Free and low-cost martial arts school software
✔ Last verified 2026-10-25✔ Prices linked to vendor sources✔ Our methodologyAffiliate disclosure
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Free martial arts software exists, but "free" usually means someone still pays: either your school pays a higher card rate, your families pay a checkout fee, or the free tier stops at a small student count. We checked each vendor's own pricing page on October 26, 2026 and list only what they publish; anything not published is marked unknown.
| PushPress | Recess | RhinoFit | Kicksite | Martialytics | Gymdesk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0/mo (Free plan) | $0/mo (members pay ~5% at checkout) | $0/mo (Start Up, ≤20 active users); $57/mo Standard | $49/mo (0-25 students) | $69/mo (0-50 students) | $75/mo with Gymdesk Payments (≤50 members); $100/mo otherwise |
| Pricing basis | Flat plan price; unlimited members and staff on every plan; prices in USD (contact sales for international) | $0 per month per location; members pay a service fee of about 5% at checkout, which covers card and bank processing; cash or cheque payments carry no fee | Flat price, no member limits (Standard); Start Up is free only at 20 or fewer active users | Priced by active students; all features at every tier | Priced by active students; leads and inactive students free; unlimited users and locations | Priced by active members; extra location $50/mo (Gymdesk Payments) or $100/mo (own processor) |
| Free trial | unknown (Free plan has no monthly fee) | Not applicable (free; no monthly fee) | 30 days, no credit card | First 30 days free (pricing and switch pages) | 30 days, no credit card | 30 days, no credit card |
| Contract | unknown | No setup fee, contract or minimum (features page) | No contract; cancel anytime by phone (pricing page) | Recurring charges until you cancel; annual plans auto-renew every 12 months and aren't refunded if cancelled early (terms of use); discounted annual pricing on request | No lock-in contracts | Month to month, no setup or cancellation fee |
| Belt / rank tracking | Yes: Rank Tracking for martial arts academies (pricing page); which plans include it: unknown | Yes: belts, stripes and testing on a ladder you define (pricing and martial arts pages) | Yes: Belt & Progression Tracking on all plans (pricing page) | Yes: attendance and belt tracking, promote with one click | Yes: grading-readiness tracking; student app lessons sectioned by rank (features page) | Yes: per-program rank progression; flags who's ready to promote (homepage FAQ) |
| Attendance | Yes: check-ins, kiosk mode and attendance tracking (pricing page) | unknown (not detailed on pricing page) | Yes: check-in, reserve and attend; tablet kiosk (pricing page) | Yes: kiosk check-in by name, PIN or member-portal barcode; check-in restrictions for past-due balances (FAQ, attendance page) | Yes: engagement tracking, automatic absence follow-up, Kiosk Mode check-in app (features page, site nav) | Yes: check-in by kiosk, name search, barcode or phone |
| Booking | Yes: members app class registration, waitlists, appointments (pricing page) | Yes: classes, appointments, courses, waitlists; branded app (pricing page) | Yes: class and appointment scheduling; mobile app (pricing page) | Yes: students register for classes and events in the Member Portal mobile web app (FAQ) | Yes: bookings & events, calendar, capacity (features page) | Yes: members book classes from their phone |
| Invoicing / autopay | Yes: pro-rated recurring billing (pricing page) | Yes: memberships with automatic retry of failed payments (pricing page) | Standard: Automated Payment Processing (pricing page) | None | None | None |
| Parent / student portal | Members app for booking, purchases and profile updates (pricing page) | Family accounts: several children under one payer and one login (pricing page) | unknown | None | None | None |
| Payments / fees | Free: 4.99% + $0.30 card, 2.89% + $0.30 ACH; Pro: 2.89% + $0.30 card, 0.79% + $0.30 ACH; Max: 2.75% + $0.30 card, 0.79% + $0.30 ACH | Member-paid service fee of about 5% at checkout; processing covered by Recess out of that fee (pricing page) | unknown (Automated Payment Processing listed on Standard; rates not published on pricing page) | US: preferred partner Basys, flat rate $29/mo + 2.9% + $0.25 per card transaction (card + ACH option: $35 setup, $49/mo, 2.9% + $0.25 card, $0.30 ACH); international: Stripe (payment-processing page) | Standard Stripe rates, no markup or revenue % (per vendor) | Gymdesk Payments (US/Canada) rate: unknown |
| Rating | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown |
| Source | vendor page | vendor page vendor page vendor page | vendor page | vendor page vendor page vendor page vendor page vendor page vendor page vendor page | vendor page vendor page vendor page | vendor page vendor page vendor page |
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Prices as published (monthly no-commitment / annual where shown). "unknown" = not published. Checked 2026-10-25.
Free plans compared
- PushPress Free: $0/mo with unlimited members and staff, but card payments cost 4.99% + $0.30 (ACH 2.89% + $0.30). Pro is $159/mo with card at 2.89% + $0.30, and Max is $229/mo at 2.75% + $0.30. The pricing page lists Rank Tracking for martial arts academies and invite-only events for belt tests. PushPress pricing
- Recess: $0/mo per location with one plan and no setup fee, contract or add-ons. Members pay a service fee of about 5% at checkout, and Recess covers card and bank processing out of that fee. Cash or cheque payments you record carry no fee. Belts, stripes, testing and family accounts are included. Recess pricing
- RhinoFit Start Up: $0/mo if you have 20 or fewer active users in a month (in the US and Canada, also $2,500 or less in payments that month). RhinoFit says free-tier users may have restricted or no access to communications and payment processing. Standard is a flat $57/mo with no member limits. Both include belt and progression tracking. 30-day trial, no credit card. RhinoFit pricing
The processing-fee trap
On a school collecting $5,000 a month by card, the extra fees work out like this (published rates only, ignoring per-transaction $0.30 fees): PushPress Free at 4.99% is about $250/mo in card fees, against about $145/mo at Pro's 2.89%. That $105 gap doesn't cover Pro's $159/mo fee, so at this volume Free still costs less. At around $7,600/mo or more in card volume, Pro's lower rate starts to pay for itself. With Recess, the school pays nothing but families pay about 5% (about $250 on that $5,000) on top of tuition. Standard Stripe processing (about 2.9% + $0.30) on the same volume would be about $145/mo. Check whether a "free" plan still costs less once you add up those fees.
Low-cost paid options
- Kicksite: $49/mo for 0-25 students, $99 for 26-50. US processing through Basys is a flat $29/mo plus 2.9% + $0.25 per card transaction. First 30 days free. Visit Kicksite
- Martialytics: $69/mo for up to 50 students with standard Stripe rates and no markup or revenue percentage (per vendor). 30 days free, no credit card. Visit Martialytics
- Gymdesk: $75/mo for up to 50 active members with Gymdesk Payments ($100/mo with your own processor). The Gymdesk Payments rate isn't published. 30 days free, no credit card. Visit Gymdesk
- Zen Planner: from $99/mo (Studio), with staff not charged. It scales by active members at prices it doesn't publish. Visit Zen Planner
Other free options we found
Two smaller vendors also publish free plans for martial arts gyms. We haven't reviewed them in depth: OLM charges gyms $0/mo, adds a 2% platform fee that members see on each charge, and you pay Stripe processing on your own prices (OLM pricing). MatPilot has a Free plan for small academies at $0/mo plus 2% on payments taken through it, and Pro is $79/mo plus 0.49% (MatPilot pricing).
What we couldn't confirm
Not published on vendor pricing pages: PushPress trial and contract terms, and which plans include Rank Tracking; Recess's exact service fee (it says "about 5%") and attendance details; RhinoFit payment processing rates and parent portal; annual prices for all of these tools; and the Gymdesk Payments and Zen Planner processing rates. MatPilot's Free plan student limit isn't stated.
Related: best martial arts school software · martial arts software pricing by student count · Martialytics vs Kicksite · all martial arts tools
FAQ
Is there free martial arts school software?
Yes. PushPress has a $0/mo Free plan (card payments 4.99% + $0.30), Recess charges the school $0/mo while members pay a service fee of about 5% at checkout, and RhinoFit's Start Up plan is $0/mo for schools with 20 or fewer active users. OLM and MatPilot also publish $0/mo plans with a 2% payment fee.
What is the cheapest paid martial arts software?
Of the published prices we checked, RhinoFit Standard is a flat $57/mo with no member limits, Kicksite starts at $49/mo for 0-25 students, Martialytics at $69/mo for up to 50 students, and Gymdesk at $75/mo for up to 50 active members with Gymdesk Payments.
Does free martial arts software track belts?
PushPress lists Rank Tracking for martial arts academies, Recess includes belts, stripes and testing, and RhinoFit lists Belt & Progression Tracking on all plans, including the free Start Up plan.
Is free software really cheaper?
Not always. PushPress Free charges 4.99% + $0.30 per card payment against 2.89% on its $159/mo Pro plan, and Recess families pay about 5% at checkout. Compare those fees on your monthly card volume with a flat-priced tool before you choose.