There is no free tool that analyses a rugby match for you, but there are good free tools for doing it yourself, and the best way to start is with Framesports: the first ten minutes of your first match are analysed free, and there is a free trial, so you see a fully tagged match before you pay anything. After that, this list covers the genuinely free tools that still work in 2026, the famous names that are only free trials, and the point where free stops being worth it.
What free costs you
Free software still needs someone to watch the match back, find the moments, cut the clips and get them to players. That is the real price, and on volunteer time it is steep: a full match coded by hand takes most coaches several hours. So the useful question is not only “what is free” but “what gets the result for the least money and the least time”.
1. Framesports: the best place to start
Best for: teams that want to see what done-for-you analysis looks like before spending anything.
Framesports is not free, but it is the one option here that does the work. You upload the match, or paste a link from a phone, a Veo, a Hudl account, YouTube or Google Drive, and it comes back with every tackle, carry, ruck, kick and set piece tagged, every clip cut and the stats worked out. Each player gets their own clips by WhatsApp or email, with no app and no login.
- The first ten minutes of your first match are analysed free, and there is a free trial
- Tagging, clips, stats and player development plans done for you
- Works with the camera or phone you already film on
- Priced for a school or team rather than a professional programme
- The honest limit: it is rugby only
2. Kinovea: free technique review
Best for: a coach working on individual technique, frame by frame.
Kinovea is free and open source, and still maintained: version 2025.2 came out in March 2026. It is excellent for slow motion, frame-by-frame review, side-by-side comparison of two clips, drawing and measuring angles and distances. It is built for technique rather than matches, so there is no event tagging, no team stats and no way to share with players.
- Completely free, no account, no watermark
- Strong for slow motion, angles and side-by-side review
- Windows only
- No match tagging, stats or sharing
3. LongoMatch Basic: free tagging, with caps
Best for: trying match tagging before you buy a coding tool.
LongoMatch is no longer open source, but its Basic plan is free for good. It lets you tag events, draw on clips and use a tactics board. The caps are real: five projects, two teams, fifty events per project and a watermark you cannot remove. Fifty events covers a unit review or one half of tackles, not a whole match.
- Free tagging and drawing, on Windows or Mac
- Capped at five projects and fifty events each
- Watermark on everything you export
- No multi-camera, presentations or Excel export on the free plan
4. YouTube, CapCut and WhatsApp: the do-it-yourself route
Best for: teams that want a zero-software workflow everyone already knows.
Plenty of teams start here. Upload the whole match to YouTube as an unlisted video and add chapters in the description so players can jump to each half or each try (chapters need at least three timestamps, starting at 00:00, each at least ten seconds long). Cut clips in CapCut’s free plan and share them in the team chat. It works, and it eats your week, which is the trade-off we look at in free vs paid rugby analysis software.
- Free and familiar to every player
- Fine for highlights and a handful of clips
- No tagging, no stats, no player-by-player view
- Every clip is cut by hand
5. DaVinci Resolve: a free professional editor
Best for: a volunteer who wants to make proper highlight videos.
DaVinci Resolve’s free version is a full professional editor, with cutting, colour, audio and graphics. The AI features, such as smart reframing and object tracking, are only in the paid Studio version. It is a video editor, not an analysis tool, so it knows nothing about tackles or tries. If highlights are the goal, our guide to AI rugby highlight generators covers tools that build them for you.
Free trials, not free tools
Several well-known names are paid tools with a trial, not free tools:
- Nacsport: a 30-day trial, then the software stops working
- Dartfish: a 15-day trial on its mobile app, then a subscription
- OnForm: a 14-day trial, after which you can watch old videos but not record new ones
- Hudl, Veo, Pixellot and Spiideo: no free plan at all
Two free favourites have gone. Coach’s Eye was retired and no longer works, and Hudl Technique closed in 2021. If you are weighing up filming, the best cameras for rugby analysis covers what is worth paying for.
Where free stops working
Free tools are fine for technique work and the odd highlight. They stop working at three points: when you want numbers for the whole team rather than a few clips, when you want every player to see their own moments rather than a team video, and when the volunteer doing the work runs out of evenings. At that point you are choosing between paying in hours and paying for the result.
How to choose
- Want to see done-for-you analysis first: start with Framesports, because the first ten minutes of your first match are analysed free
- Working on technique with one player: Kinovea
- Want to try tagging yourself: LongoMatch Basic, and accept the caps
- Just need footage and highlights shared: YouTube chapters, CapCut and the team chat
- Making a season highlight video: DaVinci Resolve
For the full field, paid tools included, see our top 10 rugby analysis platforms, and for what each route costs, how much rugby video analysis costs.
