PushPress vs Gymdesk: The Hidden Cost Calculator
See exactly what PushPress costs at your volume—including the processing fees most gym owners overlook.
PushPress advertises a free plan and competitive monthly rates, but your real cost depends on how much you process in membership payments each month. This simulator uses your actual member count and processing volume to compare total costs across every PushPress tier against Gymdesk—side by side, in real time.
Drag the sliders to match your gym's numbers and watch every figure on the page update instantly. You'll see the monthly gap, the multi-year difference, and exactly where that money goes.
How to Use This Simulator
This isn't a single-number calculator—every section on the page reacts as you adjust the inputs. Here's what to set:
- PushPress plan — Select the PushPress tier you're currently on or considering: Free ($0/mo), Pro ($159/mo), or Max ($229/mo). The comparison adjusts feature availability and base cost accordingly.
- Monthly processing volume — Drag the slider to match your total monthly payment volume (what members pay you each month, combined). If you're not sure, multiply your average membership price by your active member count. This is the number that drives PushPress's processing fees—and where the hidden cost lives.
- Current member count — Set this to your active paying members. The simulator uses it to scale feature comparisons and calculate per-member economics.
Once you've set your inputs, don't just look at the savings number at the top. Scroll through the full page: the feature comparison table, the detailed cost breakdown, the multi-year projection chart, and the breakeven timeline all shift to reflect your specific situation. The point is to see how the gap between the two platforms changes as your gym grows.
Understanding Your Results
The headline savings figure shows the monthly dollar difference between your total PushPress cost (subscription plus processing fees) and Gymdesk's all-in price at the same volume. But the real story is in how that number moves. Slide your processing volume up and watch the gap widen—PushPress's percentage-based processing fees scale with revenue, while Gymdesk's stay flat.
A gym doing $8,000/month in payments sees a different picture than one doing $18,000, and this simulator makes that contrast impossible to miss.
The detailed cost breakdown splits out exactly where each dollar goes: PushPress's subscription fee, their processing rate, and any add-on charges versus Gymdesk's bundled pricing and lower processing rate. Below that, the multi-year projection shows what the monthly difference compounds to over one, three, and five years.
For most gyms, the gap reaches four or five figures annually—money that could fund equipment, marketing, or an additional staff member.
The feature comparison table is worth studying alongside the cost numbers. PushPress gates several features behind their paid tiers—things like a built-in website, family account management, curriculum and skills tracking, and automation tools.
Gymdesk includes these across the board. The "Why 'free' isn't actually free" section breaks down how PushPress recovers its costs through higher processing rates even on the $0/mo plan, so what looks like a no-cost entry point is actually a margin play on your payment volume.
Finally, the breakeven growth timeline shows at what point the cost difference becomes unavoidable. If you're a smaller gym weighing the switch, this section tells you whether you've already crossed that threshold—or how close you are.
PushPress Costs FAQs
It depends entirely on your processing volume. PushPress charges a higher payment processing rate than Gymdesk, and that rate applies to every dollar your members pay. On the free plan, there's no subscription fee, but the processing spread means a gym doing $10,000/month in payments can easily pay $150–$200+ more per month than they would on Gymdesk—before they've spent a dime on the subscription itself. The paid plans ($159/mo and $229/mo) lower the processing rate somewhat but add the subscription cost on top. This simulator lets you plug in your exact volume to see the real number.
Your monthly processing volume is the single biggest variable in this comparison. Gyms processing under $5,000/month may see a smaller gap between platforms, but as you grow past $10,000–$15,000/month, the processing rate difference compounds quickly. A 0.5–1% spread on $15,000 is $75–$150/month—$900–$1,800/year—on top of any subscription difference. That's why looking at base price alone is misleading; the payment processing terms are where the real cost comparison lives.
PushPress's free tier covers basic member management and scheduling, but it omits several tools that most growing gyms need: a built-in website, family account management, curriculum and skills tracking, and advanced automations. To unlock those on PushPress, you'd need to move to their Pro or Max plan—which adds $159–$229/month on top of the processing fees. Gymdesk includes all of these features in its standard plan at a lower total cost, so you're not forced to choose between functionality and budget as your gym scales.