We analyzed over 500 real user reviews from Capterra, Trustpilot, Product Hunt, and G2. We compared features and pricing to bring you the best gym class management system.
Best Gym Class Management System
- 🥇 Fitune - Free website and client app included
- Acuity
- Zen Planner
More Gym Class Management Systems
Why do you need a class management system?
An effective management system can boost your income by maximizing class attendance, reducing cancellations, and offering convenient online booking options.
Save time by automating administrative tasks, so you can focus on delivering an exceptional fitness experience for your clients.
1. 🥇 Fitune - Best gym class management system
Transparent pricing: Yes
Price: Free to $199/month
Free website creator: Yes
Free client app: Yes
Ideal for your gym: Yes
Fitune stands out as the best alternative when it comes to gym class management systems, offering an all-in-one solution that can be launched quickly and easily.
Unlike other platforms that require extensive setup time or technical expertise, Fitune is designed for simplicity, allowing you to get your business up and running in no time.
Everything you need to manage your gym classes, memberships, and client interactions is integrated into one powerful platform.
By streamlining every process of your business, Fitune helps you save time and focus on what matters most—providing an exceptional experience for your clients.
Whether it’s scheduling classes, managing bookings, or tracking attendance, Fitune automates these tasks, reducing the time you spend on administrative work.
This makes your day-to-day operations smoother while enhancing your clients’ experience, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates.
Fitune's class management calendar
Fitune also offers the flexibility to sell memberships or class packages, ensuring a steady income stream all year round.
This feature, combined with the free client app, allows your customers to easily book classes, manage their memberships, and stay engaged with your business from anywhere.
The app provides a seamless, user-friendly experience, helping you build stronger relationships with your clients and encouraging repeat business.
Fitune’s free website creation feature makes it stand out as well.
¿Why get your Fitune free app?
Having a professional website is crucial for attracting new clients, showcasing your services, and streamlining the booking process, but building one from scratch can be time-consuming and expensive.
Fitune allows you to bypass these challenges and have a fully functional website up and running in minutes, without needing any technical expertise.
This means you can focus on what you do best while Fitune handles the heavy lifting, ensuring your online presence is polished and effective right from the start.
With Fitune, you're not just managing your gym; you're setting the foundation for long-term growth and success.
Fitune's website builder
2. Acuity
Transparent pricing: Yes
Price: $16 to $49/month plus website costs
Free website creator: No
Free client app: Yes, but it’s not brandable
Ideal for your gym: Only for basic booking functions
Acuity Scheduling is a solid choice for handling basic functions like class scheduling and appointments. It offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies the booking process for both you and your clients, making it easy to manage your calendar, send reminders, and even accept payments.
However, when it comes to more advanced features, Acuity falls short.
One of the major drawbacks is that you’ll need to develop a website separately if you want an online presence, which adds both time and cost to your setup.
Unlike other all-in-one platforms, Acuity doesn't offer integrated website creation, meaning you'll need to manage and possibly pay for additional services to build and maintain your site.
This lack of integration can be a hassle, especially if you're looking to bring a strong brand experience to your clients.
Acuity also lacks a dedicated client app. Without an app, your clients don't have a convenient way to manage their bookings or interact with your business on the go, which could limit engagement and repeat business.
While Acuity does the basics well, its limitations in these areas mean that it might not be the best fit for businesses looking to offer a comprehensive, modern experience to their clients.
3. Zen Planner
Transparent pricing: Yes
Price: $99 to $348/month
Free client app: Yes, but it’s not branded
Ideal for your gym: Only if price is not an issue
Zen Planner offers a solid suite of services for fitness businesses, providing essential tools like member management, class scheduling, and payment processing.
However, Zen Planner places critical features like website creation and a branded mobile app behind its higher-paying tiers, which are more expensive than similar offerings from other software providers.
This pricing structure can make Zen Planner prohibitively expensive for small to medium-sized businesses, limiting their ability to access all the tools they need to compete effectively.
Some of the most vital functions for gym owners, such as appointment scheduling and CRM (Customer Relationship Management), are also locked behind Zen Planner’s highest cost plan.
Appointment scheduling is crucial for efficiently managing one-on-one sessions, ensuring that clients can easily book time slots that fit their schedules, and helping gym owners optimize their time. Without it, managing appointments manually can lead to double bookings, missed appointments, and a chaotic workday.
Similarly, CRM is indispensable for building and maintaining relationships with clients. It helps gym owners track client interactions, follow up on leads, and personalize their services to improve client retention.
Without CRM, gym owners might struggle to keep track of client preferences, progress, and feedback, which could lead to lower client satisfaction and a higher turnover rate.
For small to medium-sized gyms, having to pay more to access these critical features might make Zen Planner less appealing compared to more affordable, all-inclusive alternatives.
4. WellnessLiving
Price: $99 to $349/month
Free website creator: No
Free client app: Yes, but it’s not branded
Ideal for your gym: Only for large multi-location gyms
WellnessLiving offers a robust range of functions that can meet the needs of many fitness businesses, including class scheduling, client management, and payment processing.
However, its costs can quickly add up, as essential features like video on demand, website building, and a branded app are charged as add-ons.
While it does provide a free app, the reviews are concerning, with many users finding it difficult to use or even unusable.
Event scheduling, another critical function for many gyms and studios, is locked behind higher-cost tiers, making it inaccessible to those on a tighter budget.
These features — video on demand, a branded app, a website builder, and event scheduling — are not just extras; they are vital for growing your business.
Video on demand allows you to offer classes beyond the physical walls of your gym, opening up new revenue streams and catering to clients who prefer to work out at home.
A branded app enhances your clients' experience, making it easier for them to book classes, track their progress, and stay engaged with your offerings. If these features are unreliable or too expensive, it can hinder your ability to provide a seamless experience, which is crucial for client retention and satisfaction.
Starting with these features from the beginning is important because they help establish your brand and expand your reach.
A well-functioning app and easy access to video content can set you apart from competitors, while event scheduling allows you to efficiently manage workshops, special classes, and other revenue-generating events.
If you have to pay extra for these essential functions or if they’re not reliable, it could slow down your growth and limit the potential of your business.
5. Arketa
Price: Undisclosed + Add-ons
Free website creator: No
Free client app: Undisclosed
Ideal for your gym: If price isn’t a problem
Arketa offers one of the broadest feature sets available for gyms, just behind Fitune, with capabilities ranging from class scheduling to client management and payment processing.
However, it comes with a significant drawback: essential features like website creation and a branded app are not included in the base plans.
Instead, these vital tools are hidden behind add-ons or their highest-cost plans, which can quickly become expensive for small to medium-sized businesses.
For any fitness studio looking to grow and maintain a professional online presence, a website and branded app are non-negotiable.
A well-designed website is often the first point of contact for potential clients, allowing you to showcase your services, schedule, and pricing. Without it, you might miss out on valuable leads and sales opportunities.
Similarly, a branded app enhances client engagement, offering convenience through easy booking, class reminders, and personalized content.
The need to pay extra for essential tools like a website and branded app can be a major drawback.
These functions are crucial for streamlining your operations and offering a seamless experience to your clients, both of which are vital for retaining customers and growing your business.
In comparison, other platforms like Fitune provide these features as part of their standard offerings, making them more accessible and cost-effective for a wider range of businesses.
Conclusions to find the best gym class management software for you
Choosing the right gym class management system is crucial for optimizing your operations, saving time, and maximizing your income. Each of the top five systems we've reviewed offers unique strengths, but they also come with their own sets of limitations.
Fitune stands out as the best all-in-one solution, offering a comprehensive set of features—including a free website creator and a free client app—that are both accessible and cost-effective, making it ideal for small to medium-sized businesses looking to grow quickly and efficiently.
While other platforms like Acuity, Zen Planner, WellnessLiving, and Arketa offer solid features, they often require additional investments to access essential tools like website creation, branded apps, or advanced scheduling options.
These costs can add up, making it challenging for smaller businesses to afford the full suite of services they need to thrive. As you consider your options, it's important to weigh not just the immediate costs but also the long-term benefits of a system that can support your business's growth without requiring constant upgrades or add-ons.
Investing in a comprehensive, user-friendly platform like Fitune can help you streamline your operations, enhance client engagement, and set your business on a path to sustained success.
Ready to try Fitune? Start now for free or book a demo to learn how to grow your fitness business.