Which bracket maker is free?

All three have a free tier. On 13 November 2026 this site printed any bracket up to 64 teams for free, BracketHQ made brackets up to 32 teams with a watermark on export, and bracketmaker.app asked for payment before printing.

What about Challonge?

Challonge is a full tournament platform with registration and community pages. We have not compared it here because it is aimed at a different job: running a public event with sign-ups rather than making a bracket to print or share.

Is this comparison neutral?

It is written by one of the three, so read it that way. The table sticks to things you can verify in a few minutes on each site, and says where the others are better.

Bracket Makers Compared

What each one let us do without paying, checked by using them on 13 November 2026.

Winners bracket

Losers bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Grand final

Reset, if needed

Losers round 1

Losers round 2

Losers round 3

Losers round 4

Type a score, or tap a team to send it through.

Side by side

Prices and limits are as we found them on 13 November 2026 and can change; check each site before you decide.

	Bracket Maker (this site)	BracketHQ	bracketmaker.app
Start without signing up	Yes	Yes	Four setup steps, then sign-in
Free team limit	64	32	Listed as 8; the 8-team bracket we made was locked
Free printing	Yes, small credit line	Export carries a watermark	Locked
Byes	Not drawn; games numbered without gaps	Not checked	Drawn as games: 9 teams showed 7 extra boxes
Sharing	Free live link; scorers' link and big screen with a pass	Not checked	Locked
Price	$4.99 per bracket, or $39 for 12 months	$8 a month or $48 a year	$5.99 a month, $47.99 a year, or $3.99 for 3 days
Languages	English	English	12
Phone apps	No, runs in the browser	No	iOS and Android

Where the others are stronger

bracketmaker.app has native apps and twelve languages, and more formats behind its paywall, including seasons and custom rounds. If you run a league in Spanish or want an app on the home screen, look there first.

BracketHQ has been around longer and has themes for how the bracket looks. Its editor is quick and needs no account.

Where this one is stronger

It prints for free at every size, opens straight into the bracket for the size you searched for, and charges once per event instead of by the month. Brackets with byes come out the right shape.

How we checked

We made brackets on each site: on BracketHQ as a visitor, on bracketmaker.app signed in with a free account. We did not pay for either, so their paid features are described from their own pricing pages, not from use.