TopRefHub vs Assignr vs Arbiter — for club hockey assignors
TopRefHub helps club assignors rate officials, rank them in your league, auto-assign your top-rated, and fill the rest by posting open games and approving claims — free for refs, software fee for the org.
Free pilot: 1 sport, 15 games or 15 officials whichever first, 60 days
Club hockey assignors need crews on the board — who is good, who gets big slots first, how Saturday fills without group-text scramble.
Compare live public products: TopRefHub (org pays software; refs free), Assignr (published tiers + optional DD/1099), Arbiter Assigning (scholastic; custom license; Pay). Do not pitch ripping Arbiter from a school district. Page is for club/house/rink boards.
What TopRefHub sells — live today
Rate → rank → auto-assign your top-rated. Post open games and approve claims to fill the rest.
| Capability | Live today |
|---|---|
| Rate | Coach email ratings after each game — punctuality, communication, game control, and whether they want that official again. Private to the organization, not a public scoreboard. |
| Rank | Officials ranked in your league from those coach ratings. |
| Auto-assign | Top-rated officials auto-assign to the games that matter. |
| Fill | Post the rest as open games and approve claims. |
| Money | The organization pays the software fee. The league pays game fees outside TopRefHub. Track who is owed and who is paid. No 1099 for game fees today. |
Honest compare — live public products
Club/house/rink boards only. Competitor prices cited from public pages and can change.
| Dimension | TopRefHub | Assignr | Arbiter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Club, house, and rink boards that want live rate → rank → auto-assign, then post-and-approve to fill the rest. | Rec and league assignors who want published assigning tiers plus optional direct deposit / 1099. | Scholastic assigning under a custom license. This page is not a district rip-and-replace pitch. |
| Public software price | Free pilot 15 games or 15 officials / 60 days; Starter $199/yr ≤50; Pro $399/yr ≤150; 1 sport; Contact us for extra sports/districts. | Rec $240 / League $360 / Elite $480 (cite assignr.com/pricing). Each published tier includes 60 officials; overage is extra. | No public self-serve assignor list price. Custom license. |
| $/ref illustrative | Starter ~$3.98/official at the 50 cap; Pro ~$2.66/official at the 150 cap. Illustrative — not a quote. | Rec ~$4.00, League ~$6.00, Elite ~$8.00 per official at the published 60-official include. Overage extra. Illustrative — not a quote. | — (no public list price to divide) |
| Who pays software | The organization pays TopRefHub. | The association / organization pays Assignr. | The institution pays a custom license. |
| Refs pay? | No. Officials are always free. | Software is billed to the organization on published tiers. | Varies by license. Confirm with Arbiter Sports. |
| Ratings → who gets games | Coach email ratings (private to the org) rank officials in your league. Top-rated auto-assign. | Published rankings and ratings. Assignor-controlled. | Assignor-controlled. Not the same live rate → rank → auto-assign loop. |
| Self-claim / open games | Post open games and approve claims for the rest. | League and Elite publish Assignment Requests & Self-Assign. | Typically assignor-assigned. Confirm current self-claim options. |
| Moves official pay? | League pays game fees outside the software. Track owed/paid. Stripe payouts coming soon. | Optional Direct Deposit on League / Elite / Enterprise (priced separately). | ArbiterPay exists as a separate product. Confirm with Arbiter Sports. |
| 1099 for game fees | No 1099 for game fees today. The league files 1099s. | W-9/1099 available as a priced add-on on League, Elite, and Enterprise. | Confirm with Arbiter Sports. |
| Free trial / tier | Free · Pilot $0 for 60 days — 1 sport, 15 games or 15 officials whichever first, 60 days. 15 games or 15 officials, whichever comes first, then the board freezes until you upgrade. | Money-back guarantee published on assignr.com/pricing. Confirm current trial terms there. | Custom. No public self-serve assignor trial list price. |
| Team schedules | CSV and iCal import. We'll help you import a TeamSnap or SportsEngine export on a call — not a live deep sync. | Published spreadsheet tools. Confirm current TeamSnap options on assignr.com. | Confirm with Arbiter Sports. |
| SMS / text | No live SMS/text claims. Coach rating links go out by email. | Email on Rec; mobile-app messaging on League+. Confirm current SMS options on assignr.com. | Confirm with Arbiter Sports. |
| Multi-sport / district | 1 sport on Free, Starter, and Pro. Extra sports and districts: Contact us. No district list price on this page. | Enterprise covers multi-association and multi-sport (custom). Rec / League / Elite are the published annual tiers. | Scholastic and district use is a custom license — we do not quote district prices here. |
Assignr prices cited from assignr.com/pricing. TopRefHub prices match /pricing.
How to read the table
This is an honest compare of live public products for club, house, and rink assignors — not a school-district RFP, and not a pitch to take Arbiter out of a district.
TopRefHub prices come from our Pricing page (same Free / Starter / Pro source of truth). Assignr prices are cited from assignr.com/pricing and can change. Arbiter Assigning does not publish a self-serve assignor list price.
Illustrative $/official math uses each product's included official cap. It is not a quote. Overage, add-ons, and custom licenses sit outside that math.
We sell what is live today: rate → rank → auto-assign top-rated, then post open games and approve claims.
Frequently asked questions
Club boards, not district rip-and-replace.
Are you replacing Arbiter for school districts?⌄
No. This page is for club, house, and rink boards. We do not pitch ripping Arbiter out of a school district.
Do referees pay for TopRefHub?⌄
No. Always free for every referee. The organization pays the software fee.
Does TopRefHub file 1099s for game fees?⌄
No. TopRefHub does not pay base game fees today and does not file 1099s. The league pays officials and files 1099s today.
How is TopRefHub different from Assignr?⌄
TopRefHub sells live coach ratings → rank in your league → auto-assign top-rated, then post open games and approve claims. Assignr publishes Rec / League / Elite assigning tiers on assignr.com/pricing, with optional direct deposit and 1099 on higher plans. Both can be honest tools; this page compares live public products for club hockey assignors.
What does Arbiter cost?⌄
Arbiter Assigning has no public self-serve assignor list price. Licenses are custom. We do not invent a district price.
Why isn't Horizon in this table?⌄
This table compares live public products club hockey assignors actually shop: TopRefHub, Assignr, and Arbiter Assigning. Horizon is not in this table.
Can we run TopRefHub beside our current assignor tool?⌄
Yes. Many boards keep an existing assignor workflow and use TopRefHub for ratings, ranking, auto-assign of top-rated officials, and posting the rest. We are not asking a district to take out Arbiter.
We run more than one sport. What do we do?⌄
Contact us. Free, Starter, and Pro each include 1 sport. Extra sports and districts are not a self-serve SKU on this page.
See the live product
Book a 15-minute demo, start the Free pilot, or contact us about extra sports.
Free pilot: 1 sport, 15 games or 15 officials whichever first, 60 days
TopRefHub helps club assignors rate officials, rank them in your league, auto-assign your top-rated, and fill the rest by posting open games and approving claims — free for refs, software fee for the org.
Need plan limits in one place? Pricing · Contact us.