Before you pay anyone
What do college soccer recruiting services cost?
The short answer
We read the pricing pages of five recruiting companies on October 5, 2026. Two print a price: monthly plans run from $22.50 to $199.95, and one app is sold once for $39.99; three print none, and four of the five offer a free profile. No rule requires a family to pay anyone: the steps a college needs are ones a player can do alone.
Sources last checked
| Companies whose own pages we read | 5 |
|---|---|
| Print a price on that page | 2 |
| Print no price there | 3 |
| Offer a free profile or plan | 4 |
| Monthly plans, lowest to highest | $22.50 to $199.95 |
| Startline | Free to start; Pro is $99 for the whole recruiting season (12 months), or $20/month |
We name no other company on this site. Prices are as each company’s own page printed them on the day we read it, and they change.
How much do recruiting services charge?
| What the plan is | Printed price |
|---|---|
| A profile with messaging to coaches, and seeing which coaches viewed it | $22.50 a month |
| The same, plus up to one meeting a month with a recruiting counselor | $39.95 a month |
| The same, plus a dedicated counselor to call | $199.95 a month |
| A roster-analysis app for one sport, with no subscription | $39.99, paid once |
From two companies. The other three print no price for their paid plans on the page we read.
The spread is the lesson. The same word, “recruiting service”, covers a profile you maintain yourself at the low end and a named counselor at the high end. Decide which of those you are buying before you compare prices.
What can you do for free?
- Write to coaches. An email with film costs nothing.
- Fill in a program’s recruiting questionnaire on its own athletics site.
- Read the rules. The NCAA’s Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete is a free download, and our guides quote it with the bylaws.
- Research programs. Every program page here is free: the roster by class year, its size, and the day it was read, for 2,215 teams.
- Find camps. 1,888 college ID camps, free to browse: ID camps by state.
- A free profile. Four of the five companies we read offer one.
- A free list from us. Your 15 best-fit schools, with one opened in full: free target list.
What are you paying for when you do pay?
| What is sold | What it is |
|---|---|
| A hosted profile and messaging | A page with your video and details, tools to message coaches, and a record of which coaches looked. |
| A person | Time with a recruiting counselor or coach. Two of the five companies we read sell this, on their higher plans. |
| Roster analysis | Each college’s squad by position and class year, so you can see where there is room. |
| A fit list and outreach | Programs scored for one player, and help writing to them. This is what Startline sells. |
None of these is something a college requires. They save time, or they give you a person to ask. Whether that is worth the price depends on how much of the work your family will do itself.
What should you ask before paying a recruiting service?
- What is the total price, and is it monthly, yearly or once?
- Is there a contract, and can I cancel or get a refund?
- Is the price on your website, or only after a call?
- What exactly do I get that the free plan does not have?
- Who writes to coaches: me, or you in my name?
- Is it built for soccer, or for every sport?
- Where does your data on rosters and coaches come from, and how old is it?
- What do you promise? (Nobody can promise an offer.)
What does Startline cost?
Startline is free to start: your 15 best-fit schools and one school opened in full. Pro is $99 for the whole recruiting season (12 months), or $20/month. Full refund if you ask within 14 days. The price is on our pricing page, with what each plan includes.
What Startline is not: it is soccer only, and it does not sell a personal counselor. A family that wants a named person to manage the process, or plays another sport, should look at a service that offers that.
What else does recruiting cost?
A service is one line among several. Of the college ID camps in our directory that print a price, the middle one is $179 before travel: what ID camps cost. Club fees, showcase travel and unofficial visits sit beside that. And the college itself costs far more than any of it: the sticker price is not the price.
Quick answers
- How much does a college recruiting service cost?
- Of the five companies whose pages we read on October 5, 2026, two print a price: monthly plans from $22.50 to $199.95, and one app sold once for $39.99. The other three print none on the page we read.
- Do you need a recruiting service to get recruited?
- No rule requires one. A player can register with the Eligibility Center, write to coaches, fill in questionnaires and attend camps without paying a service.
- Is there a free college soccer recruiting service?
- Four of the five companies we read offer a free profile. Startline is free to start, with your 15 best-fit schools.
- Why do some recruiting services not show their price?
- We can only say what their pages show: three of the five we read print no price for their paid plans on the page we read. Ask for the total price in writing before a call.
- Are recruiting services worth it?
- It depends on what you are buying. A profile, a counselor, roster analysis and a fit list are different products at very different prices. Decide which one you need, then compare prices for that.
How this was counted
We read each company’s own pricing or plans page on October 5, 2026 and recorded only what that page printed: its plans, its prices, and whether a free plan exists. Nothing here comes from a review site, a forum or a search summary. Startline’s price is read from the same place our checkout reads it.
Sources
- The pricing pages of five recruiting companies, each read on its own site on October 5, 2026 (we name no other company on this site)
- NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete, 2026-27 ↗
- Startline: ID camp prices
Last checked against these sources on. Figures marked Startline are counted from the data we hold and move when it does. Rules change: check anything dated against the governing body itself.
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