SmartDartThe free alternative to 3K Darts
For hobby clubs, pubs and small league organisers. No 12-month contract, no setup fee, no per-player licence. Browser-based tournament tool with live scoring on every phone, PDC-style projector view and 9 tournament formats — start instantly.
BASIC plan free forever · No credit card required
No setup fee
No contract lock-in
Runs on any phone
Over 7,000 matches across more than 400 completed tournaments — by more than 200 organisers, from the local pub to the hobby league (as of October 2026).
3K Darts (formerly 2K Dart Software) is an established professional software used by associations like the German NWDV. This page is not a takedown — it is a fact-based comparison for organisers looking for a lighter tool without contractual lock-in. All 3K pricing was verified on dart-software.de/preise (May 2026). Prices are subject to change — binding terms only on the vendor's website.
Direct comparison
The most important differences at a glance — all figures for 3K Darts come from the official pricing page and product description.
| Criterion | SmartDart | 3K Darts |
|---|---|---|
Pricing | BASIC free · PRO €4.99/mo · PREMIUM €9.99/mo (cancel anytime) · League plan €49.99/mo or €499.99/year flat for the whole league (teams and players pay nothing) | Tournament €9–15/mo · League from €2/player/season · Live-scoring app €6/mo extra |
Contract length | Cancel monthly, or pay yearly (17% off) | 12-month minimum term · annual billing |
Setup fee | None — sign up, start a tournament | Tournament from €39 · League from €179 · Live-scoring app from €19 |
Phone live scoring | Included on every plan — players scan a QR code, score in the browser, no app | Separate module: €6/mo + setup, plus €0.40/player/month when connected to the tournament |
Projector / TV mode | Included from BASIC — PDC-style with bracket, live score and stats ticker | Through 3K Live (separate product) |
Player account required | No — players join with a 5-character code or QR (no login) | App / login required for live scoring |
League management | Fixtures, home/away rounds, rescheduling, match reports, table; player list with player ID, team, date of birth and town, import by pasting a list — no addresses, no transfer workflow | Full member management, player IDs, club assignment, transfer workflow |
Languages | German + English (fully translated) | German |
When does each tool fit best?
SmartDart is the better fit when …
You run an amateur club, a regulars' group or a group of friends with 1–6 tournaments per year
You run a pub or restaurant with weekly or monthly darts nights
You organise ad-hoc tournaments (birthdays, Christmas parties, end-of-season events)
You don't want a 12-month contract and want to pause during summer
You want to start instantly, with no onboarding call and no licence order process
Your players shouldn't need to install an app or register an account
3K Darts is the better fit when …
You manage an entire federation with dozens of clubs (e.g. a state-level association)
You run an official league with player transfer, home-rights and suspension workflows
Member and address data must be maintained legally over many years
If you want to switch from 3K Darts
There is no automated data import from 3K Darts. For most small clubs, a manual switch only takes about 5 minutes:
Add members as Saved Players
Enter your 10–30 active members in the Admin Dashboard. From PRO upwards they persist across seasons.
First test tournament in 60 seconds
Pick a format (Groups + Knockout or League), select Saved Players, add boards — and you're live.
Onboard players without login
Stick a QR code on each board or share the 5-character code in the WhatsApp group. No app install, no signup.
Got Autodarts or Scolia? We run the tournament around it.
Camera auto-scoring like Autodarts.io or Scolia doesn't compete with SmartDart — it's the other half of the night: the hardware reads the throws at a single board, SmartDart runs the tournament around it, across as many boards as you like. Nothing to dismantle, nothing to migrate.
At the board nothing changes: your auto-scoring system keeps counting, including the display your players are used to.
SmartDart takes care of everything around it: bracket or league fixtures, board assignment, results, rankings and the PDC-style projector view.
Mixed nights are the norm: rarely does every board have cameras — on the others a player taps the scores in on their phone, and every result lands in the same table.
Frequently asked questions
What does SmartDart actually cost for a club?
BASIC is permanently free and is enough for small regulars' tournaments up to 10 players. PRO (€4.99/mo or €49.99/year) supports 20 players and 6 tournament formats, including Double Elimination and Swiss. PREMIUM (€9.99/mo or €99.99/year) lifts the limits for big club championships and multiple parallel tournaments and includes all 9 formats. LEAGUE (€49.99/mo or €499.99/year) covers a whole league with divisions, match reports and a cup; teams and players pay nothing. There are no setup fees and no per-player licence costs.
Do I need an onboarding call or licence order to use SmartDart?
No. You sign up at smartdart.app, click 'Start tournament' and you're running. According to its official pricing page, 3K Darts charges a one-time setup fee from €39 (Tournament module) or from €179 (League module) — SmartDart has no setup fee at all.
Can SmartDart manage an official DDV league?
For running the competition, yes. SmartDart manages team leagues with fixtures, home and away rounds, rescheduling, match reports, table, individual rankings and season history. For every player the league keeps a player ID, team, date of birth and town (the last two are visible to the league committee only), and you can paste the player list straight from Excel. What's missing is address data and a formal club-transfer workflow with request and approval. If your association needs exactly that, 3K Darts (or comparable federation software) is the better choice.
Can I import my member data from 3K Darts?
Not automatically yet. You add players once as Saved Players (from PRO upwards) — for the typical 10–30 members of a hobby club this takes 5 minutes. For a league it's quicker: paste the player list with number, first name and surname straight from Excel, and add date of birth and town the same way.
Does SmartDart work with auto-scoring systems like Scolia or Autodarts?
SmartDart does not compete with hardware auto-scoring — it complements it. If you have Scolia or Autodarts.io, the hardware scores automatically and SmartDart manages the tournament around it (bracket, boards, projector, fixtures). A direct API integration to Scolia is not implemented; score input runs manually or in parallel display.
Do my players need to create a SmartDart account?
No. Only the organiser needs a (free) SmartDart account. Players scan a QR code or enter a 5-character code and they're in — no app, no signup, no email.
What is the difference between 2K Dart Software and 3K Darts?
It is the same software under a new name. According to the manufacturer's official statement (Facebook, 2024): '2K Dart Software is becoming 3K Darts.' The main domain dart-software.de remains active; in parallel, the new domain 2k-dart-software.com runs the 3K branding. Anyone looking for an 'alternative to 2K Dart Software' is effectively looking for an alternative to 3K Darts.
How much effort is it to switch from 3K Darts to SmartDart?
For hobby clubs about 15 minutes: create an account, add ~20 members as Saved Players, run a first test tournament. For official federation leagues the switch is much more involved and rarely worthwhile — those use cases are exactly where 3K Darts is optimised.
What else SmartDart can do
Beyond Quick Match and Training, SmartDart is a complete darts platform for pubs, clubs and leagues.
Run your first tournament in 60 seconds
No contract, no setup fee, no per-player licence. Just try it.
More comparisons and use cases:
Made with love in Germany · GDPR-compliant, EU hostingBuilt solo by a darts player who was done with Excel brackets and setup fees.