Best BJJ Gym Management Software (2026): 10 Platforms Compared on Price, Fees and Fit

Most "best gym software" lists are written by companies ranking themselves first and padding the rest. This one is different in two ways. First, full disclosure up front: Kmura, the platform this blog belongs to, is on the list, and we think it is the best choice for most BJJ academies. You should discount our opinion of ourselves accordingly and check the numbers, which is the second difference: every price and processing rate below was read from the vendor's own pricing page on August 27, 2026, with the source linked, and every review score comes from Capterra or G2 with the count shown. Where a vendor does not publish a number, we say "not published" instead of guessing.

The verdict: best fit by academy type

Prices and card rates were read from each vendor's own pricing page on August 27, 2026, with the source linked in each platform's section below; the review scores in those sections come from Capterra and G2 with the count shown. Kmura publishes this blog and is on the list, so weigh our verdicts accordingly.

The short list

If you want the conclusion without the reading: BJJ-specific platforms are Kmura, BJJLink, and (by heritage) Gymdesk, whose founder is a BJJ black belt. Martial-arts-specific but not BJJ-specific are Kicksite, Martialytics, and Spark Membership. General gym platforms that BJJ academies also use are Zen Planner, PushPress, Wodify, and MyStudio. Belt and curriculum tracking is native on the BJJ and martial-arts platforms and an add-on mindset everywhere else.

Pricing at a glance

All prices are monthly, US, standard published rates as of August 27, 2026. "Processing" is the card rate the gym pays on member payments.

Only add-on: SMS ($20 one-time registration + $5/mo + the cost of your texts; cost shown before every send).

Two structural things to notice before the individual reviews. Per-member pricing means your software bill rises as you grow: a 250-student academy pays $269 on Zen Planner and $199 on Kicksite or Martialytics for the same features a 25-student academy gets for $99, $49, and $69. And processing spread matters more than sticker price once you have real billing volume, which is why the next section does the math.

What processing actually costs you

Take a 100-student academy at the US average BJJ membership of $146 a month (Gold BJJ's State of Jiu Jitsu survey of roughly 2,000 practitioners puts it at $146.15). That is about $14,600 in monthly billing.

At 2.9% + 30¢ across 100 charges, you pay about $453 a month in processing. At 2.6% + 30¢, it is about $410. At PushPress's free-plan rate of 4.99% + 30¢, it is about $759, which is how a $0 subscription becomes the most expensive software on this list. BJJLink's $49 plan adds a 1% service fee, about $146 a month at this volume, so its real cost crosses its own $149 flat plan at exactly $10,000 of monthly billing; above that, take the $149 plan. Kicksite's member-paid option zeroes the gym's processing cost by charging members 3.75% on top, which is a real trade: your students pay roughly $65 a year each in fees, and card-surcharge rules vary by state, so check yours before enabling it.

None of these differences sound dramatic per month. Over a year, the gap between 2.9% and 2.6% at this volume is about $526, roughly three and a half months of Kmura's subscription, and the gap widens as you grow. Our full breakdown, including the ACH lever most gyms ignore, is in the billing and processing guide.

The platforms

Kmura

Best for: BJJ academies that want the lowest published all-in cost and a system that actively watches retention.

Ours, so judge accordingly. Kmura is built only for BJJ academies: belts, stripes, and a fully customizable curriculum with promotion logic are the data model, not a bolt-on. The two things owners pick us for are money and attention. Money: $150 a month flat per location with unlimited students and every feature included except SMS, and 2.6% + 30¢ processing, the lowest published card rate on this list. Attention: every night the AI reviews your school's data and flags what needs you, the student whose attendance collapsed, the lead going cold, the student one class from a stripe, each with a pre-drafted email or text your staff can send in two clicks. It never auto-sends anything. The whole platform, including the student portal, ships in English and Brazilian Portuguese. Switching is done for you: we migrate students, attendance history, promotions, and waivers at no charge. The honest caveats: Kmura is the newest platform here, we are not yet listed on Capterra or G2, and our references are the named owners on our ambassadors page rather than a five-year review history. Everything is included in $150/month per location except SMS, the only add-on. SMS has a one-time $20 registration fee, a fixed $5/month, and then costs the price of the texts you send. Before any text goes out, Kmura shows you the exact cost based on the number of recipients and segments. If the comparison pages are useful, we keep line-by-lines against Zen Planner, Kicksite, Gymdesk, and BJJLink.

Gymdesk

Best for: owners who want a polished generalist with martial-arts roots and processor choice.

The strongest all-rounder among the independents-turned-funded. Founded in 2016 as Martial Arts on Rails by Eran Galperin, a BJJ black belt, renamed Gymdesk, and now Austin-based with growth investment from Five Elms Capital. Clean interface, member-count pricing with Gymdesk Payments from $75 (to 50 members) to $200 (to 250), quote-only above that, website included, month-to-month with free data export, and a choice of processors including its own at 2.9% + 30¢ or bringing your own Stripe or Square account, though its software tiers cost $25 to $40 a month more that way. Belt and rank tracking is native. Add-ons are where costs creep: branded member app $100 a month, door access $100 a month, extra locations $50 each with Gymdesk Payments or $100 with your own processor. Capterra 4.8 from 148 reviews; G2 4.8 from 21.

Zen Planner

Best for: multi-program facilities already inside the Daxko ecosystem.

The incumbent. Acquired by Daxko in 2017 and claiming over 6,000 fitness businesses, it serves everything from CrossFit to yoga, with a martial arts mode that includes belt tracking and shared curricula. Pricing is by active member count, $99 to $289 across eight tiers, and the add-ons are significant: website $99, the Engage marketing suite $249, branded app $39. Processing is the big unknown: Zen Planner does not publish a rate anywhere; payments run through its preferred provider PaySimple, and a Flex Fees feature can pass a transaction fee to members. If you are quoted a rate, get it in writing. Capterra 4.3 from 270 reviews; G2 4.2 from 104. The full comparison is at Kmura vs Zen Planner.

Kicksite

Best for: traditional martial-arts schools that want everything included and a zero-net-fee processing option.

Martial-arts software since 2007, originally built for Taekwondo, now claiming 2,100+ schools. Everything is included at every tier and you pay by student count: $49 to 25 students, $99 to 50, $149 to 100, $199 above that. Processing runs through Basys in the US: $29 a month plus 2.9% + 25¢, or the member-paid 3.75% service-fee option described above. It is a mature, well-liked product, Capterra 4.8 from 127 reviews, with a Taekwondo-shaped view of ranks that BJJ schools adapt rather than inhabit. See Kmura vs Kicksite.

BJJLink

Best for: academies that want BJJ-specific software with a technique LMS, and franchise programs.

The other BJJ-specific platform, founded 2018 in San Diego and now owned by MMA.INC, which announced in 2025 that UFC GYM's BJJ franchise studios will run on it. Two flat plans with unlimited students: $49 a month plus a 1% service fee on billing, or $149 with no fee, with curriculum building, rank tracking, and an LMS for technique video. Review-site presence is thin, zero Capterra reviews and ten on G2, so references will do more work than scores here. See Kmura vs BJJLink.

Martialytics

Best for: smaller schools that want simple, well-liked software on their own Stripe account.

A focused, likeable martial-arts platform out of the UK, $69 to $199 by student count with all features at every tier, leads and inactive students free, and payments through your own Stripe account at Stripe's standard rates. No AI layer and a lighter billing toolkit, but well reviewed: Capterra 4.7 from 21, G2 4.8 from 42.

PushPress

Best for: functional-fitness hybrids where BJJ is one program among several.

A polished general gym platform loved by CrossFit boxes. Free, $159, and $229 flat tiers with unlimited members, plus a large add-on catalog (branded app, Grow marketing suite) that the company itself sums to roughly $559 a month for the full stack. The free plan's 4.99% + 30¢ processing makes it a trial, not a home. BJJ schools can run on it, but belts and curriculum are not the native language. Capterra 4.7 from 186; G2 4.8 from 197.

Wodify

Best for: gyms that already run Wodify for fitness classes and are adding martial arts.

Another functional-fitness platform that serves martial arts on its standard tiers. Essentials lists at $199 with a heavily promoted $99 deal; the two upper tiers are quote-only, as is the onboarding fee. Processing advertised "as low as" 2.7% + 30¢. Strong product, weak price transparency. Capterra 4.5 from 154; G2 4.7 from 204.

MyStudio

Best for: high-volume schools that sell hard: events, retail, memberships as commerce.

Membership-commerce software popular with big Taekwondo and karate schools: strong on selling (memberships, events, retail) with three tiers from $79 to $239, and processing from 2.9% + 30¢, rising to 2.9% + 55¢ card-not-present, which is what most recurring gym billing is. Capterra 4.5 from 171; G2 4.4 from 23.

Spark Membership

Best for: traditional schools that want built-in sales cadence coaching; verify the unpublished details.

A single $199/month plan after an 8-week free trial, aimed at traditional martial arts schools with a sales-and-follow-up focus. Member limits and processing rates are not published, and the review base is small (Capterra 4.6 from 9). Ask hard questions on the demo.

What changed in the market in 2026

Three shifts worth knowing before you shop. Review sites consolidated: G2 announced in January 2026 that it is acquiring Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice, so expect the review landscape you compare vendors on to look different a year from now. BJJLink got a corporate parent and a flagship client: MMA.INC announced UFC GYM's BJJ franchise studios will run on it, which signals investment but also a roadmap oriented to franchise needs. And promo pricing spread: Wodify leads with a roughly half-off promotional rate in 2026, and Spark with an 8-week free trial, which makes "what will I pay in month thirteen" a mandatory demo question.

How to choose

Ignore feature checklists; every platform on this list takes attendance and charges cards. Decide on five things instead. First, total monthly cost at YOUR size: subscription plus add-ons you will actually need plus processing at your real billing volume, using the math above. Second, whether belts and curriculum are native or adapted; ask to see a stripe promotion end to end on the demo. Third, what happens to your data when you leave; month-to-month terms and free export tell you how confident a vendor is, and it is the right question to ask on every demo. Fourth, who does the migration work; moving attendance history and belt records yourself is the hidden cost of every switch, which is why we do it for you and wrote up what switching actually involves. Fifth, whether the system creates attention or just records: the difference between a database and a tool that tells you which student is about to quit is the difference we built AI alerts for.