A gym CRM is not a scheduling app. It's not a billing tool. It's not an email platform. It's the system that connects all three — member data, money movement, and communication — so the gym owner can see the full picture of the business without opening four tabs and doing math in a spreadsheet on Sunday night. About 40% of independent gyms still don't have one. The gyms that switched report 20–25% better retention and 10–15 hours per week of recovered admin time. The difference between the gyms that pick the right CRM and the ones that pick wrong is roughly $40,000–$60,000 in annual operating impact.
This is the ranked guide for independent gym owners — single location, 50–600 members, owner-operator model. Not enterprise fitness chains. Not solo coaches. The specific business that every major CRM platform claims to serve but almost none of them were actually built for.
Every price below was checked on 24 August 2026 against the vendor's own pricing page. Where a vendor publishes nothing, this guide says so rather than repeating a figure that cannot be verified.
The term gets used loosely. Here's the precise definition: gym CRM software is a platform that combines member relationship management (profiles, attendance, communication history, retention signals) with operational tooling (class scheduling, billing, staff management) and financial intelligence (MRR, LTV, churn, cash runway) in a single system.
A platform that only does scheduling is gym management software. A platform that only does billing is payment software. A platform that only tracks contacts is a generic CRM. None of those three alone earns the label. The "CRM" part specifically means the system knows who your members are, how they're behaving, and what that behavior predicts about their likelihood to stay or churn — and acts on it automatically.
Before any ranking: these seven features are table stakes. A platform missing more than one is disqualified regardless of price or brand recognition.
Mako is the platform built specifically for the independent gym owner — single location, 50–600 members, owner-operator model. Every one of the seven non-negotiables is native. No add-ons, no per-seat licensing, no annual contract required.
What's native: class and appointment scheduling with recurring sessions and waitlists, unified member profiles with attendance history, integrated billing with automated failed-payment recovery and dunning sequences, email and SMS communication (reminders, win-backs, intro-conversion), digital waivers, staff scheduling, POS and retail, and a financial dashboard showing MRR, LTV, CAC, churn, and cash runway.
What makes it different from every other platform on this list: the financial intelligence layer. Most gym CRMs show you booking counts and revenue totals. Mako shows you business health — whether MRR is trending up or down, which membership cohorts have the worst LTV, what your churn rate was last quarter vs. this quarter, and what your cash runway looks like. For an owner-operator who is also the CFO, this is the difference between running the business and guessing at it.
Pricing: Pulse is free. Basic $139/month (the complete platform, three team members), Team $249/month (fifteen team members, advanced reporting, QuickBooks sync), Enterprise $999/month (unlimited, three locations). Roughly 20% off annually, month-to-month, no per-seat fees.
Best for: independent gyms, boutique fitness studios, CrossFit boxes, martial arts academies, personal training facilities — any single-location or small-chain operation with 50–600 members.
Try it: app.makocrm.so/demo — self-serve live demo, no sales call.
Mindbody is the market leader. It has been for 20 years. For multi-location operations and gyms that depend on the Mindbody marketplace and ClassPass pipeline, it remains the strongest option in the category.
Strengths: mature platform, hundreds of integrations, strong multi-location management, ClassPass integration, deep reporting for enterprise operations.
Weaknesses: real TCO climbs well above the base plan once you add staff seats, a branded app, the marketing module, and processing fees. Per-seat licensing, annual contracts, and add-on pricing make budgeting difficult — and since Mindbody publishes no price at any tier, you cannot model it before entering a sales cycle. Not built for the independent operator.
Pricing: Not published. All three tiers — Starter, Accelerate, Ultimate — show "Let's talk" rather than a figure.
Best for: 3+ location chains, franchise operations, gyms that depend on ClassPass, enterprises with 20+ staff.
Zen Planner has the deepest roots in CrossFit and martial arts. If your gym tracks member progression (belt rank, PRs, skill levels) and runs specialty programming, Zen Planner's workout-logging and progression features are the best in the category.
Strengths: member progression tracking, workout logging, strong community features, solid automation, deep CrossFit/martial arts workflow support.
Weaknesses: the jump from the entry plan to the marketing tier is steep, interface feels dated, limited appeal outside specialty fitness.
Pricing: Published. Studio from $99/month, Engage $249/month, branded app +$39/month.
Best for: CrossFit boxes, martial arts academies, boxing gyms, specialty fitness facilities that track skill progression.
The closest feature-for-feature Mindbody replacement. If your team is trained on Mindbody's workflows and you want to minimize retraining during a migration, this is the path of least friction.
Strengths: comprehensive feature set, loyalty and rewards engine, multi-location support, strong marketing automation, publishes every tier openly.
Weaknesses: heavy promotional pricing can obscure the real ongoing rate, interface carries some Mindbody-era complexity, implementation takes time.
Pricing: Published. Starter $69, Business $199, BusinessPro $349 per month (roughly $62/$179/$314 annually).
Best for: mid-to-large gyms (10+ staff, 300+ members) switching from Mindbody who want equivalent features.
Glofox, now part of ABC Fitness, is built for boutique gyms and fitness chains that prioritize the member-app experience. Strong mobile-first design, gamification, and multi-location management.
Strengths: polished member app, good class booking flow, gamification features, multi-location support, ABC financial backbone for billing.
Weaknesses: no published pricing, sales-led onboarding, overkill for single-location independents, support quality complaints post-ABC acquisition.
Pricing: Not published — quote only. Glofox's pricing page asks you to request a quote rather than listing tiers.
Best for: boutique fitness chains with 2+ locations building a branded member-app experience.
ClubReady is built for gyms with serious sales pipelines — membership sales, personal training packages, upsells. Strong lead management, sales automation, and follow-up sequences.
Strengths: strong CRM and sales pipeline management, good reporting, decent automation, multi-location support.
Weaknesses: sales-led pricing with nothing published, interface feels heavy for smaller operations, overkill for gyms without dedicated sales staff.
Pricing: Not published — quote only.
Best for: gyms with dedicated membership sales teams and complex package structures.
Gymdesk is a smaller, purpose-built alternative that keeps pricing low and features focused. Popular with small CrossFit boxes and independent gyms that don't need enterprise complexity.
Strengths: transparent published pricing, simple interface, solid attendance tracking, unlimited staff accounts on every tier, no contract.
Weaknesses: smaller ecosystem, fewer integrations, limited marketing automation, and the bill rises automatically as your member count crosses a band.
Pricing: Published and banded by active members — $75 (up to 50), $100 (51–100), $150 (101–200), $200 (201–400). Extra locations $50/month.
Best for: small CrossFit boxes, martial arts schools, and budget-conscious independent gyms under 150 members.
Pike13 handles both class-based group fitness and appointment-based coaching well. Useful for gyms that mix group classes with significant personal training volume.
Strengths: strong appointment handling alongside class scheduling, decent CRM, publishes both monthly and annual rates openly.
Weaknesses: entry price is higher than its "small studio" positioning suggests, interface dated, reporting requires manual work.
Pricing: Published. Essential $139, Advanced $195, Premium $249 per month billed annually ($159/$225/$286 monthly).
Best for: gyms with significant personal training or 1-on-1 coaching revenue alongside group classes.
Here's the full 12-month cost for a 300-member independent gym at $140/month average membership — $42,000/month MRR — across the three most common platform choices:
Mindbody (Accelerate tier with the add-ons most gyms need):
Zen Planner (Engage tier):
Mako (all-inclusive):
There is no honest Mako-versus-Mindbody delta to quote here, because Mindbody publishes no price at any tier — get your quote in writing and compare it against $249. Mako and Zen Planner land identically on total cost — the decision between them comes down to whether you need progression tracking and CrossFit-specific workflows (Zen Planner) or financial intelligence and flat-rate predictability (Mako).
Worth noting: at this gym size, Gymdesk at $200 and WellnessLiving Business at $199 both come in slightly under both of them on the software line. Price is not the differentiator at 300 members — what you get for it is.
Your wellness business is a business. Not a hobby, not a side project, not a calendar with a cash register. It deserves software that treats it accordingly. If your CRM can't tell you whether your business is financially healthy, it's not doing its job. And in 2026, you have better options.
See Mako in action — no sales call required
Mako is built for independent studio and service-business owners who'd rather spend their time on clients than on demo calls. Open the live demo, poke around, and see exactly how scheduling, billing, and financial intelligence come together in one place.
Try the demo: https://app.makocrm.so/demo
Self-serve. Instant access. No forms, no calendars, no "talk to sales."
