Single Elimination Bracket Generator
Lose once and you are out. Enter your teams to get a seeded knockout bracket with byes in the right places, then click winners through to the final.
- 2 to 128 teams
- Automatic byes
- Third place game
- PDF and PNG
0 of 7 games played. Click a name to move it to the next round.
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final
What is a single elimination bracket?
A single elimination bracket, also called a knockout bracket, is a tournament where the loser of every game is out and the winner moves on, until one team is left. It is the format used for March Madness, the World Cup knockout stage and most tennis events. With n teams it always takes n minus 1 games, and the number of rounds is the power of two that fits the field: 3 rounds for 5 to 8 teams, 4 rounds for 9 to 16. Seeding keeps the strongest teams apart so seeds 1 and 2 can only meet in the final.
How to make a single elimination bracket
- Enter the teams in seed order, best first, one per line. Press Shuffle for an unseeded random draw.
- Keep Single elimination selected. Tick Third place game if the two semifinal losers should play for third.
- Click the winner of each game. Byes are moved forward for you, so seeds with a bye start in round two.
- Download the bracket as a PDF or PNG, or copy a share link.
Why use this single elimination bracket generator
- Correct seeds and byesByes go to the top seeds, seeds 1 and 2 can only meet in the final, and every game is numbered so players know where to go next.
- Any number of teamsNot just 4, 8, 16 and 32. Enter 6, 10 or 23 teams and the right number of byes is added for you.
- Click winners to advancePick winners right on the bracket. Changing an earlier result clears only the games it affects, and Undo puts things back.
- Print, save or shareDownload a vector PDF for the wall, a PNG for the group chat, or copy a link that carries the whole bracket and its results.
- No account, nothing sent anywhereThere is no sign-up, email or limit. Names and results stay in your browser and are saved on this device automatically.
- Works on a phoneThe bracket scrolls sideways inside its own box, so you can run game night or a club tournament from your phone.
What people make brackets for
- Game night and parties. Mario Kart, beer pong, Jenga, trivia or board games. Paste the names, shuffle, and tap winners as you play.
- Office tournaments. Ping pong, FIFA, cornhole or chess at lunch. Share one link in Slack or Teams and print a copy for the break room.
- Leagues and youth sports. Seed teams by record for playoffs, or run a round robin pool before the knockout games.
- Esports and gaming. Double elimination with a grand final reset is the standard for fighting games, Rocket League and most community events.
- Classrooms and clubs. Debate, spelling bees, chess clubs and sports days. Project the bracket on the board and click winners live.
- Fun "best of" brackets. Best movie, best snack, best song. Enter 16 options, shuffle them and vote your way to a winner.
Single elimination vs double elimination vs round robin
| Format | How it works | Games for n teams | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single elimination | Lose once and you are out. Winners move on until one is left. | n - 1 (7 for 8 teams) | Short events, big fields, one-day tournaments |
| Double elimination | A first loss drops you to the losers bracket; a second loss knocks you out. Grand final between the two bracket winners. | 2n - 2 or 2n - 1 (14 or 15 for 8 teams) | Esports, softball, pool and darts, events where one bad game should not end your day |
| Round robin | Everyone plays everyone. The best record wins, with no knockouts. | n × (n - 1) / 2 (28 for 8 teams) | Leagues, pool play, small groups with time to play every pairing |
How many games, rounds and byes: quick reference
Games needed for common tournament sizes. Double elimination shows the total without and with a grand final reset. Round robin counts each pair playing once.
| Teams | Bracket size | Byes | Single elimination games | Rounds | Double elimination games | Round robin games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 or 7 | 6 |
| 5 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 8 or 9 | 10 |
| 6 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 10 or 11 | 15 |
| 7 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 12 or 13 | 21 |
| 8 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 14 or 15 | 28 |
| 10 | 16 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 18 or 19 | 45 |
| 12 | 16 | 4 | 11 | 4 | 22 or 23 | 66 |
| 16 | 16 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 30 or 31 | 120 |
| 24 | 32 | 8 | 23 | 5 | 46 or 47 | 276 |
| 32 | 32 | 0 | 31 | 5 | 62 or 63 | 496 |
| 64 | 64 | 0 | 63 | 6 | 126 or 127 | 2016 |
How seeding, byes and results work
- Seeding: the first name in the list is seed 1, the second is seed 2 and so on. Seeds are placed so that 1 and 2 can only meet in the final, 1 to 4 only in the semifinals, and so on. Press Shuffle for a random draw.
- Byes: when the number of teams is not 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128, the bracket grows to the next of those sizes. The empty places are byes and go to the top seeds, who start in round two. Bye games are hidden, so you only see games that are really played.
- Game numbers: every real game has a number, and empty places say where their team comes from, such as "Winner of 3" or "Loser of 5". This makes printed brackets easy to follow.
- Changing results: click a winner again to take the pick back, or pick the other team. Later games that depended on that result are cleared, and Undo brings them back.
- Double elimination: losers drop into the losers bracket in an order that avoids an immediate rematch. With the reset on, the grand final is played a second time only if the losers bracket team wins the first one.
- Round robin standings: 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw by default. Teams level on points are split by their head-to-head result (when exactly two are tied), then score difference, then scores for, then wins.
How this bracket generator compares
A summary of what each option offers as of October 2026, based on their public pages. Hosted services like Challonge and BracketsNinja add sign-ups, live spectator pages and embeds; this tool is for when you want a bracket now, without an account. Check each service for its current plans.
| Feature | This generator | Challonge | BracketsNinja | Printable template sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account needed | No | Yes | Free account | No |
| Double elimination | Yes, with grand final reset | Yes | Yes | Fixed templates only |
| Round robin with standings | Yes, with tiebreakers | Yes | Yes | Schedule templates |
| Any number of teams with byes | Yes, 2 to 128 | Yes | Yes | One template per size |
| Pick winners on the bracket | Yes, with undo | Yes | Yes | Type in or fill in by hand |
| Where names are kept | Your browser only | Their servers | Their servers | Nothing to store |
More tools for game night and tournaments
Need teams first? Split players with the random team generator, then paste the teams here. Decide who goes first with a coin flip or the dice roller, pick a random player with the wheel of names, or draw names for a gift swap with the Secret Santa generator.
Example: a 10-team knockout
Ten teams need a 16-place bracket, so seeds 1 to 6 get byes. Round one has just two games: 7 against 10 and 8 against 9. Round two has 4 games, then the semifinals and the final. That is 4 rounds and 9 games in total, 10 with a third place game.
What to expect from the result
Single and double elimination take 2 to 128 players and round robin takes 2 to 32. There are no sign-ups, check-ins, Swiss rounds or live updates for spectators. A share link is a snapshot of the bracket when you copied it. The PDF uses standard fonts, so names in scripts such as Chinese, Arabic or Cyrillic may not print correctly; the PNG shows them fine.
Single Elimination Bracket Generator questions
How many games are in a single elimination tournament?
Always one fewer than the number of teams, because every game knocks out exactly one team. 8 teams play 7 games, 16 teams play 15 and 64 teams play 63. Add one more if you play a third place game.
How many rounds does a single elimination bracket have?
The number of times you can halve the field: 2 rounds for up to 4 teams, 3 for up to 8, 4 for up to 16, 5 for up to 32, 6 for up to 64 and 7 for up to 128.
How does the bracket handle byes?
When the number of players is not 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128, the bracket grows to the next of those sizes and the empty places become byes. Byes go to the top seeds, so with 6 players seeds 1 and 2 skip the first round. A bye is never paired with another bye.
Is there a third place game?
Only if you want one. Tick Third place game and the two semifinal losers get a game of their own, shown under the final.
What is the difference between single and double elimination?
In single elimination one loss knocks a team out. In double elimination a team has to lose twice: the first loss sends it to a losers bracket where it can still fight back to the grand final. Double elimination takes about twice as many games.