Zen Planner is one of the most established names in martial arts + fitness software. OLM is the modern, pay-as-you-grow challenger. Here's the honest side-by-side.
I train at a gym that uses this app, and I build the product. If the table below says Zen Planner beats us on something, it's because they do.
Zen Planner has been around for over a decade and is deeply embedded in martial arts and affiliate-gym workflows. It's a mature, feature-broad suite with dedicated support — and it's priced like one. OLM is leaner: a modern stack, fewer knobs, zero monthly platform fee, and 2% on each membership invoice ($2 minimum). If you value a deeply-tenured vendor with a large sales and support org, Zen Planner is a safe pick. If you want to sign up in 10 minutes, keep your Stripe account, and not pay until members pay you, pick OLM.
11
OLM wins
2
Zen Planner wins
1
Ties
Built for
OLM
Martial arts academies (BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, Karate, MMA)
Zen Planner
Martial arts, affiliate gyms, boutique fitness
Starting price
OLM
$0/mo · 2% on memberships ($2 min) · 3% on seminars/merch/drop-ins · free POS · zero processing markup
Zen Planner
Monthly subscription scaling with members (quoted)
Per-member fees
OLM
None
Zen Planner
Tier-based caps by active members
Built for
Starting price
Per-member fees
Billing rails
Belt & rank tracking
Portable member profiles
Training journal / AI coach
Churn prediction
White-labeled member app
Demand pipeline / member discovery
Onboarding
Contract
Support depth
Reporting depth
Pricing and feature sets change — this page reflects a best-effort snapshot from publicly available info. Check their site directly before deciding.
Best fit
Best fit
OLM is purpose-built for martial arts (BJJ, judo, muay thai, karate, MMA, wrestling). For CrossFit affiliates, Zen Planner's WOD library and programming integrations are a real advantage that OLM doesn't replicate. If you run both, weigh which side of the business is bigger.
OLM's belt and stripe tracking is per-discipline with promotion lineage — designed specifically for martial arts rank progression. Zen Planner's skill-tracking is more generic; it works but isn't tuned for BJJ stripes or Dan grades.
Zen Planner has a long bench of dashboards for fitness-gym KPIs. OLM's reporting is more focused — MRR, churn, attendance by member, revenue per member, instructor utilization, and a few others — but every report is CSV-exportable and the data model is queryable. If you live in spreadsheets, OLM's exports get you there; if you need pre-built fitness-industry dashboards, Zen Planner has more.
Yes via CSV export. Member roster, active subscriptions, and contact info migrate cleanly. Skill / rank records typically need to be recreated since the data shape differs.
No credit card to sign up. No contract once you go live. If it's not the right fit, you keep your Stripe account, your member list, and your data.