Gym software vs studio software: what's the difference?

Official industry classifications separate the two by what the business mainly sells. The UN’s ISIC Rev.4 puts fitness centres under 9311, “Operation of sports facilities”, and yoga instruction under 8541, “Sports and recreation education”.³⁷

Dance has its own class. ISIC 8542, “Cultural education”, covers dance instruction and dance studios, and notes that such units might be called “schools”, “studios” or “classes”.³⁷

India’s National Industrial Classification, NIC-2008, was revised to be consistent with the draft ISIC Rev.4 and uses matching codes: 85410 for sports and recreation education, 85420 for cultural education and 93110 for the operation of sports facilities.³⁸

The US classification draws the same line. NAICS 713940 covers businesses that operate fitness facilities, while those mainly giving instruction, such as yoga or exercise instruction, are classed under educational services. It also lists “Yoga fitness studios or centers” under 713940, which shows the split is about the facility versus the instruction, not the activity.³⁶

That’s a useful way to think about software too. A gym sells access to a place, often at any hour. A studio sells time with a teacher, in a class with a fixed number of places. Most businesses do some of both, so the question is which one your day revolves around.

The clearest difference is where each vendor puts class booking. Among the five gym-first products we checked, three place it above their entry plan: Okfit, Gymex and FitGymSoftware’s plan cards. The four studio-first products include booking in every plan, or at least in the entry one, where they publish their tiers.^{1,8,11,19,27,31}

There are exceptions. AdviceFit, which leads with gym software, includes class scheduling in its free tier, and FitGymSoftware says elsewhere on its site that every feature is in every plan.^4,7,8

A studio’s week runs on a few things a gym needs less: a waitlist for a full class, class packs whose credits come off as members attend, and one-to-one appointments alongside group classes. Glofox and Momence market all three, and Mindbody markets waitlists and appointments, though they don’t always say which plan includes them. The gym-first products vary more: Okfit bundles its waitlist with bookings in a higher tier, Kondria lists its waitlist as a roadmap item, and AdviceFit says waitlists and class credits are not claimed.^{1,6,15,21,24,28,32}

A gym’s week runs on the door and the floor: access control that checks membership validity, workout and diet plans, and personal training. Three of the five gym-first products list all three: Okfit, AdviceFit and FitGymSoftware. The studio-first products reach access control through add-ons, integrations or hardware partners, and three of the four don’t list diet plans on the pages we checked.^{1,4,5,8,19,22,25,33}

The Indian gym-first products are the most likely to publish prices in rupees. The international studio platforms publish a starting price in US dollars, or none at all, and quote the rest after a conversation. Prices below are exactly as each vendor shows them, in its own currency.^1,4,23,27,31