chess67's round control screen: pairings, results, byes, and board operations in the browser. Real product, sample data.
Source
TorneloTornelo's public site: a web tournament system whose distinctive strength is online and hybrid play.
SourceTakeaway: Same architecture, different rooms: Tornelo's best room is virtual; Chess67's has tables, clocks, and a check-in line that moves.
The screens behind the claims on this page — real product, sample data.
Family accounts at signup: a parent picks which child they're registering, or adds a new one mid-flow.
See it live
The TD roster: pull fresh ratings for the whole field at once and see ID warnings before round one.
See it live
Standings update for players and parents the moment results go in — no separate publishing step.
See it liveScored from each product's public documentation and pricing pages — the rubric is at the bottom of this page.
| Capability | Why it matters | Chess67 | Tornelo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public online registration pages | Players sign themselves up and the roster builds itself — nobody re-types entries from email. | Yes | Yes |
| Payments collected at signup | Entry fees arrive with the registration, so there's no cash box reconciliation afterward. | Yes | Yes |
| Pairings and tiebreaks built in | The same product that took registrations can pair round one — no export into separate pairing software. | Yes | Yes |
| Round robin and quad formats | Club championships, K-3 sections, and small invitationals often aren't Swiss events. | Yes | Yes |
| Live pairings and standings for players | Players check their board on a phone instead of crowding a printed wallchart between rounds. | Yes | Partial |
| USCF rating report export | Rated US events have to file a report — exporting it beats assembling one by hand on Sunday night. | Yes | Partial |
| FIDE report (TRF) preparation | FIDE-rated sections need a TRF file with complete player and arbiter data. Final reporting still goes through your arbiter and federation. | Partial | Yes |
| Custom registration questions and per-section pricing | School, team, bye requests, T-shirt size, different fees per section — real events need flexible forms. | Yes | Partial |
| Family accounts (one parent, several kids) | Scholastic events run on parents. One login that manages every child beats re-typing each kid every event. | Yes | Yes |
| Check-in from a phone on site | Morning check-in moves faster when any TD can work the line from a phone instead of one desk with one laptop. | Yes | Partial |
| Messaging and announcements to players | Round delays, room changes, and next-event announcements reach everyone without a separate email tool. | Yes | Partial |
| Member history (attendance, payments, engagement) | Recurring clubs need to know who's active, who paid, and which families are drifting away — per member, over time. | Yes | No |
| Full product works on phones and tablets | Parents register from phones and TDs walk the floor. Desktop-only software puts a laptop between you and both. | Yes | Yes |
Chess67 is free to set up — publish a tournament page, take a few registrations, and pair a round. You'll know within an hour whether it fits how you direct.
We build Chess67, so read these pages knowing that. We base each comparison on the other product's public pricing and documentation, and we say plainly when the other tool is the better pick. Verify prices and features with each vendor before you buy — they change theirs, and we change ours.
Updated 2026-06-10