Blog · For gyms · comparisons, pricing
Best free gym management software, what's really free (2026)
Five gym platforms still publish a $0 plan. How each one recovers its cost, the card volume where a cheap paid plan wins, and the trials on offer.
The short version: as of 1 October 2026, five gym platforms publish a $0 plan, each with a catch: PushPress Free charges 4.99% plus 30 cents on cards, Recess adds about 5% to your members' payments, CloudGymManager requires its own payment processor, and WodGuru and RhinoFit cap you at 10 and 20 members. Mat Track, which publishes this guide, ended its own free plan in October 2026. For a gym taking real money by card, a cheap paid plan often costs less than free.
Free plan or free trial: what each one tells you
A free plan is a tier you can run on forever at $0; a free trial is a countdown. A trial tells you whether you like the software, a free plan tells you whether your gym can operate on it without a subscription line in the budget. Many lists of "free gym software" blur the two. Gymdesk's pricing page shows no free plan as of 30 September 2026, only a 30-day trial; Momence's shows no prices at all as of 1 October; and Mat Track, ours, ended its free Starter plan in October 2026. Five published free plans remain.
PushPress Free is paid for through your card payments, so its real price rises with your revenue, while a flat subscription stays put. For a gym of about 40 members taking $5,000 a month by card, its premium is already larger than three published subscriptions that add nothing to processing.
PushPress Free, unlimited members at a 4.99% card rate
PushPress Free costs $0 a month with unlimited members, leads, admins and staff, but cards process at 4.99% plus 30 cents against 2.89% plus 30 cents on its $159 Pro tier and 2.75% on its $229 Max tier, as of 30 September 2026. That 2.1 point spread is the subscription in disguise: about $105 a month at $5,000 of card volume, $210 at $10,000, and at around $7,600 a month the premium costs more than simply buying Pro. The full arithmetic is in our PushPress pricing breakdown.
Where it wins:
- Unlimited members, leads, admins and staff at $0, with no time limit.
- Every rate is published, so the arithmetic above is checkable.
Where it falls short:
- The 4.99% card rate grows with your revenue until you upgrade.
- Belt and rank tracking went to Core Pro and Max in PushPress's April 2025 release note, not Free.
- Free support is self-serve and AI with a 48-hour response time; Pro and Max get live help.
Recess, no studio fee and about 5% charged to your members
Recess charges the studio nothing, per month and per location, with no tier to upgrade into, as of 1 October 2026. Members pay a service fee of about 5% at checkout, shown to them before they pay, and that fee covers card and bank processing. Cash and cheque payments you record yourself carry no fee. Recess's own pricing page is unusually candid that a monthly plan suits gyms whose members would mind a visible checkout fee.
Where it wins:
- Genuinely $0 to the gym, processing included, at any member count.
- Belts, stripes and testing on a ladder you define, listed on its pricing page.
Where it falls short:
- Your members see a fee of about $5 on every $100 they pay you.
- No consumer marketplace; Recess's own page says a platform with one can be worth its bill for gyms that rely on it.
CloudGymManager Free, paid for through its own payment processor
CloudGymManager's Free plan is $0 a month, with no setup fee and month-to-month terms, on one condition: your gym processes payments through its partner, Host Merchant Services, as of 1 October 2026. The page offers to match or beat your current processing rates rather than printing them, and lists Pro at $159 and Max at $229 a month for gyms that want more.
Where it wins:
- No software fee and no contract while you process through its partner.
- A promise to match your current processing rates, with next-day funding.
Where it falls short:
- The processing rates are not published, so you cannot price it without a quote.
- You have to move your payment processing to use the free plan.
WodGuru Free, no software fee for up to 10 members
WodGuru is free forever for up to 10 members, as of 1 October 2026. Its pricing page lists email and SMS automation and data migration without saying they are paid-only. Above 10 members it charges $1 per member, with a minimum of $49 and a maximum of $249 a month, and no transaction fee is mentioned.
Where it wins:
- No processing premium and no software fee up to 10 members.
- A simple per-member price once you grow, capped at $249.
Where it falls short:
- Ten members is a pre-launch or private-coaching size.
- A QR reader and a check-in kiosk are $9 a month each.
RhinoFit Start Up, free for 20 active users and $2,500 a month
RhinoFit's Start Up plan is $0 a month while you have 20 or fewer active users and log or process $2,500 or less a month in payments, as of 1 October 2026. RhinoFit says Start Up may restrict communications and payment processing, and the next plan, Standard, is $57 a month. Prices are in US or Canadian dollars depending on where you are.
Where it wins:
- The most generous free cap here, twice WodGuru's member limit.
- A small step up, $57 a month, when you outgrow it.
Where it falls short:
- Communications and payment processing may be restricted on the free plan.
- $2,500 a month in payments is about 20 members at $125 each, so the two caps arrive together.
Momence, quote-only as of October 2026
Momence's pricing page showed a $0 Basic plan when we checked on 30 August 2026. On 1 October 2026 it shows no plans or fees, only a form that says pricing is put together for each business, so treat it as quote-only. If a Momence rep offers you a free plan, ask for every fee in writing, including anything charged to your clients.
Mat Track, a 7-day trial and then $49 with no percentage of your payments
Ours, so weigh this accordingly. Mat Track had a free Starter plan for up to 200 contacts until October 2026, when we ended it. It now gives you a 7-day free trial with no card, then Starter at $49 a month for up to 100 active members, Growth at $99 for 101 to 250 and Pro at $199 for 251 to 500. Leads, trial members and lapsed members do not count towards the limit. Payments run through your own Stripe or GoCardless at their standard rates, and Mat Track adds no percentage on any plan. At $5,000 a month by card its $49 is less than PushPress Free's $105 premium.
Where it wins:
- No percentage of your payments, so the price on the page is the price you pay.
- The member app and multi-art rank tracking are in every plan, from the $49 Starter.
- Priced by active members, so a database full of old leads costs nothing.
Where it falls short:
- No free plan, and the 7-day trial is shorter than most rivals' 30 days.
- Retention alerts and automations start on Growth at $99, not Starter.
- No website builder or point of sale at any tier.
Cheap paid plans that cost less than free at real card volume
If you take money by card, the useful comparison is a free plan's premium against a flat subscription. These are the published entry plans as of 30 September 2026 (Mat Track as of October 2026); Mat Track, Martialytics and Gymdesk add no processing premium, the rest add one or set the processor:
- Mat Track Starter, $49 a month for up to 100 active members (ours).
- Martialytics, $69 for up to 50 students, then $99 to 100, every feature on every plan and standard Stripe rates.
- Gymdesk, $75 for up to 50 members, then $100 to 100, with a website builder in every tier.
- Kicksite, $49 for up to 25 students and $99 to 50, all features at every tier, with processing through its partner Basys at rates it does not publish.
- BJJLINK Black, $49 a month plus a 1% service fee, unlimited students.
- MAAT, one unlimited plan at $59 a month plus 1% of transactions.
For a gym of up to 50 members, measured against PushPress Free's 2.1 point premium, Mat Track's $49 (good to 100 active members) costs less above about $2,300 a month by card, Martialytics' $69 above about $3,300 and Gymdesk's $75 above about $3,600.
Free trials in gym software as of 30 September 2026
The other vendors here offer trials, not plans (Mat Track as of October 2026): Gymdesk 30 days with no card, from $75; Martialytics 30 days with no card, from $69; BJJLINK 30 days, from $49 plus a 1% fee; Kicksite 30 days with a demo, from $49 for up to 25 students; MAAT 7 days, then $59 plus 1%; and Mat Track 7 days, then $49. An earlier version of this guide listed a Gymdesk free plan; there is none now. Full Gymdesk context is in our Gymdesk pricing explained.
Choosing between a free plan and a cheap paid plan
Work out how much you take by card each month, then decide who should pay. Not yet open, or 20 active users and $2,500 a month or less: RhinoFit Start Up, or WodGuru up to 10 members. Members who will accept a visible checkout fee: Recess. Up to 50 members and little money by card: PushPress Free until about $2,300 a month (then Mat Track Starter, ours, good to 100 active members), $3,300 (Martialytics) or $3,600 (Gymdesk). Happy to move processors: get CloudGymManager's rates in writing and compare them with your statement. And remember the subscription is the small number; the case that keeping members pays for the software is in our gym member retention guide. Our own prices are at mattrackapp.com/gyms.