Zen Planner review 2026: pricing, features, pros and cons for gyms

The verdict

What Zen Planner is

Zen Planner is gym management software: memberships, class booking, attendance, automated billing, workout and belt tracking, reporting, and apps for members and staff.

A martial arts school owner started it in 2006, and it shows: belt and rank tracking is one of its strongest features. Daxko, which serves YMCAs and health clubs, bought it in March 2017. Zen Planner says it serves more than 5,000 fitness businesses.

What Zen Planner costs in 2026

Zen Planner sells three packages, priced by your active members. Every package includes all of Zen Planner Studio's features.

• Studio: the software on its own.
• Essentials: Studio plus a website, with built-in lead capture.
• Ultimate: Essentials plus Engage, its marketing automation, CRM and AI-powered email and text campaigns.

Prices a month, in US dollars. Source: Zen Planner's pricing tiers, checked 26 October 2026. Zen Planner doesn't publish prices in other currencies.

What counts as an active member

Anyone with a membership, or who has attended an event recently. Prospects, alumni, staff and pay-per-session attendees are never counted, and your bill adjusts automatically each month.

That's good news for studios with lots of drop-ins, who pay for fewer people than they might expect.

Where the price rises fastest

Most of the increase happens early. Between 45 and 100 active members the price rises three times, and Studio nearly doubles, from $99 to $189. After 100, the steps are smaller. A growing studio should budget for the next band, not the current one.

Add-ons

• Branded app: $39 a month.
• Card reader (Lane 3600): $39 a month.
• Website: $99 a month, or included in Essentials and Ultimate.
• Engage: $249 a month, or included in Ultimate.
• Zen Planner Payments: custom pricing. More on that below.

A New Business Bundle, from $199 a month, combines Essentials with a branded app for businesses just starting out.

The payment processing question

This is the most important part of any Zen Planner decision, so it's worth being clear about what we know.

• Zen Planner steers you to its own processing. Payments run through Daxko Payments, its in-house provider, or PaySimple, a preferred partner. Other processors are allowed, but Daxko's agreement says they must be ones it approves.
• You pay gateway fees either way. The agreement says you pay the transaction fees in your order form whether or not you use Daxko's own processing. Ask what they are.
• The rates aren't published. Zen Planner says rates "depend on your plan and volume", and its account team will walk you through them. The pricing page lists payments as "custom pricing".
• What you get with it is good. Cards, debit cards and ACH bank payments, an account updater that refreshes expired cards, same-day funding for eligible customers, and every payment flowing straight into your reports.
• You can pass some costs on. Zen Planner's Flex Fees let you add up to 3% to a member's payment to cover processing, with 30 days' notice to members. Check the surcharging rules where you are first.
• Reviewers say it costs more. Some owners say they felt obliged to use Zen Planner's processor at higher rates than elsewhere. One Trustpilot reviewer quotes about 3.5%. These are individual accounts, not published figures.

None of that makes Zen Planner a bad choice. But get three things in writing before you sign: the card and bank payment rates, the gateway fees in your order form, and what happens to your members' card details if you leave.

What the contract says

Daxko's customer agreement for gyms and studios, dated 16 June 2026, is worth reading before you sign. These are the terms that matter most:

• Setup fees. One-off, non-refundable fees for setup, data conversion and training can apply, set out in your order form. Ask what's included in your package.
• Price rises. Software fees can rise by up to inflation plus 3% in any 12 months. Transaction fees, training and costs passed on from third parties aren't capped.
• Billing disputes. Payments are non-refundable, and you must raise a billing error in writing quickly. The agreement gives 45 days in one clause and 15 in another, so act within 15.
• Late payment. Interest of 1.5% a month applies, and access can be blocked once a payment is 30 days late.
• Exclusivity. During your term, Daxko is your sole provider at every location you own, including new ones. That matters if you plan to open a second site.
• US law. The agreement is under Alabama law, and disputes go to mediation, then arbitration, in Birmingham, Alabama. Worth knowing if you're outside the US.
• Changing terms. Daxko can update the terms online, and carrying on using the service counts as accepting them.

Your order form may differ, and this isn't legal advice. Read yours, and ask for any change in writing.

The real monthly cost

A gym with 150 active members, each paying $100 a month, on the Studio package with the branded app and one card reader:

The card fee line is an example, because Zen Planner doesn't publish its rates. Every 0.5% on $15,000 of payments is $75 a month, or $900 a year, which is why the processing rate matters as much as the software price.

What you get

• Members and billing: memberships, family accounts, automated recurring billing, failed-payment recovery, and pricing for packs, drop-ins, family plans and intro offers.
• Scheduling: online booking, waitlists, attendance tracking and self-service check-in.
• Training: advanced workout tracking with SugarWOD, plus belt, rank and skill tracking for martial arts.
• Apps: a member app and a rebuilt staff app, both included, plus a kiosk mode for self check-in at the front desk.
• Team and money: staff payroll, retail and point of sale, QuickBooks integration and next-day funding on payments.
• Reports: dashboards for revenue, attendance and retention.
• Getting started: a dedicated onboarding specialist and data migration from your current system.

What owners like

Across independent reviews and the owners I've spoken to, the same strengths come up:

• Scheduling and attendance that are easy for members and staff, with class limits that prevent double-booking.
• Workout and belt tracking. Martial arts schools and CrossFit gyms value tracking ranks, scores and personal records in the same system as billing.
• Everything in one place: member profiles, payment methods and bookings on one dashboard.
• Help getting started. Many reviewers praise the onboarding team, and Capterra reviewers rate customer service 4.4 out of 5.
• A well-rated member app. Members book, check in, pay and log workouts. Zen Planner says it's rated 4.6 on the iOS App Store from more than 6,700 ratings.
• Automated billing that chases failed payments for you.
• Room to grow, with reporting and tools that work across several locations.

What frustrates owners

• Payment processing costs, as above. It's one of the most common complaints in public reviews.
• Bugs and glitches. The most common complaint on Capterra. Some owners report the system being slow or buggy at busy moments, such as when classes open for booking.
• Slow branded app launches. At least one owner reports waiting months for a branded app. Ask how long yours will take.
• Leaving can be hard. Some former customers describe charges after cancelling, and difficulty getting refunds. Check the cancellation terms before you sign.
• Mixed support. Many praise the support team, but others say it's hard to reach when billing or technical problems come up.

On 26 October 2026, Zen Planner scored 4.3 out of 5 on Capterra from 270 reviews, and 3.6 on Trustpilot from 343. Ask current customers in your niche what their experience has been.

Leaving Zen Planner

Check how you'd leave before you join. This is where most complaints come from, and Daxko's agreement explains why.

• Give 30 days' notice. Request the cancellation form from Setup, then My Account. Cancelling needs at least 30 days' notice from when Zen Planner receives the completed form. Support then confirms your final bill and date.
• Other services may not stop with the software. The agreement says cancelling doesn't necessarily cancel payment processing, Engage or full-service billing. Ask how to close each one.
• A longer term costs more to leave. If you agreed a term longer than a month, leaving early means paying the fees for the months left.
• Data exports cost extra. The agreement lists exit data, data extract and de-tokenisation fees, which cover moving stored card details, at current rates. Former customers and competitors report fees of about $200 to $1,500.
• Your data goes when you do. Daxko doesn't have to keep your data after you leave, and removes it without backup. Download your member list, attendance and payment reports before your last day.

If you switch, the card details matter most. Without them, every member has to enter a card again, and some won't. Ask your new provider to arrange the transfer before you cancel.

Zen Planner vs TeamUp

TeamUp is the other platform independent gyms most often compare. Here's how the software price compares at different sizes, in US dollars a month:

On software alone, TeamUp is cheaper above 45 members. Add a branded app, $39 on Zen Planner and $99 on TeamUp, and they're within $20 a month of each other from 100 members up. Your card rate will matter far more.

Marketing add-ons differ too: Engage is $249 a month, and TeamUp's Marketing Suite is $109.

• Choose Zen Planner for martial arts belt tracking, SugarWOD workout tracking, a cheaper branded app, or a very small gym under 45 members.
• Choose TeamUp for published card rates, prices in pounds or other currencies, and lower cost if you don't need a branded app.

Read the full TeamUp review for the detail.

Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere

A good fit if

• You run a martial arts school, CrossFit box or functional fitness gym.
• Your coaches need a staff app, and you want workout or belt tracking built in.
• You're in the US, or you've confirmed payments work well in your country.

Look elsewhere if

• You want to choose your own card processor at published rates.
• You're a UK gym that wants prices in pounds and Direct Debit. Compare TeamUp and ClubRight.
• You run a boutique class studio that values a polished booking experience. Look at ABC Glofox or Momence.

If you already use HighLevel for follow-up, you probably don't need Engage. Use Zen Planner Studio to run the gym, and HighLevel for leads, nurture and win-back campaigns.

Questions to ask on the demo

• What are your card and bank payment rates, and what gateway fees will be in my order form?
• What will I pay at my size today and at double, including add-ons and processing?
• Can you quote me in my own currency, and do you support my country's payment methods?
• Are there any setup, data conversion or training fees?
• What exactly do I need to do to cancel, and what does a full data export cost, including card details?
• Show me a member booking a class on the app. If I add a branded app, how long will it take to launch?
• When is support available in my time zone, and how quickly do you reply?
• Can I speak to two current customers who run a gym like mine?

Questions owners ask