Buying guide · October 2026

Free Gym Membership Software: What “Free” Actually Costs (NZ)

Free gym membership software exists, but it is rarely free. Plans with no monthly fee are usually paid for through a higher cut of every member payment, which is a good deal for a gym with a handful of members and a poor one for a gym with a few hundred.

We sell one of the paid options, so weigh what follows with that in mind. The figures below come from each company’s own pricing page, with the date we read it. Check again before you sign, because pricing pages change.

How do free gym software plans make money?

Almost always through payment processing. You pay nothing a month, and the software company takes a larger percentage of each membership payment than the card processor alone would. Every gym pays the processor anyway; the question is how much sits on top.

A worked example of the model, from a vendor that publishes it: PushPress lists a “Free” plan with “No monthly fees” and processing at 4.99% + 30c on cards, in US dollars, with lower rates on its paid plans (pushpress.com/pricing, read 9 October 2026). For comparison, Stripe’s standard New Zealand rate for domestic cards is 2.65% + NZ$0.30 (stripe.com/en-nz/pricing, read the same day). Different currencies, so not a like-for-like price, but the shape is the point: the gap between the two percentages is what “free” costs.

When does free stop being cheap?

Because the cost is a percentage, it grows with your revenue while a flat monthly fee does not. Work it out on your own numbers:

• Take your monthly membership revenue and multiply it by the difference between the free plan’s card rate and the plain processor rate.
• Compare that figure with the monthly fee of a paid plan that charges a lower rate.
• The revenue where the two cross is your break-even. Below it, free is cheaper. Above it, you are paying more every month for the same payments.

Do it once with this month’s revenue and once with the revenue you are aiming for. Moving members to a new system later is real work, so it is worth choosing for the gym you expect to be in a year.

What free plans tend to leave out

• Support. Free tiers usually get self-serve help and slower replies. Fine until a payment run fails on a Friday night.
• Local pricing. Many platforms price in US dollars, so your cost moves with the exchange rate.
• Door access. Free or paid, most gym software connects to access hardware rather than providing it. If members train when nobody is there, the door is a separate line in the budget.
• Getting your data out. Check you can export members and payment history before you start, not when you want to leave.

The spreadsheet option

Plenty of small gyms start with a spreadsheet and card payment links. It costs nothing but processing, and it works until the admin catches up with you: chasing failed payments, remembering who cancelled, and getting fobs back from people who left. That last part is usually what pushes owners to look for software.

If you are choosing between full management suites, our guide to gym management software in New Zealand sets out what each one is built for.

Questions

Is there free gym membership software?

Yes. Some gym platforms offer a plan with no monthly fee, and some small gyms run on a spreadsheet plus payment links. The software company still gets paid, usually through a higher percentage on every member payment, so free plans are cheapest when revenue is small.

What is the cheapest way to take gym membership payments in NZ?

Card payments through a processor such as Stripe cost a percentage plus a fixed fee per payment. Stripe lists 2.65% + NZ$0.30 for domestic cards in New Zealand (checked 9 October 2026). Anything on top of that is what the software charges you for.

Does free gym software include door access?

Rarely. Most gym software, free or paid, integrates with access-control hardware rather than supplying it, so a door system is a separate cost to budget for if your gym opens without staff.

Where Latch sits

Latch is not free: it is $200 a month per door, plus a small percentage on each member payment, first month free. What that buys is payments and door access in one system, so the door opens for people who have paid and stays shut for people who have not.