Honest Comparison

Trackbeast vs Next Mile

Next Mile Recruiting is Coach Jay Johnson's Clarity System for distance runners. Trackbeast is a data platform for every event group and every college division. Both are built on real marks instead of posted standards. Here is where they differ.

Next Mile details are quoted from its own website. Verified September 2026.

 TrackbeastNext Mile
PriceFree tier, then $499/yr Recruit or $1,995/yr All-American with advisor sessions.Clarity Custom $1,775 one-time (or $154/mo via Afterpay), on sale now. Clarity System $975, self-guided — waitlist, listed as “Opening late August 2026.” Clarity Advisory $4,975 — waitlist.
Events coveredEvery event group: sprints, hurdles, distance, jumps, throws and multis, plus cross country.In its own words: “800m through 3200m, plus cross country. It isn’t built for sprinters, hurdlers, throwers, or jumpers.”
Where the numbers come fromThe verified high-school marks of the athletes each program actually signed, one signing class at a time.“Current roster data” — each report shows “the actual range of high school PRs of athletes currently on the roster.”
What that difference meansYou see what a program recruited most recently, class by class — and when that bar moves.A current roster mixes four or more recruiting classes plus walk-ons, so the range describes the team today rather than the latest class it signed.
How the list gets builtBeastMatch ranks D1, D2, D3 and NAIA programs against your marks. Change a PR or a filter and re-run it any time.Clarity Custom: Jay Johnson hand-picks “20 to 25” schools and writes the analysis, delivered within 5–10 business days.
Money dataFederal EADA athletic budgets and aid per program, and matching that factors in what your family can afford.School reports include cost of attendance, financial aid context and tuition figures, and the list is filtered by what a family can afford. Credit where due.
Coach contactVerified coach contacts across every division, a personalized email outline built from your marks, and outreach tracking.Head and assistant coach contact information in each school report; Clarity Custom drafts “the first two coach emails.”
RefundsNew annual Recruit memberships carry a 7-day money-back guarantee. Cancel anytime in two clicks.Its policies page: “Do you offer refunds? No.”

The one thing worth understanding

A roster is a snapshot of four or five recruiting classes at once, walk-ons included. A signing class is what a program went out and recruited this year. When a program gets faster — a new coach, more scholarship money, a conference change — the signing class shows it first, and the roster catches up years later. That is why Trackbeast tracks signings class by class.

Common questions

Trackbeast or Next Mile for a distance runner?›

Both are built on real marks rather than the aspirational standards posted on college websites, which puts both ahead of most of the market. The differences: Next Mile uses the high-school PRs of everyone on a program’s current roster; Trackbeast uses the marks of each signing class, so you see what a program recruited most recently. Next Mile’s Clarity Custom is a one-time, hand-picked list of 20 to 25 schools from Jay Johnson; Trackbeast ranks every D1, D2, D3 and NAIA program and lets you re-run the match as your PRs change all season.

Does Next Mile work for sprinters, jumpers or throwers?›

No — Next Mile says so directly: it covers 800m through 3200m plus cross country and “isn’t built for sprinters, hurdlers, throwers, or jumpers.” Trackbeast covers every event group, including multis.

What does Next Mile’s Clarity System cost?›

As of September 2026, Clarity Custom is $1,775 one-time (or $154 a month through Afterpay) and is on sale now. The self-guided Clarity System is listed at $975 with a waitlist, and Clarity Advisory, with five private strategy calls, is $4,975, also waitlisted. Its policies page says purchases are not refundable.

When is Next Mile the better choice?›

When your athlete is a middle-distance or distance runner, you want an experienced distance coach to personally hand-pick the list, and you would rather receive a finished plan than work the data yourself. Jay Johnson knows distance programs well, and that judgment is what Clarity Custom sells.

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