Looking for a Mindbody alternative?
Gymdesk is a modern, user-friendly, and easy-to-use alternative to Mindbody, that actually makes it easier to run and grow your gym.
See why gyms, martial arts schools, yoga studios and gymnastics gyms prefer Gymdesk to manage their business.
Try it for free
What Makes Gymdesk Better than Mindbody
Gymdesk
Mindbody
A Streamlined Member Profile
Modern visual design and information layout make it easy to review attendance, manage memberships and payments and get a complete picture of how members are doing.
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Gymdesk
Mindbody
Easy To Use Member Management
Spot issues quickly without being overwhelmed. Address expiring memberships, overdue payments and missing waivers with ease on your laptop or mobile device.
Create on demand reports using a variety of built-in and custom filters, and export to CSV or PDF for offline usage.
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Gymdesk
Mindbody
Member and Manager Friendly Attendance Tracking
Self service member check-in via a numeric code, name search, barcode scanner or QR codes - on any device.
Managers can backdate attendance quickly and efficiently with our mass check-in feature.
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Gymdesk
Mindbody
Billing And Reporting
Understand your cashflow in real time with visual charts and sophisticated filters. Access it from anywhere, on your smartphone, tablet or laptop.
Generate point-of-sale and membership payments, project revenue for the coming year, and review month-over-month member and revenue growth and churn in your gym.
Try it for freeGymdesk vs. Mindbody Online
| Gymdesk | Mindbody | |
|---|---|---|
Free Trial |
Gymdesk
30-day free trial with access to all features and full support. |
Mindbody
The only option is to book a demo with a sales person. |
Accessibility |
Gymdesk
Optimized for use on any device. Laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone, you choose. |
Mindbody
Runs primarily on desktops while providing an inferior experience on mobile devices. |
Pricing |
Gymdesk
Starts at $75 / month. All features included. |
Mindbody
Starts at $129 / month. Excludes optional add-on. |
Payment Processing |
Gymdesk
Integrates with Stripe, Square and Authorize.net to handle your membership payments and point-of-sale. Your payment processor stays separate and under your full control. |
Mindbody
Proprietary payment processing, and must connect with a Mindbody consultant for pricing. Payment information is held hostage should you want to switch to a different provider. |
Payment Processing Fees |
Gymdesk
Fixed rates that save you over 20% on membership payments. |
Mindbody
Variable rates that trigger higher rates for membership payments (off session payments). Learn more |
Ease of use |
Gymdesk
Easy-to-use software, with a modern look and feel. No training needed - but world class support available should you need it. |
Mindbody
30-day training to understand the software. Outdated user interface. Frustrating user flows. |
Fees as low as …% *
* For qualified paymentsYou’ve probably seen this before when evaluating processing costs – a low processing fee with phrasing such as “As low as…” or “starting at …”, ending with an asterisk.
Different transactions are charged different rates by the credit-card companies, depending on the type of card used and the potential risk of the transaction.
Payment gateways then roll those rates on to you with their own pricing scheme, often separating payments into classes of "qualified", "mid-qualified" and "non-qualified" payments. Qualified payments are charged the advertised “starting at…” rates, while non-qualified payments are charged increasingly higher rates depending on different factors (also known as three-tier pricing).
Recurring payments that are charged using a card on file automatically are charged the highest fees. For a membership based business, that means most of the transactions will be considered non-qualified and be subject to much higher fees.
Other charges can include setup fees, monthly fees, charge-back fees and more.
At Gymdesk we partnered with payment processor who offer simplified rates with that are optimized to online and recurring billing, and no monthly fees. Let's see how it compares to Mindbody's fees:
| Qualified | Non-qualified | Direct Debit | Monthly | Failures | |
| Mindbody | 2.75 % | 3.5 % + 15c | 1 % + 50c + 6$ / refund | $10 ACH | $7 per decline + $15 Chargeback |
| Gymdesk (Stripe) |
2.9% + 30c | 2.9% + 30c | 0.8% ($5 cap) | $0 | $15 / $0 chargeback |
To show how this adds up, we'll calculate it using a monthly payment volume of $12,000 in 100 transactions. We’ll assume 90 of these transactions are active members on recurring billing (i.e, offline transactions which are non-qualified), and 10 are new members which are swiped in where possible and, to keep it simple, don’t use rewards cards or other non-qualified cards.
We’ll also include 1 chargeback per month, which we defend successfully (Stripe will refund the chargeback fee if you defend it successfully).
| Qualified | Non-qualified | Failures | Total | |
| Mindbody | 10 x $120 x 2.75% = $33 |
90 x $120 x 3.5% + 15c x 90 = $391.5 |
10 declines x $7 + $15 chargeback = $85 |
$509.5 |
| Gymdesk (Stripe) |
10 x $120 x 2.9% + 30c x 10 = $37.8 |
90 x $120 x 2.9% + 30c x 90 = $340.2 |
No cost declines + $0 chargeback (defended) |
$378 |
More than $100 monthly difference in cost due to higher rates on most payments and additional fees. This is one of the reasons we integrate with Stripe and Square, as they work well for online payments and membership based businesses, and provide a better experience overall.
Why do users switch from Mindbody to
Gymdesk?
Mindbody was ridiculously expensive and did not care what so ever about small business. The martial arts version was nothing special and they had no plans to work on martial arts specific improvements.
Leigh-Ann Morris
Summit Martial Arts
MindBody was confusing. Using Gymdesk has made my life much easier. With Mindbody I had to spend hours on the phone and honestly just dreaded going in to the gym to work on the computer.
Molly Shields
Kaijin MMA
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Easy to Set Up, Easy to Use
We understand the pain of trying to use a product that wasn't designed properly. Delivering fancy features and advanced capabilities means nothing if the software is not easy to use.
That's why we spent years optimizing ours to provide you with the best experience possible and make running your business more efficient.
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Premium Feel, Premium Look
Forget the boring and outdated management software. Get started with our modern tool and give your gym that premium feel it deserves.
Impress your staff and members with a tool that matches your brand, in terms of quality and customer satisfaction.
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You Can Ask Us Anything- Really
As martial artists, fitness junkies and software developers - we built this product because you are our ideal customer. We will work with you to make sure our product fits your needs. Your success is our success.
Here’s Why Gyms Love
Gymdesk
Super useful to martial arts gym owners. I run a grappling gym, and the features are perfect for that.
Customer service is very responsive and guided me through the whole set-up process. The team is always adding new features and enhancements based on user feedback, and the product gets better every month.
I would recommend this software to anyone!
David Gorham
Colossal Fight Company
I tried so many products promising so much yet deliver so little and are difficult to learn and use.
With Gymdesk it was totally different - easy to set up, easy to use and members and staff love it.
We’re 6 months into using this software and so far I give it a perfect 10 out of 10.
Andrew Cameron
Wing Chun International
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The beautiful UI and overall feel of the software got us hooked.
There are a ton of great features, but the best thing is how their support team makes you feel when you sign-up. From the first day, if we have an issue or question, a developer or the founder get back to us almost instantly to get it resolved!
Gymdesk is one of the best decisions we’ve ever made for our business. Don’t think about too hard like we did in the past - sign-up now and see for yourself how amazing this software is!
Stephen Cruz
Kioto BJJ Chattanooga
Great value for a very reasonable price. The team is extremely responsive, and suggestions are made into new features all the time - sometimes on the SAME DAY.
You have everything you need to run a martial arts gym - membership management, attendance tracking, billing and recurring payments all for the same amount you would pay a third party JUST to collect money. Too much good stuff to list.
I haven’t dealt with a service this good and people this dedicated in over 20 years - it’s almost a little shocking to be honest.
Ray Effler
Livingstone Karate
After three years of avoiding the bigger companies and their products, we gave Gymdesk a try.
Any questions or issues we had were immediately addressed, and our feedback was quickly implemented to make the product an even better fit with our gym.
We’re now using Gymdesk at both our locations and are really happy with the software and the customer service.
Branden Guptill
Honu BJJ
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Our membership doubled within the first four months using this product - it was pretty incredible.
Easy to sign-up new students, easy to see payment history. Overall it’s very organized and easy to navigate. I love that our members can access their profile online.
Love this software!
Heidi Smith
Mission Submissions
The best software for a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school!
The developers are very helpful. If I have an issue, they answer right away! The product is simple to use to keep track of your students.
Gymdesk are doing a great job with their software, and I would recommend them to anyone out there!
Derrick Torres
Knights BJJ
All of our feedback was considered and thought through.
I considered 50+ other options and tried around 10 that were affordable. Gymdesk was in the top 3 - The thing that sold me was the customer service that has been incredible. They are quick to clarify, adjust, and improve if necessary.
I can recommend this software without reservation. They are not the cheapest, yet offer great value and definitely not the most expensive. Absolutely worth the money!
Franck Royer
UTS Jitsu
It was so easy to set-up our dojo! We got a member portal and a website at the same time. Billing members is extremely easy. Nothing but good things to say about our experience.
The few issues I had were addressed immediately. I had ZERO problems at all with the member management or the back-end payment system.
Leif Summerfield
Bozeman Aikido
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Gymdesk made my life so much easier. With the previous software we used, I was spending hours on the phone, and honestly I hated going to the back office to work on the computer.
I now have much more confidence in the way we’re managing our business, our programs and our members, and we are so much more organized.
Molly Shields
Kaijin MMA
This software is amazing! It’s already saved me time and money and I wish I switched sooner. I no longer have to spend time chasing overdue payments.
It’s user friendly, reliable, and full of neat features and customization options. Really loving the email and texting functions. Love it!
Michael Sugar
Advantage Martial Arts
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The billing features and member lead tracking is unparalleled.
The software is perfect for keeping a martial arts school on track. They are also constantly upgrading and adding features. We highly recommend this software.
Earl Dunn
Alpha & Omega Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
We switched from Kicksite to Gymdesk. The website integration is great. I use Square for payments, and this is the only software I have found that integrates Square into their billing set-up.
They are also more cost effective per student compared to Kicksite. Extremely impressed so far and would definitely recommend people give their software a try.
Michael Jones
Escambia Martial Arts
Frequently Asked Questions
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How easy is it to switch from Mindbody to Gymdesk?
Switching from Mindbody to Gymdesk is very simple with our migration tool. Export your member data from Mindbody and import it into Gymdesk in a matter of minutes.
You can also migrate your payment data, leads/prospects lists, products, attendance and more.
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What are the payment processing fees?
All payment processing is run through our payments partners - Stripe, Square and Authorize.net, and each have their own set of fees depending on your location and payment types.
We do not charge anything extra beyond the fees charged by your selected payment processor.
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Can I charge members using direct bank debits?
We support direct bank debits for member payments, depending on your location and payment processor.
Stripe and Authorize.net provide ACH and eChecks respectively to US customers. Stripe also provides SEPA bank debits to EU customers, BECS direct debits in Australia, and Pre-Authorized Debits in Canada.
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Do you track ranks, levels and promotion requirements?
You can track attendance using a tablet at the front desk, or manually in bulk at the back office.
For each program you run in your gym, you can set up promotion criteria for each rank / belt, and then generate reporting on members' progress towards their promotion criteria. The system also generates notifications when members are ready to be tested for promotion.
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Can I use Gymdesk's online functionality with my website?
All of our online features can work independently from the website we provide, and integrated on your existing website.
This includes the gym weekly schedule, lead capture forms, the member sign-up form and access to the member portal.
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Are you available in my country?
Any gym around the world can use our software! Credit-card processing might be limited to the countries supported by our payment partners, but you can still run payments manually and use all of our features without limitation.
