Zen Planner is a very broad gym platform that also serves martial arts. MyDojo is dojo software. Which is right depends on whether you want breadth or focus — and what you are willing to pay for the parts you will not use.
Zen Planner pricing verified July 2026. Where its site does not publish a detail, this table says so rather than estimating.
| Feature | MyDojo | Zen Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Belt & rank progression | ✓ | ✓ |
| Published entry price | Free until 31 Mar 2027 | $99/mo (Studio) |
| Top published tier | Free until 31 Mar 2027 | $348/mo (Ultimate) |
| Free trial | Free until 31 Mar 2027 | None listed |
| Self-serve sign-up (no demo call) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Class scheduling & booking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automated recurring billing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Attendance tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Member / parent portal | ✓ | ✓ |
| Retail & point of sale | ✗ | ✓ |
| Workout / WOD tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Prices in GBP | ✓ | ✗ |
| Breadth of platform | Focused on dojos | Very broad |
| Years in market | Newer platform | Long established |
Zen Planner is a genuinely capable platform, and most of the criticism it attracts is really a mismatch complaint: schools buy a system designed for a multi-discipline fitness business and then use a quarter of it.
The $99/month Studio tier is $1,188 a year before you account for the exchange rate and any card fees on a dollar transaction. For an academy running retail, a pro shop and programmed workouts, that is straightforwardly good value — you are using the breadth. For a 40-student karate club whose software needs are a register, a grading record and a way to collect monthly fees without chasing, most of that spend buys modules that never get opened.
There is also no free trial listed, which means the way you find out whether it fits is a demo call and then a commitment. That is a normal enterprise motion and it works for larger schools. It is a poor fit for an instructor who wants to try something on a Sunday evening between classes.
Retail and point of sale. If you sell gis, gloves, pads or club merchandise, having stock and sales in the same system as memberships is real value. MyDojo has none of this and is not building it.
Workout and WOD tracking. For academies running conditioning programmes alongside martial arts, Zen Planner handles both. MyDojo assumes you are running classes and gradings.
Maturity. It has been in the market a long time, with the customer base and support depth that implies. MyDojo is newer. If low vendor risk is high on your list, that is a fair reason to choose them and no feature table changes it.
Belt progression is the spine, not a module. Rank, stripes, grading eligibility and testing cycles are core objects, so eligibility for the next grading is computed rather than maintained by hand. See martial arts management software for how that works.
Fees collect themselves. Automated recurring billing with family discounts, contracts and testing fees — the part of running a school most instructors dislike most.
No cost while you decide. Free until 31 March 2027, self-serve, no card. Compare it against Kicksite too, or read the full roundup before committing to anything.
No subscription, no per-student fees, no demo call required.
Get started free →Free until 31 March 2027 · No card required
Zen Planner starts at $99/month for its Studio tier and rises to $348/month for Ultimate, on flat-rate tiers rather than per-student pricing, with no free trial listed on its site. MyDojo is free until 31 March 2027 while in early access, with no subscription and no per-student fees, and pricing announced well before that date. Zen Planner prices in US dollars, which adds exchange-rate cost for a UK school. Figures verified July 2026.
They are aimed at different schools. Zen Planner is a very broad platform covering gyms, boxes and martial arts academies, with retail, point of sale and workout tracking that MyDojo does not have. It is also long established. MyDojo is narrower on purpose: it does dojo management, and it is free until 31 March 2027 with self-serve sign-up. If you need retail and POS in the same system, Zen Planner wins outright. If you want dojo software rather than gym software, we think we fit better.
Its site does not list one. Zen Planner is generally demo-led, meaning you arrange a call and a guided walkthrough rather than signing up and exploring on your own. For a larger academy migrating substantial data that is often the better experience, but it does mean you cannot evaluate it unaccompanied. MyDojo is self-serve and free until 31 March 2027, so trying it costs nothing but an evening.
Cancellation and payment-processing terms specifically. Zen Planner is month-to-month with annual contracts available on request, and its Capterra listing carries reviewer complaints about charges tied to cancellation and merchant requirements. That is reviewer feedback rather than something we can verify directly, so treat it as a prompt to get the terms in writing rather than as a finding. Confirm cancellation terms before migrating student data, with any vendor.
Breadth and maturity. If your school also sells merchandise, runs a pro shop, or programmes workouts alongside classes, Zen Planner handles all of that in one system and MyDojo does not. It has a long track record, a large customer base and a support organisation to match. For a multi-discipline academy running retail and fitness programming alongside martial arts, it is the more complete product and we would rather say so.
MyDojo, on balance. Zen Planner's $99/month entry tier buys a great deal of capability a 30-student club will never open — retail, point of sale, workout programming — and $1,188 a year before exchange rates is a meaningful cost at that size. MyDojo is free until 31 March 2027, self-serve, and focused on the things a small dojo actually does: classes, attendance, gradings and getting fees collected without chasing.
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