At a glance
Padel and pickleball are both easy to learn, both mostly played in doubles, both served underarm and both growing faster than any other racket sport. That is where the similarities end. Padel is a tennis-style game inside a glass box with walls in play; pickleball is a compact badminton-court game with a plastic ball and a no-volley zone.
Padel
- 20 × 10 m enclosed court, glass walls in play
- Solid perforated racket, pressurised felt ball
- Tennis scoring, best of three sets
- Doubles only
- Invented 1969, Mexico. Governed in GB by the LTA
Pickleball
- 13.41 × 6.10 m open court, badminton-sized
- Flat solid paddle, perforated plastic ball
- Games to 11, win by 2, usually only the serving side scores
- Singles or doubles
- Invented 1965, Washington State. Governed by Pickleball England
The courts, to scale
A padel court is 200 square metres; a pickleball court is 82. The diagram below is drawn at the same scale.
| Court | Padel | Pickleball |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 20 × 10 m | 13.41 × 6.10 m (44 × 20 ft) |
| Area | 200 m² | 82 m² |
| Enclosure | Glass and mesh walls, in play | None |
| Net height | 0.88 m centre, 0.92 m posts | 0.86 m centre, 0.91 m posts |
| Surface | Sand-dressed artificial turf | Hard court, sports hall floor or tarmac |
| Special zones | Service boxes only | 2.13 m non-volley zone ("kitchen") each side of the net |
| Can share existing courts? | No, needs a purpose-built court | Yes, marks up on badminton and tennis courts |
Rackets, paddles and balls
| Padel | Pickleball | |
|---|---|---|
| Bat | Solid racket with a foam core and perforated fibreglass or carbon face, up to 38 mm thick and 45.5 cm long, with a compulsory wrist cord | Flat solid paddle, typically polymer honeycomb core with a composite face, about 40 cm long and 20 cm wide |
| Ball | Felt-covered pressurised ball, slightly softer than a tennis ball | Hollow plastic ball with 26 to 40 holes, similar to a wiffle ball |
| Ball speed | Fast; smashes leave the court over the walls | Slow; the holes limit speed and spin |
| Beginner kit cost | Racket £50 to £100, balls £6 to £8 a tube, most clubs hire rackets | Paddle £30 to £80, balls £2 to £3 each |
| Shoes | Clay-court or padel shoes for grip on sand | Indoor court or tennis shoes |
Rules and scoring
The serves look alike, which is where the confusion comes from. Almost everything else about the rules is different.
| Padel | Pickleball | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Doubles only in the official rules | Singles and doubles |
| Serve | Underarm after a bounce, below waist height, diagonally into the service box. Two attempts | Underarm, below the waist, diagonally past the kitchen. One attempt |
| Bounce rules | Return of serve must bounce; after that, volley freely. Ball can hit your walls after one bounce | Serve and return must both bounce (the "two-bounce rule"); no volleying inside the kitchen |
| Scoring | 15, 30, 40, game. Six games a set, best of three. Golden point at deuce in most competition | First to 11, win by 2. Traditionally only the serving side scores; rally scoring (every point counts) is spreading |
| Match length | 60 to 90 minutes | 15 to 25 minutes per game |
| Walls | In play on your own side after a bounce | None |
Padel's full rules, including what happens off the glass and mesh, are in padel rules explained.
How they feel to play
Padel feels like doubles tennis played at a sprint inside a squash court. Rallies are long, the net pair dominates, and the skill is in the lob, the volley and reading the ball off the glass. There is a lot of movement and a lot of talking. It rewards patience and punishes big hitting.
Pickleball feels like table tennis stood up. The kitchen keeps everyone off the net, so most points are soft "dink" exchanges over the non-volley zone waiting for a ball high enough to attack. There is less running, quicker reactions at close range, and a game finishes in a quarter of an hour.
Fitness and injury
Padel is the harder workout: more than double the court, longer rallies, and constant lateral movement and turning to play balls off the walls. Most players cover several kilometres in a match. Common injuries are the racket-sport standards, elbow and calf, plus ankle rolls on the sand.
Pickleball is deliberately low-impact, which is why it was invented for families and why it has spread through older age groups. The compact court and slow ball mean less running and fewer high-speed impacts, though sudden stops for dinks at the kitchen line still produce their share of Achilles and knee complaints.
Cost and availability in the UK
This is the biggest practical difference. Pickleball can be played anywhere a badminton court can be marked out, so it lives in leisure centre sports halls and on tennis courts with temporary lines, and a session usually costs a few pounds per person. Padel needs a purpose-built court that costs tens of thousands of pounds to install, so it is hired by the hour from dedicated centres and racket clubs.
The upside for padel is that the infrastructure is real and growing: this directory lists hundreds of courts across the UK with prices and booking links, and most cities now have at least one dedicated centre. Court hire typically runs from £30 to £60 an hour depending on city and time of day, split between four players. How much padel costs has the live numbers by city.
Which should you try?
Try padel if you want
- a proper workout and long rallies
- a sport with real depth to improve at
- tennis-style doubles without the serving barrier
- a social scene built around clubs, americanos and leagues
Try pickleball if you want
- the cheapest possible entry
- a low-impact game that is easy on joints
- quick games and a slower pace
- something you can play in a local sports hall this week
Plenty of people play both. If you are choosing one to take seriously in the UK, padel has the courts, the coaching structure and the competitive pathway. Start with what is padel and then find a court near you.
Frequently asked questions
Is padel or pickleball easier to learn? +
Pickleball is marginally easier in the first hour because the ball is slow, the court is tiny and there are no walls to read. Padel is easy too, and most people rally within minutes, but the walls add a layer that takes a few sessions to get comfortable with. Neither needs a racket-sport background.
Is padel or pickleball more popular in the UK? +
Padel has far more dedicated infrastructure in the UK, with hundreds of purpose-built courts and new centres opening every month. Pickleball has a large and growing player base but is mostly played on shared sports hall courts and marked-up tennis courts rather than at dedicated venues.
Can you play pickleball on a padel court? +
Not properly. A padel court has walls in play, artificial turf and no non-volley zone, and a pickleball would behave badly on the sand-dressed surface. Pickleball needs a hard, flat court marked at 13.41 by 6.10 metres.
Is padel or pickleball better exercise? +
Padel, by a clear margin. The court is more than twice the size, rallies are longer and there is far more running, lunging and turning to play balls off the glass. Pickleball is gentler, which is part of its appeal to older players.
Which is cheaper, padel or pickleball? +
Pickleball. A paddle costs from about £30 and a session in a sports hall is usually a few pounds per person. Padel needs a dedicated court hired by the hour, typically £30 to £60 split four ways, plus a racket from about £50.