Guide

MindBody alternatives for solo personal trainers.

MindBody is good software for a studio with a front desk. If you are one trainer with a client list, you are paying studio money to use three percent of it. Here is what a solo trainer actually needs, and what the real alternatives cost in 2026.

By a trainer, for trainers. Updated October 2026. Prices are as listed publicly at the time of writing; check each company's site before you decide.

Why MindBody is the wrong size

MindBody was built for gyms, yoga studios and spas: class schedules, a front desk check in, staff payroll, retail, a consumer marketplace that sends you new customers and takes a cut of their first purchase. In the United States it starts at about $79 USD a month per location, and the plans most studios end up on are quoted rather than listed. On top of that sit payment processing fees and, if a client finds you through the MindBody app, a 20 percent cut of their first purchase.

None of that is a complaint. It's the right product for a business with a reception desk. The problem is a solo trainer with fifteen clients doesn't have a reception desk, doesn't run classes, doesn't have staff, and doesn't need a marketplace. They need to know how many sessions each client has left, when those clients are booked, what they've paid, and when to sell the next pack. That's a small problem, and small problems shouldn't cost a client's package every month.

What a solo trainer actually needs

I've trained clients for over twenty years and I've tried most of what's on this page. When I strip it back, a one trainer business runs on four things.

• A count. One number per client: sessions left. Updated when the session happens, not when it's booked. This is the whole business and it's the thing almost no software does well, because studios count members, not sessions.
• A calendar. You already have one on your phone. You don't want a second one; you want your bookings to land in the one you have.
• Money beside the sessions. What the pack cost, what they've paid, what's owing. On the same screen as the count, so "eight used, paid for five" is visible before it becomes awkward.
• A nudge to renew. Something that tells you a client is on their last two, because that's when the next pack sells itself and two weeks later it doesn't.

Everything else, workout delivery, nutrition, messaging, habit tracking, is a separate decision. Some trainers want it, many don't, and bundling it with the business side is how you end up paying for both when you only use one.

The alternatives, honestly

Coaching platforms: Trainerize, TrueCoach, My PT Hub, PT Distinction, Everfit

These are often listed as MindBody alternatives and they aren't really; they solve a different problem. They deliver programs to clients: workouts in an app, videos, check ins, messaging, sometimes nutrition. They charge per client, which is why the prices climb as you grow. As listed in 2026: Trainerize has a free single client plan and then tiers at roughly $9 and $23 a month for two and five clients before the studio level; TrueCoach runs from about $30 a month for five clients to $70 for twenty and $165 for fifty; My PT Hub from about $40 a month; PT Distinction from about $20 to $90 a month depending on tier.

If your clients want programming on their phone between sessions, one of these is the right tool and the money is well spent. But look at what they do with session counting: at best it's a side feature. They're built around the program, not the package. If you train in person and the question is "how many does Sarah have left", a coaching platform is a lot of app to answer it.

Scheduling tools: Acuity, Calendly, Square Appointments, Vagaro

These do bookings well and some do payments. Clients book themselves, reminders go out, no shows drop. For a trainer who sells single sessions, pay as you go, a scheduling tool plus a payment link is a clean setup. Where they fall down is packages. "Ten sessions, used six, four left, paid in full" isn't a concept most of them have, so you end up keeping the count somewhere else, and now you're back to two systems that disagree.

A spreadsheet

Free, and for a handful of clients it works, as long as the count changes when the session happens and your no show policy is written down. I made a free session tracking spreadsheet that handles packages, no shows and money owed, and goes orange when someone is down to two. The honest limit is the phone: a spreadsheet isn't something you update between clients, so it gets updated Sunday night from memory. I wrote more about that in how to keep track of client sessions.

Decem

This is mine, so weigh it accordingly. I built Decem because none of the above was built around the count. Every client shows one number, sessions left. You check a session off between sets and the number drops. Bookings go into your own Apple or Google calendar and if you move one there, Decem follows. Packs stack, no shows follow your own policy, payments and what's owed sit beside the sessions, and when a client hits two left it offers to text them about the next pack. There's no workout builder and there won't be; it's the business side only, so it sits beside whatever you program in, or beside nothing.

It's free for your first three clients with every feature. Pro, for unlimited clients and the Insights report, is $7.99 CAD a month, $59.99 a year, or $149.99 once for life. iPhone only.

Side by side

Prices are starting points as publicly listed in 2026 and change often. Per client tiers get expensive fast; work out what you'd pay at your real client count, not the headline.

How to choose

Ask what you're actually trying to stop doing. If it's "I keep losing count of who has what left", you need a counter, and the cheapest good one is the spreadsheet until you're sick of updating it at night, then Decem. If it's "my clients want workouts on their phone", you need a coaching platform, and you can run Decem beside it for the money and the count. If it's "I need clients to book themselves and pay online", a scheduling tool is right, and the packages question is the one to ask before you commit. And if you're running classes with a desk and staff, MindBody or one of its studio sized competitors is the right call, and this article isn't for you.

What I'd avoid is paying studio prices to use a sliver of studio software because it was the first name you'd heard. That's the most common setup I see among solo trainers, and it's the most expensive way to count to ten.