Gym management software: what it costs and how to pick the right one

What does gym management software do?

Good gym software handles the full member cycle, from first enquiry to cancellation. These are the jobs it should do well:

• Memberships and billing: It charges members on a set date and retries failed cards. It also handles freezes, upgrades and class packs.
• Class and session booking: Members book classes or personal training from an app or your website. The schedule shows who is coming and who is on the waitlist.
• Check-in: Members check in at the front desk, on a tablet or with their phone. This gives you real attendance data.
• Leads and trials: It tracks people who asked about the gym or booked a free trial. Staff can see who needs a follow-up call.
• Waivers and forms: New members sign online before their first visit.
• Point of sale: You can sell drinks, gear and day passes from the same system.
• Reports: You see revenue, new members, cancellations and class fill rates.

Is dance studio software different?

Yes, in a few ways. A dance studio usually sells a term of weekly classes to children. A parent pays for one or more kids, and the studio runs recitals, costume fees and age-based classes. Gym software is built around adult members who book themselves.

Dance studios often use tools made for them. As of October 2026, Jackrabbit Dance starts at $49 a month, with the price based on your total number of students. Its Jackrabbit Plus plan adds a branded app from $93 a month, plus a one-time $169 setup fee. Check family billing, tuition by class count and recital fees before you choose any dance tool.

How much does gym management software cost?

Prices vary a lot, and some vendors only quote after a sales call. The table shows what each vendor publishes on its own pricing page as of October 2026.

Product	Published starting price	Best suited to	Notes
Mindbody	From $79 a month per location (North America and Asia)	Studios and gyms that want a consumer booking app	Higher plans are quote only. No onboarding fee, but data transfer fees may apply
PushPress	Free, then $159 or $229 a month	CrossFit boxes and small to mid-size gyms	Unlimited members and staff on every plan. Card fees drop on paid plans
ABC Glofox	Quote only	Boutique studios such as HIIT, Pilates, cycling and boxing	Branded member app included. Owned by ABC Fitness
Jackrabbit Dance	From $49 a month	Dance studios	Price grows with your student count

Mindbody

Mindbody's Starter plan starts at $79 a month per location in North America and Asia. It includes unlimited users, point of sale, a listing in the Mindbody app and basic reports. The Accelerate and Ultimate plans add advanced reports, email and text marketing and lead tools, and you need to talk to sales for those prices. Mindbody also says there is no onboarding fee on any plan. If you use Mindbody Payments, each card payment carries a fixed fee of $0.10 to $0.30 on top of a percentage rate.

If you already use Mindbody and want to compare other options, my guide to Mindbody alternatives goes deeper.

ABC Glofox

Glofox started as its own company. In August 2022, ABC Fitness Solutions agreed to buy it, and it now sits in the ABC Fitness family as ABC Glofox. It serves boutique studios and gyms in more than 80 countries. Features include class booking, payments, a custom branded member app and a link to Trainerize for workouts and nutrition coaching. Glofox does not publish prices, so you need to request a quote.

PushPress

PushPress has three plans as of October 2026. The Free plan costs nothing each month, but card payments cost 4.99% + $0.30. The Pro plan costs $159 a month, and card payments drop to 2.89% + $0.30. The Max plan costs $229 a month, with card payments at 2.75% + $0.30. Every plan includes unlimited members, leads and staff.

The gap between the Free and Pro card rates is 2.1%. If your gym takes more than about $7,600 a month by card, the Pro plan costs less overall. Work this out with your own numbers before you choose the free plan.

Mindbody vs Zen Planner: what do they actually cost?

Zen Planner publishes its pricing: a Studio plan from $99 a month, bundles running $198 to $348 a month depending on what you add, with marketing, a website builder and a branded mobile app all priced as separate add-ons on top. Mindbody does not publish pricing at all, and its enterprise positioning means most real configurations land well above $500 a month, aimed at larger operations running a gym, spa and retail under one roof rather than a single studio.

The bigger gap between platforms, though, is not price, it is what they tell you about why members leave. Most membership platforms report how many members you have today. Very few report cohort retention curves or tenure-at-cancellation, the patterns that actually let you catch a member drifting toward cancellation before they cancel. If retention data is the real problem you are trying to solve, check that specifically before you buy on price alone.

What should you check before you buy gym software?

A demo shows the best parts of a product. These checks protect you from costs that show up later.

• Card processing fees: Ask for the full rate, the fixed fee per payment and any fee for bank transfers. On a gym with hundreds of monthly members, a small rate gap adds up to thousands of dollars a year.
• Required payment processor: Some systems make you use their own processor. Mindbody says its processor is optional, so you can bring your own.
• Contract length and cancellation: Ask how long the contract is and how much notice you must give to leave.
• Data export: Ask if you can download members, payment history and attendance as a file. You will need this if you ever switch.
• Moving your current members: Ask who moves card details from your old system. Without this step, members must re-enter cards and some never will.
• Member cancellation flow: Members should be able to cancel without a fight. In July 2025, a federal appeals court threw out the FTC's click-to-cancel rule. The FTC started the rule process again in March 2026, and states still act on this. In May 2025, for example, New York reached a $600,000 settlement with Equinox over its cancellation practices.
• Branded app: Ask if the app carries your name or the vendor's name. Some plans charge extra for a branded app.

How can AI help a gym?

AI helps most where staff are busy and leads go cold. These features pay off fastest.

An AI front desk that books trials

Many calls and messages come in when nobody is at the desk. An AI receptionist can answer questions about prices, times and parking, then book a free trial straight into your schedule. Mindbody includes its AI Concierge on its Ultimate plan and sells it as an add-on on Accelerate. You can also add a separate AI receptionist that connects to your booking system.

Fast follow-up on every new lead

People who ask about joining often contact more than one gym, so a fast reply matters. AI can send a personal reply within minutes, answer follow-up questions and offer trial times. Your staff then step in for the sales conversation. A missed call text back tool does a simple version of this for phone calls.

Alerts for members who are drifting away

Your check-in data shows who used to come three times a week and now comes once. AI can spot that drop and flag the member for a coach to call. It can also draft a friendly message for the coach to send. A call from a coach can bring that member back before they cancel.

When does custom gym software make sense?

Most single gyms and studios should buy one of the products above. They cost far less than a custom build, and they cover the usual gym workflow well. A custom system makes sense in these cases.

• You mix services in unusual ways: For example, a gym that also runs physical therapy, childcare and a café may need one system for all of it.
• You run many locations: Per-location fees add up. At ten or twenty sites, the yearly software bill can be large enough to fund your own system.
• Your tools do not talk to each other: If staff copy data between a booking tool, a CRM, a workout app and a spreadsheet, a custom layer can join them.
• You want full control of member data: Some owners want their member records, payment tokens and app in accounts they own.
• You sell a unique program: Hybrid online and in-person coaching, or a franchise model with its own rules, may not fit any standard product.

A middle path also works. You can keep a standard product for billing and booking and build a custom tool around it, such as a member portal or a reporting dashboard. My guide on build vs buy software helps you weigh the choice.

How would Blur Studio approach a gym software project?

I start by looking at how money and members move through your gym today. Where do leads come from, who follows up, and where do members drop off? Then I check if a standard product plus a few connections solves the problem. If it does, I tell you to buy it.

If a custom build fits, I builds the parts you need, often around the billing tool you already use. I usually start with one area, such as lead follow-up or member retention, and add more once it works. The code and every account sit in your gym's name, and I keeps the system running after launch.

When retention is the real problem, I usually build the tracking first, cohort by signup month, tenure at cancellation, which trial offers actually convert, before touching anything else, because a gym that cannot see why members leave cannot fix it no matter how good the rest of the software is.