Short answer: In the twelve-invoice sample described here, eleven owners reportedly paid more than they expected, with an average gap of $187 per month. Those figures are an anecdotal audit, not an industry benchmark, and should remain only if the underlying invoices, selection method, calculations, and anonymization records can be verified.
We asked 12 independent gym owners to pull their last three months of software invoices and tell us what they thought they were paying. Then we looked at the actual invoices.
Evidence note: Publish anonymized invoice fields, sample frame, dates, and formulas or label as a synthetic example. No period dates, invoice sample, reconciliation, or selection method is provided. Source status: No primary source was found for the earlier universal claim as of 2026-09-01.
The gyms in the audit ranged from 85 to 480 members. Eight were on Mindbody (Starter, Accelerate, and Ultimate tiers). Three were on Glofox. One was on ClubReady. Gym sizes and locations varied; the billing opacity was remarkably consistent across platforms.
We looked at: base platform fee, per-seat staff fees, add-on module fees, branded app fees, processing fees, and any third-party tools purchased as Mindbody marketplace integrations.
Evidence note: Replace with the specific written contract and current plan terms; do not state a universal $40 seat fee. The page does not validate historical plan versions or any custom contract, but the current blanket claim conflicts. Sources: Business Pricing.
The average staff-seat overage across the 8 Mindbody gyms in the audit: $147/month.
Evidence note: Mindbody lists the branded app as an add-on and says total cost depends on plan, add-ons, and transaction fees. No official page verifies $199, the five-of-eight sample, or the booking share. State the branded app as an optional add-on and cite the audit sample methodology for any observed price or use. Sources: Business Pricing.
This is the single largest line item most owners can't justify when forced to look at it directly. It adds up to $2,388/year. For many small gyms, that's more than a month's worth of one coach's hourly pay.
Six of the 12 gyms were paying for a marketing or automation module — either Mindbody's built-in suite ($50–$100/month) or a third-party integration through Zapier or Mailchimp ($20–$60/month). Four of the six said their usage was "occasional" — seasonal promotions, new member welcome emails, maybe a win-back campaign once. The two who used it regularly said it was worth it. For the other four, it was a standing expense that had outlasted the intention that created it.
Two Mindbody gyms were paying for third-party apps through the Mindbody marketplace — a form tool, a review collection service — that the owners barely remembered adding. These were $15–$40/month individually, invisible as line items because they showed up in the Mindbody invoice as pass-through charges rather than clearly labeled third-party subscriptions. Neither owner could explain what the tools did when asked directly. Neither had been used actively in more than 6 months.
Evidence note: Show dated statements and define effective rate as total processing cost divided by card volume. The statements, card mix, fees, and sample are not available for verification. Source status: No primary source was found for the earlier universal claim as of 2026-09-01.
8 Mindbody gyms (average):
3 Glofox gyms (average):
The Glofox delta was smaller, partly because the branded app is included in the base contract, and partly because the custom contract pricing makes owners more aware of what they signed up for.
Pull your last three invoices right now. Without looking, write down what you think you're paying per month. Then look.
If you're off by more than $50, run through this checklist: How many staff logins does your plan include? How many do you actually have active? Do you pay separately for a branded member app? When did you last have a member tell you they used it? Are you paying for a marketing or automation module? Could you name three automations you ran in the last 90 days?
The point of the exercise isn't to cut everything. Some of these features earn their cost. The point is to make the decision consciously — to pay for things you use rather than pay for things you added once and forgot about.
The gym that was paying $199/month for an app nobody used for 14 months spent $2,786 on nothing. That's not a software company exploiting them. That's a line item that survived on inertia because nobody looked.
Related reading: Best Gym Management Software: 15 Platforms Compared (2026).
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