No monthly fee · No tiers · No add-ons

Recess is free for your studio.

Every feature, from the first day. Members cover a service fee of about 5% at checkout, and that is the whole of it. Move the slider to your own numbers.

Book a demo

The whole of it

Who pays what.

Most studio software charges you a monthly licence and then charges a card rate on top of it. Recess charges the studio nothing and earns from a service fee the member pays at checkout.

storefrontYour studio pays $0

Per month, per location, forever. No setup fee, no tier to upgrade into, no add-on for the branded app, and no charge for text messages.

receipt_longYour members pay about 5%

A service fee added at checkout and shown to them before they pay. Card and bank processing comes out of that fee rather than being billed to you separately.

paymentsCash carries nothing

Payments you take in cash or by cheque and record yourself carry no fee at all.

One plan

What the free plan includes.

All of it. There is one product, no tiers, and nothing held back for a bigger account.

calendar_monthScheduling

Classes, appointments, courses, seasons and open gym, with waitlists that refill themselves.

credit_cardBilling

Memberships, class packs and drop-ins side by side, with failed payments retried automatically.

family_restroomFamily accounts

Several children under one payer, one bill and one login, each holding a different product.

phone_iphoneYour own app

In the App Store and Google Play under your studio's name, not ours, and not sold as an add-on.

workspace_premiumProgression

Belts, stripes and testing on a ladder you define, or skills and levels for gymnastics.

groupsStaff and payroll

Clock in, and coach pay worked out per class, per head or per appointment.

group_addRefer a friend

Every member gets their own referral link, and you can see who sent whom and what it was worth.

reviewsInstructor reviews

Members rate the class and the coach afterwards, so you can see who is filling the room and who needs support.

smsMarketing and messaging

Including unlimited texting, with no charge per message.

import_exportMigration

From your current system, run with our team using your existing exports.

The arithmetic

How this compares to a monthly plan.

With a monthly plan the money leaves your account whether or not you had a good month, and a card rate is charged on top. With Recess nothing leaves your account, and the fee sits on the member's receipt instead.

account_balanceA typical monthly plan

Published plans across the systems we compare run from about $49 a month for a small school to $599 a month per location for a mid sized studio, most of them banded by member count. A branded app is usually an add-on priced separately, and card processing is charged on top.

check_circleRecess

Nothing a month, at any member count, at any number of locations. The branded app is included, and processing is covered inside the fee the member pays. Grow from 40 members to 400 and your bill from us is the same as it was.

fact_checkEvery figure is sourced

Each number we quote for another system was read on that company's own site, with the date checked. They are all set out on the comparison pages.

Honestly

When a monthly plan is the better buy.

We would rather say this here than have you find it out in month three.

Your members are unusually price sensitive

A service fee is visible at checkout. If a few dollars there would cost you sign-ups, weigh that honestly before you switch.

You are past roughly a hundred locations

At that size you need things Recess does not do yet, and you should buy something built for it.

You rely on marketplace discovery

Recess has no consumer marketplace sending walk-ins to your door. Mindbody does, and for some studios that is worth the bill on its own.

Questions

The things people ask first.

Does this work if we only run drop-in classes and memberships?

Yes, and that is most of what Recess runs day to day. Seasons, camps, belts and family billing are there the moment you want them and out of the way when you do not, so a pilates studio and a martial arts school can run on the same software without either one wading through the other's features.

Is Recess really free?

Yes. There is no monthly platform fee, no per-feature charge and no setup cost. Recess earns a service fee of about 5% paid by the member at checkout, and card and bank processing is covered by Recess out of that rather than billed to you on top.

Can it handle a ten week season with families in it?

Yes, and that is the part most platforms cannot do. A season is sold once as an enrollment, paid monthly or in full, with make-up credits, waitlists and a family account where several children on different programs are billed together.

Can I stop the wrong student booking into an advanced class?

Yes. Enrollment can be gated on rank, level, age or a tag, so a white belt cannot book into the black belt class and a Level 3 gymnast cannot book into Level 5. The rule is set once and applies everywhere.

Do members get their own app?

Yes. Every studio gets a branded client app in its own name and colors, and it can be published to the App Store and Google Play under your own listing. Members book, pay, message, watch video on demand and follow their own progress.

How long does switching take?

It depends on how much history you have, but our team runs it rather than handing you an importer. Your old system stays live while we load and check everything, and nothing changes for your members until you are ready.

What does Recess integrate with?

ClassPass, Wellhub, Kisi door access, QuickBooks, Zoom, JackedRabbit, CAP for CrossFit programming, and Meta and Google advertising.

See it on your own classes.

A real walkthrough with someone who knows the software, at a time that suits you. No slide deck, and nothing to cancel afterwards.

Book a demo