PushPress Alternatives: What the Add-Ons Really Cost

PushPress has done something almost no one else in gym management software does: it gives away a real free tier. Not a trial, not a crippled demo — a working gym management plan at $0/month. For a new box with thirty members and no budget, that is a serious advantage, and it is why PushPress has deep roots in the CrossFit community. Mako also has a free tier, but it is free at something different: Pulse measures retention rather than running the gym. Understanding that distinction is most of this comparison.

Pricing

PushPress: Free at $0/month for small gyms, Pro at $159/month, and Max at $229/month. Published openly, which is rare in this category and to their credit. The number to watch is the add-on stack: Train (workout tracking) starts around $79/month for up to 20 clients, a branded member app runs roughly $81–$97/month, and the bundled Full Stack package lands near $559/month.

Mako: Pulse is free. Paid plans are Mako Basic at $139/month, Mako Team at $249/month, and Enterprise at $999/month — roughly 20% less on annual billing at $1,334, $2,390, and $9,588 per year. Basic includes 3 team members, Team includes 15, Enterprise is unlimited. No per-user charges, no contract, published on the site, no sales call.

On paid tiers the two are closer than the headline suggests. PushPress Pro at $159 sits above Mako Basic at $139; Max at $229 sits just under Mako Team at $249, which includes fifteen team members. Where it separates is the add-ons: Pro plus Train plus a branded app lands near $320/month, comfortably above Mako Team.

Two Free Tiers, Two Different Jobs

Most "free" software in this space is a lead magnet. PushPress Free is not — gyms genuinely run on it, and it handles booking, members, and billing.

Mako Pulse is free in a different sense. It does not run your gym; it measures whether your gym is keeping people. Retention rates, market benchmarks for your city and state, and a list of who is drifting toward cancelling. You can run Pulse alongside PushPress — it imports from other platforms — which makes "which free tier" the wrong question. The real one is whether your problem is operations or retention.

What both free plans share is a ceiling. PushPress Free is designed to be outgrown the moment you want automated retention work or programming. Pulse tells you what is wrong but does not run the win-back campaigns; that is Mako Basic. Do the arithmetic for the gym you expect in eighteen months, not the one you have this week.

Feature Comparison

Community and Member App

PushPress: Excellent. The member app, leaderboards, and community feel are built by people who understand box culture. Members actually open it.
Mako: Clean, functional member experience with a customer portal and online booking. No leaderboards, no workout social layer.

Edge: PushPress, clearly, if community engagement is part of your product.

Workout Tracking and Programming

PushPress: Train handles programming, benchmarks, and PR tracking — core to how a CrossFit box operates. It is an add-on, but it is good.
Mako: Does not do workout programming. Classes, memberships, attendance, and check-in, yes. Barbell benchmarks, no.

Edge: PushPress, decisively. If programming lives in your software, Mako is the wrong tool.

Retention Measurement

PushPress: Reporting on membership and attendance. No market benchmarking.
Mako: Pulse benchmarks your retention against your city and state and flags at-risk members — free, and it imports from other platforms.

Edge: Mako, and it costs nothing to test.

Financial Intelligence

PushPress: Revenue and membership reporting, and it is competent. Native MRR, LTV, churn, CAC, and cash-runway dashboards are not the focus.
Mako: MRR, LTV, churn, CAC, and cash runway are native, with automated P&L and job-level profitability.

Edge: Mako, significantly.

Failed Payment Recovery

PushPress: Billing is solid and failed payments are handled, but recovery is not built as an automated sequence.
Mako: Automated retry logic, dunning sequences, and SMS card-update requests. Involuntary churn is treated as a recoverable revenue problem.

Edge: Mako.

Cost Predictability as You Grow

PushPress: Tier price is flat, but capability is priced in modules. Your bill grows as your needs grow.
Mako: One tier price covers the feature set, with 15 team members included at Team.

Edge: Mako for predictability; PushPress if you only ever want the modules you actually use.

The Decision

Pick PushPress if:

• You are opening a box and need free software that actually runs the gym
• Workout programming and benchmarks need to live in the same system as billing
• Your community and member app are part of how you sell memberships
• You would rather pay per module than pay one price for a full platform

Pick Mako if:

• You need to know your MRR, churn, and cash runway without exporting to a spreadsheet
• Involuntary churn is costing you real money and you want automated recovery
• You want one predictable price rather than a tier plus three add-ons
• You want to benchmark your retention against your market before paying anything

Your gym 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 platform cannot tell you whether you are financially healthy, it is not doing its job. And in 2026, you have better options.

See Mako in action — no sales call required

Mako is built for independent gym and studio owners who would rather spend their time on members 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."