Why this comparison matters
Side Out and Tally are both watch-first pickleball scorekeepers. Both let you score by tapping your watch, both speak the score aloud, both sync to HealthKit. The differences are real but narrow, and which one fits depends on whether pickleball is the only sport you play.
I am the founder of Tally. I have used Side Out. Below is what I would tell a friend asking.
At a glance
- Side Out — Pickleball: Watch-first pickleball scorekeeper with swipe-to-score, automatic serving order, voice announcements, side-out/rally/simple formats, iPhone scoreboard companion, HealthKit and iCloud sync. Free with IAP.
- Tally: Watch-first scorekeeper on Apple Watch and Wear OS (with iPhone and Android companion apps) for pickleball, tennis, padel, badminton, and table tennis. One tap per point, sport-aware rules engine, Live Activities, HealthKit, on-device Coach's Report on Pro. Free to download for scoring; optional Tally Pro (free for everyone through June 30, 2026, then $3.99/mo or $29.99/yr).
Where Side Out wins
Side Out has been around longer than Tally and the polish shows in a few places:
- iCloud sync between Watch and iPhone. Side Out's match history syncs automatically across devices. Tally is local-first by design, so syncing is a deliberate choice that users can enable on a per-device basis but is not on by default.
- Pickleball-only focus. Because Side Out only does pickleball, every screen and setting is tuned for the sport. There are no menus to pick a sport, no other rule variants to scroll past. If you only ever play pickleball, that focus is a real benefit.
- Free upfront. Side Out's core scoring is free. You pay only for optional features.
Where Tally wins
Tally took a slightly different bet on three things:
Five sports under one roof
Pickleball, tennis, padel, badminton, and table tennis. Each with a proper rules engine — side-outs, ad/deuce, tiebreaks, rally to 21, rally to 11. If you play more than one racquet sport you stop needing to install a separate app per sport. Side Out is pickleball only.
Coach's Report after the match
Tally Pro generates a narrative recap of your match using on-device Apple Foundation Models. It reads back the rally that turned the game, the side you started losing your serve, and a single suggestion for next time. Side Out has solid match history; Tally Pro adds the "what does this mean" layer on top.
Free scoring, opt-in AI
Tally is free to download for scoring. The Pro AI features are opt-in monthly or annual (free for everyone through June 30, 2026, then $3.99/mo or $29.99/yr). Side Out is also free with IAP for its extras. Both let you start scoring at no cost; the difference is what each charges for — Tally reserves payment for the AI Coach's Report, nothing else.
Feature comparison
- Scoring from the wrist: both yes
- Sport-aware pickleball rules: both yes
- Other racquet sports: Tally 4 more, Side Out no
- Voice score announcements: both yes
- HealthKit Racquet Sports workout credit: both yes
- iCloud sync between devices: Side Out yes (default), Tally local-first (opt-in)
- Live Activities on iPhone lock screen: Tally yes, Side Out not surfaced
- On-device AI post-match recap: Tally Pro yes, Side Out no
- Pricing: Side Out free + IAP; Tally free + optional Pro (free through June 30, 2026)
Pricing honesty
If you only play pickleball, Side Out's free tier is a perfectly reasonable choice and the IAP layer is honest. Tally is also free to download for scoring, with the Coach's Report behind an optional subscription.
The real question is whether you play any other racquet sport. If yes, Tally covers all of them in one free app; otherwise you would install one app per sport.
How to pick
- Pick Side Out if you only play pickleball, want iCloud sync between devices on by default, and prefer free with optional IAP.
- Pick Tally if you play more than one racquet sport, want the on-device AI Coach's Report after matches, and prefer free scoring with an optional subscription only for the AI features.
Either way, the watch-first approach beats pulling a phone out between points. We agree on the big thing.