PADLR. vs Playtomic: How Our Padel Rating System Is Different

Both PADLR. and Playtomic give you a padel level on a 0–7 scale. Here's how ours is worked out, and where the two apps are similar and where they differ.

Playtomic has done something impressive. It built one of the largest padel booking networks in Europe and made it easy for players to find courts and opponents. That's a genuine achievement, and credit where it's due.

Playtomic's levels are also a regular topic of debate among padel players, and a common question we hear is: "How is PADLR. any different?" This post answers that honestly. We describe PADLR. from our own code, and we only state facts about Playtomic that Playtomic publishes in its own help centre, with links so you can check them yourself.

Why padel needs a team rating

Classic Elo, the algorithm designed for chess in the 1960s, is elegant. It works beautifully for what it was built for: ranking individuals in a 1v1 game. Chess. Tennis singles. Competitive Scrabble.

Padel is mostly played in doubles. Two players share a side of the court, and the result depends on the combined performance of each pair. A rating system for padel has to account for four players of different levels in every match, not two.

What PADLR. uses

PADLR.'s rating engine is built on OpenSkill (the Weng-Lin Bayesian rating model), which was designed for team-based competition. Instead of a single number, it keeps a probability estimate for each player, so it can model both how good you are and how sure it is about that.

In practical terms, this means:

• Each player has a skill estimate (mu) and an uncertainty value (sigma)
• Your displayed rating is your skill estimate (mu) on a 0–7 scale. The uncertainty is shown separately, as a confidence ring
• The system accounts for the strength of your partner and both of your opponents when working out how much your rating should change
• Both partners get a team-level update, and each player's change is weighted by how certain the system is about their own level

To be clear about the limits: no rating system that only sees the score can know which partner played better on the day. PADLR. doesn't claim to. What it does is set expectations from the strength of everyone on court and move each player according to how surprising the result was and how settled their own rating is.

How Playtomic describes its system

According to Playtomic's own help centre (as of September 2026):

• New players complete a one-off level questionnaire to set their starting level, on a 0–7 scale.
• After each competitive match, the level is recalculated using each team's average level, the expected result compared with the actual result, and each player's performance.
• Each player has a confidence value: lower confidence means bigger changes after each match, higher confidence means smaller ones.
• Only competitive matches affect your level; casual matches don't.
• A result is validated when a player from the opposing team accepts it, and automatically after 24 hours otherwise.

So the two apps share more than you might expect: a 0–7 scale, a questionnaire-style starting point, team-aware updates, a confidence factor, and a split between competitive and casual play. The differences are in the details below.

A side-by-side comparison

Here's what PADLR. does across the dimensions that matter most to players. Where Playtomic publishes how it handles something, we've linked it above; where it doesn't, we say so rather than guess.

Initial rating

Both apps start you from a short self-assessment. Nobody can guess their level perfectly on day one, so what matters is what happens next.

PADLR. asks four quick questions during onboarding (serve and rally, wall play, overheads and match play) or lets you enter a padel rating you already have. The quiz deliberately gives a cautious estimate, capped at 5.0. We'd rather you climb to your true level than start too high and drop. New players also start with high uncertainty, so your first matches produce larger swings while the system calibrates, and confidence tightens with each game.

How ratings update after a match

PADLR. considers three factors in every rating update:

1. The result relative to expectation. Beating a higher-rated team produces a bigger gain than beating a lower-rated team. Upsets carry more information, and the system responds accordingly.

2. The score margin. A 6-0, 6-0 win tells a different story than a 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 thriller. PADLR. factors in how convincingly you won or lost: nail-biters move ratings roughly 20% less than a standard result, blowouts up to 25% more. A narrow defeat against strong opponents won't tank your rating.

3. Your confidence level. Early in your PADLR. career, the system is still learning about you, so matches produce larger swings. As it gains confidence, adjustments become more measured. This is why ratings settle naturally over time without becoming stuck.

Winning and losing streaks don't change your rating. They show up in your stats, personal records and badges. The rating itself only looks at the matches.

Only competitive matches are rated. Friendlies, walkovers and retirements under four games don't touch your number.

Team handling in doubles

PADLR. weighs the strength of all four players before the match. Paired with a weaker partner against a strong team? The system expected you to lose, so a win earns more and a loss costs less. Paired with a stronger partner? A win earns less, because it was expected. Partners always move in the same direction, but by different amounts depending on how settled each player's rating is.

Keeping results honest

PADLR. asks your opponents to confirm every competitive result. When you post a match, your opponents are notified, and one of them confirms it. On a friendly, any other player can confirm. If nobody responds within 48 hours, it confirms automatically. Your rating and the feed only update once a match is confirmed.

If someone remembers the score differently, they can dispute it by entering the score as they remember it. The poster can accept the correction or keep their score and send it back for confirmation. A dispute left unresolved for seven days expires, and that match is never rated.

Beyond that, PADLR. runs automatic manipulation checks: the same players meeting unusually often in a short window, too many rated matches in a day, and head-to-head records too one-sided to be real. A flagged match is held for review. It isn't rated or shown to followers unless it's released.

Transparency

PADLR. shows a "Why your level moved" breakdown after every rated match, in plain language: your expected chance of winning, how the score margin affected the swing, and how settled your rating is. There's also a ring around your level on your profile that fills as your rating settles, with a stage label: New, Settling, Established or Confident. A part-filled ring means you're still calibrating; a full ring means the system has a strong read on your game.

When players understand the logic, they trust the result, even when it's not the number they wanted.

Calibration speed

PADLR. is built to calibrate quickly. Early on the system is unsure, so your first matches move your level most: about 0.3 for a first match, under 0.1 after about 35. After that, it keeps refining with each game. Uncertainty never collapses completely, so the system still notices when you genuinely improve.

Inactivity handling

PADLR. uses inactivity sigma inflation. After 60 days without a rated match, the system becomes less certain about your level (the level itself doesn't change), and the longer the break, the less certain it gets. When you come back, your first matches move your rating more, so it catches up with your current form quickly. Players with no rated match for a year drop off the leaderboards until they return.

Should you switch?

Let's be clear about what PADLR. is and isn't.

PADLR. doesn't reserve courts. If you use Playtomic to find and book courts, keep using it for that. Playtomic has a large network of venues and excellent booking infrastructure. That's their strength.

What PADLR. offers is a rating and social experience built around padel doubles. A rating system designed for team play. Confirmation by your opponents to keep things honest. A plain-language breakdown so you understand every rating change. Manipulation checks to maintain integrity. And a cautious start with quick calibration, so your number settles where it belongs.

You can use both. Book your court on Playtomic. Log your match on PADLR. as competitive and it counts towards your PADLR. rating.

Where PADLR. is available

PADLR. launches in November 2026 on iOS in Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UAE, the UK, Uruguay, and the US. From a club in Madrid to a public court in Dublin or a pop-up venue in Los Angeles, PADLR. gives you a transparent rating that follows you everywhere.

The bottom line

Your padel rating should reflect how you actually play, weighed against who you actually played.

That's what PADLR. is built to deliver. A rating system grounded in mathematics designed for team sports, confirmed by your opponents, checked for manipulation, and transparent enough that you can always see why your number moved.

Your rating should mean something. With PADLR., it does.

Playtomic facts in this post are taken from Playtomic's public help centre as of September 2026 and may have changed since. Playtomic is a trademark of its owner; PADLR. is not affiliated with Playtomic.

Questions or feedback? Reach out to us at rebellionlabsofficial@gmail.com

PADLR. is built by Rebel Lion Labs.