A focused alternative for teams you coordinate every week
Zelos turns one-off signup sheets into an ongoing team, with unlimited coordinators, built-in chat, and free apps for everyone.
Sign-up sheets, event scheduling, payments, and reminders
Fits one-off events with a link, a date, and a deadline.
Open shifts, task dispatch, notice board, and team chat
Fits a team you'll coordinate again next week.
No credit card · Unlimited members on every plan · Set up in under 5 minutes
How signup works in each app
A sheet you share by link
The organiser builds a dated sheet of slots and sends the link. Participants click through and claim a spot without creating an account.
Open shifts as the whole product
Admins post shifts and tasks; team members browse and claim what fits their skills and schedule.
What SignUp.com is better at
If your workflow depends on the things below, SignUp.com is the right pick.
No account, no app, no password
Participants click a link and claim a slot. Nothing to install and nothing to join. For a class party or a one-weekend bake sale, that's the lowest-friction way to fill a sheet and Zelos can't match it.
Collecting money
Payments and contributions are built into every SignUp.com plan, including the free one. If your signup sheet also needs to take $15 for the team dinner, Zelos doesn't do that.
Waivers, check-in, and service hours
Add a waiver, check participants in on the day, and export participant hours reports. Schools and youth programmes that have to evidence service hours get that out of the box.
School and classroom workflows
Parent-teacher conference slots, snack schedules, potlucks, teacher sharing, and a Campus plan built for K-12 districts. SignUp.com has spent years on this specific job and it shows.
If these bullet points are non-negotiable, you're a SignUp.com customer.
What Zelos is sharper at
If you coordinate the same people repeatedly, Zelos is a better fit.
Built for a team, not a sheet
SignUp.com starts fresh with each event; Zelos keeps the team. Members have profiles, skills, and history, so the next task goes to the right people without rebuilding the list.
Every coordinator included
SignUp.com prices by organiser, one on Basic, five assistants on Plus, fifteen on Max. Zelos gives you unlimited admins and assistant coordinators on every plan, including free.
Chat that goes both ways
SignUp.com sends reminders and messages out to participants. Zelos gives each task its own chat channel, so the questions, swaps, and "I'm running late" all happen in context instead of landing in your inbox.
Nothing for your volunteers to pay
SignUp.com's free tier shows ads to participants, and its mobile app is a paid download, $1.99 on the App Store. Zelos apps are free on iOS and Android, with no ads on any plan and no cost that lands on your team.
If you're drawn to this kind of simplicity, you should spin up a free project in Zelos right away.
coordinators
SignUp.com Basic gives you one organiser. Zelos gives you unlimited admins, free.
What you'll actually pay as your team grows
SignUp.com doesn't charge per participant, it charges per organiser. Here's where that lands (annual billing, USD).
| Coordinators | Zelos | Zelos Pro | SignUp.com* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Free | $99/mo | Free |
| 2 | Free | $99/mo | $8.34/mo |
| 6 | Free | $99/mo | $20.83/mo |
| 16 | Free | $99/mo | $41.66/mo |
| 25+ | Free | $99/mo | $50/mo |
| Unlimited | Free | $99/mo | Contact sales |
* SignUp.com pricing pulled from signup.com/Pricing. Starter $99.99/yr, Plus $249.99/yr, Max $499.99/yr, Organization $599.99/yr. Both products allow unlimited participants; the cost difference is in coordinator seats, not headcount.
If several people share the coordinating, the organiser tiers change the equation.
Nonprofits and education teams get additional discounts on Zelos Pro and Enterprise.
Seen enough?
Get started in our self-service.
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Teams that pick Zelos over SignUp.com
Volunteer-led nonprofits with ongoing programmes
Signup sheets work for the annual gala. They're heavier going when you're posting work every week and want to know who did what last month. Zelos keeps volunteer profiles, skills, and task history between events, so you're not rebuilding the list each time.
Learn more →Churches running weekly rotas
Sunday service, coffee, kids' ministry, and the food bank all repeat. A church coordinator on Zelos posts the week's slots once and the congregation claims what suits them. Unlimited assistant coordinators means every ministry lead gets admin access without an upgrade.
Learn more →Sports clubs and leagues
Match-day volunteers, kit runs, and canteen shifts across a whole season. Parents claim from their phone and get push notifications rather than another email chain.
Learn more →Disaster response and mutual aid
When a response scales to thousands in days, a shared sheet stops working. Zelos handles smart targeting by skill and location, with chat attached to each task.
Learn more →Youth programmes and service hours
Both tools track participant hours. Zelos adds points and leaderboards, which is what moves participation with teenagers. Changemakers Academy took task completion from 20-30% of the group to 75-90%.
Learn more →Event staffing and on-demand crews
Paid crews and contractors need shift claiming, targeted dispatch, and a chat channel per shift, not a public sheet anyone with the link can open.
Learn more →From teams who picked Zelos
What teams who picked Zelos say
"It helped us a lot reducing the planning overhead. It is way more motivating for staff to pick their task than just getting assigned!"
Manuel W.
Coordinator, Events Services
Full review → "We were looking for a system to handle our concert staff. Zelos is really easy to access both for the administrator and the users!"
Niels Peter H.
Board member, Music
Full review → "The overall experience has been great, the customer service is amazing and I can't wait for all the new changes coming up in the app!"
Celia D.
Coordinator, Motion Pictures and Film
Full review →Free for teams of any size
No credit card, no trial expiration.
Pro starts at $99/month, never per person.
Nonprofit and education discounts on Pro and Enterprise.
Frequently asked questions
Can Zelos do signup sheets like SignUp.com?
Do people need to create an account to use Zelos?
What does Zelos cost my volunteers?
How many coordinators can I have?
Can I collect payments with Zelos?
Does Zelos track volunteer hours?
Does Zelos have team chat like SignUp.com's messaging?
Is Zelos a SignUp.com alternative?
Is Zelos good for schools and PTAs?
What's the catch with the Zelos free plan?
Can I use both Zelos and SignUp.com?
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