Gymdesk (formerly Martial Arts on Rails) is a member management platform built for martial arts schools, CrossFit boxes, and small gyms — with attendance tracking, recurring billing, belt/level tracking, and a member mobile app.
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Gymdesk (rebranded from Martial Arts on Rails in recent product cycles) is a focused gym and martial arts school management platform serving thousands of small fitness operations globally as of 2026 according to vendor data. The product is built around the workflows of small fitness operations — martial arts schools, CrossFit boxes, jiu-jitsu academies, boxing gyms, and small fitness studios — where the operational reality is different from large chain gyms.
Where platforms like WellnessLiving and Mindbody target boutique fitness studios with class scheduling and POS retail, Gymdesk emphasizes the workflows specific to martial arts and small-gym operations: belt and level progression tracking, contract management, attendance tracking with kiosk check-in, recurring billing with failed-charge recovery, automated retention emails (90-day no-show alerts), and a member-facing mobile app for self-service.
**Pricing (as of 2026, per gymdesk.com/pricing):** Solo plan at $75/month is suitable for solo school operations under 100 active members. Premium plan at $125/month supports unlimited members, custom branding, and removes Gymdesk-branded references in member communication. Enterprise tier is custom and adds multi-location support and dedicated success management. Pricing is per-school, not per-instructor, so adding teaching staff doesn't increase cost.
Gymdesk's reputation in the martial arts space is particularly strong — the original product (Martial Arts on Rails) was built by a software engineer who was also a martial arts instructor, and the workflows reflect that domain expertise. Belt promotion tracking, in-class testing logs, and parent-portal features for youth martial arts students are deeper than what general-purpose gym management tools offer.
According to G2 and Capterra (combined 200+ reviews as of Q1 2026), Gymdesk reviewers most frequently cite ease of setup, the recurring billing reliability, and the responsive customer support team as standout strengths.
**Affiliate program:** Gymdesk operates a direct affiliate program with 30% recurring commission for the lifetime of referred customer subscriptions — among the highest in the gym management category. Cookie window is 90 days.
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Important details to help you make the right choice
Martial arts schools, CrossFit boxes, and small gyms that need member management, automated billing, and attendance tracking without enterprise complexity.
Not the right fit for boutique fitness studios with class scheduling as the primary workflow — WellnessLiving and Mindbody are stronger there. Also not ideal for very large multi-location gym chains.
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Gymdesk has its strongest fit with martial arts schools (the product evolved from Martial Arts on Rails), but it serves a broader market including CrossFit boxes, boxing gyms, jiu-jitsu academies, small fitness studios, and youth sports programs. The belt/level tracking is especially valuable for martial arts and graded programs but is not a hard requirement to use the rest of the platform.
Pricing source: Official pricing page — Last verified: 4/29/2026
Gymdesk is generally less expensive than WellnessLiving and Mindbody at the small-gym scale, particularly because pricing is per-school rather than per-instructor or per-feature add-on. Larger boutique studios with class-scheduling-heavy workflows often find WellnessLiving more feature-complete; small martial arts and CrossFit operations often find Gymdesk more focused and easier to set up.
Yes — recurring billing via Stripe is built into Gymdesk on all plans. The platform handles automatic charge attempts, retries on failed payments (with configurable retry schedules), automated dunning emails to members with declined cards, and member-self-service to update payment information. This is one of the most-cited reasons small-gym operators choose Gymdesk over manual billing approaches.
Yes — Gymdesk includes a member-facing mobile app (iOS and Android) that students and parents can use to view attendance history, check class schedules, manage memberships, update payment information, and see promotion progress (for martial arts schools). This is included on all plans and reduces administrative load on school staff for routine member requests.
Multi-location support is available on the Enterprise plan with custom pricing. Solo and Premium plans support a single school location. Multi-location operations needing centralized member management, cross-location class booking, and consolidated reporting should evaluate the Enterprise plan via gymdesk.com/contact.
