FAQs About Zen Planner

What are you getting into with Zen Planner?

We’re going to take a closer look at Zen Planner. Whether you work with Zen Planner, Gymdesk, or another competitor, we want you to be fully informed so you know what you’re getting into.

Because it’s good for business. 

Happy customers build stable companies.

The Hidden Risk of Uninformed Buying

Uninformed purchases are risky. 

It’s a gamble—if you’re wrong, you’ve sunk precious time, energy, and resources into a failing solution. Best-case scenario, it doesn’t work; yeah, you’ve lost time, but you can recover. Worst-case scenario, you create a solution that causes you to lose customers, revenue, opportunity, and time. 

It’s important to choose the right tools. 

Today, we’ll take a closer look at Zen Planner, a gym management solution for fitness gyms, health clubs, and other performance businesses. Our goal with this post is pretty simple.

We want you to be an educated buyer. 

Let’s dive in. 

What is Zen Planner? 

Zen Planner is all-in-one gym management software. It’s a tool that caters to functional fitness, martial arts, athletic, and performance gyms, as well as boutiques like Pilates, Yoga, Barre, or cycling. More than 19,000 fitness companies use Zen Planner to build, manage, and grow their business. 

They’ve been serving customers since 2006.

They were acquired by Daxko in 2017, and their product line has been expanded from there. With the acquisition, Daxko, Zen Planner’s parent company, now has 7,000 customers globally. 

These numbers are impressive. 

But what is it like to work with Zen Planner? Let’s take a closer look at how they do business, starting with cancellation. 

How Do I Cancel My Membership on Zen Planner? 

If you look at Zen Planner’s help docs, you’ll see the following requirements. 

“To cancel your Zen Planner account, follow the steps outlined below. A completed cancellation request form is required for your Zen Planner cancellation to go into effect. Cancellations require a minimum of 30-days notice from receipt of your cancellation request form.”

Then, you’ll have to: 

1. “Log in to Zen Planner Studio.
2. Click on “Setup”, then “My Account”.
3. Click on “Cancel Account” to receive our cancellation request form via email. The request of this form does not cancel your account immediately. 
4. Open the email sent to your account’s database owner. Follow the instructions in the email to complete the cancellation request form. A completed cancellation request form is required for your Zen Planner cancellation to go into effect.
5. Once your cancellation request form is submitted, a member of our team will reach out via email to confirm that we received your request. The email will include information about your final bill and your cancellation date, as well as outline any additional steps that may need to be completed.”

Maybe you’ll be able to cancel your account without any issues, maybe not. Expect several why-are-you-cancelling-can-we-change-your-mind messages from their sales reps.  

Can You Still Access Your ZenPlanner Data After Canceling Your Account?

Will you lose access to all of your data once you’ve cancelled your account?

Well, there’s good news and bad news. 

The good news? If your cancellation is approved, it becomes effective at the end of your billing period. If you’re aware of that, this gives you plenty of time to export your data, tie up loose ends, and find a new solution. The bad news? If you’re not aware of this and you don’t back up your data, it’s gone. Once your account is cancelled, your data is deleted. 

Here’s the other issue. 

As a business, Zen Planner payments are non-refundable. 

If you cancel your membership in the middle of your billing cycle, Zen Planner won’t issue a refund or prorate your payment. If you’re aware of that and you know what you’re getting into, that’s fine. If you’re not aware of that, this could be a problem. 

You’re probably wondering, will Zen Planner charge me a cancellation fee? 

There’s good news here as well! 

Zen Planner doesn’t charge gym owners a cancellation fee; however, they do give gym owners the ability to charge their members cancellation fees if they miss an appointment or event. 

Does Zen Planner have any additional or hidden costs?

Absolutely. 

While Zen Planner offers tiered pricing like Gymdesk, Gymdesk’s pricing is all-inclusive. What you see is what you get. With Zen Planner, their pricing is à la carte. 

Let me show you what I mean. 

Zen Planner’s pricing for their Studio product ranges from $99 to $287+ per month. Here’s the problem. If you need CRM tools, email marketing, automations, or a website, you’ll have to upgrade to their Zen Planner Engage and Website product. This means the total cost of ownership is actually much higher than advertised. 

What’s the true cost? 

• Essentials Bundle (Studio + Website): $198–$388+ per mo.
• Ultimate Bundle (Studio + Website + Engage): $348–$538+ per mo.

Don’t take my word for it; take a look at the pricing on their website for yourself. 

Okay, so that’s the true cost? 

Nope. 

Here are some of the additional costs that aren’t listed front and center. 

• Branded app: +$39 per mo.
• EMV reader hardware: +$39–$59 per mo.
• Website setup fee: $499 one-time payment
• Payment processing fee: +$20 per mo., if you don’t use a preferred payment processor (yeah)
• Support and onboarding help costs extra, depending on the level of support you need

Again, this isn’t automatically a bad thing if you know what you’re getting into. It’s a disaster when you’re hit with these prices unexpectedly and experience sticker shock. 

That’s no good. 

While we’re on the topic of costs, we should talk about Zen Planner’s approach to payment processing. 

Does ZenPlanner Charge for Credit Card Processing? 

Zen Planner uses PaySimple to manage their payment processing. According to their website, gyms using Zen Planner can:

1. Accept credit/debit card and eCheck payments 
2. Set up recurring schedules to collect payments automatically
3. Send automatic payment reminders and receipts

Here’s a breakdown of their credit card fees: 

Credit Card Fees

PER TRANSACTION 2.97% + $0.47

The cost for processing each credit card transaction.

NON-QUALIFIED SURCHARGE +1.71

Added to the base discount rate if the card presented is in the Premium, Corporate, or Business card category.

REWARDS SURCHARGE +0.11%

Added to the base discount rate or non-qualified rate for cards that fall in the Personal or Corporate Rewards category.

AMEX TRANSACTION FEE 2.89% – 3.99% + $0.47

The cost for processing an American Express credit card transaction.

BATCH FEE $0.49

A batch closing fee is applied for each day that transactions are processed.

MONTHLY PCI PROGRAM FEE $5.95

Charged monthly for compliance with Payment Card Industry Security Standards.

MONTHLY STATEMENT FEE $5.00

A statement fee charged monthly for credit card transactions.

CHARGEBACK FEE $45.00

Fee if a customer declares a charge/debit was not authorized.

ACH Fees

Per Transaction $0.69 + 0.15%

The cost for processing each ACH transaction.

Batch Fee $0.85

A batch closing fee is applied for each day that transactions are processed.

Non-Sufficient Funds $25.00

A fee is charged if a transaction is returned for an Administrative reason, such as Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF).

High Ticket Surcharge 0.25%

A processing fee is assessed on all ACH transactions exceeding $5,000.

Chargeback Fee $25.00

A Fee is debited if a customer declares that a debit was not authorized.

Ach Return $5.00

A fee is debited if a transaction is returned for an Administrative reason, such as Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF).

Ach Program Fee $5.00

Per month for use of ACH processing.

Zen Planner also integrates with Stripe, NMI, and  Gains, their in-house payment processing solution. But remember, if you choose to work with a payment processor other than the one that’s recommended, you’ll be charged extra for the trouble. 

Does Zen Planner Charge Per Student or Per Prospect?

Zen Planner offers tiered pricing, and we think that’s a great idea. 

Here’s why. 

It brings the cost down to a level that’s fair and reasonable for everyone. Startups and small businesses get premium gym software they can afford, and large companies pay a fair price. 

Here’s what that means? 

“Zen Planner pricing is designed to give you full access to 100% of our Studio package features at every price level.  Your success is our success.  Pricing is tiered based on Active Members. An Active Member is anyone with a Membership or who has attended an Event in the past month. We’ll never charge you for prospects or staff.”

This is pretty fair. 

Imagine having to pay a monthly cost to use the software, then pay again for your employees to use it. That would be unfair, right? Well, that’s exactly the situation many gym owners find themselves in. 

How Do You Turn Off Autopay on Zen Planner? 

The only way for Zen Planner customers to turn off autopay is to sign up for an annual subscription (12-month commitment required). 

What about turning autopay off for your gym members? 

Here’s how you do it. 

1. Sign in to your Zen Planner account
2. Head over to your member’s profile, then 
3. Click > Membership > Under the billing section, click on Auto Payments OFF

Source: Zen Planner

How Do I Cancel Unwanted Gym Memberships? 

Here’s how Zen Planner describes it on their website. 

“Canceling (or dropping) a membership is the option you will want to use for ending a member’s membership and preventing future billing if they leave.”  With Zen Planner, gym owners can perform an immediate membership drop or schedule a future drop. Zen Planner treats deletion and cancellations differently, stating that there are important differences between deleting and cancelling a membership.

Here are the steps you’d need to take to cancel a membership. 

1. “Log in to your Zen Planner account
2. Use the search bar located at the top left of your screen and search for the member
3. Once on the member’s profile, click “Membership” on the left-hand menu
4. Click the green “Current” button and select “Cancel” 
5. On the pop-up, complete the following areas:
   1. Cancel reason: Why did the member want to cancel?
   2. Effective date: Choose when you want the drop to take effect
   3. Cancellation fee: If there is a fee you want to charge for cancellation, apply it here
   4. Delete auto-pay account?: This will remove the payment option the member has on file
6. Once this information has been completed, click the “Save Changes” button.
7. If the cancellation has been scheduled for a future date, the membership (and billing) will continue to function as normal. When the cancellation date arrives, the membership and all future bills will be cancelled.”

With Zen Planner, cancelling a membership leaves all of the unpaid bills created before cancellation intact. Any bills after the cancellation date would be automatically deleted.

When you delete a membership, it’s just as it sounds. Everything is deleted from your account. This option should be used sparingly, regardless of the product or service you choose to manage your gym.

What about gym members? Can they cancel their memberships?

Can gym members cancel their memberships? Yes, they can sign in to their account and use the “click to cancel” feature according to their website. 

“Cancel Button in Member Connect

Members can cancel their membership directly through Member Connect, the same place they use to view schedules or pay bills. It’s mobile-friendly and fully integrated…Members who try to cancel early are notified of their options automatically—buy-out or wait. And if they have unpaid dues? They’ll see that too.”

Does Zen Planner charge for a class?

Zen Planner allows gym owners to charge for individual classes. This can be done in one of two ways: 

1. Charging drop-in fees: Guests pay for each class they attend. “For single-use drop-in memberships, most gyms set the length to 1-7 days. This allows members up to 7 days to use their single-use drop-in membership.”
2. Deducting classes from a class card package: Members pay for a certain number of classes in advance. When they reserve or attend a class, Zen Planner automatically deducts one class from their class card package.

Members can also sign up for free trials and receive different membership options. 

Does Zen Planner charge for bookings? 

Nope. As a platform, Zen Planner doesn’t charge for bookings; you’re required to set up a drop-in, class card package, or membership option for members. If you’re looking to pre-sell a class or offer paid waitlists for exclusive, in-demand programs, you’ll have to figure out a workaround. 

Is Gymdesk a Better Option for Your Gym?

You’ve seen how Zen Planner does business. 

How does Gymdesk compare to Zen Planner? Competitors like Zen Planner have stated that we don’t offer marketing tools (we do), or that they’re basic tools (they’re not). 

See for yourself. 

What about customizing marketing automations for your business? 

What about the core features you’ll need to attract and manage new members, train and support your staff, and integrate with the tools you’re already using?

Gymdesk has you covered.  

	Gymdesk	Zen Planner
Free Trial	30-day free trial with access to all features and full support.	The only option is to book a demo with a salesperson.
Starting Price	Starts at $75/month. All features included.	Starts at $99/month with no website and limited marketing features
Website	Every plan includes a fully customizable website that looks great on any device. You can also embed signup forms and schedules on an external website.	No website included. You must pay an extra setup and monthly fee for Zen Planner to build and manage your website.
Booking and Attendance Tools	Automatically book member appointments. Create free or paid bookings, handle digital and in-person check-ins via kiosk, and track attendance with automated logs.  and get a detailed breakdown of your member’s activity.	Standard booking tools are available. No paid booking; however, digital check-ins, automated attendance logs, belt progression tracking, and reporting tools are available.
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.	The only option is Zen Planner payments. Users have cited frequent outages and issues with Zen Planner payments.
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.
Ease of Use	Easy-to-use software with a modern look and feel. No training is needed – but world-class support is available should you need it.	Outdated user interface that resembles a spreadsheet makes it hard to find what you need.
Reporting	Intuitive reporting dashboard with all key gym metrics pre-configured.	Clunky and unintuitive reporting; no pre-built revenue growth reports.
Marketing tools	Included in all plans.	Separate product with an extra monthly fee.
Rank and Programs	Ability to track ranks and programs automatically for members.	No ability to automatically track ranks and programs. Tracking must be done manually.

Customers agree with us.