RunLink vs Heylo: An Honest Comparison for Running Club Organizers

RunLink is built only for running clubs: a public club page, events with RSVPs and a mapped route, a roster with roles, and club chat. Heylo is a general community app that covers more of the business side, including payments and waivers. If you run a running club and want a tool shaped around runs, RunLink fits. If you need to collect dues or waivers inside the app today, Heylo does that and RunLink does not.

This comparison is written for the person who actually runs the club. It was rewritten on October 2, 2026. Everything said about RunLink comes from what the app does today. Everything said about Heylo comes from Heylo's own website, read on October 2, 2026. Features change, so check Heylo's site before you decide.

What is the difference between RunLink and Heylo?

The difference is who each product is designed for.

Heylo describes itself as a space for any group that meets in person. On its homepage it lists run clubs next to cycling groups, social clubs, churches, pickleball leagues, hiking groups and volunteer teams. It says it gives a group events, communications, payments and sponsorships in one place.

RunLink is for people who run a running club. It is not meant for individual runners tracking their own training, and it is not race-timing software. The vocabulary, the screens and the defaults assume a club that meets to run.

Side by side: what each app covers today

Job to be done	Heylo (per heylo.com, October 2, 2026)	RunLink today
Events with RSVPs	Yes, with capacity limits and waitlists	Yes, events with RSVPs
Route on the event	Not described on its homepage	Yes, a mapped route you draw by dropping waypoints, shown next to the RSVP
Club chat	Yes, topic-organized chats	Yes, club chat and direct messages
Public page so runners can find the club	Not described on its homepage	Yes, a public club page
Member roster with roles	Member profiles	Yes, a roster with roles
Invite people from your phone contacts	Not described on its homepage	Yes, invite contacts straight into the club
Payments and dues	Yes	No
Waivers	Yes, handled at onboarding	No
Sponsorship links	Yes	No
Attendance management	Yes	No
Email blasts and forms	Paid plans	No
Built for running clubs only	No, any group	Yes

Read the table as a map of overlap. Both apps get a club off a WhatsApp thread and onto one place for events and chat. They split on what comes next. Heylo goes deeper on the money and paperwork side of running a group. RunLink goes deeper on the running side: the public club page, the mapped route on every event, and a roster built around club roles.

What does Heylo do well?

Heylo covers a lot for a group that wants everything in one app. By its own description it handles events, RSVPs and attendance, topic-based chats, payments for dues and event fees, waivers during onboarding, and sponsorship requests. It also says basic features are free and that it takes a small service fee on payments it collects, with paid plans adding email blasts and forms.

If your club already collects dues, needs every new member to accept a waiver, or wants a sponsor to find you through a link, Heylo is ahead of RunLink on those jobs today. That is not a close call, and it is worth saying plainly.

What does RunLink do well?

RunLink starts from the club and the run rather than from a generic group.

• A public club page. Runners looking for a group near them can find the club, see what it does and join.
• Events with a mapped route. You draw the route by dropping waypoints on a map when you create the event. Distance is calculated for you and members see the route next to the RSVP. See running club route maps for how this works and its limits.
• A roster with roles. Founders, moderators and members are separate roles, so running the club is not one person's phone.
• Club chat in the same app. Announcements and day-of updates sit next to the events.
• Invites from your contacts. Members can invite people from their phone contacts into the club. Matching is by email address only and the contact list is not stored. The invite guide covers the details.
• A free iOS download. The app is live on the App Store.

What RunLink does not do

RunLink does not collect waivers, handle payments or dues, capture attendance, or send automated reminders. It has no Android app. It does not import or export GPX files, and it does not split an event into pace groups. An invite brings a person into the club, not to one specific event. If any of those are must-haves for your club this month, say so honestly in your decision and pick the tool that has them.

When is Heylo the right choice?

• You want to take dues, event payments or donations inside the same app.
• Every new member must accept a waiver before the first run and you want the app to handle it.
• Your group is mixed, with running as one activity among several, and you want one tool for all of it.
• You want sponsors to be able to request a sponsorship through a link.

When is RunLink the right choice?

• You run a running club and want a public page that helps new runners find it.
• You post group runs every week and want the route attached to the event, next to the RSVP.
• You want the roster, the events and the chat in one running-specific app.
• You want to invite people into the club from your phone contacts.
• You handle dues and waivers outside the app already, and you want the app to cover the running side only.

How to decide in ten minutes

Write down four answers.

1. Do you need the app to collect money, such as dues or event fees?
2. Do you need the app to collect waivers?
3. Do you want a public club page that people searching for a run club can find?
4. Do you want a mapped route on every event?

If the first two are yes, Heylo is the better fit today. If the last two matter more and you handle money and paperwork elsewhere, RunLink is built for that. Many clubs will land in between, and that is fine. The wrong move is to keep running the club on six disconnected tools because no single option checks every box.

The bottom line

Heylo is a capable general community app with more business features than RunLink right now. RunLink is a running-club app focused on the club page, events with routes, the roster and chat. Pick on the jobs you need done this season, not on the longest feature list.

You can see how RunLink works at runlink.app, or read the running club management software guide. The iOS app is free to download.