Recess vs Jackrabbit Class
Jackrabbit Class is a long established youth program system for gymnastics, dance, swim, cheer and music, and its registration depth is real. The difference is not whether it runs programs. It does, properly. The difference is what it costs you as your student count grows, and which parts of it are included when it does.
Every Jackrabbit claim on this page was read on Jackrabbit's own website and help center on 30 August 2026, and is sourced at the bottom.
Recess has no monthly platform fee, no per student pricing 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 chains past about a hundred locations. Jackrabbit has an Enterprise tier aimed at exactly that, and we would tell you so on the first call.
Who each one suits, plainly. If what you want is the registration workflow your front desk already knows by heart, Jackrabbit is the safe answer and this page is not going to talk you out of it. If it has started to bother you that the bill goes up every time you enroll another child, or you want your own app in the App Store without paying for the tier that carries it, keep reading.
Where a program gym actually feels the difference.
Jackrabbit publishes more of its pricing than most of this category, and every figure in the right hand column is theirs. The one thing they do not publish is a card processing rate. Prices change, so check anything here that matters to your decision.
Jackrabbit has spent a very long time on one problem, enrolling children in classes, and it shows in the details. Policies attach to a class, a session, a level or a program, so a parent agrees only to what applies to their child. Parents book their own makeups and future absences inside the rules you set. Skills are defined per level, tracked in class, and go home as a progress report with your logo on it.
If your front desk runs on that depth, that is a real reason to stay, and nothing further down this page outweighs it. Every Jackrabbit subscription also includes free data imports, a product coach, unlimited support and a 90 day money back guarantee.
Your own app, in the App Store, under your own name, included. On Jackrabbit the branded app is Jackrabbit Plus, a bundle with its own published tier table running from $93 to $331 a month depending on student count, plus a one time non refundable setup fee of $169 and app store fees. On Recess every studio gets one, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play under its own listing, from day one, at no cost.
And every feature, free, permanently, however many children you enroll. Jackrabbit bills on your total student count, active and inactive, so growth raises the bill. The Business Intelligence Dashboard sits on Enterprise at $245 a month. Texting is metered on top and their own guidance restricts it to transactional alerts. Marketing automation runs through a CRM you buy from a partner. On Recess a gym with sixty students runs the same software as one with six hundred, and that number never changes what it costs.
What it costs once you have three hundred students.
Jackrabbit is more open about price than most of this category, and that is worth saying. The subscription is tiered on your total student count. Jackrabbit Class starts at $49 a month, though only that starting price is published and not the rest of the Class table. The Jackrabbit Plus table, the bundle that carries the branded app, is published in full and is reproduced below. Enterprise, which adds the Business Intelligence Dashboard, is $245 a month, or $331 with the app.
How the count is taken matters more than the table does. Their help center states that the fee is based on the total number of Active and Inactive students in the system, and that the count is taken on a random day between the 25th and the end of the month, so the bill can move month to month. It also explains how to bring it down: move families you no longer need to the Lead File, or place inactive students in an active family On Hold. That is a real lever, and it is also an admin job that exists because of how the price is set.
Do the fees stack? Some of them do, and Jackrabbit says so itself. Their partner marketplace states plainly that integrating with partners incurs fees set by the partner, and that Jackrabbit Plus and Twilio fees appear on your monthly Jackrabbit bill while all other partner fees are billed separately. Texting is the clearest example: a one time setup fee of up to $69.00, a monthly base of $4.90 per number, and $0.02 for every message sent and received, all in addition to the subscription.
Jackrabbit does not publish a card processing rate. Their ePayments page describes traditional or flat rate plans with no monthly fee, but carries no percentage. Their help center refers to the rate and per transaction fee in your Jackrabbit Pay agreement, and their surcharging article says Jackrabbit sets your surcharge based on your credit card processing rate. Because no rate is published, this page does not put a number on it anywhere, and no processing cost is counted in the calculator below. Ask them for their rate in writing before you sign anything.
Recess is one thing at one price. No plan to choose, no student count, 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, and card and bank processing is 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. Your families pay a little more at checkout instead of you paying a subscription. If you would rather absorb the cost yourself and keep the checkout total clean, a fixed monthly fee is a different trade and a defensible one. Do the arithmetic on your own numbers before believing anyone, us included.
Put your own student count in.
This uses Jackrabbit's own published Jackrabbit Plus table, the tier that includes the branded app, because Recess includes an app too. It leaves out card processing, since they publish no rate, and it leaves out the one time $169 setup fee and the up to $69.00 texting setup fee. Their real total is therefore higher than the figure shown, not 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 the point of showing it this way is that you can see both sides of it.
What gym and studio owners ask before they move.
Actually free, permanently, with every feature included. There is no plan to choose, no student count to bill against 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 by Recess out of that fee rather than billed to you on top.
In places, yes, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Jackrabbit has spent longer than we have on class registration and it is deeper in specific spots: policies attached to a session or a level so a parent agrees only to what applies, parent scheduled makeups and future absences inside rules you set, skills defined per level that go home as a progress report with your logo on it. Recess covers programs, seasons, camps, waitlists, make-up credits and family billing, and adds enrollment gating on rank, skill, prerequisite or age. Bring us your three most awkward registration cases and make us show you, rather than taking this page's word for it.
Not on Recess. There is no student count anywhere in the pricing, so an extra child costs you nothing. On Jackrabbit the fee is set by your total number of Active and Inactive students, taken on a random day between the 25th and the end of the month, and their help center explains how to bring the count down by archiving families to the Lead File or placing inactive students On Hold.
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 own branded client app published to the App Store and Google Play under your own listing are all in it, with no per message 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. Students, ranks, attendance history and billing information come across. We do the same from iClassPro, The Studio Director, DanceStudio-Pro, PerfectMind and Amilia, and that list is not the limit.
Yes. If your office runs on the specific registration depth Jackrabbit has built and your team is fluent in it, the cost of switching is real and the case for moving is weak. If you are a large multi-site organization whose central problem is comparing KPIs across locations, that is precisely what their Enterprise tier exists for. 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, including its own app in the App Store. There is no plan to outgrow and no per student bill arriving before the students do.
No. Nine hundred students across three sites is squarely who Recess is built for, and there is no per student fee to worry about at that size. The size we are wrong for is the other end, past about a hundred locations, where centralized franchise tooling matters more than anything on this page.
Every Jackrabbit claim here was read on Jackrabbit's own website and help center on 30 August 2026. Nothing came from a review site, a roundup or a summary. Prices and features change, so verify anything that matters to your decision.
1. Jackrabbit Class pricing page, jackrabbitclass.com/pricing, read 30 August 2026. The $49 and $93 starting prices, the $245 and $331 Enterprise prices, tiering on total student count at the end of each month, the $169 non refundable Jackrabbit Plus setup fee, free data imports, product coach, unlimited support, the 90 day money back guarantee, and the FAQ stating that partner rates are set by the partner and that all partner fees other than Jackrabbit Plus and Twilio are billed separately.
2. Jackrabbit Plus page, jackrabbitclass.com/jackrabbit-plus, read 30 August 2026. The full published tier table of $93, $146, $198, $240, $293 and $331 a month by student band, monthly billing on the number of students in your database at the end of each month, the one time $169 setup fee plus app store fees, and the note that a branded app is typically ready within 30 days of upgrading.
3. ePayments feature page, jackrabbitclass.com/features/billing-payment-processing/epayments, read 30 August 2026. Traditional or flat rate plans with no monthly fee, next day payout, and the absence of any published rate.
4. Partner Marketplace, jackrabbitclass.com/partner-marketplace, read 30 August 2026. That integrating with partners incurs fees set by the partner, and the partner list covering payments, Express Payroll, QuickBooks, Zapier, Spot TV live streaming, LEAP! Learning and four CRM partners.
5. Help center, Jackrabbit Subscriptions, Monthly fees and billing, jackrabbittech.zendesk.com article 54382810366867, read 30 August 2026. The fee is based on the total number of Active and Inactive students, the count is taken on a random day between the 25th and the end of the month, the fee may vary month to month, and the Lead File and On Hold routes for reducing it.
6. Help center, Text messaging with Jackrabbit and Twilio, article 48710612819987, read 30 August 2026. A one time setup fee of up to $69.00, a monthly base fee of $4.90 covering a $1.50 campaign fee and a $3.40 long code number lease per number, $0.02 for each message sent and received, charges in addition to the Jackrabbit subscription, and the restriction to transactional alerts only with marketing or promotional content strictly prohibited.
7. Help center, Jackrabbit Pay Surcharging, article 54617895836563, read 30 August 2026. Jackrabbit sets your surcharge based on your credit card processing rate, surcharges apply to Visa, Mastercard and Discover credit cards only, and the feature is unavailable in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Puerto Rico and Quebec.
8. Help center, Understand ACH (Bank Draft) payments with Jackrabbit Pay, article 53975589632787, read 30 August 2026. ACH payments are subject to the processing rate and per transaction fee in your Jackrabbit Pay agreement, and an $8.00 fee applies to each ACH late return.
9. Help center, CRM integration, An Overview, article 53570088618003, read 30 August 2026. CRM integration is designed for organizations that use a CRM built on the HighLevel platform, with Jackrabbit as the source of contact information and the CRM providing the tools to communicate and engage.
10. Help center, Export Time Entries for payroll, article 48819389675283, read 30 August 2026. Staff, Time Clock, Export to Payroll produces a CSV file, an email to Express Payroll, or a QuickBooks file.
11. Jackrabbit feature pages, read 30 August 2026: Student Skills Tracking (skills per level, the Skills Progress Report carrying your logo, renameable progress labels, automated parent emails on skill attainment), Parent and Family Experience (the Parent Portal covering account details, enrollment, messages, makeups, future absences and skill progress, plus self check-in and live streaming), Class Management (activity calendar with double booking protection, policies by class, session, level or program, staff portal attendance, parent scheduled makeups, private lessons) and Online Registration.
Assumptions. There are none in the competitor figures on this page. Every Jackrabbit number above is one they publish themselves. Where Jackrabbit does not publish a figure, which is the case for card processing, this page says so and counts nothing for it, including in the calculator. The calculator also leaves out the one time $169 app setup fee, app store fees and the texting setup fee of up to $69.00. Their real cost is therefore higher than any number shown here, never lower.