Pickleball Union Research · 2026
The 2026 Paddle Consumer Report
Two years. Five survey waves. 3,617 committed players. The most complete picture anyone has of what pickleball players actually buy, why they switch, and what they will buy next.
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12 pages · free · PDF- 12 pages of charts and findings
- Owner loyalty rankings for 13 brands
- Where players research and buy
- Price tiers vs. owner satisfaction
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Why we built this
Nobody was tracking what players actually buy. So we did.
No one in the industry tracks paddle usage over time, so for two years we asked the people who matter most: the amateur rec players who play three or more days a week and buy more paddles than anyone else in the sport. Five survey waves, 3,617 responses, and the same 611 players tracked wave to wave so we could compare what they said they would do with what they actually did.
We built it for two reasons. Our readers deserve a straight answer about where their next $200 should go, and the brands that want this audience’s attention, affinity and trust need to understand them first. What follows is the most complete picture of the paddle market anyone has published, and it is free.
Who answered
These are committed, high-frequency players: the people paddle brands most want to reach.
What you’ll discover
Which brands players trust
Share, awareness, consideration and owner loyalty for the brands that matter, including the challengers beating the giants on love.
What players say vs. what they do
Our two-year panel shows which brands keep owners they expect to lose, and which lose owners who swore they’d stay.
How to buy a better paddle
The two things that predict whether you’ll love your next paddle better than the logo on it does.
The headlines
Eight things every player and every brand should know
Brand sites own the sale
bought their current paddle on the brand’s own website, more than 3x Amazon (12%).
n=1,070 · Aug 2026Half the market is shopping
expect to buy their next paddle within 6 months. 71% within a year.
n=1,070 · Aug 2026Small brands win on love
Six Zero’s owner NPS, the highest in the survey. Honolulu is next at +78. Selkirk leads share at 20.9%.
n=1,070 · Aug 2026Loyalty is rented
of wave-to-wave transitions in our 611-player panel were a brand switch.
611 players · 2024 to 2026Giants are stickier than they look
of tracked JOOLA owners stayed with JOOLA. Only 52% said they would.
611-player panelThe shortlist barely converts
of 1,475 “I’m considering this brand” cases became a purchase by the next wave.
611-player panelChallengers are mainstream
paddles owned now come from Friday, Honolulu, Six Zero, Vatic Pro or Bread and Butter.
n=1,070 · Aug 2026Homework pays off
owner NPS for players who researched their paddle, vs. +23 for those who bought on price or by default.
All wavesWhere players buy
The brand website is the cash register
Two in five paddles are bought straight from the brand. Amazon is a distant second, and a resale market has quietly appeared.
Where players bought their current paddle
n=1,070, August 2026. Fall 2025 showed the same ranking.
Interactive
Brand explorer
Pick a brand to see how its owners rate it and where it ranks among the 13 brands with enough owners to measure.
Loyalty
Owners rank the brands: the small guys win
Net Promoter Score is the share of owners who’d recommend their paddle brand (9 or 10 out of 10) minus the share who wouldn’t (0 to 6). Above +50 is excellent.
| Brand | Owner NPS | Would buy again | Satisfaction |
|---|
Owners in the August 2026 wave. Brands with at least 20 owner responses.
What predicts satisfaction
You get what you pay for, and you love what you researched
Two things predict how much players love their paddle better than the brand does: how much they spent, and whether they chose it on purpose.
Owner NPS by next-paddle budget
All waves pooled, 2,942 owners who reported a budget and a rating. Bars below the line are negative scores: more detractors than promoters.
How players research
The decision forms off the sales floor
Friends, YouTube and newsletters build the shortlist. Brand websites rank fourth as a research source, even though they close the sale.
Main research source for the next paddle
n=1,052, August 2026.
In their own words
What 3,600 players sound like
Hundreds of open-ended answers came back to the same four themes. Lightly edited for spelling; names withheld.
These paddles are overpriced for the recreational player. They are designed for the pros, but highly marketed to the average player.
JOOLA owner · Spring 2025That the combs inside last longer. I have dead spots.
Selkirk owner · Fall 2025Was loaned this model and found many of my shoulder, elbow and wrist issues disappeared, and my overall game improved.
Paddletek owner · Fall 2025Tried one that belonged to a friend and loved it immediately.
CRBN owner · Fall 2025For paddle brands
There’s a deeper cut of this data with your name on it
This page is the public edition. Brand partners get a private cut of the same panel, plus custom questions in the next survey wave.
Request your brand cut- Your full awareness-to-purchase funnel
- Who shortlists you, and whose paddles your owners are shopping
- What your owners said vs. what they actually did
- Your owners in their own words
- Your channel and gender mix
Methodology
How this data was collected
Pickleball Union surveyed its readers five times between September 2024 and September 2026. After removing duplicate and incomplete entries, 3,617 responses form the analysis set. 611 players answered more than one wave, which lets us compare stated intent with later behavior.
1. The brand list grew from 10 to 20 brands in 2026, so share changes for newer brands overstate real movement.
2. A routing error in the 2026 wave means spending questions were answered by 868 of 1,070 respondents.
3. The panel skews 55 and older, matching the sport’s highest-spend players, but it is not a census of all players.
FAQ
Quick answers
What is the most popular pickleball paddle brand?
Selkirk. In August 2026, 20.9% of 1,070 committed players named a Selkirk as their current paddle, followed by JOOLA at 14.7%.
Where do people buy pickleball paddles?
Mostly on the brand’s own website: 41% bought their current paddle there, versus 12% on Amazon and 11% at specialty pickleball retailers.
How often do pickleball players replace their paddle?
Often. In 2025, 74% of surveyed players bought at least one paddle a year and 1 in 5 bought every six months or faster.
Which paddle brand has the happiest owners?
Six Zero, with an owner Net Promoter Score of +80, followed by Honolulu at +78. Among the largest brands, Selkirk leads at +58.
How much do pickleball players spend on a paddle?
64% plan to spend $150 or more on their next paddle and 30% plan to spend $200 or more.
Do JOOLA owners stay with JOOLA?
More than they say. 52% of JOOLA owners said they would buy JOOLA again, but 72% of tracked owners actually stayed with the brand.
Do men and women buy paddles differently?
Yes. Women lean on friends and playing partners for research (37% vs 25% of men); men lean on YouTube reviews (32% vs 17%).
Where do players research a new paddle?
Friends and playing partners (30%), YouTube reviews (27%) and newsletters (20%). Brand websites rank fourth at 7%.
For journalists and analysts
Cite this report
Use any figure on this page with attribution and a link.
Pickleball Union 2026 Paddle Consumer Report, pickleballunion.com/paddle-consumer-report/
Press inquiries
The full report, free
Every chart, free
The 12-page public edition: every chart on this page, the player verbatims and the full methodology.