Every business needs an operating system. Gyms and fitness studios are no exception. In fact, a gym management software is arguably the most important tool for your gym.
If you’ve ever tried to run a gym without one, you’ll quickly experience the headaches that come with manually managing clients, staff, and marketing.
In this article, I’ll show you how to choose the best gym software, save on fees, lock in better long-term rates, and share my top picks based on real demo evaluations.
P.S. I’ve spent the last five years building the brand and marketing operations at Fit Results. This isn’t an affiliate article or a roundup of trendy platforms. It’s a real guide from someone in the trenches. By following this process, we’re projected to save about $15,000 a year from this one migration, along with big improvements in efficiency and daily operations.
What is Gym Management Software?
Every gym, fitness studio, or fitness business needs a tool to manage operations, capture leads, track clients, and improve the experience.
There’s a wide variety of gym management softwares, but they’re typically a web-based application with add-ons like marketing tools, branded apps, and more. Each platform has its own pros and cons depending on your specific needs.
If you’re new to running a gym, you’ll quickly realize that a gym management software isn’t optional. It’s essential.
Why a Gym or Fitness Studio needs the right Gym Management Software
No platform has everything (yet), and every fitness business has different needs. It’s important to find the right gym management platform to ensure your growth isn’t throttled by your tech.
Here are a few areas where features often differ:
Class and Training Fulfillment
Your set up matters. Personal training studios (like Fit Results) may need small group formats alongside group classes. Yoga, Boxing, or Cycling Studios (like Revolt Cycling) may only need group classes but require ability to assign spots.
Client Management
All platforms should have the ability to manage clients, but communication tools, organization of data, and onboarding systems vary widely.
Staff and Internal Operations
The right platforms can make staff coordination seamless, allowing them to sub classes, log notes, and perform internal communication, all without involving you (the owner).
Marketing, Prospecting, and Lead Management
Your software should either support your marketing system or integrate cleanly with one. Your software should have the capability to or help you build a predicable system to efficiently get you leads on a daily or weekly basis.
Customer & Brand Experience
You won’t keep many customers if your brand experience is not good. Look for ease of use and the ability to personalize client interactions. Remember, the best strategy for your brand is one that you can consistently execute.
Automations & Efficiency
The top gym owners are not training clients or buried in “putting out fire” tasks. Automations help free up time for leadership, growth, and culture-building activities so look for software that will take as many tasks off your plate as possible.
How to Evaluate the Best Gym Management Platform for Your Gym or Fitness Studio
If you want to save a lot of money, grow your gym, and set yourself up for long-term success, be ready to put in the work. It might be tempting to pick a platform after one demo and just roll with it, but that could be a costly mistake. Choosing the wrong software can eat into your profits for years!
To make things easier, I created the Fit Kit Gym Software Management Template. It helps you track and compare platforms, rank them based on your needs, and comes with a list of key questions to guide your evaluation.
Overall, this is the process we used to make our final decision and negotiate:
1. Determine your goals
Define what matters most to your gym right now, whether it's growth, retention, smoother operations, or lead generation (could be everything). Look at your current operations and where its lacking and try and fill gaps. This clarity will guide your platform search.
TIP: Determine a list of deal breakers which will help you vet the non-contenders quickly. Keep in mind that no gym management platform has everything so expect trade offs.
2. Vet platforms from their website
Review feature lists, pricing pages, and watch product demos. Eliminate obvious mismatches early to save time. Look at reviews of the platforms online and if you can, find gyms in your area using different platforms and ask them their thoughts.
3. Book Demos with your choices
You’ll want to get on a demo to ask specific questions and walk through your use case. Take notes and put in all in one place so you can make direct comparisons. You’ll want this info for when you follow up and negotiate.
TIP: NEVER be sold on a product feature that MAY come. Only evaluate what is currently there. I can’t tell you how many gym owners I’ve talked to who signed on for a future release that never came.
4. Do the Boring Work
Some platforms will let you hop on their demo and click around. Test everything. Compare pricing, features, limitations, and usability. Ask for the demo recordings so you can review it again. At minimum I watched each viable demo twice (some three times).
TIP: It’s helpful to use an AI recording tool like Fathom, that can help you transcribe your calls and allow you to ask questions to it directly later. Saves everyone a lot of time.
5. Follow up and Negotiate
If you vet properly, you won’t just pick the right platform, you’ll also get the best credit card rates, waived fees, migration support, and additional discounts.
This is the difference between platforms offering us 3.9% to dropping it down to 2.9%. A whole percentage point may not sound like a lot, but try applying 1% to your year’s revenue, take it out of your bank account, and set it on fire.
That’s what you’re doing if you don’t negotiate.
Also, the more revenue you make, the more platforms will want to work with you and the more negotiating power you have.
Lastly, don’t lie about your numbers. They will check.
6. Choose your Platform
Don’t get stuck analyzing forever. Give yourself a timeline and choose the one that fits your gym now and can grow with you. Remember that average migrations take 4-6 weeks to complete anyways so prepare for the whole thing to take about 2-3 months. Get moving!
How I Ranked the Best Gym Management Software
First, none of these platforms paid me a dime to promote them, nor did I earn any affiliate or commissions from this article.
This was our internal process to find the best software, specifically for Fit Results, based on four key departments:
Marketing - (GoHighLevel Compatibility)
First, we use GoHighLevel for our marketing CRM. It’s the best, most robust CRM for gyms that exist in my opinion. There is quite a learning curve but it’s more than worth it if you have the time and tech skills to learn it or the money to pay someone to do it for you. For us, we needed the platform to either integrate with it, or be a viable replacement (Spoilers: nothing beat it).
Fulfillment & Operations
Second, we really needed a solid core platform that could handle our operation needs. We valued the ability to schedule and organize staff efficiently, alignment with our services (semi-private personal training and group classes), and internal communications. Luckily, most platforms (at least all on this list) had that capability.
Customer Experience & Support
We value customer experience, both for us as the users and for our clients. A branded app, ability for staff to communicate to their clients and class attendees, and easy website integrations were also must haves.
We also looked for “nice to haves”, like a built-in referral program, rewards program, and the ability to host a shop or kiosk for our clients to purchase merch, supplements, and snacks in person.
Pricing and Billing
We weren’t looking for the cheapest platform but we wanted the best value for price.
However, credit card processing rates became a huge factor and add up fast when you're running multiple locations with doing around $100K/mo revenue so that became one of our primary filters.
For your own rankings, consider your needs by breaking them down per department, then determine the immediate dealbreakers before evaluating nice to haves.
Mindbody vs. Alternative Competitors
Every platform on this list is a viable Mindbody alternative but Mindbody is not on my list of top choices. Why? Well Fit Results has used Mindbody for over a decade. The entirety of the five years I’ve been working with Fit Results, I’ve had to use this platform.
Does it cover most needs? Yes. Do they have a bunch of features? Sure. Is it good? Meh. It's a Frankenstein of tools they acquired over the years with little to no thought about the user experience.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, they don’t really care about their customers. At least that’s how they made us feel and MY GOODNESS IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS AND THERE HAVE BARELY BEEN ANY UPDATES.
We stuck with them for two reasons: legacy low credit card rates and avoiding migration headaches. But their rates are rising, so we’re out.
Fun fact, Mindbody will charge you $499 per location to release your client data when you decide to migrate off their platform. Booooo!
Mindbody sucks. It lost its soul a long time ago, probably around the time they merged with ClassPass (which I have other quarrels about).
Despite my frustrations, I will remain unbiased. You should still follow the process and get a demo and quote, even from Mindbody.
Best Gym Management Software
These are not ranked in a particular order but I did give a highlight and reason for listing each platform. Keep in mind, this is not from a full trial, only from demos. Do your own research!
Wellness Living - Most Features in a Gym Management Software
Wellness Living was already on our radar, but came in even stronger as a full-suite solution, especially for gyms and studios that rely on retention, referrals, and a consistent client experience. What really set it apart was the built-in loyalty and rewards program. Rare find among gym software.
Clients can earn points for actions like checking in, attending classes, leaving reviews, or referring friends and then redeem them for rewards. This gamifies attendance and increases retention without you having to manually track anything.
Beyond a robust rewards program, WellnessLiving also offers:
Pros:
- Customizable reporting dashboards to quickly see most often reviewed stats
- Flexible class/service scheduling allowing single day changes or multi-day changes
- Easy management for different membership tiers, contracts and business policies
- Ability to send email, SMS, and push notifications to members by lists, segments, and class attendance
- Official Google Partner so Wellness Living Reviews shows up on Google as a category
- Branded client-facing app and decent website widgets
- Ability to handle multiple locations under one account
Cons:
- Decent automated marketing tools but lacked advanced triggers and workflows
- SMS messages are expensive $0.05 per text, unless you pre-purchase packages
- User Interface feels a bit cluttered and gimmicky. Trying to do too much.
- In-App shop but no built-in merch shipping (manual workaround required)
- Additional $150 Annual Fee for branded mobile app, on top of the standard $100 Apple developer fee.
- Additional $189 PCI compliance fee per year
Pricing:
The Starter plan is $69/month
The Business plan is $199/month
The BusinessPro plan is $349/month
Base Credit Card Processing Rates: 2.75% + $0.30 per transaction
Note: Prices are based on the most current information available from the Wellness Living pricing page as of May 2025.
Estimated Migration Time: 6+ Weeks
Who WellnessLiving is best for:
Solid, reliable option for most fitness studios, especially wellness studios, yoga/Pilates/barre, and community-driven training gyms that thrive on referrals, events, and creating a stickier client experience. If retention and client engagement are core to your business model, it’s a serious contender.
BOOK A DEMO WITH WELLNESS LIVING
PushPress - Best Bang for Buck Gym Management Software
Spoiler: We ended up going with PushPress.
Why? Because PushPress nailed the sweet spot for functionality, customer support, ease of use, and price. Also because they had their own GoHighLevel (PushPress Grow) that integrates with their core product which we could migrate our existing marketing operations to. This will save us a ton of time from migrating client data from our gym management software to our CRM.
Some standout features were the Committed Club, a way for clients to track their classes and encourage higher attendance rates which reduces churn.
Their UI could use some work but it’s functional, logical, and it works for our needs.
And lastly, they have PushPress Train which we may use in the future to migrate our training library, currently hosted in Coach Catalyst (also a great personal training tool - highly recommend).
Pros:
- Direct integration between PushPress Core (member/billing management), PushPress Grow (GoHighLevel, CRM/automation) and PushPress Train (onDemand, Training).
- PushPress Grow includes prebuilt, advanced automation workflows and ability to migrate automations from existing GHL accounts.
- Direct review passthrough from PushPress to Google Reviews if 5-Star rating is given.
- Committed Club, a way for clients to track their classes and encourage higher attendance.
- Kiosk tool capability in staff app for front desk check-ins, merch and product purchases.
- Chat app (similar to Slack) for internal team communications.
- Will build a website for you (we didn't need it but nice to have the option)
- Basic AI integration for copy writing on landing pages.
- Multi Location management + discounts per added location.
- Clear pricing, no fluff, no migration fees, great base credit card rates (for paid subscriptions).
Cons:
- UI can feel outdated in parts
- No in-app merch and product purchases (in-person only).
- Landing and Payment page is basic and lacks customization capability.
- Members can’t directly invite friends, book classes for others, or use credits for guests through the mobile app. It requires a manual workaround.
- No true built-in marketing suite (reliant on GoHighLevel) with a higher learning curve.
Pricing:
The Free plan is $0/month
The Pro plan is $159/month
The Max plan is $229/month
Second location included a discount
Add ons:
PushPress Grow $273/mo
PushPress Train is $24-$73+ depending on number of clients
Branded App is $80-$97/mo depending on plan.
Base Credit Card Processing Rates:
Free plan: 4.19% + $0.30 per transaction
Pro plan: 2.89% + $0.30 per transaction
Max plan: 2.75% + $0.30 per transaction
Note: Prices are based on the most current information available from the PushPress pricing page as of May 2025.
Estimated Migration Time: 3+ Weeks (+3 Weeks for PushPress Grow)
Who PushPress is best for:
Independent gym owners, hybrid training studios, CrossFit or bootcamp-style gyms, and martial arts / combat sports studios (check out their new rank tracking feature). If you value clean backend systems, simple workflows, and want a higher ceiling for your marketing capabilities, PushPress is a smart, scalable choice.
Glofox - Best Client Experience for a Gym Management Software
Glofox feels like it was built with the end-user in mind and has been on my list of top choices for years. From the first touchpoint to the class booking flow, the client-facing app is visually polished and smooth. If the aesthetics of your brand matter (and they should) Glofox helps you deliver a premium, cohesive experience across mobile and desktop.
Their branded app is one of the strongest in the category, giving your studio a tech-forward, professional feel without needing custom development. Clients can manage memberships, book classes, track attendance, and interact with your brand seamlessly.
Under the ABC Fitness umbrella (parent company to Glofox), there’s also Trainerize which I’ve heard good things about in terms of hosting OnDemand fitness content and training programs.
On the backend, it covers the basics well although it may not go as deep operationally as others.
Pros:
- Comprehensive all-in-one platform with gym operations management, branded mobile app, and marketing automation.
- Membership and class packaging is flexible with the ability to restrict access to certain classes/services based on membership type.
- One of the better-designed client apps that’s easy to customize to match your brand.
- In-app shop, events, and community board all on client app.
- Built in referral program for clients to easily bring friends and family and directly send SMS referrals from the app.
- Great booking experience, visual schedules, and member profiles.
- Supports push notifications and mobile engagement
- Automated member onboarding, booking, and communication flows to save time
Cons:
- Expensive across the board with high credit card rates
- Reporting is not the deepest in terms of generating custom reports
- Backend tools for trainers/staff can feel a bit shallow
- Not ideal for highly customized training or marketing workflows
- No ability currently to export segmented member lists for external marketing campaigns.
Pricing:
The Essential plan is $275/month
The Boost plan is $375/month
The Elite plan is $625/month
Base Credit Card Processing Rates:
3.9% + $0.35 per transaction
Note: Prices are based individual demo conversation and the most current information available from the Glofox pricing page as of May 2025.
Estimated Migration Time: 4-6 Weeks
Who Glofox is best for:
Boutique fitness studios that want to impress clients from the first tap. If your brand’s polish, app experience, and client-facing design are a top priority, Glofox delivers a premium-feeling platform without developer headaches.
Exercise.com - Best Training Program Features for a Gym Management Software
Exercise.com isn’t just gym software. It’s a full trainer management platform built for those offering programs, coaching, and digital fitness. It’s one of the only platforms that specializes in building workout libraries, creating programs, tracking client progress, and hosting everything digitally alongside scheduling and memberships.
Originally I thought It would feel more like an online coaching business platform than a gym tool, but they have all the basic features required for gym management, and then some. If you happen to do a lot of training programs and on demand content, then its a powerful choice.
Pros:
- Robust exercise library builder and program delivery system
- Customizable dashboard and custom-branded app experience
- Client progress photos & tracking, assessments, and goals
- Ability to build custom assessment and evaluations
- Blog/content support for education-based businesses
- Strong staff management and internal communication tools with the ability to automatically assign commissions.
- Coaches can message and SMS classes and individual clients easily.
- Manage memberships, digital coaching, and good client experience on one platform.
Cons:
- UI feels clunkier compared to more modern competitors
- Website integration is not well designed nor responsive to different screen sizes.
- Built for online coaching, may not as optimized for class-based studios like other platforms.
- Less advanced marketing and automation capabilities
- Required a one year annual agreement
- SMS was on the expensive side (after standard 1000/mo)
Pricing:
No universal or transparent pricing.
They package together proposals after a discovery call and demo.
Our quote was slightly lower than industry average pricing (Paid in Full) for the year.
The second location was significantly cheaper as an add on.
Base Credit Card Processing Rates:
2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
Note: Prices are based on our individual proposal from their sales team. You may receive different rates based on your package.
Estimated Migration Time: 4-6 Weeks
Who Exercise.com is best for:
Trainers, hybrid coaches, and gyms offering personalized programming, remote coaching, and performance tracking. If workouts, progress, and digital delivery are your product, then this is a great platform for you.
Hapana - Best Internal Operations in a Gym Management Software
Hapana was a close second for us not because it also used GoHighLevel, but it excelled in day-to-day operational flow and team management as well. The platform gives you multiple views (trainer, room, calendar) to manage schedules, and its dashboard displays KPIs clearly for easy analysis. From high customizable booking policies to staff permissions, Hapana allows you to run a tight ship.
The only downside to Hapana is their above industry pricing and their email and SMS rates otherwise, they would have been a competitive option.
Pros:
- Strong visualization for managing operations (trainer & room view)
- Easy to build custom packages for different membership types and services.
- Real-time class updates and policies for rescheduling
- KPI-driven dashboards with actionable data built into GoHighLevel
- Zoom enabled classes and onDemand content available to sell as additional client services.
- Customizable Promo Code with flexible limits and applications.
- Integrated referral program with direct client to client SMS invite
- Decent client experience with a clean branded app
Cons:
- Slightly longer onboarding/setup time
- No in-app purchases for merch, supplements, and accessories. Requires third party shop.
- No true built-in marketing suite (reliant on GoHighLevel) higher learning curve.
- Price point leans premium
- Longer than average migration time
- Expensive overage charges for Emails & SMS usage
Pricing:
No universal or transparent pricing.
They also package together proposals after a discovery call and demo.
Our quote was above industry average pricing.
There’s also a one time Data Migration Fee
Base Credit Card Processing Rates:
2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
Note: Prices are based on our individual proposal from their sales team. You may receive different rates based on your package.
Estimated Migration Time: 8-12 Weeks (includes training)
Who Hapana is best for:
Gyms and Studios that prioritize efficiency, clarity, and smooth internal processes. If you’re running multiple services (classes, semi-private, appointments), and need a tight grasp on staff and room logistics, Hapana gives you powerful operations without clutter.
Momence - Best Marketing Tools in a Gym Management Software
Momence stood out for its strong built-in marketing capabilities and clean, well-designed user interface. In fact, it’s the only platform on this list with a built in marketing features that came close to replacing GoHighLevel for us. From automated campaigns with conditional logic to integrated client referral tools, it’s built for studios that want their platform to drive growth.
What separates Momence is how marketing, automation, and communication are built into the core product, not tacked on. The back end user experience is clean, maybe even the best on this list. Operators can build flows, track client actions, trigger personalized messages, and manage leads without needing to connect third party apps.
The platform also includes thoughtful touches like referral tracking, review automation with Google redirect, and an ROI calculator for Facebook ads. While Momence is one of the more premium options on this list, it’s also one of the more marketing-forward options as well.
Pros:
- Full bookkeeping capabilities to easily allow plug ins to QuickBooks or Xero (add on)
- Well designed back end user experience
- Segment Facebook Ad Audiences directly on platform with built in ROI calculator
- Fully HIPAA compliant with robust note taking with SOAP notes (great for gyms with physical therapists on staff)
- Individual client referral links that can be used without the app
- To do list feature helping operators stay focused on the most important tasks
- Customizable referral program with automatic rewards for clients and new customers (add on)
- Robust client experience with personal records, customer ranking, and segmented lists for personalized communication.
- Abandoned check out lead capture feature on landing pages
Cons:
- Limited SMS volume and call minutes unless upgraded
- Landing pages only have purchase options, no non-purchase lead funnels
- Reporting is serviceable but not the strongest
- Price point leans premium with add ons that add up
Pricing:
No transparent pricing.
Package together proposals after the demo.
Each feature is a la carte with some features only available as add-ons
Above industry average pricing.
Base Credit Card Processing Rates:
3.9% + $0.30 per transaction
Note: Prices are based on our individual proposal from their sales team and the Momence pricing page.
Estimated Migration Time:
With a branded app: 4-5 weeks
Without a branded app: 2-3 weeks
Who Momence is best for:
Studios that want strong built-in marketing with automation, referrals, and client engagement tools. A great fit for hybrid fitness and wellness businesses that combine training, physical therapy, and preventative care under one roof.
Walla - Best Client Engagement Features in a Gym Management Software
Walla didn’t try to be everything, but what it does, it does well. It focuses on what matters most for boutique studios: intuitive client engagement, smart retention tools, and clean design. From auto-triggered reviews to easy referral workflows, Walla helps you build deeper relationships with your members without extra admin work.
Founded by former Mindbody consultants (including reporting specialist Laura Munkholm), Walla is a natural fit for studios looking to level up from Mindbody with more thoughtful user experience and upgraded workflows.
The desktop experience is well-designed, the reporting is both simple and powerful, and the overall interface feels made for modern fitness businesses. While onboarding requires more upfront commitment, the clarity of their process and the customization it allows made a strong impression.
Pros:
- Clean, visual desktop dashboard with intuitive user experience
- Simple yet deep Report Center with strong data visualization and filters
- Built-in Marketing Suite with lead flow support Google and Meta Pixel tracking
- Prebuilt plug and play automations that are customized to your studio during build out
- Sales CRM with task assignment for staff
- ChatGPT integrated email builder to help write copy
- Multi location management and support
- Detailed coach performance tracking by attendance, revenue, reliability, popularity, profitability and more.
- Strong scheduling tool supports multi-location view, quick subs, and internal ops.
- Staff permissions can be managed platform-wide for fast updates
Cons:
- Lacks some advanced marketing automation capabilities
- Requires a minimum one-year contract (two-year option available)
- No phone call or voice integration
- Website embed customizations are basic.
- Backend mobile view is scaled down, not the most mobile-optimized
- Higher upfront costs with additional marketing features sold separately
Pricing:
No universal or transparent pricing
Custom proposal after demo and discovery call
Above industry average pricing with a la carte features that add up
One-time buildout fee
Discounts available for multi location studios
Base Credit Card Processing Rates:
2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
Note: Prices are based on our individual proposal from their sales team and the Walla pricing page.
Estimated Migration Time: 4-6 Weeks
Who Walla is best for:
Boutique studios focused on community, retention, and simplicity. Great for yoga, barre, pilates, and wellness studios that value clean workflows, quality client communication, and a platform that reflects their brand experience.
Runner Ups for Best Gym Management Software
The following platforms were also evaluated, but none stood out as top picks for our specific needs. This is not because they were bad platforms, they just didn’t pass our initial filter for our needs. Still, here are some quick highlights from their demos:
GymDesk - Gym Management Software Runner Up
Uses attendance-based triggers to automate personalized outreach, helping gyms re-engage inactive members, reward streaks, and reduce churn with customizable follow-up workflows. Good for gyms and studios that want to stay proactive with retention by monitoring member engagement and automating timely, personalized communication.
Vagaro - Gym Management Software Runner Up
Features a marketplace, boosting visibility and client acquisition through automated marketing and integrated online booking. Well-suited for mid-sized fitness businesses, such as boutique studios or small-to-medium-sized gyms, that offer a combination of group classes and personalized training.
GymFlow - Gym Management Software Runner Up
Milestone tracking highlights client achievements like their 25th, 50th, or 75th class, helping studios recognize loyal members and strengthen community engagement. Good for studios focused on community, retention, and member recognition that want to create a more rewarding and personalized client experience.
Wellyx - Gym Management Software Runner Up
“Business Flow” feature which is a customizable visual sales pipeline that automates lead nurturing at each stage, offering a flexible and structured approach to client acquisition. Good for general fitness businesses focused on sales and lead generation that want a more hands-on, customizable CRM with built-in automation to guide prospects from interest to conversion.
Mariana Tek - Gym Management Software Runner Up
The “Pick a Spot” booking lets clients choose their exact spot in class, creating a more personalized experience while helping studios manage space and attendance more effectively. Good option for boutique studios like yoga, cycling, or Pilates that offer limited class sizes and want a more customized, client-first booking experience.
GymMaster - Gym Management Software Runner Up
Integrated Gym Access Control: Gym Master offers proprietary hardware and software that allows members to access the gym using their mobile app or RFID fobs. Solid option for gyms and fitness studios with 24/7 Open Gyms services.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right gym management software is not about finding the trendiest platform. It is about finding the one that matches how your gym operates today and supports where you want it to go in the future.
The reality is, no platform checks every box. You will need to prioritize and make trade-offs. But if you follow the steps laid out in this guide, define your goals, vet platforms properly, ask specific questions, and negotiate, you will set your business up for long-term success. Remember, almost everything is up for negotiation with most platforms.
By using this evaluation process at Fit Results, we saved an estimated $15,000 a year on fees and credit card rates and gave us the systems we need to continue scaling with less stress and more efficiency.
So do the work. Use the free evaluation template. Take your demos seriously. Avoid picking a platform just because it is popular or the gym down the street is using it. Choose the one that actually fits your needs.
And if you are a gym software company reading this and want a real, thorough evaluation, reach out at kai@fitkit.studio. I would be happy to give it a look in a future update.
