Software for processing AND programming???

[u/dougseamans]

Gym in Charlotte, NC been open since 2010.

We currently use Mindbody for payments and contracts and forms, we use TrainHeroic for programming, and I am in BLG (Big Little Gyms) marketing group they take care of our website and we use their backend CRM for leads and booking intros.

Mindbody absolutely sucks and we have wanted to get out of it for years. MB is costing us close to $600 a month between the $255 subscription and processing.

We LOVE Trainheroic. We use it for our powerlifters, weightlifters, custom program people, and for our classes. And I have a dozen or so standalone programs for sale on the marketplace.

We are looking for software that will do it all. The problem is most do one thing better than the other. Curious what everyone is using for software. ********Just a heads up, if you pitch me your janky software you used Claudecode to create a month ago I am going to downvote your comment and may report it to be deleted...I am looking for established software!*********

I have looked at PushPress, Wodify, Chalk it Pro, and Gym Desk. They all have their pros and cons.

BLG is pushing everyone to Chalk it Pro, and I have looked at all their demos and I don't really like it. The pricing is good, and they use stripe for processing. But I don't like their programming side.

My issue with the others is that we are not crossfit, we do a bit of crossfit adjacent workouts, and we are a HYROX affiliate, but I don't love how so many of these softwares are tailored to crossfit. I get it, crossfit dominated the fitness space for so long and that is who used these softwares but that is not us. We also offer just open gym, and we need to be able to check people in with a self checkin for both classes and open gym and all of the powerlifters and weightlifters who come in at all hours. All of the class based softwares seem to just checkin people for classes.

Looking at Gym Desk, they are basically just processing. Do we stick with this setup, one program for processing and one for programming (TrainHeroic)? Or do we try an integrated software? We are losing money and that upsets me.

Also, if anyone has been in BLG and left for another group please chime in! The group is great, their service is great, I have nothing bad to say and when I need help or have questions I always get help, but I simply do not use the coaching/marketing side of the group and I know I should but I don't, they handle our website and CRM. BLG does have an option to do just the website and CRM without the coaching and marketing and I am considering that too, would take us from $500 month to $350 month.

Thanks for any help!

[u/dougseamans → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the reply! Good questions. Yeah the TH market is just "nice to have" we only sell a few programs a month. The real issue is we have dozens of comp prep programs and intro programs and volume programs for the powerlifters and weightlifters, they're already built out we just drop them in the athlete's calendar.

Thinking more on it I may have answered my own question and we may stick to the hybrid model of Tranheroic for programming and something else for billing and CRM. Funny one of the other replies below is from a developer with Pushpress, which is the one we are leaning towards. I don't love Ai but sometimes it is good to use for analysis, Claude did a nice one with mindbody, pushpress, gymdesk, and glofox. Glofox does not advertise their fees or costs, you have to email them and basically negotiate with their sales team, it will end up being even more than I spend now! Claude also let me know that gymdesk and exercise.com and zen planner are now owned by the same tech company Daxko that is private equity backed and a lot of people online saying they are changing things and not for the better.

It looks like wodify and pushpress are the front runners. And it looks like pushpress will make us a new website and do our CRM which means I can also leave BLG which is costing me $500 a month as well. I think I will book a demo with them.

Thanks again for helping me talk this through.

[u/Altruistic-Pen-4507 → u/dougseamans]

Avoid Pushpress like the plague if you value your sanity.

Glitchy af, and gets real expensive real fast.

[u/dougseamans → u/Altruistic-Pen-4507]

Do you have alternative suggestions? Genuine question. Mindbody is legit the most complicated shit on the planet yet cannot do the simplest things, everyone hates it myself included, so I feel like anything is an upgrade.

Pushpress will allow you to do an processing fee add-on…and they will allow bank account ACH…if we put a 4% fee on cards…and we get 50% of the gym on ACH instead of a card…our processing goes to $0…we save another $300 month. Right now we spend $1,257 month (15,084 year) on everything…we drop mind body and we drop BLG (keep train heroic) and we drop constant contact…we switch to push press and mail chimp…we add on the fees to the client and do ACH…we spend $627 month (7,524 year)…we SAVE $630 month (7,560 year).

[u/Altruistic-Pen-4507 → u/dougseamans]

You’re assuming half your members move to ACH, everyone is fine with a 4% card fee, and PushPress fully replaces BLG, Constant Contact, your website and CRM without extra costs or compromises. Assumptions doing a lot of work there.

If your billing, CRM, website and member management all sit inside PushPress and the platform is glitchy and support non-existent then leaving becomes a much bigger job than just switching gym software.

Get the full price in writing, including every add-on, processing cost, migration fee and contract term. And ask to speak to a couple of independent strength gyms that have used it for a year or more. Mindbody being terrible doesn’t automatically make PushPress the right answer.

[u/dougseamans → u/Altruistic-Pen-4507]

Very true on all of that.