Badminton Court vs Pickleball Court

Quick Answer: A badminton doubles court and a pickleball court share the same footprint, 20 by 44 feet. The differences are everywhere else. Badminton hangs its net at 5 feet at center; pickleball sets it at 34 inches. Pickleball adds a 7-foot non-volley zone at the net. Badminton uses a 6.5-foot short service line and a narrower 17-foot singles court.

Pickleball was born on a badminton court. According to USA Pickleball, in 1965 Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell found an old badminton court on Bainbridge Island, hung the net at badminton height, and within the weekend had lowered it to 36 inches. Sixty-one years later the two courts still line up almost exactly, which is why so many school gyms can host both games on the same floor.

Are a badminton court and a pickleball court the same size?

For doubles, yes, to within half an inch. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) Laws of Badminton, as posted in 2026, define the court as a rectangle 13.40 meters long and 6.10 meters wide for doubles, which converts to 43.96 feet by 20.01 feet. Section 3.A of the 2026 USA Pickleball Official Rulebook requires a court 20 feet (6.10 m) wide and 44 feet (13.41 m) long for both singles and doubles. The two rectangles differ by about 1 centimeter in length and effectively nothing in width.

Singles is where the courts separate. Badminton narrows to 5.18 meters, roughly 17 feet, using inner sidelines painted on the same surface. Pickleball uses the full 20-foot width for singles and doubles alike, so a pickleball court has one set of sidelines and a badminton court has two. The guide to pickleball court size in meters covers the metric conversions for anyone laying out a court outside the United States.

How different are the net heights?

Under the BWF Laws as posted in 2026, the top of the badminton net sits 1.524 meters above the surface at center and 1.55 meters over the doubles sidelines. In inches, that is 60 at center and about 61 at the posts, so a badminton net is essentially 5 feet tall and dips about an inch toward the middle.

Section 3.B of the 2026 rulebook sets the pickleball net at 36 inches at the sidelines and 34 inches at center, each with a quarter-inch tolerance. How to measure it is covered in what is the height of a pickleball net.

Do the subtraction and the gap is 26 inches at center (60 minus 34) and 25 inches at the sidelines (61 minus 36). A pickleball net stands a little over half the height of a badminton net, which is why badminton is played mostly overhead and pickleball mostly at knee to waist height on the same rectangle.

What is the kitchen, and why does badminton not have one?

Pickleball’s non-volley zone, commonly called the kitchen, is the 7-foot by 20-foot area on each side of the net defined in Section 3.A of the 2026 rulebook. Under the 2026 rulebook, a player who volleys while touching the zone or its lines commits a fault. The zone limits net play that a 34-inch net would otherwise invite, and the Pickleball Hall of Fame credits Barney McCallum with introducing it.

Badminton has no such restriction, because a 5-foot net already makes net play a skill rather than a free smash. It does have a line in nearly the same place: the short service line runs 1.98 meters, or 6 feet 6 inches, from the net, and it only governs where a serve must land. On a shared floor, that line sits 6 inches closer to the net than the 7-foot pickleball kitchen line, close enough to fool the eye and far enough to cause foot faults if a court relies on badminton paint for pickleball.

Which lines match and which do not?

Both courts are rectangles of the same outer size, so the doubles sidelines and baselines coincide. After that, the line maps diverge:

• Badminton adds inner singles sidelines 5.18 meters apart. Pickleball has no equivalent.
• Badminton’s short service line sits 6 feet 6 inches from the net. Pickleball’s non-volley zone line sits 7 feet from the net.
• Badminton’s doubles long service line runs 0.76 meters, about 2 feet 6 inches, inside the back boundary. Pickleball has no inner back line.
• Both courts have a centerline. Badminton’s runs from the short service line to the back boundary. Under the 2026 rulebook, pickleball’s runs from the non-volley zone line to the baseline, so the two overlap for most of their length but start 6 inches apart.
• Badminton lines are 40 mm wide, about 1.6 inches. Pickleball lines under the 2026 rulebook are 2 inches wide.

A badminton court therefore supplies the outer boundary of a pickleball court but none of the interior markings. The article on pickleball court dimensions shows the full pickleball line layout.

Can you play pickleball on a badminton court?

Yes, and because the outer rectangle is already painted, three changes make it work:

1. Lower or replace the net. A badminton net at 60 inches is 26 inches too high at center. A portable pickleball net set to 36 inches at the posts and 34 inches at center is the usual fix. Section 3.B of the 2026 rulebook places pickleball posts 22 feet apart inside to inside, or 1 foot outside each sideline, while badminton posts stand directly on the doubles sidelines.

1. Mark the kitchen. Tape a line 7 feet from the net on each side, full width, and a centerline from that tape to the baseline. Cover the badminton short service line with contrasting tape so nobody mistakes the 6-foot-6-inch line for the 7-foot kitchen.

1. Ignore the inner sidelines. Pickleball singles and doubles both use the outer 20-foot width under the 2026 rulebook, so the badminton singles lines at 17 feet are dead lines.

Everything else transfers. The pickleball vs badminton comparison covers how the games themselves differ once the court is set.

How much room do the courts need beyond the lines?

The 2026 rulebook recommends a minimum playing surface of 30 feet by 60 feet for a pickleball court and 34 feet by 64 feet for tournament play, which adds 5 to 7 feet of runoff on each side and 8 to 10 feet behind each baseline. The guide to indoor pickleball court sizing covers how many courts fit in a standard gym.

Outdoors, orientation becomes the extra variable. The BWF court diagram says nothing about compass direction. Pickleball does care, and what direction a pickleball court should face explains why a north-south layout keeps the sun out of players’ eyes. A homeowner can check whether a driveway can hold a pickleball court, and once any converted surface is in play, how to maintain a pickleball court applies whether the lines were painted for shuttles or wiffle balls.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a badminton court the same size as a pickleball court? For doubles, yes. BWF sets the badminton court at 13.40 by 6.10 meters, or 43.96 by 20.01 feet, and Section 3.A of the 2026 USA Pickleball rulebook sets the pickleball court at 44 by 20 feet. The length difference is under half an inch.

How wide is a badminton singles court compared to pickleball? Badminton singles is 5.18 meters wide, about 17 feet, using inner sidelines. Pickleball singles uses the full 20-foot width, the same as pickleball doubles, so a pickleball court is 3 feet wider than a badminton singles court.

How much taller is a badminton net than a pickleball net? At center, a badminton net is 1.524 meters, or 60 inches. A pickleball net is 34 inches at center under the 2026 rulebook. The badminton net is 26 inches taller at center and 25 inches taller at the sidelines, 61 inches versus 36.

Does badminton have a kitchen or non-volley zone? No. Badminton has a short service line 1.98 meters (6 feet 6 inches) from the net that only governs where a serve may land. Players can volley from anywhere. Pickleball’s non-volley zone under the 2026 rulebook extends 7 feet from the net and bars volleys from inside it.

Can a badminton short service line be used as the pickleball kitchen line? Not accurately. The badminton line sits 6 feet 6 inches from the net, and the pickleball kitchen line sits 7 feet from the net under the 2026 rulebook. The 6-inch difference is enough to turn legal volleys into apparent faults, so tape a separate 7-foot line.

Can a badminton net be lowered for pickleball? Sometimes. Badminton posts are built to hold a net at 1.55 meters, about 61 inches, and not all adjust down to the 34-inch center height the 2026 rulebook requires. A portable pickleball net is the more reliable option.

Are the line widths the same? No. BWF badminton lines are 40 mm wide, about 1.6 inches. Section 3.A of the 2026 rulebook calls for pickleball lines 2 inches (5.08 cm) wide, all the same color and contrasting with the surface.

Was pickleball really invented on a badminton court? Yes. USA Pickleball’s history of the game records that in 1965 Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell started on an old badminton court on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with the net at 60 inches, then lowered it to 36 inches, and Barney McCallum joined them the following weekend.

A gym or park that already has badminton lines is a natural candidate for pickleball. To find surfaces near you already lined and netted for the game, browse the public pickleball courts directory, where each listing carries the court count, surface, and contact details.

Written by the Pickler Junction Team.