PartyPot Alternative — No App Download for Your Table
PartyPot is a good product and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. It is a free digital banker for iOS and Android that covers more than twenty games — Monopoly, Mahjong, Big Two, Blackjack and poker among them — with QR joining, real-time sync and a minimum-transfer settlement. If your group plays a different game every week, that breadth is the reason to pick it. The two places PokerChip.live differs are distribution and depth: it runs in a browser, so nobody installs anything, and it only does poker, so the poker is deeper. Which of those matters depends on your table, and the rest of this page is an honest attempt to help you work out which.
Details reflect each product's own public documentation at the time of writing (September 2026). PartyPot's own site is the source for its column; check it before deciding, because both products change.
How players join
PartyPot
Download the app (iOS or Android), then scan a QR code
PokerChip.live
Open a link or scan a QR code in any browser
Desktop or tablet
PartyPot
Phone app only
PokerChip.live
Any modern browser, any device
Games covered
PartyPot
20+ — Monopoly, Mahjong, Big Two, Blackjack, poker
PokerChip.live
Texas hold'em only
Poker-specific logic
PartyPot
Center Pot for pot-based games
PokerChip.live
Blind levels, side pots, per-hand history
Settlement
PartyPot
Smart Settlement, minimum transfers
PokerChip.live
Minimum transfers, with final standings
Account required
PartyPot
No
PokerChip.live
No — guests play without signing in
Price
PartyPot
Free, no paid tier
PokerChip.live
Free with ads; optional Pro removes them
PartyPot
PokerChip.live
How players join
Download the app (iOS or Android), then scan a QR code
Open a link or scan a QR code in any browser
Desktop or tablet
Phone app only
Any modern browser, any device
Games covered
20+ — Monopoly, Mahjong, Big Two, Blackjack, poker
Texas hold'em only
Poker-specific logic
Center Pot for pot-based games
Blind levels, side pots, per-hand history
Settlement
Smart Settlement, minimum transfers
Minimum transfers, with final standings
Account required
No
No — guests play without signing in
Price
Free, no paid tier
Free with ads; optional Pro removes them
Which one fits which table
Neither answer is wrong. These are the four situations where the choice is actually obvious, and it does not always point the same way.
Your situation
Game night rotates between poker, Monopoly and Mahjong
The better fit
PartyPot
Why
One tool for all of it beats three tools
Your situation
Someone new turns up most weeks
The better fit
PokerChip.live
Why
A link is one step; an app install is four
Your situation
Half the table is on a laptop or tablet
The better fit
PokerChip.live
Why
The app is phone-only
Your situation
You play the same hold'em game every fortnight
The better fit
PokerChip.live
Why
Side pots and blind levels are the whole job
Your situation
You want zero chance of ever paying anything
The better fit
PartyPot
Why
It has no paid tier at all
Your situation
The better fit
Why
Game night rotates between poker, Monopoly and Mahjong
PartyPot
One tool for all of it beats three tools
Someone new turns up most weeks
PokerChip.live
A link is one step; an app install is four
Half the table is on a laptop or tablet
PokerChip.live
The app is phone-only
You play the same hold'em game every fortnight
PokerChip.live
Side pots and blind levels are the whole job
You want zero chance of ever paying anything
PartyPot
It has no paid tier at all
Use casePokerChip.live fitWhat to compare
Live home gamesStrongRoom join speed, live stacks, player actions
The real difference is the install, not the features
Both products keep a live balance per player, both sync across devices, both settle up at the end with the fewest transfers. On a feature checklist they overlap almost entirely. Where they diverge is the first thirty seconds of the evening: PartyPot needs every player to have the app, and PokerChip.live needs every player to open a link. That sounds like a small distinction and it is the thing that decides whether a tool survives contact with a real table.
Why the install matters more at some tables than others
If your group is the same six people every fortnight, everyone installs once and the friction disappears permanently. In that case this section does not apply to you and PartyPot's breadth is a genuine advantage. The install matters when the table changes — a friend of a friend, someone's partner, a colleague who came along. That person is standing in a kitchen being asked to find an app, wait for a download, and open it, while five people watch. That is the moment a tool gets abandoned in favour of a scrap of paper.
Breadth versus depth is a real trade and PartyPot wins one half
PartyPot covers more than twenty games. PokerChip.live covers one. If your evenings genuinely move between poker, Mahjong and board games, one tool that handles all of it is worth more than a better poker tool, and you should use PartyPot. The argument only runs the other way if poker is what you actually play, because a general-purpose ledger models a pot and a balance, while a poker tool models blind levels, an all-in that caps the main pot, and the side pot that forms above it.
Where a general ledger runs short in poker
The specific place is the side pot. When one player is all in for less than the bet, the main pot is capped at their contribution times the number of callers, and everything above it goes into a pot they cannot win. With two short all-ins you get two side pots and an order that matters. A ledger that tracks balances and a central pot can represent the money correctly, but it will not work out eligibility for you, and eligibility is the part people get wrong at one in the morning.
Being straight about price
PartyPot is free with no paid tier and says so plainly. PokerChip.live is free with ads, and Pro removes them and adds unlimited clubs, cross-game insights and data export. If never seeing an ad and never having an upgrade path offered to you is what you want, that is a real point in PartyPot's favour and it would be dishonest to bury it. The free tier here is a complete chip tracker, not a trial, but it is ad-supported and PartyPot is not.
What to test before you move a regular game
Run one full session on either tool before you commit the group. Watch three things: how long the slowest player takes to get a stack on screen, what happens when a phone locks mid-hand and comes back, and how long the settlement takes once everyone has cashed out. Those three cover nearly every reason a group quietly reverts to counting physical chips in week three, and an hour of testing is cheaper than finding out mid-game.
Keeping cards physical either way
Both products leave the deck alone, which is the right call and worth stating because it is the most common misunderstanding about this whole category. You still shuffle, still deal, still read the table and still look people in the eye. Only the chips move onto the screen. Neither of these is an online poker site and neither deals a card.
If you are switching, move the history too
A group that has been tracking results has a record worth keeping, and the thing to check before you move is whether you can get it out again. Export is the feature nobody evaluates and everybody eventually wants, usually at the moment they decide to leave. It is worth five minutes of checking on whichever tool you pick, including this one.
FAQ
Questions about partypot alternative
01
Is PartyPot free?
Yes. PartyPot's own documentation says it is free on iOS and Android with no subscriptions, in-app purchases or premium tiers.
02
Does PokerChip.live need an app?
No. It runs in a browser on any device — players open a link or scan a QR code, and guests do not need to sign in at all.
03
Does PartyPot work on a laptop?
PartyPot is distributed as an iOS and Android app, so it is a phone product. PokerChip.live runs anywhere with a browser, including desktop.
04
Which one is better for poker specifically?
PokerChip.live, because it only does poker: blind levels, side pot eligibility and per-hand history are built in rather than modelled as balances.
05
Which one is better for mixed game nights?
PartyPot. It covers more than twenty games including Monopoly, Mahjong and Blackjack, and one tool for all of them beats a specialist plus a spreadsheet.
06
Do either of them deal cards?
No. Both track chips and money for in-person games played with a real deck. Neither is an online poker room.
Ready to run the next poker night?
Create a free room, invite players, track live stacks, and share the final result when the game ends.
