Choosing the right club management software is crucial for your Toastmasters club's success. Here's an honest, comprehensive comparison between Easy-Speak (the market leader) and Toastmanagers (the modern alternative).
Quick Summary
| Feature | Toastmanagers | Easy-Speak |
|---|---|---|
| Price | FREE | $100-200/year |
| Setup Time | 5 minutes | 1-2 hours |
| Mobile Support | Perfect | Desktop only |
| Smart Scheduling | Automatic | Manual |
| Email Reminders | Smart (locked only) | All meetings |
| PDF Agendas | Beautiful | Basic |
| Pathways Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Years Active | New (2024) | 15+ years |
Detailed Feature Comparison
Pricing: Free vs $150/Year
Easy-Speak: Costs $100-200 per year depending on club size. Not expensive, but adds up over time.
Toastmanagers: 100% free. No hidden fees, no upsells, no "premium" tier. All features included.
Winner: Toastmanagers (obviously). Saving $150/year is significant for most clubs.
User Experience: 2025 vs 2005
Easy-Speak: The interface hasn't meaningfully changed in over a decade. It works, but feels dated. Lots of clicks, confusing menus, slow page loads.
Toastmanagers: Built in 2024 with modern web standards. Glass-morphism design, smooth animations, real-time updates (no page refreshes), dark theme.
Winner: Toastmanagers. The UX difference is night and day.
Mobile Experience: Perfect vs Nonexistent
Easy-Speak: Desktop only. The mobile site exists but is basically unusable. Good luck managing your schedule from your phone.
Toastmanagers: Mobile-first design. Works perfectly on phones and tablets. Full functionality on any device.
Winner: Toastmanagers. If you ever need to check the schedule on your phone, this alone is worth switching.
Smart Scheduling: Automatic vs Manual
Easy-Speak: You manually assign every role for every meeting. It tracks nothing automatically. You have to remember who did what.
Toastmanagers: Algorithm automatically balances roles across your entire club history. Never assigns the same person to Speaker three meetings in a row. True fairness.
Winner: Toastmanagers. Saves 1-2 hours per schedule generation.
Email Reminders: Smart vs All
Easy-Speak: Sends email reminders for all meetings, which can lead to spam if you're still planning/changing things.
Toastmanagers: Only sends reminders for "locked" (finalized) meetings. Prevents spam while ensuring important reminders get through.
Winner: Tie. Easy-Speak has more flexibility in timing; Toastmanagers is smarter about spam prevention.
Meeting Agendas: Beautiful vs Basic
Easy-Speak: Generates basic HTML printouts. Functional but not pretty.
Toastmanagers: Professional PDF agendas with your branding, custom event structure, and polished formatting. One-click generation.
Winner: Toastmanagers. Your agendas will actually look professional.
Pathways Tracking: Full vs Full
Easy-Speak: Full Pathways integration. Track levels, projects, competencies. Generate progress reports.
Toastmanagers: Complete Pathways tracking with levels, projects, and speech linking. Track member progress, record completed projects, and link speeches to Pathways competencies.
Winner: Tie. Both platforms offer comprehensive Pathways tracking.
Contest Management: None vs Full
Easy-Speak: Complete contest tools—ballots, judges, scorecards, winners.
Toastmanagers: No contest management. You run contests 2-3 times per year; manual tracking is fine.
Winner: Easy-Speak (if you run lots of contests).
Setup Time: 5 Minutes vs 2 Hours
Easy-Speak: Complex setup process. Multiple screens, lots of configuration, reading the manual required.
Toastmanagers: Sign up → Create club → Add members → Generate schedule. Literally 5 minutes.
Winner: Toastmanagers. Time is money.
Who Should Use Which?
Choose Easy-Speak If:
- You run frequent contests (contest management tools)
- You want battle-tested, established software
- You don't mind paying $150/year
- Desktop-only is fine
- You prefer the interface you're already familiar with
Choose Toastmanagers If:
- You want to save $150/year
- You need mobile access
- You want modern, beautiful design
- You want automated role balancing
- You value quick setup and ease of use
- You want Pathways tracking, speech requests, and role preferences
- You need timezone support and meeting patterns
The Honest Truth
Easy-Speak is a mature, feature-complete product. It's been around longer and has contest management features we don't have yet.
But here's what we offer: everything you use 90% of the time, done 10× better, for $0. Plus features Easy-Speak doesn't have: speech requests, role preferences, meeting patterns, and timezone support.
If you need contest management tools, stick with Easy-Speak. If you want smart scheduling, Pathways tracking, speech requests, email reminders, PDF agendas, and a mobile app that actually works—all for free—try Toastmanagers.
Try Both (Seriously)
We're confident enough to suggest: try Easy-Speak's free trial AND try Toastmanagers. Use both for a week. See which one your officers prefer.
We think you'll choose us. But even if you don't, you'll have made an informed decision. That's what matters.
Try Toastmanagers Free
No credit card. No commitment. Set up in under 5 minutes.
Get Started FreeSwitch back to Easy-Speak anytime. We won't hold your data hostage.
Questions About Switching?
Can I import my Easy-Speak data?
Not yet, but manually re-creating your schedule takes about 15 minutes.
We're working on an import tool.
What if I need a feature you don't have?
Email us at managerstoast@gmail.com.
We build based on user requests.
Is it really free forever?
Yes. Core features (scheduling, emails, agendas) will always be free. We might add
paid premium features later, but you'll never lose what you have now.