Guide

Is a College Recruiting Service Worth It? Four Checks and What Each Option Costs

Should the money go to the service that keeps calling, or to camps, a showcase and a travel team? Here is a four-check test for any paid recruiting service, what each option costs with dates and sources, and how to judge the sales calls and the showcase invites. We built RawRecruit, a competitor to the services on this page, so read this with that in mind. Our founder, Kevin Monangai, built the recruiting process his younger brother Kyle used to go from overlooked high school prospect to the NFL draft, an outcome Kyle earned. We name RawRecruit only where a fair answer needs it: among the free ways to do it yourself, and in the fourth check, where our own terms face the same test.

Built by Kevin Monangai, who guided his brother Kyle from overlooked recruit to the Chicago Bears 2025 draft.

TL;DR

A recruiting service is worth paying for only if it passes four checks: your family truly lacks the time to write to coaches, it writes to coaches you pick rather than a list, its price is published before any call, and you know what happens to money already paid if you cancel. The table below gives dated prices for doing it yourself, a college's own camp, a showcase and a service, and national survey averages for what families spend on a sport in a year.

What each option costs

OptionWhat it costsWhat you getWhich coaches see it
Doing it yourself$0 in fees. The real costs are filming games and your family's timeEmails and film your athlete sends to the coaches you pick. NCSA's guide says nearly all college coaches list an email or phone number on their school's website. Free help: NCSA, CaptainU and FieldLevel each have a free profile or plan, and RawRecruit has a free Prospect planThe coaches you write to, at the schools you choose
A college's own campAdams State University (men's basketball, August 16, 2026): $55 for a prospect camp, including $5 in fees; Appalachian State University (football, June 6, 2026): $60 for a one-day camp for linemen, including $5 in fees; Augustana College (track and field, July 20 and July 27, 2026): $55 per attendee; Keiser University (flag football, October 11, 2026): $55.00 per athlete for a girls clinic, grades 1 to 12A camp or clinic the college's program lists, on a set date, with coaching and drillsThe host college's staff. Ask whether coaches from other colleges will be there
A showcase or combineEXACT Sports (basketball, October 4, 2026): $350 standard tuition for its X1 Showcase Camp - Dallas, for 8th to 12th gradersDrills and games at an event a company runs for athletes from many high schoolsWhichever college coaches attend. Ask the organizer which colleges are sending coaches before you pay
A travel or club seasonAspen Institute survey (basketball, 2024): $875.97 average yearly spending on the sport, ages 6 to 18, all costs, $242.30 of it travel and lodging; Aspen Institute survey (tackle football, 2024): $633.72 average yearly spending on the sport, ages 6 to 18, all costs, $160.31 of it travel and lodging; Track and field: No published figure found; Aspen Institute survey (flag football, 2024): $444.04 average yearly spending on the sport, ages 6 to 18, all costs, $104.54 of it travel and lodgingA season of practices, games and tournaments with a club or travel team. The survey figures are parents' estimates of a year's spending on a child's primary sport, ages 6 to 18, not the price of one club seasonCollege coaches who come to watch. The NCAA says that during an evaluation period, a coach may watch your athlete compete, and that recruiting rules vary by division and by sport
A recruiting serviceCaptainU: $22.50 to $199.95 a month; GetRecruited: $100, paid once; NCSA: not published, and two reports give $1,320 to $4,200 for its three paid tiers (Grant Magazine, December 2023) and $250 to $2,100 (Scholarships360, October 2025)It depends on the plan: a profile coaches can see, tools for writing to coaches, or a person who helps. Our cost guide lists what each service charges and what each price addsCoaches who look at the service's profiles, and the ones you or its staff contact. Ask which coaches, and how many, before you pay

The camps and the showcase are examples, not averages: each camp is the first school, alphabetically within one college division per sport, whose athletics site lists or links a published 2026 camp price. The travel figures are survey averages. Checked September 23 to September 25, 2026.

Is a recruiting service worth paying for?

Sometimes: when it does a job your family can't, on terms you can see before you pay.

Two red flags first. The FTC says legitimate companies never guarantee or promise scholarships, advice that covers scholarship services in general. At a scholarship or financial aid seminar, the FTC says not to pay any money there, and that only scammers tell you to pay now or risk losing out.

The test is ours, and we hold our own paid plans to it:

  • Can you write to coaches yourselves, or does your family truly lack the time? NCSA's guide says nearly all college coaches list an email or phone number on their school's website.
  • Does it write to coaches you pick, or send your athlete's profile to a list? Ask whether you approve each school before anything goes out.
  • Is the price published before any call? If not, get the total cost in writing before you agree to anything, as the FTC advises families at a scholarship or financial aid seminar.
  • Can you cancel, and what happens to money already paid? RawRecruit's terms: cancel anytime in account settings, and the account returns to the free Prospect plan when the paid period ends. All sales are final: RawRecruit gives no refunds, including for partial months, annual payments or unused time.

What do camps, showcases and travel teams cost next to a service?

Adams State University listed its men's basketball prospect camp for August 16, 2026 at $55. A one-day camp for linemen at Appalachian State University on June 6, 2026 cost $60. Augustana College listed its track and field camps for July 20 and July 27, 2026 at $55 per attendee, and Keiser University a girls flag football clinic for October 11, 2026 at $55.00 per athlete.

The one showcase in our table costs more: EXACT Sports lists its X1 Showcase Camp - Dallas, a basketball showcase for 8th to 12th graders for October 4, 2026, at $350 standard tuition.

For travel and club seasons, the closest national figures are from the Aspen Institute's 2024 survey of youth sports parents, covering children aged 6 to 18: families estimated spending an average of $875.97 over the last year when basketball was a child's primary sport, $633.72 for tackle football and $444.04 for flag football. Those are averages across all children with that primary sport, not the price of a travel or club season. Across all sports, the same survey found the average U.S. sports family spent $1,016 on a child's primary sport in 2024.

NCSA's blog reports that 'most families on a college recruiting track spend $3,000 to $10,000 per year', but the post shows no date, so we don't use it.

A recruiting service keeps calling us. Is it legit?

Lots of calls don't make a service a scam, and a real company can still be the wrong buy for your family. Judge the offer, not the persistence.

Run the four checks on the call. Ask for the total price in writing, what the service would do that your family can't, whether it writes to coaches you pick, and what happens to money already paid if you cancel.

If the caller promises a scholarship, the FTC says legitimate companies never guarantee or promise scholarships, advice that covers scholarship services in general. If the caller pushes you to pay today, the FTC's advice for families at a scholarship or financial aid seminar is not to pay any money there, and it says only scammers tell you to pay now or risk losing out.

If the caller mentions the NCAA, keep its scope in mind: NCAA approval covers which scouting services Division I football and basketball programs may subscribe to. That is about what those college programs may buy, not a rating for families.

And if you want the calls to stop, say so. The FTC says a company you recently did business with, or gave written permission to call, has to stop calling you with sales pitches if you ask it not to call you.

Read our NCSA review: what its memberships add and its public record

We got an invite to a paid showcase camp. How do we know if it's worth it?

Ask one question before you pay: which college coaches will be there, and from which divisions? An invite tells you the organizer wants your athlete at its event; it doesn't tell you who will be watching. If the organizer can't name the colleges sending coaches, you can't judge what the fee buys.

Then compare the price with a college's own camp. The showcase in our table, EXACT Sports' X1 Showcase Camp - Dallas on October 4, 2026, lists $350 standard tuition. Each college camp in our table listed a fraction of that, and if your athlete has a short list of schools, their own camps may be the better spend.

Know what coaches can do at an off-campus event. The NCAA says that during an evaluation period, a college coach may watch your athlete compete, visit the high school and write or call, but may not have face-to-face contact off campus with your athlete or with you, and that recruiting rules vary by division and by sport. So a showcase may be a place to be seen more than a place to talk.

A few hundred dollars for a showcase isn't by itself a sign of a bad one. It is a purchase, and the coaches who come decide whether it pays off.

How do we do it ourselves without paying a service?

Start with film and a list. Film full games, cut a short highlight, and pick schools where your athlete could play and would want to study. Then write to those coaches yourselves. NCSA's guide says nearly all college coaches list an email or phone number on their school's website.

Keep each email short: name, grad year, position, high school, key numbers, a film link and one question. If you hear nothing, follow up once, then move on to the next school on the list.

Free tools can speed up the list. RawRecruit, which we built, has a free Prospect plan with Top 5 matches, one revealed coach in total and 5 school searches a month. RawRecruit doesn't write to coaches for you; your family sends every email. Varsity is $29.99 a month and adds coach phone numbers and social profiles where we have them.

See what each recruiting service charges, with dated prices

Key Differences

01

Fees for a service: a monthly or yearly subscription, a one-time fee, or a price quoted on a call. Our cost guide lists what each service charges.

02

Camps and events: a college's own camp is one program's event; a showcase or combine is run by a company, for whichever college coaches attend.

03

A club season: team fees, travel and lodging across a year. The survey figures in our table count everything spent on a child's primary sport, not the price of a club season.

04

Time: filming games, building a school list and writing to coaches. It costs no fees, only hours.

The Verdict

Start free: film games, build a school list and write to the coaches yourselves. Spend where the coaches your athlete wants will see them, at their own camps or at a showcase whose coaches you can name. Pay a service only if it passes all four checks, and get the total price and the cancellation terms in writing before you pay.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do we need a recruiting service for our athlete to get recruited?

No. Writing to coaches costs nothing but time: NCSA's own guide says nearly all college coaches list an email or phone number on their school's website. A service can save you hours, and that is worth paying for only if your family truly lacks them.

Can a recruiting service promise my athlete a scholarship?

Treat a promise as a red flag: the FTC says legitimate companies never guarantee or promise scholarships, and its advice covers scholarship services in general, not recruiting platforms.

Can a college coach talk to us at a showcase?

It depends on the recruiting period, the division and the sport. The NCAA says that during an evaluation period, a college coach may watch your athlete compete and write or call, but may not have face-to-face contact off campus with your athlete or with you.

How much do families spend on youth sports in a year?

The Aspen Institute's latest survey of parents of children aged 6 to 18 found that the average U.S. sports family spent $1,016 on their child's primary sport, whatever the sport, in 2024.

Sources