Barefoot and Webscorer, compared
Webscorer is timing software you run yourself, priced in US dollars and supported from the US. Barefoot is registration and timing on one platform, with a local crew who can run it for you or hand you a system you deploy yourself. Here is the honest difference.
Recognised bodies the technology has supported
Webscorer is a mobile race-timing app with an online registration add-on, sold as an annual subscription and used by organisers around the world to time their own events. Barefoot Sport is registration and timing on one platform for Australian and New Zealand organisers, with entries, payments, chip timing, live results and race-day support from a local crew who can run the timing or hand you a system to deploy yourself. The choice is less about features than about how much of race day you want to be responsible for.
Built by event organisers.
Trusted by race directors.
450+
Events delivered every year across Australia and New Zealand
50,000
Participants supported at a single event
75+
years
Combined event experience
2
countries
Australian and New Zealand owned, operated and on the ground
The honest comparison
A race timing app for phones, tablets, Windows and Mac, with an online registration add-on. The organiser runs the timing
Registration and timing on one platform, with a local crew who can run the timing, support you remotely, or hand you Barefoot Lite to run yourself
You time your own event. PRO subscriptions are published at USD $60 a year for one device, USD $120 for five devices, and USD $300 for the chip-timing tier
Barefoot RFID run by a Barefoot crew, or Barefoot Lite deployed by you
Sourced separately by the organiser. Webscorer’s own blog documents a complete RFID setup for around USD $500 using a third-party USB reade
Supplied by Barefoot, on hardware proven at events up to 50,000 participants
Supports races from 1 to 1000+ racers across 40+ sports, on Webscorer’s figures.
Proven to 50,000 and to a few hundred. The crew and hardware scale, not the app.
USD $1 per paid entry. Your own processor holds 100% of the money flow, they state.
Quoted per event, with same-day and fast payouts and fee handling the organiser chooses
Priced in US dollars. Webscorer Inc. is a US company
Australian and New Zealand owned and operated, quoted locally
Email and phone support via support@webscorer.com
Around 10 local staff with more than 75 years of combined event experience, in your time zone
Not part of the offer. You or your volunteers run the timing
Available. A Barefoot crew sets up, watches the data live and makes the call on the day
Results can be shared between devices by Bluetooth where there is no connectivity
Barefoot Lite is built for remote and off-grid courses, with live tracking
Why organisers move to Barefoot
Somebody else is responsible on race morning.
With a timing app, the person responsible for the results is you or a volunteer, and if a read goes wrong at 8am there is nobody to call who is standing on your course. With Barefoot the crew is there, watching the data live, and the call gets made by someone who has run events.
Your entries and your results come from the same place.
Registration and timing on one platform means no export, no import and no re-keying, so a late entry flows straight to the finish line instead of becoming a manual fix.
Support in your time zone, in your currency.
A local team, quoted in local dollars, without exchange-rate exposure or a support window that opens after your event has finished.
Scale you do not have to plan around.
Barefoot RFID is proven at events up to 50,000 participants, so growing past a thousand is not a platform decision you have to make again.
Self-service when that is what fits.
Barefoot Lite is lightweight, self-deployable timing with reusable tags and live tracking, on the same platform as your registration and backed by the same local team.
Backed by people who’ve stood on the start line.
Around 10 local staff with more than 75 years of combined event experience.
Who should switch?
Organisers timing their own events on an app who are outgrowing it — bigger fields, bunched finishes, more distances
Organisers who want somebody accountable on race day rather than another job for a volunteer
Anyone running registration in one place and timing in another and re-keying between them
Australian and New Zealand organisers weighing a US-priced subscription against a local partner
Clubs and series where the person who knows the timing app is the single point of failure
A small event with a reliable volunteer, a modest field and no appetite for a service contract is well served by a timing app. Say it.
That sentence is what makes a reader trust the rest of the page.
Features
A crew on the ground, or a system you run
Barefoot RFID with our crew on site, remote support, or Barefoot Lite deployed by you. The level of support is your call.
Registration and timing in one system
Entry data flows straight into timing and results, with nothing re-keyed on race morning.
Proven at scale
Hardware proven at events up to 50,000 participants, timing a 400-person community event the same way.
Live results and tracking Results publish as participants finish, for athletes, spectators and your announcer.
Local, in both countries
Australian and New Zealand owned and operated, quoted in local currency, answering the phone in your time zone.
Reusable tags
Barefoot Lite uses reusable tags that cut single-use waste.
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Frequently Asked Questions
We already time our own events. Does Barefoot only do full-service timing?
No. Barefoot Lite is self-deployable timing you run yourself, with live tracking and reusable tags, on the same platform as your registration.
Can we use Barefoot for timing without moving our registration?
Yes. Run timing on its own, registration on its own, or both. Most organisers start with one and add the other once they have seen a race day run on it.
Is Barefoot priced in Australian and New Zealand dollars?
Yes. Barefoot is owned and operated in both countries and quotes locally, so there is no exchange rate sitting between you and your timing.
What size event does Barefoot suit?
From a few hundred participants to 50,000, on hardware proven at that scale. The same platform runs both.
Do we need our own timing hardware?
No. Barefoot supplies the hardware, whether our crew runs it or you deploy Barefoot Lite yourself.
What is the difference between a timing app and professional chip timing?
A timing app records finishers from a phone, tablet or laptop, usually by bib number entered or tapped by an operator, and publishes results from the same device. Professional chip timing uses RFID tags read automatically as participants cross a timing point, so nobody has to see or key a bib number. The practical difference is finish-line density. An operator can keep up with finishers arriving one at a time, but not with a bunch arriving together, and that is the point at which apps start producing errors. Some timing apps also support RFID hardware, which sits between the two models.
When should an organiser stop timing their own event and bring someone in?
There is no field-size rule, but three signals show up consistently. Finishers arriving in clusters rather than singly. Scoring several distances, waves or age categories off one line. And the timing knowledge sitting with one volunteer, so the event cannot run if that person is away. Cost is usually the reason organisers wait, and the honest calculation includes the value of your own time on race morning and what a results dispute costs you in reputation and admin afterwards.
Can race timing work without internet or mobile coverage?
Yes, with the right setup. Timing hardware and software record crossings locally and do not need connectivity to capture the data, so results can be produced on site and published later. What connectivity affects is live results and live tracking, which need a way to get data off the course as it happens. Some systems share results between devices over Bluetooth as a workaround. If you run a remote or point-to-point course and want families following athletes live, ask specifically how a provider gets data out of a location with no coverage.
What should I check before choosing a race timing provider from overseas?
Four things. Currency, because a subscription or a quote in another currency moves with the exchange rate and may attract card conversion fees. Support hours, because a US or European support window can open after your Saturday morning event has finished. Hardware, because equipment shipped internationally means freight, customs and a warranty process that is harder to use. And race-day presence, because software can be sold from anywhere but somebody standing on your course cannot.
Does a timing system need to be connected to registration?
Not necessarily, and plenty of events run them separately. What separation costs you is the join. Someone exports the entrant list, cleans it and imports it into the timing software, usually the night before, and that manual step is where most race-day results errors begin. It also usually means closing online entries several days out, which costs you the late entries that arrive in the final week. Where registration and timing share one system, the data is already there and entries can stay open longer.
Let’s make your next event your easiest yet.
Work with people who get the pace, pressure, and precision of endurance events and build platforms that match it.