Categories and paid entry

v4 only

Where: Registration → Registration Form

Categories let one event offer several entry options at different prices — a 10 km and a 42 km, a competitive and a social wave, an individual and a team entry — with participants choosing one at signup.

This applies to v4 events only

Categories are part of the newer registration flow. If your event does not show category options in the form builder, it is running the earlier flow, where entry is a single option and pricing is handled through coupons and upgrades instead. Check Setup → Domain → Site Version, or ask your technical contact.

What a category is

A distinct way to enter the same event. Each one carries its own:

• Name, as participants see it
• Price
• Capacity, if it is limited
• Entry requirements, if any

Participants choose exactly one. What they chose follows them through the event — into their confirmation, their profile, and how they are grouped on the leaderboard.

When to use categories

Different distances or difficulties. The clearest case. A 10 km and a 42 km are genuinely different events sharing an organisation.

Different audiences at different prices. Student, adult, corporate.

Capacity you need to control separately. If the short course can take 500 and the long course 100, categories let each fill and close independently.

When not to: if the only difference is what someone receives, that is merchandise or an upgrade, not a category. Categories should represent different participation, not different goods.

Pricing

Each category has its own price, and participants pay for the one they select.

Keep the number small. Three categories is a clear choice; eight is a decision people postpone, and postponed decisions become abandoned registrations.

Capacity

Where a category has a capacity, it stops accepting entries once full while the others stay open.

Decide what you want to happen when your popular category fills, and say it on the form. Participants who arrive to find their option gone will otherwise email you.

Categories and the leaderboard

Categories usually correspond to how results should be grouped — a 10 km entrant should not be ranked against a 42 km entrant on distance.

Set this up in Leaderboard, where tabs decide what is ranked and who appears in each. Configure it before the event starts, not after people have started asking why the standings look wrong.

→ Activities and leaderboard

Testing

Register once in each category. It is the only way to confirm that each price is right, each capacity behaves, and each produces the confirmation you expect. Testing one category and assuming the rest match is how a wrong price reaches a live event.