Pickleball vs Padel: Court, Racket and Rules Compared
Pickleball vs padel comes down to walls and size. A pickleball court is 20 by 44 feet and open. A padel court is 10 by 20 metres (about 33 by 66 feet) and fully enclosed by glass and mesh walls that stay in play. Pickleball uses a solid paddle and a perforated ball. Padel uses a perforated racket and a pressurised rubber ball.
The table below puts the two sports side by side. Pickleball figures come from the 2026 USA Pickleball rulebook and its Equipment Standards Manual (January 2025 revision). Padel figures come from the International Padel Federation's Rules of Padel, the edition that applies from 1 January 2026. The rules page has the rest of the pickleball book.
Pickleball vs padel at a glance
| Pickleball | Padel | |
|---|---|---|
| Court | 20 x 44 ft (6.10 x 13.41 m), the same for singles and doubles (Rule 3.A.1) | 10 x 20 m (32.8 x 65.6 ft), measured inside the walls (FIP, The Court) |
| Area | 880 sq ft | About 2,150 sq ft (200 sq m), 2.4 times as much (computed) |
| Walls | None. Minimum playing surface 30 x 60 ft (Rule 3.A.3) | Fully enclosed. End walls 4 m high: 3 m of wall, then 1 m of metal mesh (FIP, Enclosures) |
| Net, centre | 34 in, or 86.4 cm (Rule 3.B.7) | 0.88 m, or 34.6 in (FIP, The Net) |
| Net, outer ends | 36 in at the sidelines (Rule 3.B.6) | 0.92 m, or 36.2 in, at the ends (FIP, The Net) |
| Lines near the net | Kitchen line 7 ft from the net. No volleys in the kitchen (Rules 3.A.4.c, 11.A) | Service lines 6.95 m (22.8 ft) from the net. They mark the serve target, and no volley ban comes with them (FIP, The Court, Rule 14) |
| Ball | Smooth molded ball with 26 to 40 round holes, 2.87 to 2.97 in, 0.78 to 0.935 oz, bounce 30 to 34 in from 78 in (Manual 2.D.3 to 2.D.8) | Rubber, 6.35 to 6.77 cm (2.50 to 2.67 in), 56.0 to 59.4 g (1.98 to 2.10 oz), bounce 135 to 145 cm from 2.54 m, pressurised (FIP, The Ball) |
| Hitting tool | Paddle with a solid face, no holes. Length plus width at most 24 in, length at most 17 in, no weight limit (Rules 3.D.2, 3.D.3, 3.D.5.a) | Racket with a perforated face, holes 9 to 13 mm. Total length at most 45.5 cm (17.9 in), head width at most 26 cm (10.2 in), thickness at most 38 mm. A wrist cord is required (FIP, The Padel Racket) |
| Serve | Volley serve or drop serve, one try, diagonal, over the kitchen (Rules 7.C, 7.D, 7.E) | Bounce the ball and hit it at or below waist height, one foot behind the service line to start, two tries, diagonal (FIP, Rule 6) |
| Scoring | A point only when the serving side wins the rally; typically to 11, win by 2 (Rule 4.A, Part I introduction) | Tennis count: 15, 30, 40, game. Six games make a set, best of three sets (FIP, Rule 1) |
| Walls in play | None. A hit ball that touches a permanent object before it bounces is a fault (Rule 10.C.4) | After the ball has bounced on the opponent's side it may hit the walls or mesh and stay in play (FIP, Rule 12) |
Pickleball sets no limit on paddle thickness (Rule 3.D.2). Padel caps the racket at 38 mm.
How different is the court?
A padel court is about 2.4 times the area of a pickleball court. This drawing puts one inside the other at the same scale.
One pickleball court fits inside a padel court with 12.8 feet to spare across and 21.6 feet along. Both nets sit mid-court, so the pickleball net lines up with the padel net. The 30 by 60 foot minimum playing surface from Rule 3.A.3 fits too. Only one pickleball court fits, not two. This is a size comparison. It isn't advice on turning a padel court into a pickleball court.
The pickleball kitchen has no counterpart. The padel service lines sit 22.8 feet from the net, which is almost where the pickleball baseline falls at 22 feet. The two sets of lines mean different things, so don't read one as the other.
Is padel a type of tennis? Is it paddle tennis?
Padel has its own federation and its own rules, and it is not paddle tennis. Paddle tennis and platform tennis are two more separate sports with their own rules. This page covers padel only.
What changes when you play?
The walls matter most. In padel, a ball that has bounced on your side can hit the glass or the mesh and still be in play (FIP Rule 12), so a point can go on after the ball passes you. In pickleball nothing is in play off a wall. A ball you hit that touches a permanent object before it bounces is a fault on you (Rule 10.C.4).
The serve is different too. A padel server bounces the ball and hits it at or below the waist, and gets a second try after a fault. A pickleball server uses a volley serve or a drop serve and has one try. The serving rules cover the pickleball side.
The kitchen is the third difference. Pickleball bans volleys inside a 7 foot zone by the net, as the kitchen rules explain. The padel rules text has no such zone. It counts a volleyed return as a correct return (FIP Rule 14).
The scoring is the fourth. Pickleball counts points to 11 and only the serving side can score, which the scoring page walks through. Padel scores like tennis, in games and sets.
The nets are the surprise. The pickleball net is 34 inches at the centre and the padel net is 34.6 inches, a gap of 0.6 inch, or about 1.6 centimetres. At the outer ends it is 36 inches against 36.2. People expect a bigger gap, but the two nets are within a couple of centimetres of each other.
Mistakes to avoid when you compare them
- Quoting the pickleball court as 22 by 40 feet. It's 20 by 44 feet (Rule 3.A.1).
- Using an out-of-date copy of the padel rules. Check the edition on the cover. This page uses the one that applies from 1 January 2026.
- Mixing up padel with paddle tennis or platform tennis.
- Giving a padel racket a weight limit. The FIP rules text sets size limits and refers weight and approval to a separate annex, which this page doesn't use.
- Calling the pickleball ball a whiffle ball. The rules call it an approved perforated ball, with the size, weight and bounce in the table.
No rulebook ranks the two sports, so this page doesn't say which is easier or more fun. It gives the facts that change how each one plays.
To see a pickleball court at the scale drawn here, mark 20 by 44 feet on a driveway, or read the court dimensions page. The court vs tennis court page does the same job against tennis, and pickleball vs tennis compares the games. Pickleball next to eight racket sports puts padel in the same tables as badminton, squash and table tennis. If you want the kitchen under your feet first, play a game against the computer.