Pool software for commissioners

Set the rules. The pool runs itself.

Members pick from any device, lines freeze when you publish, and results grade as scores land. Completely free — no fees, no limits, and we never touch your pot.

Start a pool See how it works Free · no card required
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Four formats

Whatever your pool already plays

The format decides the game, and everything downstream follows from it — how a week is scored, what a card looks like, even which settings you are shown. The shape above each one is the card it produces.

All or nothing

Five and oh Flagship

Take five games against the spread and get every one right. Lands about once in thirty-two cards, which is why anyone remembers who won week nine.

Most correct wins

Best bets

Same picking, but one loss doesn't end your week. More people still watching when the late games kick off.

Every game, straight up

Pick'em

No spreads at all. Pick a winner in every game, most correct takes the week. The one you can explain to anybody.

One team a week

Survivor

Pick one team to win and never use them again. Runs all season and thins out fast, which is the entire appeal.

What your members see

One row a game. Nothing to decode.

The favourite sits on the left with the number beside it, so the spread always belongs to the team you are looking at. Tap a side. That is the whole interaction.

Sunday11 games · 6 open
Final: BAL 20 · KC 27
@ Chiefs
−3.5
Ravens
W
Final: CLE 10 · PIT 14
@ Steelers
−5.5
Browns
W
Sun 1:25pLocks 1:20p · 15m
Lions
−1.5
@ Packers
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Pricing

Free. All of it.

No fee, no per-week charge, no player limit, and nothing taken out of your pool. Every football format, every pool, all season — on us.

To run a pool
Free

Create as many pools as you like, with as many players as you like. Every format, all eighteen weeks and the postseason — no limit, no catch.

What we take
$0

No card on file, no trial, no upsell. We make nothing from your pool and never touch your pot.

A 12-person office pool Freeno limit
A 500-person pool Freeno limit
A dozen pools at once Freeunlimited pools
Every football format Freeall included

Joining runs itself

Members are active the instant they join — nothing to approve, nobody to chase.

Nothing ever stops play

There’s no balance to run out. Everyone who joins keeps picking, and results keep grading, all season.

No limits

As many pools as you want, as many players as you want, in any of the four formats. It’s all free.

We never hold the pot

Entry fees, side bets and payouts stay entirely between you and your members. The software is free; the pot is yours.

Scoring

Weekly winners, and a champion at the end

Every week

Whoever takes the week

Depending on the format, that is a perfect card, the best record, or simply surviving. Weeks stand alone, and nothing carries into the next one.

Level week goes to the closest guess at the combined score of the last game.
Across the season

The table that actually matters

Ranked on win percentage, total wins, perfect cards or points — your choice. Missed weeks count however you decided, and you can drop everyone's worst few.

Level season goes to the lowest total tiebreak differential, added up over every week played.
January

The postseason

The top finishers keep picking through the real NFL bracket. Standings start from zero and the most wins across all four rounds takes the season.

Level bracket goes to the closest guess at the combined score of the Super Bowl.
Wild Cardpick 6
Divisionalpick 4
Conferencepick 2
Super Bowlpick 1
13 wins available across the bracketmost wins takes it
What changes

The job stops being a job

Nobody minds running a pool. What they mind is the parts that have nothing to do with football.

Copying spreads into a sheet on Tuesday night
Publish the slate in one tap. The numbers freeze the moment you do.
Chasing four people for picks on Sunday morning
They get a nudge an hour before lock. You get to watch the game.
Grading by hand and hoping you read the line right
Cards settle as scores land, against the line that was on the card.
Arguing about a push at eleven o'clock at night
Force half-point spreads and a push can't happen. Or set the rule and move on.
Being the one who decides, then defending it
Every publish, override and grade is logged. Point at the record, not at yourself.
Four steps, in order

Set up in the time it takes to make coffee

01

Create the pool

Name it, choose the format, say how many picks a week. Everything else takes a default you can change later. You are not answering eighty questions to start.

02

Send one link

Members tap it, enter an email, and they are picking. No passwords to set, none to reset, and nobody emailing you because they cannot get in.

03

Everyone picks from any device

The slate goes up with the spreads frozen. Lines move all week; the numbers on the cards do not. Locks fire on the schedule you set.

04

It grades itself

Scores land, cards settle, standings update. Weekly winners and the season table both, with tiebreakers that were agreed before week one.

For whoever ends up running it

The arguments are settled before they start.

Most of what makes a pool painful is the edge cases nobody agreed on before the season. Each of these is a setting with a sensible default.

Freeze the line your way

Freeze the opening number when you publish so everyone plays the same spread all week, or track the market and lock each game at its own kickoff. Either way, a card grades against the number that was on it.

Locks you can defend

Per game, per window, the whole slate at first kickoff, or a fixed weekly deadline. Thursday night gets its own rule.

No pushes, if you want

Force every spread to a half point and a tie becomes impossible. Or leave whole numbers and set the push rule yourself.

Tiebreakers agreed early

Combined score of the last game settles a level week. The Super Bowl settles a level season. Both chosen before week one.

Missed weeks, handled

Free passes, or a missed week counts as zero of five. Whichever you choose, everyone knows it in advance.

A log that ends disputes

Every publish, override and grade is recorded with the line, the time and who did it. None of it can be edited.

Approve who can pick

Flip on verification and a new member joins but can’t make a pick until you clear them. A simple gate available for you to vet who is in before the games start.

One account, every pool

Run more than one pool and your members can carry across. Nobody signs up twice, and you see who is in which.

Past seasons kept

Champions roll forward on their own, and you can type in the years you ran on a spreadsheet before this existed.

Before you ask

Questions people actually ask

Nothing — Whale Limit is completely free to run. Every pool, every football format, any number of players, all season and the postseason. No fees, no player limit, no card required. We never take a cut of your pool.
No. Whale Limit does not collect entry fees, hold a pot or pay anyone out. What you and your members settle between yourselves is your business, and plenty of pools run on nothing but bragging rights.
Yes, and they can be different formats. Your members carry across as one account each, so somebody in two of your pools signs up once and sees both.
One book, chosen by you, pulled when you publish. One book rather than an average, because an averaged number is impossible to point at when somebody disputes a grade. Every poll is kept.
Whatever you decide. The default lets affected members replace that pick from the games still open. You can also drop it, void the card, or hold the week. It's all in one simple setting.
Yes, and you choose how their missed weeks count. A free pass or two is the usual answer; counting every missed week as zero is the strict one.
No. There is no installation required. It is a website, so it opens from the link you were sent and works the same on a phone, tablet, or computer.