Recess vs iClassPro
iClassPro was built for children's activity centers, and in gymnastics and swim it has been the default answer for a long time. Nobody needs telling that it handles enrollment, camps and families. It does. What is worth a second look is which parts of it sit behind the second and third plan, and the fifty cents it takes on every single transaction.
Every iClassPro claim on this page was read on iClassPro's own website on 30 August 2026, their published card rates included, and is sourced at the bottom.
Recess has no monthly platform fee, no per feature add-ons and no setup cost. It earns a service fee of approximately 5% paid by the member at checkout, and card and bank processing is covered by Recess out of that fee.
Recess is not built for networks past about a hundred locations. iClassPro sells an Enterprise tier above its three published plans, and at that size we would tell you so on the first call.
Who each one suits, plainly. If your season runs on camp blocks, makeup tokens and a skill tree your coaches already know by heart, iClassPro does all of that today and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. If it has started to grate that private lessons sit on the second plan, that analytics sits on the third, and that your gym's own app in the App Store costs $499 to set up and $150 every month after that, keep reading.
What is included, and what sits behind the next plan.
iClassPro publishes more than most of this category, its card processing rates included, and every figure in the right hand column is one of theirs. Plans and plan contents change without notice, so check anything here that matters to your decision.
Their camp and session machinery was written by people who have watched a gym run a summer. Camp blocks carry an alias label so a parent picks mornings or full days rather than reading a list of times, priority registration dates are set per camp, opening counts move while a parent is browsing, a whole group enrolls in one workflow, blocks duplicate and cancel in bulk, and a camp can be hidden from the portal and enrolled by direct link. That is a decade of watching front desks, and it is on every plan.
The skill trees are the same story. You build the tree, a coach evaluates a whole class on one screen from a tablet on the floor, and the progress report and the certificate reach the parent without anyone printing anything. If that is what your season runs on, it works today and nothing further down this page outweighs it.
Your gym's own app, in the App Store, under your own name, included. On iClassPro the Branded App is an optional add on at $499 to set up and $150 a month, on top of whichever plan you are on. You also supply your own Apple and Google developer accounts and a DUNS number, and their fees are yours. Without it your families download an app called iClassPro. On Recess every studio gets its own listing on the Apple App Store and Google Play under its own name, logo and colors, from day one, at no cost.
And every feature, free, permanently. On iClassPro's own plan grid, private lessons and party booking are off the $139 plan. The analytics dashboard, the integrated website and next day funding are Premium only, at $299 per location per month on a twelve month commitment. Texts are metered per credit on top of all three plans, and extra analytics seats are $19 a month each. On Recess there is nothing to upgrade to, because there is nothing above what you already have.
The plan fee is not the floor.
Start with the credit, because it is deserved. iClassPro publishes its plan prices plainly, and it publishes its card processing rates, which almost nobody else in this category does. You can work out most of your bill before you ever speak to a salesperson. That is unusual and it is worth saying out loud.
The plans are $139, $199 and $299 a month, per location, and Premium carries a twelve month commitment. Per location matters more than it looks: two gyms is two subscriptions, even though locations inside one account share their family list, ledgers, staff and gateway accounts. One wrinkle worth knowing, their FAQ page still lists Signature at $129 while their pricing page lists $139. This page uses the pricing page figure.
Which plan you are really comparing depends on what you teach. Their own grid marks five items off Signature: Party Booking Management, Appointments and Private Lessons, Next-Day Funding, the Integrated Website and Pro Insights. If you run private lessons or birthday parties, the honest comparison is Elite at $199, not Signature at $139. If you want the analytics dashboard or the website from the same vendor, it is Premium at $299 per location per month on a twelve month term.
Then the lines that sit beside the plan. Outbound texts are three cents a credit in the US and Canada and more elsewhere, and a long message uses more than one credit. The Branded App is $499 to set up and $150 a month, with Apple and Google developer fees yours on top. Pro Insights is $19 a month for every seat past the first. The Integrated Website comes with Premium, but a professionally built one starts at $899 and professional services run $150 an hour.
The number to look at is the fifty cents, not the 2.9%. On a $100 season payment their fee is $3.40 and the percentage does most of the work. On a $22 punch pass it is $1.14, and the fixed half dollar is nearly half of that. If a lot of your volume is small, a pro shop sale, a drop in fee, a party deposit, model the per transaction fee before you model the rate.
And you cannot shop it. Their payment services page puts it plainly: iClassPro requires customers to use our integrated payment processing services. Their FAQ says processing online payments for US accounts requires the iClassPro Payment Services gateway. All Payment Services accounts are required to use iClassPro approved payment equipment, so the card readers come from them too. Processing fees are deducted from each settlement amount before the money reaches your bank, standard funding takes two to three business days, and next day funding is a Premium feature.
Recess is one number. Approximately 5%, paid by the member at checkout, with card and bank processing covered by Recess out of it. Nothing is billed to the gym, at any volume, on any feature.
That is not automatically cheaper for you, and we would rather say so than have you find out. A flat $139 a month is $139 whether you bill $8,000 or $80,000. If you would rather absorb the cost yourself and keep the checkout total clean for parents, that is a different trade and a defensible one. Do the arithmetic on your own volume before believing anyone, us included.
Two practical notes if you do move. iClassPro bills monthly in advance and does not prorate, so plan a cancellation for just before your bill date, and Premium customers are committed to a full one year term. And export what matters first: their FAQ says active account information is held for only 60 days after cancellation.
Run it against your own month.
This uses Signature at $139, their cheapest plan, so it understates what a gym running private lessons or parties would pay. Card processing is their own published 2.9% plus $0.50 a transaction, at an assumed average sale of $60, which is the one assumption on this page. It leaves out text credits, the branded app, extra analytics seats and everything on Elite and Premium, so their real total is higher than the figure shown, never lower.
Your members pay a service fee of approximately 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 showing it this way is the point.
What owners ask before they move a season across.
Really free, permanently, with every feature included. There is no plan to choose, no setup fee and nothing waiting on a higher tier. Recess earns a service fee of approximately 5% paid by the member at checkout, and card and bank processing is covered by Recess out of that fee rather than billed to your gym on top.
In specific places, yes, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. iClassPro has spent longer than we have on camp registration and it is deeper in particular spots: alias labelled camp blocks, per camp priority registration dates, mass duplication and cancellation of blocks, hidden camps that enroll by direct link. Recess runs camps, seasons and terms, afterschool, tournaments, waitlists, make-up credits and family billing, and adds enrollment gating on rank, skill, prerequisite or age so the wrong child cannot book the wrong class in the first place. Bring us the three most awkward registrations of your last summer and make us show you, rather than taking a web page's word for it.
On the date checked: $139, $199 and $299 a month per location, with Premium on a twelve month commitment. Beside that sit three cents per outbound text credit in the US and Canada, $499 and then $150 a month for the branded app, $19 a month per extra analytics seat, a $10 monthly gateway fee, and card processing at 2.9% plus $0.50 a transaction. Check their pricing page yourself before you sign anything. Prices change and we are not the right source for their numbers.
They publish it, which is to their credit: 2.9% on Visa, Mastercard and Discover, 3.5% on American Express, 1% on eCheck, and $0.50 on every transaction, for the US and Canada. Alongside it sit a $10 monthly gateway fee, a $10 monthly eCheck fee, a $25 chargeback fee, a $5 eCheck return fee, a 1% foreign card fee and a $1 voice authorization fee. US accounts are required to use iClassPro Payment Services, so the rate is not one you can negotiate away by moving processor, and processing fees are deducted from each settlement before the money reaches your bank.
No. There is one version of Recess. Two way messaging by text and email, automated sequences, campaigns, lead capture, client referral rewards, reporting, staff records, payroll, multiple locations and your gym's own branded app on the Apple App Store and Google Play are all in it, with no per message charge, no setup fee and no tier to reach first.
Yes. The migration is automated and our team runs it, so nobody at your gym manages a project. Families and their contact details, students and the relationships between them, skills and ranks, attendance history and billing information all come across. We do the same from Jackrabbit, PerfectMind, Amilia and other systems, and that list is not the limit. Ask us for a test import of your own data first, and check the first cycle of recurring tuition once it is in.
Yes, and in more than one way. If birthday parties are a serious revenue line, their Party Booking Management is purpose built, with party spaces, packages carrying a package fee, an optional deposit, additional guest pricing and paid add ons. Recess runs parties as events with registration and fees, which is not the same thing. If you want your website and your registration from one vendor, they build one and we do not. If your front desk has years of muscle memory in it, that speed is worth money and any switch costs you a training season. And past about a hundred locations we are the wrong answer outright, whoever you compare us to.
Recess, and it is not a close call. Every feature is included from day one, so a gym that has not taken its first enrollment gets the same software as one with six hundred students, its own app in the App Store included. On a tiered platform the things a new gym reaches for first, private lessons, parties, analytics and a website, are exactly the things sitting on the plan above the one you were quoted.
Every iClassPro claim on this page was read on iClassPro's own website on 30 August 2026. Nothing came from a review site, a roundup or a summary. Prices and plan contents change without notice, so verify anything that matters to your decision.
1. Pricing page, www.iclasspro.com/iclasspro-pricing, read 30 August 2026. Signature $139, Elite $199 and Premium $299 per month per location, Premium on a twelve month commitment. The plan grid marking Party Booking Management, Appointments and Private Lessons, Next-Day Funding, Integrated Website and Pro Insights as excluded from Signature, and the first two as included from Elite. SMS at $0.03 a credit for the US and Canada, $0.06 for the United Kingdom, $0.08 plus an additional monthly fee for Australia and $0.12 for New Zealand, with credits counted by character. Branded App at $499 setup plus $150 a month. Pro Insights with one seat on Premium and $19 a month for each additional seat. Website Kickstart Package starting at $899.
2. Payment Services pricing, www.iclasspro.com/payments-pricing, read 30 August 2026. This is the page linked from the Payment Services line on their pricing page. Discount rate 2.9% for Visa, Mastercard and Discover, AmEx 3.5%, eCheck 1%, per transaction fee $0.50, Automatic Card Updater free. Other charges listed as a $10 monthly gateway fee, a $10 monthly eCheck fee, a $25 chargeback fee, a $5 eCheck return or rejection fee, a 1% foreign card fee and a $1 voice authorization fee. Marked pricing for US and Canada only.
3. Payment Services page, www.iclasspro.com/payment-services, read 30 August 2026. iClassPro requires customers to use our integrated payment processing services. All Payment Services accounts are required to utilize iClassPro approved payment equipment. Processing fees are deducted from each settlement amount before depositing funds into your account. Standard merchant funding times take 2 to 3 business days.
4. FAQs page, www.iclasspro.com/iclasspro-faqs, read 30 August 2026. Support hours of Sunday 3pm to midnight Central, Monday to Thursday 9am to midnight and Friday to Saturday 9am to 6pm, with eight holiday closures listed. Subscription charged per location with unlimited families, students, classes, camps and enrollment history, and locations within one account sharing families, students, parent portal logins, ledgers, staff and gateway accounts. SMS at $0.03 per credit. Processing online payments for US iClassPro accounts requires the use of iClassPro Payment Services gateway. As a general rule iClassPro does not offer refunds and does not prorate; billing is monthly in advance; Premium customers are committed to a full one year term; active account information is held for 60 days after cancellation. Unlimited concurrent logins, User Groups, Advanced Permissions and an audit log. Note: this page lists Signature at $129 while the pricing page lists $139, and this page uses the pricing page figure.
5. Camps page, www.iclasspro.com/camps, read 30 August 2026. Camp blocks with alias labels, priority registration dates per camp, opening counts for camps and blocks, group camp enrollment, mass duplication of camps, mass cancellation of camp blocks, direct link to enrollment, hidden camp registration, waitlists, and multi block and multi student discounts.
6. Skill Tracking page, www.iclasspro.com/skill-tracking, read 30 August 2026. Custom skill trees, evaluating an entire class on one screen from a tablet or phone in the staff portal, custom certificates with layout and branding options, and customizable progress reports parents view in the parent portal.
7. Autopilot page, www.iclasspro.com/autopilot, read 30 August 2026. Sixteen preset workflows, event driven and scheduled, across payments and billing, enrollments and classes, policy acceptance, and birthdays and parties, by email, SMS and push, listed as available on all iClassPro plans: Signature, Elite, Premium and Enterprise.
8. Communications page, www.iclasspro.com/communications, read 30 August 2026. The 2-Way Texting Inbox in the office portal, one chronological conversation view, mass text replies routed back into the inbox, open and closed states for staff, automatic opt out handling, and push notifications to the iClassPro app or the branded app.
9. Branded App page, www.iclasspro.com/branded-app, read 30 August 2026. One time setup fee of $499 plus $150 per month, a standalone app in the App Store and Google Play under your organization's name, typically ready within 2 to 4 weeks, requiring access to your organization's own Apple Developer and Google Developer accounts and a DUNS number, with Apple and Google developer account fees the customer's responsibility.
10. Pro Insights page, www.iclasspro.com/proinsights, read 30 August 2026. An integrated analytics dashboard described as available exclusively with the Premium Plan, one seat included with Premium and additional seats at $19 a month per seat.
11. Integrated Websites page, www.iclasspro.com/websites, read 30 August 2026. DIY website included with the Premium plan with access to fifteen layouts, Kickstart Package starting at $899, professional services and custom builds at $150 an hour, a typical ten to fifteen page site quoted at 60 to 70 hours, and multi location websites requiring each location on Premium at $299 per location per month with a twelve month commitment.
12. Party Booking Management page, www.iclasspro.com/party-booking-management, read 30 August 2026. Party spaces, schedules, custom packages with a package fee, optional deposit and additional guest pricing, and custom paid add ons, at no extra cost with the Elite, Premium and Enterprise plans.
13. Customer Portal page, www.iclasspro.com/customer-portal, read 30 August 2026. Parents creating and managing accounts and adding sibling profiles, enrolling in classes, camps, events and private lessons, and submitting drop, transfer and absence requests. Also the line that with the optional Branded App your families can find your brand in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
14. Features index, www.iclasspro.com/iclasspro-features, read 30 August 2026, used for the two statements of absence on this page. Their published feature list is Communications, Pro Insights, QuickBooks on Autopilot, Autopilot, Class Management, Events and Camps, Appointments, Integrated Websites, Point of Sale, Skill Tracking, Customer Portal, Payments, Branded App, Party Booking Management, Time Clock, Attendance, Dashboard, Calendar, Kiosk, Enrollment Wizard, Branded Customer Portal, the iClassPro App, Makeups, SMS/Text and Automatic Card Updater. No lead capture form, lead pipeline, payroll product or automated substitute finding appears on it. That is a statement about what they publish, not a claim about what their software cannot be made to do. Ask them on the demo.
Assumptions. There is one on this page, and it appears only in the calculator: an average sale of $60, used to turn a monthly revenue figure into a count of transactions so that iClassPro's own published $0.50 per transaction fee can be applied. Every other iClassPro figure here is one they publish themselves. The calculator uses Signature, their cheapest plan, and leaves out text credits, the branded app, additional analytics seats, the eCheck and chargeback fees and everything that sits on Elite or Premium. Their real total is therefore higher than any figure shown here, never lower. Claims about Recess describe Recess's own product, and progression is the newest part of it.