Fitness booking software and general booking tools: how they differ
Most small businesses book in one of three ways. A customer books one person’s time (a massage, a consultation, a haircut). A customer books a spot in a class with a limit on how many can come. Or a customer buys a package or membership and uses it over weeks. Booking tools are built mainly for one of these, and the others get added on.
That is why a “best booking software” answer that skips the question of what you sell is not useful. This article compares eight tools on what each vendor says on its own pages, opened in October 2026. Prices are in US dollars. We have no partnerships or referral deals. For how booking fits with reminders, review requests and follow-up, start with our guide to online booking for small businesses.
Booking software compared: price and what each lists
| Software | Price on its page (October 2026) | Built for | Notable features it lists | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mindbody | Its FAQ gives a starting price of $79 a month for North America. Starter, Accelerate, Ultimate and Enterprise all show “Let’s talk” | Classes, memberships, wellness | Class booking widgets, online scheduling, payments, consumer app listing; unlimited users on all plans | Not stated |
| Square Appointments | Free $0; Plus $49/mo per location; Premium $149/mo per location | Appointments, salons, solo providers | Booking site, reminders, unlimited staff calendars; Plus adds no-show fees and waitlist | Days not shown |
| Acuity Scheduling | Starter $16/mo, Standard $27/mo, Premium $55/mo billed annually; $20, $34 and $69 monthly | Appointments, packages | Payments, intake forms; Standard adds SMS reminders, waitlist, packages, memberships, gift certificates | 7 days, no card |
| Calendly | Free; Standard $10 per seat/mo; Teams $16 per seat/mo (billed yearly) | Meetings, consultations | Unlimited event types, Stripe and PayPal on Standard; round-robin on Teams | Not stated |
| Setmore | Free (up to 4 users); Pro $5 per user/mo on annual billing, $12 billed monthly | Appointments, small teams | Custom booking page, group services, payments; Pro adds text reminders and deposits | Free plan; 30-day refund window on Pro |
| Vagaro | See the vendor’s US pricing page | Salons, spas, fitness | Class booking, memberships, class packs, waitlist, reminders | 30 days |
| Momence | Quote only | Classes, studios | Class booking on one calendar | Free trial link; length not stated |
| Glofox | No prices on the page we opened | Gyms, studios | Not stated on the page | Not stated |
Mindbody: classes and memberships, with a sales conversation
Mindbody’s pricing page has four plans: Starter, Accelerate, Ultimate and Enterprise, each with a “Let’s talk” button instead of a price. Its FAQ gives a starting price of $79 a month for North America for the entry-level plan. The page lists class booking with branded web widgets on every plan, online scheduling for your own website and a listing in Mindbody’s consumer app. Resource management and Pick-a-Spot are on Accelerate and Ultimate, and email and SMS marketing on Ultimate. It does not mention a free trial. Mindbody is the most fitness-oriented tool here, and you pay for that in a sales call and a higher starting price.
Square Appointments, Acuity and Calendly: the general tools
These three cover most one-to-one appointment businesses, and we compare them plan by plan, with card rates and team-size costs, in Square Appointments vs Acuity vs Calendly. The short version for this guide:
- Square Appointments has a free plan for solo professionals. Plus ($49 a month per location) adds no-show fees and a waitlist. Its pricing page does not list class capacity limits, so test classes before committing.
- Acuity Scheduling has no free plan. Standard ($27 a month billed annually, $34 monthly) is the tier that lists packages, memberships, subscriptions and gift certificates, which makes it the general tool to try for a studio selling class packs.
- Calendly is built for meetings. Its free plan allows one event type; Standard is $10 per seat a month billed yearly. It books a consultation or an estimate visit well, but its pricing page does not list packages, memberships or classes.
Setmore: a free plan with a lot in it
Setmore’s free plan allows up to four users and lists a custom booking page, group services, unlimited appointments, online payments and email reminders. Pro costs $5 per user a month on annual billing or $12 billed monthly, and adds text reminders (500 credits a month), deposits, recurring appointments, Google review requests and a signed HIPAA business associate agreement. Setmore says you can try Pro for 30 days and ask for a refund. A Live Receptionist add-on is $99 a month, US only. Setmore counts each staff calendar as a user.
Vagaro, Momence and Glofox for fitness and studios
Vagaro’s fitness page lists class booking, 24/7 online booking, tiered memberships and class packs, with a 30-day trial on the pricing page. Momence prices by quote and lists class booking, courses and workshops on one calendar. Glofox’s pricing page is titled “Get a price quote” and shows no prices or features in the text we could read. For gyms and studios, ask each for a written quote for your member count and watch card processing, app fees and cancellation terms.
Which one fits your business
- Solo practitioner (massage, coaching, tutoring, photography). Setmore Free, Square Appointments Free, or Acuity Starter. All list a booking page and payments.
- Consultations and estimates by phone or video. Calendly Free or Standard.
- Selling packages, memberships or gift certificates. Acuity Standard, Vagaro or Mindbody. Acuity lists packages and memberships on Standard.
- Group fitness or yoga studio. Mindbody or Vagaro for classes, or Momence by quote. Test capacity limits, waitlists and recurring billing with your own schedule.
- Salon or spa. Our salon and med spa booking software comparison covers them in more detail.
- Home services with trucks and crews. Booking tools are not enough. See field service scheduling software.
A one-afternoon test before you pay
- Write your 5 most common bookings. For each, note duration, price, whether it repeats, and whether it needs a deposit.
- Start two trials. Set up your real services, not the sample ones.
- Book yourself from a phone. Count taps from your website to a confirmed time.
- Check the reminder. Does it go by text, and is text included in the plan?
- Run a payment test, a cancellation and a reschedule.
- Ask what leaving costs: can you export clients and booking history?
No-shows hurt every one of these businesses. Reminders and deposits help more than most features; our guide to how to reduce no-shows has the details.
How Magnet Mint helps
We do not sell or resell any of these tools. We connect the one you already use to your website, set up confirmations and reminders, or help you choose. Our booking setup is from $600, and the software subscription is billed to you at cost by the vendor. See booking software setup, or ask for a free demo: a short call, then a demo for your business, free and with no obligation.
Published . Updated .