Gymdesk vs. Zen Planner

At a glance

Best for

Best for independent martial arts schools, gyms and studios that want the full feature set at a price set by member count.

Small and mid-sized

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	Gymdesk	Zen Planner
Starting price	From $100 / month Micro Gym, up to 50 active members; $75 / month when processing with Gymdesk Payments or an approved partner. Month to month, prices in USD. Each extra location is $50 / month with Gymdesk Payments or a preferred partner, $100 with your own processor.	lower value 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.
Free trial	30-day free trial with every feature, no credit card required	Not stated
API	No, the vendor states there is no public developer API; integrations run through Zapier and the documented connectors	Yes, an API for custom integrations
Memberships and plans	Renewing memberships, trials, one-time fees for sessions and class packs, and family accounts where a primary member controls payment and member details; ranks and programs with promotion criteria for martial arts, yoga, Pilates and gymnastics	Membership management with belt and rank tracking for schools that use them
Billing and payments	Recurring and on-demand charges, an automatic retry schedule for failed payments, notifications about expired cards and overdue payments, and a member account for billing details; processing through Gymdesk Payments (US and Canada), Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, GoCardless or Ezypay	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 on a front-desk tablet, on members' own devices or with a USB barcode scanner, bulk and backdated check-in; door access add-on (beta) with Rhombus hardware, where a fob tap or the app opens the door, records attendance and stops working when a membership lapses	Attendance tracking and reporting with check-in from the member app; unattended 24/7 gym access through the HybridAF integration
Class scheduling and booking	Online booking limited by session capacity and membership type, booking and cancellation windows, waitlists, reminders and calendar invitations, and no-show follow-up	Online scheduling and booking for classes and appointments, with live class schedules embeddable on the gym's website
Lead and renewal management	Built-in CRM with lead capture forms for the Gymdesk site or an existing website, pipeline stages, lead sources, automated email and SMS sequences and conversion to a member	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	Mobile app for bookings, attendance history, rank progress, account and payment management, members-only content and push notifications; a branded app listing on the App Store and Google Play is a $100 / month add-on	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	No public developer API, per the vendor; integrations with Zapier, ActiveCampaign, Zoom, Rhombus and the payment processors Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, GoCardless and Ezypay	An API for custom integrations, plus integrations including ClassPass, Wellhub, SugarWOD, Mailchimp, HybridAF and Zapier
AI features	No	stated Yes
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS)	Not stated
Onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base	Guided onboarding
Company size	Small and mid-sized	Small and mid-sized
Integrations	Zapier, ActiveCampaign, Zoom, Rhombus, Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, GoCardless, Ezypay	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

Starting price Gymdesk From $100 / month Zen Planner From $99 / month
AI features Gymdesk No Zen Planner Yes
API Gymdesk No, the vendor states there is no public developer API; integrations run through Zapier and the documented connectors Zen Planner Yes, an API for custom integrations
Memberships and plans Gymdesk Renewing memberships, trials, one-time fees for sessions and class packs, and family accounts where a primary member controls payment and member details; ranks and programs with promotion criteria for martial arts, yoga, Pilates and gymnastics Zen Planner Membership management with belt and rank tracking for schools that use them
Billing and payments Gymdesk Recurring and on-demand charges, an automatic retry schedule for failed payments, notifications about expired cards and overdue payments, and a member account for billing details; processing through Gymdesk Payments (US and Canada), Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, GoCardless or Ezypay 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

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

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Gymdesk

Strengths

Every plan includes the full platform, unlimited staff accounts and a gym website
Visitors, frozen and cancelled members and prospects are not counted towards the tier
Self-serve export of members, attendance, payments, waivers and documents
Month to month with no setup fee, minimum term or cancellation cost

Limitations

The vendor states there is no public developer API
Door access is in beta, and its hardware and installation are quoted separately
The branded app listing costs $100 / month on top of the plan
Gymdesk Payments is only available in the US and Canada

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

Gymdesk

Micro Gym $100 / month Up to 50 active members. $75 / month with Gymdesk Payments.
Small Gym $125 / month 51 to 100 active members. $100 / month with Gymdesk Payments.
Medium Gym $175 / month 101 to 150 active members. $150 / month with Gymdesk Payments.
Large Gym $240 / month 151 to 250 active members. $200 / month with Gymdesk Payments.
Enterprise Contact us 251 or more active members, sized with the vendor.

Visit site

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.

Visit site

What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Gymdesk

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

Gymdesk https://gymdesk.com · checked against the official source on 2026-11-13

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.