10 Best Fitness & Gym Management Software for 2024

You may have experienced it all: long trails and piles of paper and promotional material to disseminate, calendars marked and unmarked, and a dozen checklists and inventories to follow in your quest to generate leads for your newfound gym business at the heart of town. Now, you also have to be mindful of implementing health and safety protocols in your establishment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But thanks to technology, it’s possible to manage these challenges. Running the gym is now easier with tools for automating, centralizing, and streamlining tasks. The first step is to know the best options for your business and, luckily, you’ve come to the right spot. In this article, we will explore the best fitness & gym management software, each of them with its own strengths and weaknesses.

With the major disruptions in the health and fitness industry, there is a need for gyms and fitness clubs to assess risks, evaluate their business performance and identify opportunities. One such disruption is the consumers’ preference to work out at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to Morning Consult, 52% of U.S. adults now work out at home instead of the gym. This presents a new opportunity for gyms to offer virtual sessions to make up for canceled memberships.

Businesses can respond to these shifts in consumer demand with the use of software, which is shaping the future of club management technology. While there’s little you can do to influence consumer tech, you can future-proof your business—whether you’re one of the five biggest global gym chains or a boutique health club studio—with club management solutions.

So, what are the essentials of fitness & gym management software? One is the need for a multichannel capability. This is apparently useful as most clients or consumers these days prefer to use a particular platform, whether it be social media, email, or web.

Second is business intelligence to help you make smarter business decisions. This feature can help you see a critical pattern, for instance, alerting you that for the past three months you’re getting a membership spike from a specific age-group. This insight should definitely figure in your marketing and brand messaging. Analytics also help you glance at transactional histories, visitation habits, and other customer data. Notably, BI adoption is faster in small organizations, especially those with 100 employees or less.

Three, make sure you get the standard appointment scheduling tools, processing payments, and deploying and monitoring resources. They enable businesses to maximize profits and be efficient overall. On this note, let’s take a look at our list and how they match up against each other.

1. SimplyBook.me

Ideal for any service company, SimplyBook.me is an extensive online booking system perfect for selling your offerings or accepting and managing appointments, all the while providing a wide range of functionalities for business and marketing growth. With SimplyBook.me, clients can book online and managers can easily view and handle bookings efficiently from a user-friendly, fully-integrated admin interface. Bookings can be managed in one place on all devices, whether it be phone, web, email, or SMS. Not only does it streamline scheduling and booking procedures, but it also lets you generate leads and elevate your sales and marketing-generating capabilities with a promotion system, an exclusive feature that incentivizes referrals.

Its high-value scheduling functionality lets you set general opening hours for your business while setting schedules for different service providers. Customers can easily browse through product offerings via an organization feature where clients can view available bookings according to different categories: daily, weekly or monthly, or availability by date and classes. Bookings can also be managed with ease as you can edit and change schedules and booking information.

Daily reporting makes it possible to track the status of all bookings and summarizes the lists of all active bookings for the coming week. This lets you productively manage your business and foresee administrative and logistical constraints that may hinder growth and business efficiency. The booking website can also be monitored and evaluated through Google Analytics, and may be customized through the admin interface, providing greater design flexibility. Its design is made possible through integrated HTML and CSS management capabilities, in case you have the human resources to design your website based on your preferences.

Information is power, as it lets you elicit necessary data to manage your business and capture customer profiles to build your databases. SimplyBook.me makes this much easier through an easily-customizable form that lets you design the form you need to effectively deliver and monitor product purchases.

The software can also easily integrate with many payment processors, websites, email and Google services, and more. A total of 23 payment processors including PayFort, Mollie, and CCAVenue may be integrated into this software.

You can start for free with a booking website and widget with unlimited staffing. Plans start at $9.99 if you desire to expand the number of bookings and avail of its many custom features and plugins.

2. Rosy Salon Software

Originally designed for beauty and salon service providers, Rosy Salon Software features business management solutions geared towards fostering strong customer relationships, increasing sales, and brand marketing. The system is known for its user-friendly interface for better navigation and business handling, as well as streamlining and simplifying operational processes from appointment scheduling to inventory management. Its strong integration with Facebook also enables clients to manage their bookings through the social media site.

Operating the appointment management software does not require much effort, as managers can easily handle appointments, client histories, and disseminate personalized reminders with just a few clicks. Its browser-based interface is easy to use, and it only takes two hours of training to fully grasp the system. Client information are within your fingertips. This gives your team more time and energy to build client satisfaction and loyalty.

Rosy Salon Software’s online client scheduling and multichannel reminder functionality also reduces no-shows and simplifies the process of confirming appointments. It offers a smart way to promote cluster booking, maximize schedules, and gives clients the power to access their booking histories as well. With automated reminders, managers can instantly set up text message alerts to clients to give them the heads-up on upcoming, new, or changed appointments.

The software integrates with Facebook, Vantiv, POS Portal, Demand Force, and CardConnect. Prices start at $29, good for one service provider, inclusive of standard Rosy Salon Software features.

3. Wild Apricot

A leading membership management solution, Wild Apricot combines the functions of membership database management, payment processing, and event management in one platform. This cloud-based application is ideal for organizations that are making their transition from using spreadsheets to a more advanced solution.

Wild Apricot simplifies processing new membership applications and renewals by automating these functions, thus saving you valuable time that you can use to focus on more urgent activities. You can automate sending reminders to members regarding late upcoming or fees. Payments are also conducted online through reliable payment gateway solutions, such as PayPal or Stripe. This not only makes payment processing faster but also makes it easier to keep track of details relevant to the transaction.

When it comes to event management, Wild Apricot allows you to set up online registration that you can customize according to the details you need from the attendees. Event administrators can also use the mobile application that allows them to check-in guests and register walk-in attendees through their mobile devices. Wild Apricot also comes with its own ecommerce portal where you can set up online stores for merchandise, products, tickets, etc. And if you have your own website, you can add a widget that will redirect your website visitors to your online store.

Furthermore, you can use Wild Apricot for free if your membership database has 50 contacts or less. If you have a larger membership to manage, you can sign up for the premium plans that start at $40 a month.

4. Club Automation

Club Automation is ideal for SMBs in the health and fitness industry. As a cloud-hosted platform, you can access it anywhere, anytime, and gives you the tools to manage operations, staff, clients, and resources. Otherwise, your guests can download Club Automation Mobile, an app where they can manage their accounts with you.

At the heart of Club Automation is the Member Management module, which tracks all customer information and presents it to you in a clear and engaging manner. Their data may include contact information, membership details, and modes of payment and billing. You can contact them with just a few simple clicks. Additionally, the Front Desk Management and Scheduling aspects of the software allow you to manage your operations and even message your staff and members of events and other things.

Club Automation also features time tracking and billing features. This way, you can stay on top of expenses and your resources. Setting up custom rates can enable Club Automation to automatically generate payroll and print billing statements.

The software is fully quote-based. You can contact the vendor for more details about the features you can get for your own designed solution.

5. Zen Planner

Gym management software Zen Planner is an all-in-one fitness business management and scheduling software designed for gyms, personal trainers, fitness studios, and MMA schools. Developed and designed by fitness entrepreneurs and experts, the tool is claimed to guarantee a 20% increase in target sales revenues by streamlining and centralizing marketing, administrative, logistical, and business management processes.

Its membership management software lets you utilize an online logbook where you can easily monitor members’ individual performance and progress, tracking students who are ready to advance to next-level classes, as well as setting registration and logistical procedures for such processes. A workout tracking feature gives you a comprehensive overview of member profiles and performance to design a workout routine designed to meet members’ desired targets.

Among its other flagship offerings is its scheduling feature, fully integrated and simplified to avoid double bookings, ensuring that member and instructor schedules are fully in-sync with automated reminders, embeddable calendars, and time monitoring and class tracking. Purchase processing has also never been easier with its integrated payment gateway feature, letting your customers purchase products and offerings through the Zen Planner app. Inventory management is easily implemented to monitor items sold and purchase histories.

Zen Planner starts at $117 monthly, inclusive of major flagship features including simplified billing, staff and member app access, workout and skills tracking, integrated marketing tools, and more.

6. Virtuagym

An all-in-one fitness management software, Virtuagym has you covered to run your fitness business with style, adopting a holistic approach for health-conscious individuals through a balance of physical fitness and nutrition. With strong and flexible integration, Virtuagym lets you elevate member experience, boost revenue, and automate business processes with, among others, scheduling, invoicing, coaching and integrated marketing communications, and streamlining administrative workflows.

Its key product offering involves a seamlessly integrated membership management system that enables you to create different memberships, day and multi-visit passes, and adopt a pay-as-you-go credit system. You can use this tool to create ten-visit passes, manage class access, or upsell other products and services. What’s more: a retention dashboard lets you monitor membership analytics, giving you prompt access to crucial business data such as acquisition, retention, customer lifetimes, and purchasing behavior. It also equips managers with access control functionality. RFIDs, barcode, and fingertip scanners may be integrated hassle-free.

Customer retention and engagement are facilitated through an online community. With the club community feature, you can establish a social space just like Facebook. This streamlines communication through multiple channels—mass communication, targeted communication or SMS—accessible through mobile or web. This makes it easy for coaches and members to share fitness information, market new services, and provide a knowledge exchange platform without the distraction of ads and cookies.

Additional functions and benefits may be availed by contacting the vendor directly and requesting a quotation suited to your requirements.

7. TeamUp

TeamUp suits health clubs that enable remote and online bookings via their apps, such as gyms and yoga studios. It gives club administrators features to manage class schedules, accept and process payments, and use in-app messaging to communicate with other users (employees) and patrons. TeamUp also offers built-in analytics so you can make better and smarter data-driven operational decisions.

The software is easy to set up and its dashboard can be customized to your liking. Because TeamUp comes with web and mobile portal, you can tailor the portal’s display to your specific client. Even the emails that the software sends can be personalized.

TeamUp works with almost any platform, and you can extend its functionality even further with Zapier. It has native mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Plans start at $59 a month for up to 50 clients. TeamUp’s pricing scheme automatically scales to how many clients you have in the previous month.

8. 10to8

10to8 is an industry-trusted, free appointment scheduling tool that lets you communicate and coordinate with your clients through its multichannel, integrated communications support. The software lets you enjoy seamless collaboration, bank-grade security, effective monitoring of client activities, automation of communication processes, and marketing efforts while providing outstanding software integration with its wide array of features. The software is known to easily integrate with most widely-used browsing systems and apps like Paypal, Wordpress, Google Calendar, Facebook, Twitter, and MailChimp as well as 500 other cloud-based software.

Users can enjoy better schedule transparency through automation of alerts and reminders that lessen last-minute cancellations and missed schedules. It comes with a full suite of scheduling features that simplify schedule management and communications: a two-way chat feature lets you communicate seamlessly with your client base fully synchronized with a calendar system.

Cloud-based, instant updates let clients and managers view updates in real-time, accessible through desktop, tablet, or phone. This ensures that all points of communication with concerned specialists and staff are well-covered, eliminating any communication bottlenecks in the operational setting.

In addition to this is a steady and reliable operations and workflow monitoring system, giving you a full overview of staff availability, ensuring enhanced communications, transactions, information sharing, and scheduling and booking. Communications and transactions can be well documented and captured through a built-in database functionality. Managers may also opt to control and manipulate access to bookings and modifications to the system. The app’s bank-grade security using encrypted data ensures that your information is secured and accessible only to those involved in the business process.

However, its key functionality lies in its calendar sync system. With its integration to many cloud-based and online calendar services, you can be assured that entries are well-managed and client histories are well-documented through a data hub, accessible through local or mobile devices.

The free plan already includes many of 10to8’s outstanding features. Basic plans start at  $9.6. If you plan to increase the number of appointments, branding and staff logins, you can opt for higher plans offered by the vendor.

9. Mindbody

Mindbody is one of the largest global providers of online business management software in the beauty, health, and wellness industry. Like most fitness business management solutions, it offers time-saving, streamlining features that let you focus on profitability and customer engagement: marketing, automated bookings, and points of sale. However, one of Mindbody’s unique selling points is its exclusive hardware offerings. The brand offers point-of-sale hardware to help you capture and process digital signatures, payments, and receipts. It also grants managers the capability to utilize branded apps to engage with their client base creatively and efficiently.

It lets you manage your business from anywhere, on any device. Through its Mindbody app, you can see your workflow for the day or the entire week, manage appointments, and process and monitor payments in just a few clicks.

Meanwhile,  you are afforded the freedom to design your own branded mobile app, expanding your brand’s reach and engaging with customers and generating leads. With a branded app, you can send automated push notifications to promote product offerings and customized messages and notices. The branded app offers customers a seamless journey through streamlined membership management, payment processing, and more. Its Marketing, Sales, and Promotions Insights module gives you a real-time overview of sales and promotions data in a snap. Its capability to generate detailed reports gives managers the power to make well-guided business decisions.

Mindbody integrates with Facebook, Constant Contact, Xero, Credit Card and Email software, and Google Calendar and Analytics. Plans start at $129, equipping you with primary software functions such as schedule, sell services, and streamlined process capabilities. Higher-priced plans give you the tools to market and campaign your brand’s product offerings.

10. Teamsnap

Teamsnap is basically a club management software that lets coaches, fitness managers, and athletes engage with their team better through streamlined communication and team organization, which is what the software focuses on. What is so special about Teamsnap is that it handles all the requirements of a club or team: brand-building and website design, club registration, coordination and communication among teams and divisions, schedule management, and information and database management.

It offers cloud-based solutions to streamline your administrative and communication processes. Through its Online Registration feature, you can automate member information gathering and payment processing. Managers can monitor dues and manage payment collections by syncing bank accounts with the software, greatly reducing logistical delays and paper trails. Communication features enable managers and coaches to disseminate instant messages to teams and divisions and even other coaches and volunteers.

The software also lets you build your own professional website to market your team or brand. The brand’s in-house designers and developers will assist in building your dream website so you get that sleek platform that effectively markets and engages your target consumer base.

TeamSnap offers streamlined integration with Facebook and its open APIs enables users to integrate it with every app or business system of their choice. There is a free version of the software, but you may avail of its advanced features and marketing tools through basic plans starting at $13.99.

Working Out The Best Gym Software

Given all these features, carefully evaluate which system is best suited to your branding and business needs, payment preferences, and unique offerings. Remember, some are great fitness software for personal trainers, while others are gym management software best suited for managers.

Ideally, you should get fitness studio management software that is ideal for both. One such solution is SimplyBook.me, our top choice here. The best way to find out if the app fits your needs is to try it, and you can easily do so at no cost when you sign up for a free trial of SimplyBook.me.

On the other hand, if you need help when scheduling your staff’s shifts and managing their billable hours, an employee scheduling software may come in useful. You can peruse our list to find the one that will work for you so your business can tackle head-on the challenges brought by the pandemic.

By Stephanie Seymour

Stephanie Seymour is a senior business analyst and one of the crucial members of the FinancesOnline research team. She is a leading expert in the field of business intelligence and data science. She specializes in visual data discovery, cloud-based BI solutions, and big data analytics. She’s fascinated by how companies dealing with big data are increasingly embracing cloud business intelligence. In her software reviews, she always focuses on the aspects that let users share analytics and enhance findings with context.