STARTPLAYING ALTERNATIVE
Summon vs StartPlaying, honestly.
StartPlaying opened this category and proved people will pay to game together — we're genuinely grateful for that. We just have a different vision of who the money should serve. On Summon, the Game Master keeps 100% of their price and 100% of their tips; players add one flat 7.77% on top. StartPlaying charges 15%, and takes it out of the Game Master's price. Ours is 7.77%, flat, forever — that's the entire business model, and we'd rather grow the hobby than grow the take.
DO THE MATH
What you keep on a $30 seat
On Summon
$30.00
You keep every cent. The player adds 7.77% on top ($32.33).
On a 15% platform
$25.50
$4.50 comes out of your price before it reaches you — every seat, every session. Players pay a service fee too.
Run a few tables a week and that gap adds up over a year — and on Summon, it stays yours. Numbers are from each platform's own published pricing.
SIDE BY SIDE
The whole picture
Every line is a fact from each platform's own pricing or product. Where a Summon feature is still on the way, we say so — no pretending.
Summon
Cut taken from the GM’s price
0%
Player booking fee
Flat 7.77%
Combined take (GM + player side)
7.77%, none of it from the GM
Tips
GM keeps 100%
In-person games
After launch, at partner public venues — never private homes
Party Finder (form or join a group, split the cost)
Yes (coming)
Native mobile app
Yes (in build)
Ratings
Players review GMs publicly; player attendance is tracked automatically
Systems
Every system, equal footing
Payouts
Timing gets published before launch — we won’t invent a number to win a row
StartPlaying
Cut taken from the GM’s price
15%
Player booking fee
A service fee added at checkout; the rate isn’t published
Combined take (GM + player side)
15% out of the GM, plus the player fee at checkout
Tips
15% cut taken
In-person games
No — online only
Party Finder (form or join a group, split the cost)
No
Native mobile app
Web only — no app in the stores
Ratings
Players review GMs
Systems
Listings skew heavily to D&D
Payouts
Days; instant costs 2%
Sources: StartPlaying's help center — a 15% platform fee on the Game Master's rate, 15% on tips and custom payments, and a service fee added at player checkout for which no rate is published. Accessed August 2026. Summon's fee is a flat 7.77% paid by players; the GM keeps 100% of price and tips.
IN FAIRNESS
Where StartPlaying is ahead
We're not going to pretend we're the obvious pick for everyone today. StartPlaying has a real head start: thousands of Game Masters already listed, years of reviews, and a catalog of online games you can book right now. If what you want is the largest existing library of online GMs this minute, that 's them, and it isn't close yet.
Summon is new. We're bootstrapped, launching nationwide, our in-person venues are still coming online, and the Party Finder isn't live yet. We won't tell you there 's a crowd already waiting — there isn't. We're building it.
What we can promise is the part in your control: the Game Master keeps everything, players pay one flat 7.77%, and we only make money when a table actually books. If those are the things you care about, that's where we're different — on purpose.
SAME CATEGORY · DIFFERENT VISION
We support the Game Master. Every dollar, every tip.
Beta opens soon, nationwide. Get in before the doors swing open — as a player, a Game Master, or a game store.