Spark Membership is sales-and-retention software for martial arts schools and gyms — lead management, follow-up sequences, and the pipeline discipline that turns trial classes into paying students. Mako is the business platform underneath the school: memberships, payments, instructor pay, retail, and financial reporting. The comparison is worth doing carefully because of how Spark is priced.
Spark Membership: List price is $199/month. A 50% discount for the first twelve months is commonly offered, bringing it to $99/month for year one. After that promotional period it reverts to the list rate unless you negotiate otherwise.
Mako: Pulse is free. Basic at $139/month — the complete platform with three team members. Team at $249/month — fifteen team members, extra locations at $75/month each, advanced reporting, QuickBooks sync. Enterprise at $999/month — unlimited students. Roughly 20% off annually, no contract.
Do the two-year arithmetic, not the first-month one.
An introductory rate is a real saving in year one and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Just budget for the number you will actually be paying in month thirteen, and get the post-promotional rate in writing before you sign.
Built specifically around converting enquiries and trials into memberships, with the nagging and sequencing that most owners never get around to doing manually. If your problem is leads going cold, this is the thing you are buying.
Designed for this market, with terminology and workflow that match how a school sells.
At $99 promotional it is cheaper than Mako Basic for the first twelve months.
$139 is $139 in month one and month thirty-seven. No promotional cliff, no renegotiation, no surprise at renewal.
Profit per program after instructor pay and mat time, cash-flow forecasting, unit economics, LTV. Spark tells you the pipeline converted. Mako tells you whether what it converted into is profitable.
Booking and class scheduling, memberships and credits, payments and a customer portal, invoicing, and retail — the whole business, not just the sales layer.
Commission splits, tips, timesheets and payouts, plus stock and margin on uniforms and gear.
Spark focuses on getting students in. Pulse focuses on noticing when they stop coming — it compares your retention against market averages, names who is drifting, and costs nothing. Signing a student is worth far less than keeping one.
Pick Spark Membership if:
Pick Mako if:
Your school 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 school owners who would rather spend their time on the mat than on demo calls. Open the live demo, poke around, and see exactly how booking, payments, 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."
