Small teams are ideal ground for a workplace prediction pool. People know each other, the atmosphere is informal and every surprising prediction immediately makes it into the team chat. At the same time, a small team typically does not have a budget that could swallow a monthly subscription for a tool used only a few times a year.
Good news — a prediction pool for a small team does not have to cost anything. If you have a crew, department or small company of up to 20 people, trefa.app is free with no credit card required.
What counts as a "small team"
From a pricing standpoint, a "small team" means a pool of up to 20 participants. That covers several typical scenarios:
- A department in a larger company — marketing, sales, an engineering team, ops. Typically 5–15 people.
- A whole small company — a startup, a boutique agency, a local business with a handful of employees. Typically 8–18 people.
- A group of friends — colleagues from work who go back further, a sports club, university friends. Typically 6–20 people.
If your participant count hovers around 20, you fit. If you have a company-wide event with 30+ people, look in the pricing table for the plan for larger groups.
What fits in the free plan
Free does not mean stripped-down. In the free plan you get all the key features needed for the pool to work in full:
- Automatic result syncing from external data feeds. No manual entering after every match.
- Real-time leaderboard — after every match the points are recomputed and the table updates.
- Push notifications before matches and after they are evaluated. Participants do not forget to predict.
- PWA on mobile — no App Store install. Just add the icon to the home screen.
- Multiple tournaments at once — you can have a pool for the NHL + Ice Hockey World Championship + Premier League under one account.
- Custom scoring rules — you set how many points for the winner, how many for the exact score, optionally bonuses for the scorer.
- Private league — nobody from the outside sees your table, only members of your league do.
If you used to run the pool in Excel, the free plan covers roughly 100 % of what made you want to leave Excel — and then one step further.
Limits you should not bump into
The boundaries of the free plan are set so that a small team practically does not hit them. There are two main ones:
1. Up to 20 participants in one league. If the pool takes off and you want to bring in more people from other departments, it is time to consider a larger plan. At 20 people it is not yet necessary.
2. Up to 3 leagues at the same time. In practice a small team runs one or two (for example NHL play-offs + Ice Hockey World Championship). Three would even be enough for a fan group that wants a separate league for football and hockey.
Other than these two limits, in the free plan you do not feel a difference from the paid version. No watermarks in emails, no advertising banners, no throttling of result syncing.
Three typical use cases
A five-person department. A sales team of five decides to spice up the Ice Hockey World Championship. It runs for 2 weeks, the free plan is more than enough. After the final on Monday they hand a diploma to the winner over coffee.
A fifteen-person company. A local agency where everyone knows each other. Before the EURO or the Ice Hockey World Championship, one of the partners sets up a league, invites everyone plus two external designers, and the pool runs for 4–6 weeks. After it ends, the trophy travels to the winner and everyone looks forward to the next tournament.
A group of twenty friends. Former classmates or members of a sports club who no longer work together but want a reason to message each other regularly. They set up a league for every big event (hockey, football, the Olympics) — the free plan handles them all.
When it is time for a paid plan
You outgrow the free plan in two situations.
If you want to involve more than 20 people in one league. This typically happens when the pool works and colleagues from other departments want to join. Then it makes sense to look at the business plan with a higher participant limit.
If you want customisation beyond standard rules. For example custom branding (company logo in the league header), more parallel leagues or dedicated support for a big tournament.
For most small teams, however, the free plan is enough forever. You can have a pool every year, for every tournament, for the same 15 people — and pay nothing.
Conclusion
A pool for a small team is the ideal start. It costs nothing, does not strain the budget, does not lock you into anything. And yet it delivers what company competitions are really for — connection between colleagues who pass each other in the corridor during a regular week.
If you want to try a prediction pool for your team, just sign in with Google and within five minutes your first league is ready.