Recess vs Club Automation
Club Automation is Daxko's club management platform, aimed at health clubs, tennis clubs and multi-site operators. It publishes no prices at all. It is also built for a bigger operation than most of the studios reading this, and that matters more than the price does.
Every Club Automation claim on this page was read on Club Automation's own website, and is footnoted below.
Recess has no monthly platform fee, no add-ons and no setup cost. It earns roughly 5% paid by the member at checkout, with card and bank processing covered by Recess out of that fee.
Recess is not built for chains past about a hundred locations. If that is you, Club Automation is a more sensible fit than Recess, and we would say so on the first call.
Who each one suits, plainly. Club Automation is for clubs with courts, pools, member services desks and several sites to run. Recess is for independent studios, schools and gyms. These two are not really competing for the same building.
Where the two actually differ.
Club Automation publishes no plan names, no prices, no card processing rates, no setup fees and no contract length. Everything here that concerns money comes from the absence of a figure.
They are not really our competitor, and pretending otherwise would waste your time. Club Automation is built for clubs, not studios. Courts, pools, member services desks, several sites and a front desk team. If that describes your building, they have spent years on problems Recess has never tried to solve.
Daxko behind them is a large, established company with the support organisation that a multi-site club needs. For an operation at that size, that is worth more than a published price list.
You are one studio, or a handful, and the software should not cost you anything. Recess has no plan fee at all, and every feature is included from day one. There is no tier to climb and no quote to negotiate.
And you want to know the price before the sales call. Club Automation publishes nothing. Recess publishes its whole model in one line: free for the studio, about 5% paid by the member at checkout, processing covered out of that.
What you actually pay.
Club Automation publishes no prices. Their site routes every cost question to Book a Demo or Try a Demo, and lists no plan names, no figures and no rate card.
That is normal for enterprise club software. Software sold to multi-site clubs is nearly always quoted rather than listed, because the deals differ by size and by what is included. It is not a criticism, it is the shape of that market.
What to ask for, in writing. The annual contract value, the card processing rate through Daxko Payments, the implementation or onboarding fee, the contract length and the renewal uplift. Those five numbers make a comparison possible.
Recess is one thing at one price. No plan to choose, no seat count, no setup fee, nothing behind a paywall and nothing to negotiate. Recess earns a service fee of about 5% paid by the member at checkout, and card and bank processing comes out of that fee rather than being charged on top.
Recess is one thing at one price. No plan to choose, no seat count, no setup fee, nothing behind a paywall inside the product. Recess earns a service fee of approximately 5% paid by the member at checkout, with card and bank processing covered by Recess out of that fee.
That is not automatically cheaper for you, and we would rather say so than have you find out. If you would rather absorb the cost yourself and keep the checkout total clean, a monthly subscription is a different trade. Do the arithmetic on your own volume before believing anyone, including us.
What Recess costs you.
There is nothing to put on the other side of this calculator, because Club Automation publishes no price. What it does show is the Recess side: no plan fee, no processing billed to you, at any volume.
Your members pay a service fee of about 5% at checkout on Recess, which is how the software is free for you. That is a real trade rather than a free lunch, and the point of this is that you can see both sides of it.
What owners ask when they are weighing this up.
Actually free, permanently, with every feature included. There is no plan to choose and nothing behind a higher tier. Recess earns a service fee of approximately 5% paid by the member at checkout, and card and bank processing is covered out of that rather than billed to you on top.
Often not. Club Automation is built for health clubs, tennis clubs and multi-site operators with a front desk team. Recess is built for independent studios, schools and gyms. If you are weighing these two against each other, the honest first question is which of those two descriptions fits your building.
No. There is one version of Recess and it includes messaging, sequences, campaigns, lead capture, reporting, staff, payroll, multiple locations and your own branded client app published under your own listing.
Daxko, based in Birmingham, Alabama. Their site also notes that Daxko is a registered agent of Citizens Bank, which is how their payments product is provided.
Recess, and it is not a close call. Every feature is included from day one and there is no plan fee to carry while you fill your first classes. Quoted enterprise club software is not something a new single-site studio needs.
Too small for Club Automation, almost certainly. Exactly right for Recess. Independent single-location studios are who Recess is built for, and there is no monthly fee to justify at that size.
Every Club Automation claim on this page was read on Club Automation's own website, not from review sites or summaries, on 3 October 2026.
Sources: the Club Automation home page, for the description of the platform, the Daxko Engage Pro and Daxko Payments products, the company's Birmingham address and the note that Daxko is a registered agent of Citizens Bank, and for the absence of any published pricing.
Where this page says a figure is not published, that means it was not stated anywhere on Club Automation's public site on the date above. Plan prices, card processing rates, setup fees and contract length all fall into that group.