Zen Planner built its reputation in CrossFit boxes and martial arts academies. If your gym tracks member belt ranks, posts PRs to a leaderboard, and runs programming that members follow over weeks and months, Zen Planner is the deepest platform in the category for that workflow. If your gym runs memberships, classes, and billing without a skill-progression component, you're paying for features you'll never use — and missing the financial intelligence layer that tells you whether the business is actually healthy.
Pricing
Zen Planner: $117–$227/month depending on tier and member count. Add-ons for marketing tools and certain integrations push the real cost higher at scale. Per-member pricing components kick in above certain thresholds.
Mako: $99–$299/month flat-rate, no per-member fees, no per-seat licensing, month-to-month.
At 300 members, the 12-month comparison:
- Zen Planner (mid-tier with marketing add-on): ~$167 + $50 add-on = $217/month = $2,604/year
- Mako Pro (all-inclusive): $199/month = $2,388/year
They're close on cost at mid-scale. The decision comes down to feature fit, not price.
Where Zen Planner Wins
Workout Logging and Programming
Zen Planner's workout tracking is the best in the category for gyms that make it a core feature. Members can log WODs, track PRs across movements, follow multi-week programming, and see progress over time. Leaderboards, skill levels, and performance history are first-class features — not add-ons. For a CrossFit box or martial arts academy where member progression is part of the product, this is a genuine differentiator.
Skill and Belt Progression
Martial arts academics use Zen Planner specifically for belt and rank tracking. Member profiles store curriculum progress, test history, and instructor notes on skill development. There is no equivalent in Mako or most other gym CRMs — it's a niche feature Zen Planner has owned for a decade.
Community Features
Leaderboards, class performance feeds, and community engagement tools are stronger in Zen Planner than in most alternatives. For gyms where community competition is part of the culture, this matters.
Where Mako Wins
Financial Intelligence
Zen Planner shows revenue totals, membership counts, and class attendance. It does not natively surface MRR trending, LTV by cohort, CAC, or cash runway. Owners who want that level of business visibility typically run a secondary system. Mako's financial dashboard shows all of it natively — the difference between knowing your revenue and understanding whether your business is healthy.
Automated retry sequences, dunning emails, and SMS card-update requests are native in Mako. Zen Planner's failed payment handling requires more manual follow-up. For a 300-member gym at $140/month average, recovering 70% of failed payments (typically 2–4% of MRR) is worth $5,000–$8,000/year in recovered revenue.
Retention Automation
At-risk member identification, automated win-back sequences, post-class follow-ups, and intro-conversion automation are built into Mako's base plan. Zen Planner's automation is functional but less sophisticated outside its specialty fitness workflows.
Multi-Service Businesses
If your gym offers a mix of group classes, personal training, and other services, Mako handles the hybrid model more cleanly. Zen Planner is optimized for the CrossFit/martial arts single-format model.
The Decision
Pick Zen Planner if:
- You run a CrossFit box where WOD logging and leaderboards are core to the member experience
- You run a martial arts academy where belt/rank/curriculum tracking is essential
- Member skill progression is a meaningful part of what you sell
- You run multi-week programming that members follow and want to track
Pick Mako if:
- You run a general fitness gym, studio, or multi-service wellness business without a skill-progression component
- You need financial intelligence (MRR, LTV, churn) on a dashboard, not in a spreadsheet
- You want automated failed payment recovery running in the background without manual follow-up
- You run a hybrid class + personal training model that doesn't fit cleanly into the CrossFit workflow
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."
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