A Gym Owner’s Guide to the Best Gym Management Software Reviews (2025)

Choosing gym management software is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a gym owner. It touches everything - memberships, payments, schedules, staff, and your members’ day-to-day experience.

I’ve been there: tabs open everywhere, feature lists blurring together, reviews that sound more like marketing copy than real feedback. To save you the headache, I’ve spent time digging through G2, Capterra, Forbes Advisor, and most importantly, conversations with real gym owners.

Here’s a clear, honest look at the gym management software platforms that consistently come up in reviews in 2025.

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What to Look For in Gym Management Software Reviews

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When I read reviews, I’m not hunting for the longest feature list. I’m asking one question:

Will this make running my gym easier or harder?

Here’s what I focus on:

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Simplicity

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If your staff can’t learn it quickly, it’s a problem. The best platforms are intuitive and don’t require hours of training.

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Core Features

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At a minimum, the software should handle:

- Class scheduling

- Memberships & billing

- Check-ins

- Basic reporting

If these aren’t rock-solid, nothing else matters.

Member Experience

Your members interact with the software more than you do. Booking, payments, and account management should be simple and frustration-free.

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Support

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Things will break. Questions will come up. When they do, responsive human support is non-negotiable.

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Top Gym Management Software Platforms in 2025

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These platforms consistently rank highly across review sites and owner discussions.

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Software

What Owners Love About It

Things to Consider

Recess

Recess stands out because it's genuinely free and refreshingly simple. Owners consistently mention how fast setup is and how easy it is to manage scheduling, payments, and members without unnecessary complexity.

Because Recess is built around simplicity, it may not offer the deep enterprise-level reporting or niche features large franchise chains require.

Mindbody

Mindbody is one of the most widely known platforms in the fitness industry. It's powerful, feature-rich, and integrates with a huge ecosystem of third-party tools and marketplaces.

Many owners mention high costs, upsells, and complexity. Setup and ongoing management can feel heavy for independent gyms.

Glofox

Glofox is popular with boutique gyms and functional fitness studios. Reviews highlight strong branding tools, a polished mobile app, and solid class-based scheduling.

Pricing is on the higher end, and some advanced features require additional configuration or higher tiers.

WellnessLiving

It's praised for its powerful marketing automation tools. If you want to create complex email sequences and marketing funnels, it's a very robust option.

All that power comes with a steeper learning curve. Some owners find the interface a bit overwhelming and the setup process time-consuming.

Zen Planner

Zen Planner has been around for a long time and is especially popular with CrossFit gyms and martial arts studios. Owners appreciate detailed reporting and niche features.

The interface feels dated compared to newer platforms, and costs tend to rise as membership numbers grow.

TeamUp

TeamUp consistently earns praise for excellent customer support and a clean, member-friendly booking experience. It works well for class-based studios.

It's less flexible for open-gym or hybrid business models that need more complex scheduling or billing logic.

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My Personal Take

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After reading hundreds of reviews and talking to gym owners, one thing is clear: more features don’t automatically mean better software.

Most independent gyms don’t need enterprise complexity. They need:

- Reliable scheduling

- Smooth payments

- Happy members

- Less time behind a screen

That’s why I keep coming back to Recess. It was built to solve real operational problems without adding friction. It’s fast to set up, easy to use, and removes cost as a barrier, which matters more than most people admit.

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Final Advice

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Read the gym management software reviews, but don’t stop there.

Sign up for demos or free trials. Click around. Add a class. Pretend you’re a member booking a session. The right platform should feel obvious, not confusing.

At the end of the day, the best gym software is the one that helps you spend less time managing systems and more time coaching people.

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