Comparison
Looking for a Gymdesk alternative?
Short answer: BlackBeltCRM publishes every price: $49 to $249 a month by active members, every feature on every plan. Gymdesk pricing model: By active members, every feature on every tier, $25 to $40 a month less with Gymdesk Payments. Extra locations $50 with Gymdesk Payments, $100 with your own processor. Both ladders are below, checked against the sources listed at the bottom.
Broad gym and martial arts management, priced by member count with a free entry tier. Here is where BlackBeltCRM is stronger, with both price ladders side by side, checked on 24 October 2026 against the sources listed at the bottom.
The difference that is not a feature
Most membership platforms tell you how many members you have. Very few tell you why they leave — and that is not a screen somebody forgot to build, it is a consequence of how long they have been keeping records and in what shape.
BlackBeltCRM has been running membership businesses since 2011 and keeps the whole record: every status change, every promotion, every attendance mark, every payment. That is what makes cohort retention curves, tenure at cancellation and churn as a rate possible. A platform holding two years of shallow data cannot produce them by adding a report.
Gymdesk and BlackBeltCRM, row by row
Swipe the table sideways to see every competitor.
| Feature | BlackBeltCRM | Gymdesk |
|---|---|---|
| Price published on the website | Yes$49 to $249 a month by active members, every feature on every plan. | Yes$100-$240/mo by active members; $75-$200 with Gymdesk Payments. |
| Monthly cost at 75 active students | $119$119 a month (Club, 51 to 100 members). | $125Small Gym (51-100): $125/mo, or $100 with Gymdesk Payments. |
| No contract required | YesMonth to month. No contract, no setup fee. | YesMonth to month; no setup fee, minimum term or cancellation cost. |
| Keeps no percent of your tuition | YesFlat monthly price. Card processing is billed separately. | YesFlat tiers; Gymdesk Payments cards 2.9% + $0.30. |
| Families billed in your own name | YesFamilies pay in your name, on your own rules. | YesGymdesk Payments shows "FWD* [Your Business Name]"; prefix cannot be removed. |
| Money goes straight to your merchant account | YesMerchant account opened through our partner, held in the business's name. | YesOwn Stripe, Square, Authorize.net or GoCardless supported; software costs more. |
| Warning before a student quits | YesAt-risk warnings on Home, with a one-tap come-back message. | YesFlags members past a set absence window; can auto-send win-back messages. |
| Retention, churn-rate and tenure reports | YesCohort retention, tenure at cancellation, churn as a rate. | YesMember Growth report: monthly churn, average membership length, net growth. |
| AI reading of your business | YesA daily AI reading of your numbers on Home; every figure checked against your own data before it shows. | NoBlog: not interested in "stapling AI onto a feature list". |
| AI helper inside the software | YesAsk how to do anything; steps for the screen you are on, from our help, in English or Spanish. | NoFounder post: "AI features are coming"; no assistant released. |
| Free import from your old software | YesSelf-service import during the trial, free at any size, with undo. | Yes"Migration support included"; $0 setup fees. |
| English and Spanish | YesApp and emails in English and Spanish. | Not publishedSite offered in English and Japanese; Spanish not mentioned. |
| Belts, ranks and testing | YesRanks per program, promotion history and testing fees. | YesPromotion criteria per rank or belt, with readiness notifications. |
| Two-way texting | YesTwo-way texting with an inbox and automations; text messaging is a paid add-on per location. | YesReplies are captured on the member profile; any staff member can answer. |
| Automatic lead follow-up | YesLead pipeline with automatic follow-up emails and texts. | Yes"Capture leads and follow up automatically" via automations. |
| Marketing tools built in | YesLead forms, Google review requests, online join and pay, and a referral program. | YesLead capture forms, online member sign-up, referral program, automated review requests. |
| Social media posts | In developmentIn development: AI-written posts from your own business's data; you approve them, then post in one tap, and we show which posts brought in new members. | Not publishedSocial media posting not mentioned on the marketing features page. |
| Website for your business | ComingComing January 2027: pick a template you can adjust, or have us design a professional site for a one-time fee. Hosting is a monthly fee. Schedule, prices, lead forms and online join come live from your BlackBeltCRM. | YesNo-code website builder included in every plan. |
| Paid ads run for you | NoWe do not run ads for you. | Not publishedAd management service not mentioned on marketing or pricing pages. |
| Branded app in the app stores | In planningYour own branded app in the App Store and Google Play is in planning; today the member portal adds to the phone's home screen. | YesBranded app $100/mo on App Store and Google Play; first month free. |
Sources and dates
Each competitor fact was read on its vendor's own public pages on the date shown; "Not published" means the vendor does not state it publicly. "Coming", "In development" and "In planning" mark our own features that are not live yet. Prices and features change, so check their sites, and tell us if something here is out of date.
- BlackBeltCRM: blackbeltcrm.com/pricing, blackbeltcrm.com, blackbeltcrm.com/features/analytics, blackbeltcrm.com/ai-gym-software, blackbeltcrm.com/switching, blackbeltcrm.com/features/support, blackbeltcrm.com/markets/martial-arts, blackbeltcrm.com/features/communications, blackbeltcrm.com/features/leads-trials, blackbeltcrm.com/features, blackbeltcrm.com/features/member-portal
- Gymdesk: gymdesk.com/pricing, docs.gymdesk.com/en/help/docs/gymdesk-payments-faqs, docs.gymdesk.com/help/payment-processing, gymdesk.com/features/member-insights, gymdesk.com/blog/ai-for-gym-management, gymdesk.com/blog/gymdesk-founder-journey, gymdesk.com/10th-planet-jiu-jitsu, gymdesk.com/why-gymdesk, gymdesk.com/software/martial-arts, gymdesk.com/features/sms, gymdesk.com/features/marketing, gymdesk.com/features/website
Where we are stronger
Below 50 members we start at $49, against their $100 ($75 with Gymdesk Payments). At 75 active members Gymdesk is $125 a month, or $100 if you take card payments through Gymdesk Payments; we are $119 whichever way you are paid, so their price with Gymdesk Payments is lower there. With us families pay in your business's name on your own merchant account, without a processor prefix on their statement, and the app and emails run in English and Spanish. Your rate reflects active and suspended members, so a long history of people who have left never pushes your tier up.
Pricing, side by side
Gymdesk: By active members, every feature on every tier, $25 to $40 a month less with Gymdesk Payments. Extra locations $50 with Gymdesk Payments, $100 with your own processor.
Gymdesk
| Micro Gym, up to 50 | $100$75 with Gymdesk Payments |
| Small Gym, 51 - 100 | $125$100 with Gymdesk Payments |
| Medium Gym, 101 - 150 | $175$150 with Gymdesk Payments |
| Large Gym, 151 - 250 | $240$200 with Gymdesk Payments |
| Enterprise, 251 and up | Not publishedcontact sales |
BlackBeltCRM
| Up to 25 members | $49 |
| 26 – 50 members | $79 |
| 51 – 100 members | $119 |
| 101 – 250 members | $159 |
| 251 – 500 members | $199 |
| 501+ members | $249 |
Every feature is on every plan. Nothing is held back for a higher tier and there are no per-staff charges. Charged on top only if you use them: extra Locations at $39 each, payment processing, and text messaging.
Switching
The trial is free, asks for no card, and switches every feature on. Bring one program across and run it alongside what you have — that is a more honest test than any demo, including ours.
You can import your members yourself during the trial, free: see every family and member before anything is written, and undo it if you change your mind. How the import works. If somebody tells you migration is effortless, ask them to show you your own file first.
Sources
Gymdesk pricing verified 24 October 2026 from:
Their pricing changes and ours has gone stale before, which is why these pages carry a date. If you are reading this well after the date above, check their site — and tell us, so we can fix it.
Read more about Gymdesk
Comparing more than one?
Most people are. Here is the same treatment for the rest.
Try it against your own numbers
Free to try, no card, no contract. Or work out what churn is costing you first — two numbers, no sign-up.
Start free trialSwitching is a file, not a project.
Export from your old system, import it here and check every family before anything is saved. If something looks wrong, undo it.
- Switching is a file, not a project
- Import your members from your old system’s export, free at any size. You see every family before anything is saved, and you can undo it.
- No contract, no card to start
- Free to try. Export your members to CSV or Excel any time, without asking us.
- $49 a month, every feature
- Priced by the size of your membership. No setup fee, no per-staff charge, no feature held for a higher plan.
- English and Spanish
- Each person on your team picks English or Spanish, and emails go out in each family’s language.