Gymdesk Versus Mindbody

Looking for Mindbody Alternatives?

We will take a head-to-head look at Gymdesk vs Mindbody to show you where each gym management platform shines and where each falls short.

See why gyms, martial arts schools, yoga studios, dance, and gymnastics gyms prefer Gymdesk or Mindbody to manage their business.

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Gymdesk Logo GYMDESK
MindBody Logo MindBody
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Gymdesk vs Mindbody Online

Both Gymdesk and Mindbody have their strengths and weaknesses. In the table below, we outline the most important factors when choosing your gym management software so you can determine which is right for your business.

Logo Gymdesk
MindBody Logo Mindbody
Free Trial
30-day free trial with access to all features and full support.
The only option is to book a demo with a sales person.
Starting Price
Start at $75/month. All features included.
Start at $129/month. Excludes optional add-on.
Industry Focus
Gym focused: base used for Martial Arts, Dance, Fitness, Pilates, Yoga, Gymnastics, etc.
Industry agnostic: Can serve beauty salons, wellness, businesses, and fitness.
Payment Processing
Choose from 5 options. 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.
Only 1 option. Propietary 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
Fixed rates that save you over 20% on membership payments.
Variable rates that trigger higher rates for membership payments (off session payments). Learn more here.
Easy of Use
Easy-to-use software, with a modern look and feel. No training needed - but world class support available should you need it.
30-day training to understand the software. Outdated user interface. Frustrating user flows.
Accessibility
Optimized for use on any device. Laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone. You choose.
Runs primarily on desktops while providing an inferior experience on mobile devices.
Marketing Tools
Included in all plans.
Extra monthly fee.
Push Notifications (Mobile App)
Can send push notifications to all members at the same time, or to individual members. Included in all plans.
Can not send to individuals, only to all members at the same time. Extra monthly fee.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT REPLY TIME
60 seconds or less.
Up to 6 hours on phone support line.
Branded mobile app
Coming in 2023 to all plans.
Extra monthly fee, only for certain plans.
Overall Rating 4.8
Overall Rating 4.0

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What Makes Gymdesk Better than Mindbody

Gymdesk is a modern, user-friendly, and easy-to-use alternative to Mindbody, that actually makes it easier to run and grow your gym.

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Gymdesk Logo Gymdesk
MindBody Logo 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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Member and Manager Friendly Attendance Tracking

Self service member check-in via a numeric code, name search, bar code 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 Logo Gymdesk
MindBody Logo Mindbody
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Gymdesk Logo Gymdesk
MindBody Logo 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.

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Gymdesk vs Mindbody: What the Users Have to Say

We could talk for hours about the difference between Gymdesk and Mindbody, but we’d rather let the users speak for themselves.

Gymdesk Logo GYMDESK
Overall Highest rated 4.8 (104)
Easy of Use 4.7
Customer Service 4.9
Features 4.6
Value of Money 4.8
96%
MindBody Logo MindBody
Overall 4.0
Easy of Use 3.8
Customer Service 3.8
Features 4.0
Value of Money 3.6
60.5%
  • Onboarding

    Gymdesk Logo GYMDESK
    “Our clientele doubled within the first four months of using this software. It's has been absolutely amazing. Easy to set up new students. Easy to find history of payments. It's very organized and easy to navigate. I love that our members have access to their own profiles. The 30 day free trial drew me in to try it. It was recommended by another Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy. I made the decision to purchase it because it met our needs perfectly and was well within our budget.”
    Avatar photo Heidi S.
    MindBody Logo MindBody
    “Sales process was a nightmare. Constant lies and misrepresentations. Non-responsive, unless they need your money. They should be ashamed - reps and managers - you really should find new jobs. Implementation - took months bc you get 60 mins per week of their time. What?! Ongoing support - average 4 calls per week due to poor software, each time it takes 20-40 mins to get somebody to answer / call back, then they put you on hold for 5-20 mins to research even the most basic reports. Software itself - i mean, they didn't charge any of my members on 8/1 for 8/1 renewals. Seems pretty basic. Overall, go somewhere else. Even zenplanner + hubspot for sales and marketing would be 100x better than this.”
    Avatar photo Eric H.
  • Features

    Gymdesk Logo GYMDESK
    “GymDesk saved my life…and business. Such a simple, clear user interface (staff AND students) with incredibly robust tools that are consistently updated and added upon. Every few weeks, they add on new features and make existing ones more streamlined. [Gymdesk is helping me] managing students, payments, recruiting, communication, planning and keeping me and my staff sane!”
    Avatar photo Joe R.
    MindBody Logo MindBody
    “[Mindbody is] not as simple and user friendly as other softwares. Also, It just wasn´t prepared for SMS reminders in Europe. Regarding payment processing fees also, more expensive than what stripe charges directly to their EU customers. Meanwhile in the US it has a cheaper offer if you contract through Mindbody. And now that I want to cancell the subscription I just can´t find the way... Easy to subscribe not as easy to unsubscribe.”
    Avatar photo Anonymous Mindbody User

Gymdesk Comes Top in Leading Industry Comparisons

Gymdesk named industry leader on popular software review platform in its https://www.g2.com/categories/martial-arts2022 Market Presence and Customer Satisfaction Report.

The highly detailed report uses review benchmark data from gym management software users.

https://www.g2.com/categories/martial-artsread the report
Comparison chart

Summary: When to Choose Mindbody vs Gymdesk

Here’s our summary of when to choose Gymdesk vs Mindbody gym management software:

When to Choose Gymdesk

  • You want to control budget as you scale

  • You’re in the health/fitness business

  • Your priority is gym/club management and workflow automation

When to Choose Mindbody

  • You need phone customer support

  • You’re in the beauty business

  • You don’t want to choose the payment system for your business

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Gym Owner Interview: Heroes Martial Arts

Based in San Jose, Heroes Martial Arts is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school that was thriving before COVID-19 came along and upended everything. The pandemic forced Heroes Martial Arts to cut costs wherever possible, and when it came to their gym management platform, it was obvious that Mindbody and its plethora of hidden costs simply wasn’t a viable option any longer.

Learn about the straw that broke the camel’s back for Alan “Gumby” Marques, founder of Heroes Martial Arts, and why he decided that the best way forward was to switch from Mindbody to Gymdesk.

https://gymdesk.com/blog/gym-owner-interview-heroes-martial-arts/Read article
Gymdesk Logo
Heroes Logo
“Service has been remarkable from Gymdesk, inquires are responded to very quickly and they have implemented a few of my suggestions.”
Avatar photo
Alan “Gumby” Marques

Founder, Hero Martial Arts

Gymdesk is the fastest growing Mindbody Alternative!

Simplicity icon
Simplicity

Thanks to easy click-and-drag features, beautiful reporting, and a refined dashboard for easy access - you won’t want to ever switch management platforms again.

Versatility icon
Versatility

We’ve built Gymdesk to be adaptable for any growing fitness business. Fit your exact needs with customizable fields, form builders, saved templates, and your very own website.

Support icon
Constant Support

Don’t sit on hold for 3 hours ever again! Gymdesk has a growing Support team to always stay on top of inquiries. Email, chat, video support, and more.

Payment processor icon
Payment Processor Superiority

With over 5 options to choose from, YOU choose the payment processor that’s best for your business and YOU own your payment data.

Cost-effectiveness icon
Cost-Effectiveness

With other gym management softwares out there, features are paid upgrades. At Gymdesk, get everything on Day 1 with a 30-day free trial to make sure it’s right for you (no credit card required).

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.

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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
  • 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
  • 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!
    Mission Submissions 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
  • 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
  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.