Mat Track vs 
Kicksite
The Kicksite alternative built for combat sports.
Kicksite does belts well and keeps pricing simple, and 17% of the software-running gyms in our 5,191-site crawl use it. Where it stops is the member's phone: a mobile web portal for bookings. Mat Track gives members a real app with streaks, badges and community, and gives you retention alerts instead of reports.
Every figure on this page checked against Kicksite's public pricing, August 2026.
The fair version first
What Kicksite is, honestly
Kicksite is martial-arts-first software with the cleanest belt tooling in the category: custom rank curricula, belt testing events, one-click promotion of eligible students, and a full promotion history. Pricing is simple and honest, from $49 a month for 25 students to $199 for 101 and up, all features at every tier. It was the third most-detected platform in our August 2026 crawl, on 17.4% of the 1,146 sites with identifiable software.
The gap is what students hold in their hand. Kicksite offers a mobile web portal rather than a native member app, and its automation is transactional: expiring memberships and past-due invoices. Mat Track's app is the retention engine itself, streaks students protect and badges they chase, and its alerts watch each member's own attendance pattern, not just their billing status.
Our data
What 5,191 gym websites told us about Kicksite
Our August 2026 crawl of 5,191 martial arts gym websites found identifiable booking software on 1,146. Kicksite held 17.4% of those installs, third behind Gymdesk and Zen Planner, and its base skews towards traditional schools: taekwondo, karate and family-programme academies. That pedigree shows in the product, and it is exactly the kind of school Mat Track's app tends to win over, because parents and teenagers live on their phones.
Share of the 1,146 sites with identifiable booking software, not of all gyms. The crawler reads public website signals only, so platforms that leave no public footprint on a gym's own site are not measured.
Side by side
Mat Track vs Kicksite at a glance
| Mat Track | Kicksite | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing and plans | ||
| Entry price | Free up to 200 contacts | $49/mo (up to 25 students) |
| Price at 150 students | Free, or $99/mo Growth | $199/mo (101+ tier) |
| Free plan | Yes, full features to 200 contacts | No; first 30 days free with a demo |
| All features at every tier | Yes | Yes |
| Member experience | ||
| Member app | Native app, included in every plan | Mobile web portal |
| Reasons to open it daily | Streaks, badges, leaderboards, challenges, community | Bookings and payments |
| Session logging by members | One tap in the app | Not advertised |
| Retention and coaching | ||
| Retention alerts | Each member vs their own 60-day pattern | Alerts for expiring memberships and past-due invoices |
| Disengagement tracking | Automatic flags, ranked by consequence | Attendance reports to review manually |
| Comeback flows | Comeback challenges built in | Manual |
| Martial arts fit | ||
| Belt and rank tracking | Multi-art ranks per member | Custom belt curricula, excellent |
| Belt testing events | Criteria-based gradings, visible in the app | Yes, with one-click promotions |
| Public gym page | Your page on an 11,000-gym directory | Not offered |
Sources: Kicksite's public pricing page and Mat Track's pricing, both checked August 2026.
The maths
The worked example: a 150-student school over a year
At 150 students Kicksite lands in its top tier at $199 a month, $2,388 a year. On Mat Track the same school fits Growth at $99 a month, $1,188 a year, with the native member app included, and if the roll is under 200 contacts the free plan covers it for nothing. The dollars matter less than the direction: as a school grows, Kicksite's bill steps up while Mat Track's stays flat until 500 contacts.
A native app, not a web portal
Kicksite's students reach a mobile web portal for bookings and payments. Mat Track's students get a real app: one tap logs a session, streaks build and get protected, badges land at milestones, and the community feed turns classmates into the friendships that keep people training. For schools full of teenagers and parents, the phone is where retention happens.
Alerts about people, not just invoices
Kicksite's automation tells you a membership is expiring or an invoice is past due, which is billing hygiene. Mat Track's alerts are about attendance: each member is watched against their own 60-day pattern, and the coach hears about a drop today, while a message still changes the outcome. Our retention guide covers why that timing is the whole game.
Belts are table stakes; both do them well
Kicksite's belt tooling is genuinely good, arguably the best-known in traditional martial arts, and we will not pretend otherwise. Mat Track matches the essentials, ranks, criteria and grading events, and adds the multi-art case: a student holding a taekwondo belt and a BJJ rank at once, each on its own ladder, visible in the app between gradings.
The rest of the toolkit
Also in Mat Track, so nothing is lost in the move
The front desk
- Kiosk and QR check-in. Members self-scan on the way in; the register fills itself.
- Class scheduling. Bookings, waitlists and capacity limits, synced to the member app.
- Digital waivers. Signed on a phone at the door, stored against the member, no paper.
- Guest passes. Members share a pass from the app, so trials walk in pre-registered.
The money
- Stripe and GoCardless billing. Cards and direct debits, with failed payments chased automatically.
- Family and group billing. One payer, several members, one invoice.
- Day passes and drop-ins. Paid at the door with QR entry and a waiver in the same flow.
- No platform transaction fees. You pay your processor's rate and nothing on top.
Keeping people
- Email and SMS inbox. Messages to members from the console, replies back in one place.
- Automations. Welcome sequences, missed-payment chases and comeback nudges on paid plans.
- Multi-location reporting. Every site on one screen, on Pro.
- Your page on the directory. A claimed profile on the 11,000-gym Mat Track directory, pointing searchers at your door.
Who moves
The gyms that switch from Kicksite
The school under 200 contacts
A dojo paying Kicksite $49 to $149 a month for a roll that fits inside Mat Track's free plan. Same core job, $0, and the native app comes with it.
The academy losing quiet students
Kicksite tells you about expiring memberships. It does not tell you the teenager who trained three times a week is down to one. Schools switch for alerts that watch attendance per student and surface the drop early.
The family-programme school
Parents managing three kids' schedules from one phone want an app, not a web portal. Family billing, shared guest passes and per-child rank ladders in the Mat Track app fit exactly this shape of school.
The part nobody else has
Practitioners in your area may already be on Mat Track
Mat Track is not just gym software; it is the app martial artists use to log their training, keep streaks and find somewhere to train on the 11,000-gym directory. That is a pool of active practitioners no other platform on this page can show you. Claim your gym's page and your timetable, trial offer and grading culture are in front of the people already searching your postcode.
Switching
What moving from Kicksite looks like
- Export students, memberships and billing from Kicksite (CSV exports from your student and financial lists).
- Import into Mat Track and invite students and parents to the app; recurring billing needs fresh consent, which the invite flow collects.
- Run both for one billing cycle, promote your next grading in Mat Track, then cancel Kicksite.
The honest bit
When Kicksite is the better pick
Pick Kicksite if belt administration is your single biggest pain and you want the tool with the deepest testing-event workflow, or if simple tiered pricing with every feature included appeals and your students do not care about an app. It is well-liked software with a loyal base for good reasons. Comparing the whole market rather than just us? Our best Kicksite alternatives roundup covers the field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mat Track cheaper than Kicksite?
Does Kicksite have a member app?
Is Kicksite better than Mat Track for belt tracking?
How long does switching from Kicksite take?
Can I try Mat Track while still on Kicksite?
More data-led comparisons from the same team: best muay thai gym software, best MMA gym software, best boxing gym software, Wodify vs PushPress and the retention guide behind our alerts.
Try the switch without the risk
Free up to 200 contacts, no card. Import your members, run one real week, and keep Kicksite until you are sure. And practitioners already log their training on the Mat Track app; claiming your gym's page puts your timetable in front of them.