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Best BJJ gym management software, 7 compared (2026)
We run 2,987 BJJ academies on our directory and crawled their websites. The seven picks, what academies actually run, and what a real timetable demands.
The short version: the best BJJ academy software for most gyms is one of the martial-arts-first platforms, Mat Track (ours, and we say so everywhere it matters), Gymdesk or Kicksite, with Zen Planner for schools that want its module depth. BJJ is the most-softwared discipline we track, 30% of the 2,284 academy websites we crawled run detectable booking software against 22% across all martial arts, so the tools here are battle-tested and the differences are real. Every price below is from the vendor's own page, August 2026.
What 2,987 BJJ academies and 1,085 timetables tell us
We run the largest open directory of martial arts gyms, 2,987 BJJ academies among them, and in August 2026 we crawled their websites and read 1,085 published timetables, 20,000 classes in all. Three numbers should drive your software choice.
The median academy runs 16 classes a week. That is a heavier operation than most single-programme businesses, and it means check-in speed and schedule handling matter every single day, not just at setup. 54% of those classes start at 5pm or later, so your busiest hour hits when the front desk is thinnest; kiosk or self-scan check-in stops the evening rush becoming a queue. And 25% of all classes are kids' classes, which makes family billing, one payer, several students, different programmes, a first-order feature rather than a nice-to-have. Weekend classes add another 13%, so opening hours for support matter more than vendors like to admit.
One more finding for context: BJJ adopts software at a higher rate than any discipline we measure. Where karate and taekwondo schools show visible booking software on roughly one site in ten, BJJ academies show it on three in ten. This market has already voted; the chart below shows how.
Two honest blind spots in that chart. Platforms that leave no public footprint on a gym's own website, Mat Track and PushPress among them, cannot be detected this way, so the chart shows the detectable market, not the whole one. And 70% of academies showed nothing at all, which mostly means spreadsheets, and explains why every vendor in this guide is still growing.
The seven picks, priced from their own pages
Mat Track, built inside a BJJ academy
Ours, first, per our own disclosure rule, so weigh this entry knowing who wrote it. Mat Track exists because of the numbers above: it was built inside a jiu-jitsu academy around the things a BJJ timetable actually produces. Every member is watched against their own 60-day mat-time pattern, and the coach hears about a drop this week, not at cancellation; the reasons white belts vanish are their own study, ours is in why white belts quit BJJ. Ranks run across gi, no-gi and any second art, with stripe and belt criteria members read in the app, and the app itself, one-tap session logging, streaks, badges, leaderboards, an academy community feed, is included in every plan. Pricing: free up to 200 contacts, $99 Growth, $199 Pro, billed monthly, no platform transaction fees, as of August 2026.
Where it wins:
- Watches every member's mat time and flags the fade while a message can still bring them back.
- The member app is included in every plan and built to be opened between sessions, not just at booking time.
- Takes nothing from your payments on any plan, including the free one.
Where it falls short:
- No website builder, where Gymdesk includes one.
- The free plan caps at 200 contacts.
- The youngest platform in this guide, with the shortest track record.
Gymdesk, the academy default
The most-detected platform among BJJ academies, 213 of the 690 detectable installs, and the market's simplest bill: $75 to $200 a month by member count, every feature at every tier, website builder included, month to month, 4.8 on Capterra across roughly 150 reviews. The catches are consistent: the branded member app is $100 a month extra, rank tracking is basic for an academy running gi and no-gi ladders, and retention is a reports page you check rather than an alert that finds you.
Where it wins:
- One plain price by member count, with a website builder in the bundle.
- The largest BJJ install base, so peers and help are easy to find.
- Month to month, with no exit fee.
Where it falls short:
- The branded member app costs an extra $100 a month.
- Belt and rank tracking is basic for a two-ladder academy.
- You get reports to check, not alerts that tell you when a member is drifting.
The full switch case is on our Gymdesk switching page.
Zen Planner, the module veteran
Second among BJJ academies at 139 installs, with two decades of martial arts pedigree and the deepest belt-testing workflow of the big platforms. The bill is modular: the core runs $99 to $289 across eight member-count tiers, then the branded app ($39), website ($99) and Engage marketing ($249) stack on top, about $616 a month configured at 150 members. Capterra has it at 4.3 across 270 reviews, support widely praised, billing complaints, including charges after cancelling, the recurring theme. The full tier table is in our Zen Planner pricing breakdown.
Where it wins:
- Belt testing and promotion workflow refined over twenty years.
- A real website product from the same vendor.
- Deep reporting once configured.
Where it falls short:
- The configured bill climbs fast: core plus the app, website and marketing modules reaches about $616 a month.
- The price jumps steeply each time your member count crosses a tier.
- Its own reviewers complain about billing, including being charged after cancelling.
Kicksite, the belt specialist
Effectively tied with Zen Planner among BJJ academies at 138 installs, and the purest belt-administration tool here: custom rank curricula, testing events, one-click promotion of eligible students, $49 to $199 with everything at every tier, 4.8 on Capterra across roughly 130 reviews. Students reach it through a mobile web portal rather than a native app, and its automation chases invoices, not attendance.
Where it wins:
- The best belt-testing and grading administration in the market.
- Flat, published pricing with nothing gated by tier.
- A loyal, long-standing school base.
Where it falls short:
- Students get a website to log into, not a real app on their phone.
- Nothing watches attendance for you; spotting a fading member is still your job.
- The feature set thins out once you step outside belt administration.
Wodify, the performance-tracking option
Wodify's martial arts base is overwhelmingly BJJ, 32 of the 47 installs we detected across all disciplines, and its at-risk member flags and workout tracking are genuinely strong. The buying is the weak point: Essentials lists at $199 a month per location (promoted at $99 with a demo as of August 2026), belt tracking sits in the unpriced Accelerate and Ultimate tiers, cards process from 2.7% plus 30 cents, and there is an onboarding fee of undisclosed size. Capterra: 4.5 across roughly 150 reviews, price the recurring reservation.
Where it wins:
- Real at-risk member identification, rare in this market.
- The strongest workout and performance tracking here.
- A genuine BJJ community of users.
Where it falls short:
- The belt and rank features sit in tiers with no published price, so you find out the cost on a sales call.
- It takes a cut of every card payment, from 2.7% plus 30 cents.
- There is an onboarding fee, and the amount is not published.
The one-to-one case is on our Wodify switching page.
PushPress, the transparent generalist
Everything published, down to the processing rates: Free at $0 with unlimited members on a 4.99% plus 30 cents card rate, Pro at $159 and Max at $229 at 2.89%, rank tracking in the paid tiers, 4.7 on Capterra across roughly 190 reviews. For an academy also running strength classes it is a serious option; do the card-volume arithmetic first, the free plan stops being the cheap option near $7,600 a month in card takings, per our PushPress pricing breakdown.
Where it wins:
- Every price is public, down to the processing rates.
- A real free tier with unlimited members.
- Polished, modern software.
Where it falls short:
- The free plan's 4.99% card rate gets expensive once you take real money by card.
- Belt and rank tracking needs the $159 Pro tier.
- Built for functional fitness first; martial arts is a side room, not the main hall.
MAAT, the flat-fee minimalist
The budget option with one honest line and one quiet one: $59 a month ($49 billed annually) for unlimited members, plus 1% of transactions on top of Stripe's fees. At $8,000 a month of payments that is about $139 in practice, and the percentage grows with your revenue forever. It has no verified Capterra review base as of August 2026, worth knowing when the rest of this list carries hundreds of reviews each.
Where it wins:
- One-line pricing, unlimited members at $59.
- Month to month, cancel anytime.
- A simple app students take to quickly.
Where it falls short:
- The 1% cut of your payments grows with your revenue, forever.
- No verified review base at all.
- Nothing watches attendance for you; spotting a fading member is still your job.
How to choose software for a BJJ academy
Start from your own timetable, not a feature list. Count your weekly classes against the median of 16, check what share lands in the 5pm-to-9pm rush, and count the kids' classes; those three numbers tell you whether check-in speed, family billing or programme-level attendance is your binding constraint. Then apply the retention question, because in BJJ the quiet quitters are the business: whichever platform you shortlist, ask exactly how you would learn that a blue belt who trained three times a week is down to one. If the answer is "run a report", you will not run it; the arithmetic of catching that fade early is in our gym member retention guide. Finally, price the configured bill, plan plus app plus any percentage of payments, at your member count, from the vendor's own page. All seven above publish enough to do that in an evening, and ours is at mattrackapp.com/gyms.