Switching
Switching from Sawyer, ROLLER or Square?
Each of these is a capable product for what it was built for. Here’s a factual look at where Jumpstead is different for an indoor play place, including where it isn’t there yet.
As of Oct 2026. Competitor details come from each company’s public website, help center or community forum, linked in each row. Products change; check with them for the latest.
Jumpstead and Sawyer
Sawyer (a DaySmart company) is registration software for kids’ classes and camps, with a play spaces offering.
What Sawyer does well
A polished, mobile-friendly checkout for parents, marketplace discovery for classes and camps, and reviewers often praise its customer service.
| Topic | Sawyer (as of Oct 2026) | Jumpstead |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Kids’ activity providers: classes, camps, after-school and play spaces. Its public customer stories are classes and camps. Source for Sawyer: Built for (opens in a new tab) | Indoor play places first: soft play, play cafés, trampoline parks and kids’ gyms. |
| Fees on parents | A booking fee of $1.99 (orders up to $100) or $3.99 (above $100) on orders over $30, paid by the parent. Sawyer says it is non-refundable and can’t be waived by the venue. Source for Sawyer: Fees on parents (opens in a new tab) | None. Jumpstead never adds a fee to your families’ bill. |
| Plans | Launch $149/mo ($79 promo in year one), Grow $219, Scale $399. Memberships, parties, deposits and e-signature waivers start on Grow; cash and check payments on Scale. Source for Sawyer: Plans (opens in a new tab) | One plan with every feature, including cash, memberships, parties and waivers. Price to be published on our pricing page. |
| Marketplace | The Launch plan requires a marketplace listing, with a 30% take rate on marketplace orders. It is opt-in at 20% (Grow) and 15% (Scale). Source for Sawyer: Marketplace (opens in a new tab) | No marketplace, and no marketing to your families on anyone else’s behalf. |
| Counter POS and card reader | We found no counter POS screen or card terminal in Sawyer’s public help center. “Quick Charge” bills a card already saved on a customer’s profile. Source for Sawyer: Counter POS and card reader (opens in a new tab) | An iPad counter POS with a Stripe card reader, cash and split payments. |
| Open play | “Open Play” is a label for the Drop-Ins tab, with one capacity cap per location per day. We found no visit timer in its documentation. Source for Sawyer: Open play (opens in a new tab) | A visit timer for every child, with alerts five minutes before, at time and when overdue. |
| Allergies and care | One “Allergies” field, shown as a label on the roster. Source for Sawyer: Allergies and care (opens in a new tab) | A full care profile per child, encrypted, with a care alert on the counter and the live floor. |
| Waivers | E-signature agreements on Grow and up. Its help center says memberships, parties and packs are not yet supported. Source for Sawyer: Waivers (opens in a new tab) | Waivers attach to the child and are checked at every visit, on every plan. |
| Pickup | Check-out records the name of the person picking up as free text. Source for Sawyer: Pickup (opens in a new tab) | Pickup only by an adult the family has approved, shown with their photo and pickup PIN. Anyone else needs a manager override with a reason, and every pickup is logged. |
| Parties | Party booking is “a request system, not an automatic event booking”. Guest waivers need a workaround: a free private “camp” for each party. Source for Sawyer: Parties (opens in a new tab) | Families book a party room online and pay the deposit on the spot. Each party has its own page where guest families sign their waivers. |
| If you leave | 30 days’ notice, no prorated refunds, and data deleted 60 days after termination. Source for Sawyer: If you leave (opens in a new tab) | Every report exports to CSV, and you can ask for a full export of your data at any time, including when you leave. |
Jumpstead and ROLLER
ROLLER is a venue-management platform for attractions of every size, with dedicated pages for playgrounds, soft play and trampoline parks.
What ROLLER does well
A broad attraction platform: waivers built into the booking flow, a kiosk option, and party packages with online RSVPs.
| Topic | ROLLER (as of Oct 2026) | Jumpstead |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Attractions of every size, with dedicated pages for trampoline parks, playgrounds and soft play. Source for ROLLER: Built for (opens in a new tab) | Indoor play places first, from a single play café to a trampoline park. |
| Published prices | Lite, Pro, Premium and Enterprise tiers. No dollar amounts on the pricing page. Source for ROLLER: Published prices (opens in a new tab) | One flat price with every feature. It will be published on our pricing page. |
| Devices | 2 POS/kiosk devices on Lite, 6 on Pro, 10 on Premium, with an extra charge for each additional device. Source for ROLLER: Devices (opens in a new tab) | Unlimited devices. |
| Add-ons | Waivers, transactional SMS and APIs are paid extras. Hardware not included. Source for ROLLER: Add-ons (opens in a new tab) | Waivers, the booking API and outbound webhooks are included. Hardware: you buy your own, too. |
| Waivers | Linked to the booking and signable in checkout, with a kiosk add-on, QR posters and party-guest tracking. Source for ROLLER: Waivers (opens in a new tab) | Attached to the child and checked on every visit; signed on the counter iPad, from a text link or on your website. Party guests sign from the party’s own page. |
| Parties | Party packages work out inclusions from the headcount, and guests RSVP online. Source for ROLLER: Parties (opens in a new tab) | Room and whole-venue bookings with a deposit, add-ons, automatic clash checks and balance reminders by email and text. |
| Care profiles | Not covered in our research. | A care profile for every child, with a briefing staff acknowledge at the start of a visit. |
Jumpstead and Square
Square is a general-purpose point of sale with an appointments product, and a common starting point for play cafés.
What Square does well
A widely used, polished point of sale. If you mainly sell coffee and retail, it may be all you need.
| Topic | Square (as of Oct 2026) | Jumpstead |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | General-purpose point of sale and appointments for many kinds of business. | Indoor play places: households, children, waivers, timers and care built in. |
| Several children in one booking | Square’s community forum says Appointments can’t book more than one person per booking. A feature request for group booking is still open. Source for Square: Several children in one booking (opens in a new tab) | One household, any number of children, one cart and one payment. |
| Per-child timed visits | A café with per-person timed slots was told in Square’s community that Appointments “did not envision” that model. Source for Square: Per-child timed visits (opens in a new tab) | Every admission starts its own per-child visit timer, with alerts. |
| Card reader | Square’s own readers and processing. | Stripe smart readers (WisePOS E or S700). Switching means a new reader. |
What moving over looks like
- 1
A demo on your menu
We set up your real admissions, prices by age and café items, and walk a family through.
- 2
Setup together
Products, opening hours, waiver wording and membership plans, done with you.
- 3
Bring your families
Send us your current family list and we’ll help move it across.
- 4
A quiet first day
Start on a quiet weekday, with us on hand, before your first busy Saturday.
Thinking of switching?
Tell us what you use today and what isn’t working. We’ll walk the same flows in Jumpstead on a live demo, and help you move your families across.