How to choose the right booking system for your studio: 10 criteria and a checklist

"Which booking system should I go for?"

Most studio owners pick one on a colleague's recommendation, a nice homepage and a monthly price that seems fair. Six months later they find that courses have to be set up by hand, that the fees cost more than the subscription, or that the customer list can't be exported. By then, switching is expensive.

This guide isn't a ranking — that's our comparison of the best booking systems for yoga and fitness studios. It's a decision guide: the criteria, a weighted checklist, the total cost and the questions to ask in a demo. We make a booking system ourselves, so we've built it to work on every vendor — including us. Still running things on spreadsheets and messages? Start with when it's time to move from a spreadsheet to a booking system.

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The 10 criteria that actually matter

1. Can it run your class types?

Start with your own timetable, not the vendor's. Many studios use several of the four basic types at once:

• Drop-in: one class at a time.
• Weekly classes: same slot every week, booked as people go.
• Courses: fixed start and end dates, e.g. 10 Tuesdays, with one sign-up and one payment.
• Fixed spots: the customer has their own spot every Tuesday and pays on a rolling basis without booking each time.

Practically every system handles drop-ins. The differences show up with courses and fixed spots, so ask to see exactly those.

2. Class passes, memberships and the prices you actually use

In our studio booking report (12 months of anonymised data from 17 European boutique studios, 8,100+ class bookings), 55.6% of all bookings were paid with credit from a membership or a class pass. Prepaid products carry the business, so the system must handle them flawlessly: passes with expiry dates, monthly, quarterly and annual memberships, intro offers, discount codes and gift cards — with you deciding which classes each product covers.

3. Payment methods and VAT

Customers should be able to pay the way they already do: cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay as a minimum. In some markets members also expect direct debit or a local payment app for memberships, so decide which methods are must-haves and ask whether they work for one-off payments and recurring memberships. For transparency: Class Booking takes payments through Stripe (cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay).

Whether your classes are subject to VAT depends on your country, so check the rules where you are, work out prices excluding VAT, and make sure the system shows prices and receipts correctly.

4. Fees: the monthly price is only part of the price

Subscription, per-transaction fees, a percentage of revenue, marketplace commission, setup or SMS fees — plus your payment provider's fees. Get them all in writing, ask what happens to the price as you grow, and see the worked example below for why it matters.

5. The customer's booking experience

Test the booking page on your own phone. How many steps from timetable to confirmation? Does a new customer have to download an app to see free spots? Can they cancel themselves and get a reminder? An app is nice for regulars, but newcomers must be able to book straight from the browser — ideally on your own website or domain, so they stay with you, not the platform.

6. Waitlists and no-show handling

In the booking report, 25.5% of all bookings were cancelled, and 42.3% of those cancellations came less than 24 hours before class — roughly 11% of all bookings. Among studios that track attendance, the no-show rate was 7.8%. Look for automatic waitlist promotion, a cancellation window you set yourself, quick attendance tracking and rules for what a no-show costs — members included. Customers typically book about six days ahead (median 144.5 hours), so there's usually time to fill a freed-up spot if the waitlist runs itself.

7. Data, GDPR and data export

You're the data controller and the vendor is your processor, so you need a data processing agreement (DPA) and to know where your data lives — EU hosting makes GDPR simpler. Just as important: can you export customers, bookings, pass balances and memberships yourself, any time, at no extra cost? If not, the system decides when you can leave.

8. Contract and cancellation

For a small or mid-sized studio, a monthly rolling plan gives the most flexibility. If there's a minimum term, get in writing how long it is, whether it auto-renews, whether the price can rise and what happens to your data when you leave.

9. Support and language

The booking page, confirmations and reminders should be in your customers' language, and you should be able to edit the wording yourself. Ask who answers support, through which channels and how fast — then test it during the trial.

10. Migration: can you move over without losing anything?

The hard part isn't the customer list but active passes, running memberships and future bookings. Ask who handles the import, what it costs and whether customers will need to re-enter payment details — that may be necessary when the payment provider changes. See, for example, how a switch to Class Booking works step by step.

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Checklist: score vendors with weights

Make one sheet per system. Give each criterion a weight from 1 to 3 for how much it matters to your studio, and a score from 0 to 5 for how well the system handles it. The weights below are an example for a typical class-based studio.

Multiply weight by score for each criterion, add them up and divide by the sum of the weights (22 here). That gives you a weighted score from 0 to 5 you can compare across vendors. Also mark two or three deal-breakers. A system that scores 5 on every weight-3 criterion and 4 on the rest, but only 1 on data and export, lands on a respectable 4.3. If data export is a deal-breaker for you, it's out anyway.

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What does a booking system really cost? A 12-month worked example

The total cost of a booking system is: subscription + the platform's own transaction fees + commission + one-off fees + your payment provider's fees. Here are three made-up systems with round numbers.

The "free" system is the most expensive. Percentage fees grow with your revenue: a 2% fee costs more than a €50 subscription once you take over €2,500 a month. And commission only pays off if the customers are genuinely new. For reference, Class Booking costs €10–50 a month (£8–40 / $13–60) depending on studio size, with no setup fee and no commission on top of Stripe's standard fees (see pricing) — but run the same sum for every system on your list, ours included.

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Questions to ask in a demo

A demo is the salesperson's show. Take control with questions that need concrete answers, and ask to see things:

1. "What will I pay in total in year one with my classes and my revenue? Can I have that in writing?"
2. "Do you take a fee or a percentage of my payments on top of the payment provider's?"
3. "Show me how a new customer books and pays on a phone."
4. "Set up a 10-week course and a class pass that's only valid for morning classes."
5. "What happens when someone cancels a full class two hours before? Show me the waitlist."
6. "How do I export all customers, passes and memberships — including after I've cancelled?"
7. "Where is my data stored, and can I get a DPA?"
8. "Will my studio be listed on a marketplace, and do you take commission on those customers?"

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Red flags

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How to test a booking system during the free trial

Fourteen days is plenty if you have a plan. Test with your own classes, not demo data:

1. Build your real week (days 1–2). Set up your actual classes, prices, passes and memberships. If it takes more than an afternoon, that tells you something.
2. Be a customer (day 3). Book a class on your phone as a new customer and pay, if payments can be enabled in the trial (use a small amount and refund it). Count the steps.
3. Create a bit of chaos (days 4–5). Fill a class, waitlist a second account, cancel late and check that the promotion happens by itself. Mark a no-show.
4. Get your data out (day 6). Export the customer list and bookings. Does the file open in a spreadsheet, and is everything there?
5. Test support (day 7). Ask a concrete question and note the response time and quality.
6. Let two or three regulars try it (days 8–12). They'll spot what you've gone blind to.
7. Score and decide (days 13–14). Fill in the checklist for each system and work out the 12-month total cost.

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Frequently asked questions

What matters most when choosing a booking system?

That it handles your class types and pricing models, and that customers can book and pay easily on their phone. Then the 12-month total cost and the ability to leave with all your data.

How much does a booking system for a yoga or fitness studio cost?

Always work out the total: subscription + transaction fees + any commission + one-off fees + payment provider fees. Class Booking costs €10–50 a month depending on studio size, with no contract and no commission on top of Stripe's standard fees, and you can try it free for 14 days.

Which payment methods should a studio booking system support?

At minimum cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, for both one-off payments and memberships. If your customers are used to a local method such as direct debit, put it on your checklist and ask every vendor about it.

Is a booking marketplace good for my studio?

It can bring new customers, but check the commission, whether you also pay for returning customers, and whether they see other studios next to yours. Your own booking page keeps customers with you.

Should I sign a long contract for studio software?

A monthly rolling plan is the most flexible, and plenty of systems offer one. If you accept a minimum term, know the full price up front and make sure you can export all your data.