How to choose martial arts gym software: a 20-question checklist

Start with what makes a martial arts school different

A martial arts school has things a fitness studio doesn't: ranks that take years to earn, testing and promotion records, kids programs where the payer and the student are different people, and often more than one discipline under one roof. Software built for general fitness can bill and check people in, but it usually bolts ranks on as a text field. Before you look at price, decide which of these your school can't run without.

Bring this checklist to each demo and ask the vendor to show, not tell.

Ranks and promotions

• 1. Can it track rank per discipline, so a student can hold a BJJ rank and a judo rank at once?
• 2. Does it handle stripes, tips or degrees, not only belt colors?
• 3. Is every promotion kept as a dated record with who promoted the student?
• 4. Can you see who is eligible to test, based on attendance since their last promotion?

Billing

• 5. Does money land in your own payment account, or the vendor's?
• 6. What is the processing rate, as a number?
• 7. Can it bill a parent for several children on one account?
• 8. Can members pause or freeze without you rebuilding their plan?
• 9. Are failed payments retried and the member notified automatically?

Front desk and classes

• 10. Can students check in at a kiosk or by QR code without staff?
• 11. Can you see attendance by student, class and week?
• 12. Are waivers signed digitally before the first class, with a guardian signature for minors?
• 13. Can you publish your class schedule on your own website?

The member app

• 14. Is there a member app, and does it carry your gym's name and logo?
• 15. Is the app included or an add-on?
• 16. Can members see their own attendance and rank history?

Data and leaving

• 17. Can you export members, attendance and billing history as CSV whenever you want?
• 18. Is there a contract, and what does cancelling cost?
• 19. If you leave, do your members' saved cards leave with you?
• 20. What will a gym your size pay per month in year two, including processing?

How to score the answers

Questions 1 to 4 and 17 to 19 are the ones that are hardest to fix later. Ranks are your students' history, and a platform that can't hold them properly will lose information you can't rebuild. Data ownership decides whether you can ever switch. Weight those heavily; most platforms can bill a card.

Then compare the yearly cost with your own numbers rather than the vendor's example gym. A demo that only shows the dashboard and avoids the payment and export questions is telling you something too.