ClassIQ vs Gymdesk
Gymdesk deserves respect: martial-arts roots (it launched as 'Martial Arts on Rails'), transparent member-count pricing, your choice of payment processor with no markup, and a free gym website. The honest difference is in the details: ClassIQ stays one flat price as you grow, publishes the week as a reviewed draft instead of editing live, hard-blocks unsigned waivers at booking and the door, runs a real strike policy engine, and adds NFC tags and Wallet passes at the front door. Below 50 members, Gymdesk is cheaper. Read the table and decide honestly — we did.
Gymdesk details from public pages, verified July 26, 2026 · spot something outdated? Tell us
Why owners move from Gymdesk.
Flat beats headcount at scale
At 150 active members Gymdesk is $150/mo; at 250 it's $200; past 400 it's a custom quote. ClassIQ stays at one flat price while you grow — the software bill shouldn't be a tax on your retention.
Enforcement, not just records
Gymdesk e-signs waivers but cannot stop an unsigned member from booking or checking in, and it has no strike system. ClassIQ gates the door until the waiver is signed and applies your no-show policy automatically, with fees if you want them.
A calmer way to change the week
Gymdesk schedule edits go live as you make them. ClassIQ stages the week as a draft, shows you exactly what changed, and publishes once — members never see a half-finished schedule.
Feature by feature.
The whole surface, including where Gymdesk is ahead. Gymdesk's column reflects their public docs and pricing pages as of July 26, 2026 — corrections welcome.
Where Gymdesk genuinely wins.
Free gym website
An SEO-ready website, landing pages, and an online store are included in every plan. ClassIQ does not build websites — you keep your own site and link or embed the portal.
Cheaper for small rosters
At $75/mo under 50 active members, Gymdesk undercuts ClassIQ's flat price. If you plan to stay small, that math genuinely favors them.
Native apps & rank-gated curriculum
iOS/Android member apps out of the box (your own brand for $100/mo), plus rank-specific videos and documents members can study between classes — a curriculum layer ClassIQ does not have.
If those are the features your studio runs on, Gymdesk may be the right tool — and this page should make that easy to see.
The headcount meter runs forever.
Gymdesk is honest about processing — like ClassIQ, it adds no markup, and it even lets you bring your own processor. The line that grows is the software: $100/mo at 51–100 active members, $150 at 101–200, $200 at 201–400, custom beyond. ClassIQ is $99 flat at every size, so the system stops charging you for growing.
Switching is our job, not yours.
Done-for-you migration
Export your members from Gymdesk (or hand us the spreadsheet) and we import them — mapped, previewed, and verified before anything goes live. Included, not an add-on.
Your Stripe account, not ours
Payments run on a Stripe account you own. Saved cards and payment history stay yours — including if you ever leave ClassIQ.
No contract holding the door
Month-to-month, no setup fee, CSV export any time. If ClassIQ stops earning its keep, leaving is a download — the same standard we'd hold Gymdesk to.
Common questions.
- Is ClassIQ or Gymdesk cheaper?
- Depends on your roster. Under 50 active members Gymdesk's $75 tier wins. Around 51–100 members the two are within $1 of each other. From 101 members up, ClassIQ's flat $99 beats Gymdesk's $150–$200+ tiers, and the gap widens as you grow. Processing is a wash — neither adds a markup.
- Can I keep my own Stripe account with both?
- Yes — this is genuine parity, and rare in this market. Gymdesk connects several processors including your own Stripe; ClassIQ runs on your own Stripe account via Stripe Connect. Either way you own the merchant relationship. The switch between the two is also easier for it: Stripe-to-Stripe card migration is a supported, no-re-entry path.
- Does ClassIQ have a website builder like Gymdesk?
- No, and we don't pretend otherwise. If a free website is the feature you need most, Gymdesk bundles a good one. ClassIQ assumes you keep the site you have (or a simple page-builder site) and gives you a hosted, branded portal at your-gym.classiq.app to link to.
- How does belt tracking compare?
- Both are serious about it. Gymdesk has per-program ladders, readiness reports, bulk promotions, grading events, and rank-gated curriculum media. ClassIQ has belt/level/certification tracks with attendance-driven eligibility, recorded assessments, cohort rosters for test day, and paid gradings sold as public-ticket events. Curriculum media is theirs alone; cohort test-day operations and ticketed gradings are ours.
Gymdesk is a trademark of its owner, which isn't affiliated with ClassIQ and hasn't endorsed this page. Competitor details come from the public pages below, last verified July 26, 2026; prices and features change, so check with Gymdesk before deciding on numbers alone. See something wrong or stale? Email us and we'll fix it fast.
See it on your own schedule.
A demo is thirty minutes, founder to owner. Bring the spreadsheet — or the export from your current system. Migration is included.
Book a demo