Straight answers about how Skoutd works, what it costs, and how we keep coach outreach legitimate. Still wondering something? Email us — real people, real answers.
How do I get started?+
Playing in college starts with a coach knowing who you are. Four steps get you there, and the heavy lifting isn't yours.
- Build your profile. Sport, position, stats, and links to film you already have online — a YouTube channel, Hudl, MaxPreps, TikTok. There are no files to upload.
- Publish it. That gives you a live profile link a coach opens straight from your email, and it stays current as you add to it.
- Find your schools. Matched to your sport, your region and what you want to study. Add the ones you want to pursue.
- Write to a coach. The first draft is built from your own profile and that specific program — drafted for you, approved by you, sent in your voice.
One thing to do before step four: click the link in the confirmation email we send when you register. You can build your profile and save drafts without it, but sending stays locked until the address is confirmed — that is what keeps a coach's reply going to a mailbox you own.
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How is Skoutd different from traditional recruiting services?+
Two big ways. First, price: traditional recruiting services commonly run $1,500–$6,000 a year — Skoutd is $14.99 a month, no contracts. Second, who we work for: we work for the athlete, not the recruiting company. There's no sales team, no opaque “packages,” and no upsells. You review every email, you see every coach we suggest, and you can cancel anytime.
How much does it cost?+
One plan: $14.99 / month. No free tier, but no contracts and no hidden fees either — cancel anytime. That's a fraction of what families typically pay traditional recruiting services for a year.
Do college coaches actually read these emails?+
They're far more likely to than a generic blast. Every email is personalized to the specific coach and program, written from the athlete's real profile, and sent under the athlete's own name with replies going straight to the athlete's inbox. It reads like a real student-athlete reaching out — because it is one — not a recruiting service spamming a list.
Is this spam? Could it hurt how a coach sees my athlete?+
No. Nothing is sent automatically — you review and approve every message before it goes out. Each one is one-to-one, personalized, and capped so coaches never get flooded. Protecting your athlete's reputation (and ours) with coaches is the whole point of how the system is built.
Do we have to upload videos or files?+
Never. You only share public links the athlete already has — a YouTube channel, Hudl, MaxPreps, Instagram, and so on. Skoutd analyzes those to build the profile. No uploads, no file management.
How does Skoutd decide which schools to suggest?+
We match programs to your athlete — their sport and position, the regions you're targeting, academic goals, and what they want from college — across thousands of schools. The goal is the one thing we wish we'd had growing up: surfacing the great-fit programs you'd never have found on your own, not just the famous names.
Does Skoutd email coaches on its own, or do we stay in control?+
You're always in control. Skoutd drafts the emails; you review, edit, and approve each one. Nothing leaves without you, and every message is logged so you (and a parent) can see exactly what was sent, to whom, and when.
Can a parent stay involved?+
Yes — and we'd encourage it. You can add a parent or family email to be copied on every outreach email, so they're looped in on everything. (We confirm that address first, so it's only added with their okay.)
Is our information private and safe?+
You only ever share links that are already public, and your data is yours — we don't sell it. See our
Privacy Policy for the details.
Does Skoutd guarantee my athlete gets recruited?+
No honest service can promise that — recruiting comes down to the athlete, the timing, and the fit. What Skoutd does is stack the odds in your favor: it helps you reach far more of the right coaches, with stronger, more personal outreach, for a fraction of the usual cost. More legitimate shots on goal — that's the honest promise.
What sports and levels does it support?+
Any sport, and every level of college athletics — there are great programs and great opportunities far beyond the biggest names, which is exactly what Skoutd helps you find.
Are there usage limits, and why?+
Yes — the table above lists exactly what the $14.99 plan includes each month. The limits are generous for a real recruiting season, and they exist to protect coaches from spam (the fastest way to ruin deliverability for everyone), not to nickel-and-dime you. A higher-volume All Star tier is coming for power users.
Can I see which coaches opened or replied to my emails?+
No — and we'd rather be straight about it. Skoutd doesn't put tracking pixels in emails to college coaches, so we won't claim to know who opened one. What you do get: exactly what you sent and when, delivery and bounce confirmation, and replies coming straight to your own inbox. From there you keep your own notes on each coach, and mark a whole program Not interested when it's closed — which stops it being suggested, bulk-emailed or raised in your next steps.
Can I log a text or a phone call from a coach?+
Yes, and it's one of the most useful things you can do. The message that matters most is often a text after a camp — and it never touches an email tool. Log it in about ten seconds and it lands on that program's timeline beside everything else. It files by when it happened, so a text from three weeks ago sorts into its own place rather than jumping to the top.
How does the calendar work? Can I get camps on my phone?+
Paste a coach's message and Skoutd reads the camp date, location and registration deadline out of it and puts them on your calendar. You answer Going, Maybe or Not going, and deadlines coming up get flagged before they close. You can subscribe the whole calendar to Google or Apple Calendar so it shows up in the family calendar and stays current.
A coach invited my athlete to a camp we can't do. What do we say?+
Mark it Maybe or Not going and Skoutd writes the reply. It thanks the coach, answers plainly and keeps the door open — and it never invents an excuse or promises anything you haven't agreed to. Copy it into a text (a coach who texted deserves a text back) or save it as a draft.
Is my athlete's profile public?+
Not unless you publish it. Profiles start private. When you're ready, one click publishes it at a permanent link you can share anywhere and that coaches can find by sport, position, class year and state. You can unpublish at any time.
How fast does an email actually go out?+
When you press send through Skoutd, it queues and goes out within about fifteen minutes — there isn't an instant-send button, deliberately, because that pause is what stops a misdirected email. You can also send straight from your own Gmail or Outlook instead and log it afterwards.
Can I cancel anytime?+
Yes. No contracts, no cancellation fees — cancel whenever you want and you keep access through the end of your billing period.
Built by a family who's been through it.
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