There is no shortage of software for gyms. Most of it was built for chains: dozens of locations, turnstiles, a marketing team, someone whose job is to run the system. A gym with one room, a dance studio or a pool with one cashier needs something else, and the wrong choice is easy to spot: three months later everyone is back to the notebook.

These are the questions that tell the difference, before you pay anything.

1. Will the desk use it on a busy evening?

The real test is the worst hour of the week: twelve people at the door, the phone ringing, someone paying in cash. If checking a pass takes longer than saying hello, the desk will stop doing it, and the system will drift away from reality. Ask to see a check-in, from the member arriving to the member walking in, and time it.

2. What hardware does it need?

A computer at the desk, a card printer, a turnstile, a reader: each one costs money and each one breaks. For a small venue the best hardware is the phone everybody already has. If the software needs a PC at reception, ask yourself who will sit at it.

3. What does the member have to do?

Plastic cards get lost. Apps that need an account, a password and updates get uninstalled. The member's side should take a minute to start and keep working without signal in a basement changing room. Check whether members need a password, and what happens to someone with no email or no smartphone.

4. Can a pass be shared?

A card or a QR code that never changes can be lent, or photographed and sent on. If sharing worries you, look for the member's photo on every check-in and a code that keeps changing, so a screenshot is useless. We explained how that works in How a QR code that changes every 30 seconds stops pass sharing.

5. Does it understand your passes?

Your price list is your business: unlimited months, packs of 8 or 12 visits, single entries, trial weeks. The software should count visits at the door (and not twice on the same day), freeze a pass for a holiday and fix a mistake, keeping a record of who changed what. If you have to bend your prices to fit the software, it is the wrong software.

6. Can the owner see the day without being there?

Who came today, who was turned away and why, what came in and who took it. If "how did today go?" still needs a phone call to the desk, you have bought a register, not a tool.

7. How do your members get in?

Moving off Excel or a notebook is where most switches fail (more on that in Moving your members off a notebook or Excel without losing a single pass). Ask whether you can import your members with their current passes and real dates from the file you already have, and how long it takes. "We'll type them in for you in two weeks" means two weeks of running two systems at once.

8. What does it really cost?

Look at the shape of the price, not only the number:

  • Per venue, per member or per entry? A fee per check-in grows with your success.
  • How long is the contract? A year's commitment for software you haven't used yet is a lot to ask.
  • What is extra? Hardware, setup, training, more staff accounts, a second location.
  • Can you take your data with you? Members, payments and visits, exported to a spreadsheet whenever you want.

Check where the data is kept, too. Members' names, phone numbers and photos are personal data, and for a venue in the EU, servers in the EU make GDPR simpler.

Try it before you decide

Nothing replaces a week of real use. A good sign is a demo you can open yourself, with example clients and no sales call. A better one is a free trial with your own members. Abonatus has both: a demo venue full of made-up clients, one click from the home page, and a free two-month pilot with our help to move your members over.