nextRec

Overview

nextRec brings memberships, program and facility bookings, point-of-sale, and marketing into one cloud service. It suits recreation organizations coordinating those operations across programs and facilities; its breadth is useful, but custom pricing means buyers should weigh the full package against their needs.

It serves public agencies and private recreation facilities, as well as organizations in martial arts, education, swim schools, camps, and associations. The company says it began as Xplor Recreation in 1998 and became nextRec in 2026.

Key features

Member management covers leads, clients, members, family and contact accounts, staff schedules, and member documents. This breadth can help organizations keep customer and staff workflows together, while teams with simpler needs may find the range more than they need.

Customers can discover and register online for classes, courses, drop-ins, programs, and facility bookings. Activity scheduling, staff roster management, and a parent portal support organizations serving families as well as individual participants.

The POS handles product, membership, event, and ticket sales, with inventory management and custom reporting. Marketing tools add scheduled and targeted emails, campaign tracking, landing pages, and automated workflows. Together, these capabilities extend the service beyond registration into sales and outreach; organizations seeking only basic sign-ups may not need that scope.

Payment-provider integrations include Chase, Moneris, Global Payments, TD, Bambora, Paysafe, Elavon, Bank of America, Payliance, and EVO Payment. The maker also lists integrations for league management, lighting, GIS, access control, and directories. Its RESTful API can be used to build integrations with third-party systems, which may help organizations connect other tools, though they should verify that the integrations they rely on are supported.

nextRec is cloud-based and requires no software installation or hardware. The maker advertises a 99.95% uptime guarantee, 24/7 network protection, and round-the-clock support. Its camp software page says client databases are individually encrypted, transmissions use TLS 1.2 and HTTPS, and the service is PCI-DSS Level-1 certified; it also says hosting runs on AWS in Australia, the United States, and Canada.

Pricing

nextRec is paid, with custom pricing on request. There is no published plan or price to compare, so organizations should request a quote against their expected programs, memberships, sales, and facility bookings. Without a stated free plan or trial, it is harder to assess the product before committing; buyers should clarify what the quote covers and how it fits their scale.

Platforms

nextRec supports Android, iOS, web, and API access. Its cloud deployment avoids local installation and hardware requirements, making it a fit for organizations that need access across those platforms.

Who it's for

nextRec is aimed at parks and recreation organizations, martial arts studios, educational institutions, swim schools, camps, and associations. It is most compelling for teams that need memberships, online registration, bookings, payment processing, staffing, and marketing in one service. Organizations that want only a focused camp-registration tool or have a narrow set of workflows should compare simpler options and confirm the cost before choosing.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Memberships, registrations, facility bookings, POS, inventory, reporting, and marketing are combined, which can reduce the need to coordinate separate systems for those jobs.
• Pros: The RESTful API and integrations spanning payments, league management, lighting, GIS, access control, and directories offer routes to connect recreation operations with other systems.
• Pros: The maker advertises 24/7 support and a 99.95% uptime guarantee, useful for organizations running ongoing programs and bookings.
• Cons: Custom pricing requires a quote, making it difficult to compare costs directly before contacting the maker.
• Cons: The wide feature set may be unnecessary for organizations that only need basic registration or a focused camp tool.

Alternatives

For a free, open-source option, consider eCamp, whose ecamp3 source code is public under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 and whose platforms include Android, iOS, Linux, web, and Windows.

Simply Camps may suit buyers seeking a free plan or trial and a published monthly tier: its free plan charges a 2% platform fee on payments, while its $99.00 per month plan covers up to 250 enrolled campers.

SixSevenBall Camp Management is a narrower web-based choice for coaches: its free tier covers one team and up to 12 players, while Pro Coach is $29.00 per month for up to five teams and 100 players.

Camp Network offers pay-as-you-go registration software with a 0.00 USD free plan and a transaction fee typically paid by participants, which may appeal to organizations avoiding a fixed subscription.

ACTIVE Camp & Class Manager is another paid camp and class management option with pricing available from an account manager.

AMES offers a freemium model, free trial, and a Standard starting rate of 1.25% per contact on successful payments, a possible fit for buyers comparing transaction-based pricing.

Arly offers a custom-quote Learning Experience plan with curriculum, resources, professional development, dashboards, analytics, and surveys.

CampOrganizer has a freemium model, free trial, and usage-based pricing, with no fixed monthly subscription.

Browse the Camp Management Software directory for more options.

Verdict

Choose nextRec if your recreation organization needs memberships, registrations, bookings, payments, staff coordination, and marketing under one cloud service, and its integrations match your setup. Its breadth is the central reason to consider it; custom pricing and the possibility of paying for capabilities you do not need are the strongest reasons to look elsewhere.