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Gym & Studio Management Comparison

Glofox vs. Zen Planner

At a glance

At a glance

Glofox

Best for

Best for class-led gyms and studios that want members to book, pay and open the door from one app carrying the studio's name.

  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Zen Planner

Best for

Best for martial arts schools, CrossFit gyms and boutique studios that bill members every month.

  • Small and mid-sized

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion Glofox Zen Planner
Starting price Not stated From $99 / month Studio plan. Priced by the number of active members and, for several sites, by location; month-to-month, with an annual contract on request. Payment processing fees may apply.
API Yes, through the ABC Fitness developer portal, with access granted on request Yes, an API for custom integrations
Memberships and plans Recurring, fixed-term, single-purchase and credit pack memberships, with pro-rated charges, scheduled price changes and pauses Membership management with belt and rank tracking for schools that use them
Billing and payments Recurring billing with automatic card updates and configurable retries, payment links by email or SMS, and a POS device for the front desk; Glofox Payments or providers such as Stripe, GoCardless, Ezidebit and PayU Automated billing and payment processing through Zen Planner Payments or other integrated processors; members update payment details and see billing history in the app
Attendance and access control Check-in with a barcode in the member app or at a self-service tablet kiosk; door access through Kisi or Gantner from the member app, plus Innertelligence and Passport Technologies integrations; attendance, no-shows and late cancellations captured in reporting Attendance tracking and reporting with check-in from the member app; unattended 24/7 gym access through the HybridAF integration
Class scheduling and booking Class and appointment booking with waitlists and automated reminders Online scheduling and booking for classes and appointments, with live class schedules embeddable on the gym's website
Lead and renewal management Lead CRM with lead source and follow-up history, embeddable lead capture forms, automated email, SMS and push journeys for leads, trials, renewals and win-backs, and a members-at-risk report Lead capture from Essentials up; Ultimate and the Engage product add CRM, automated email and text follow-ups, trial nurturing and win-back campaigns for members who have not been in lately
Member app Branded member app with the business listed as publisher in the App Store and Google Play, for booking classes, buying memberships, paying and checking in A standard Zen Planner member app shared by all customers; a branded app in the App Store and Google Play is a $39 a month add-on
Integrations and API An API through the ABC Fitness developer portal with access on request, and payment, door access and CRM integrations An API for custom integrations, plus integrations including ClassPass, Wellhub, SugarWOD, Mailchimp, HybridAF and Zapier
AI features Yes Yes
Onboarding Guided onboarding Guided onboarding
Company size more entries Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Small and mid-sized
Integrations Stripe, GoCardless, Ezidebit, PayU, Kisi, Gantner, HubSpot, Salesforce more entries ClassPass, Wellhub, SugarWOD, Mailchimp, HybridAF, Perkville, Zapier, Google Calendar, Slack, Shopify

Compare more tools

Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

  • Company size Glofox Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Zen Planner Small and mid-sized
  • API Glofox Yes, through the ABC Fitness developer portal, with access granted on request Zen Planner Yes, an API for custom integrations
  • Memberships and plans Glofox Recurring, fixed-term, single-purchase and credit pack memberships, with pro-rated charges, scheduled price changes and pauses Zen Planner Membership management with belt and rank tracking for schools that use them
  • Billing and payments Glofox Recurring billing with automatic card updates and configurable retries, payment links by email or SMS, and a POS device for the front desk; Glofox Payments or providers such as Stripe, GoCardless, Ezidebit and PayU Zen Planner Automated billing and payment processing through Zen Planner Payments or other integrated processors; members update payment details and see billing history in the app
  • Attendance and access control Glofox Check-in with a barcode in the member app or at a self-service tablet kiosk; door access through Kisi or Gantner from the member app, plus Innertelligence and Passport Technologies integrations; attendance, no-shows and late cancellations captured in reporting Zen Planner Attendance tracking and reporting with check-in from the member app; unattended 24/7 gym access through the HybridAF integration

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Glofox

Strengths

  • Door access through Kisi or Gantner from the member app
  • Member app published under the business's own name
  • Choice of payment providers, including GoCardless and Ezidebit
  • Members-at-risk report for spotting churn

Limitations

  • No price published; every plan is quoted
  • API access is granted on request rather than self-serve
  • The official site does not say whether the branded app is included or an extra

Zen Planner

Strengths

  • Only active members count towards the price
  • Month-to-month subscription
  • Belt and rank tracking for martial arts schools
  • Implementation specialists migrate member and billing data

Limitations

  • Only starting prices are published; multi-location prices come in a demo
  • The branded app is a paid add-on
  • CRM and marketing automation need Ultimate or Engage
  • Payment processing rates are not listed

Plans

Pricing

Zen Planner

  • Zen Planner Studio From $99 / month Membership management, billing and scheduling, staff and member apps, attendance tracking and reporting, payment processing and payroll.
  • Zen Planner Essentials From $198 / month Adds a branded website, lead capture and form integration, and SEO optimization.
  • Zen Planner Ultimate From $348 / month Adds marketing automation and CRM, AI-powered email and text campaigns, and lead management and retention tools.
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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Glofox

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.

Zen Planner

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.

How we check reviews

Before sending, the author has to confirm three things: that they have used the product themselves, that they work neither for the vendor nor for a competitor, and that nobody is paying them for the review. We also ask whether the vendor invited them to write it. That answer is required, either answer is accepted, and it stays with the review.

Every review is read by a person before it appears. An email address is required and is confirmed: we send a link to it, and a review does not reach us until the author opens that link, so a review has a sender who was reachable at least once rather than being anonymous. Where what somebody writes needs backing, we ask them for evidence that they used the product, and a review that does not get it is not published. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.

What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on their own declaration, on whatever we ask them for, and on the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.

A vendor cannot buy a review, and cannot have one removed or changed because they dislike it. We remove or edit a review only if it breaks our rules or the law, for example a false statement of fact. Paid placement has no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.

Read the full version on our methodology page

Where this comes from

Where this comes from

Glofox https://www.glofox.com · checked against the official source on 2026-11-12

Zen Planner https://zenplanner.com · checked against the official source on 2026-11-12

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.