Zen Planner is the default choice for traditional martial arts schools in the US — BJJ academies, MMA gyms, Krav Maga programmes, traditional karate dojos. It is a genuinely good fit for that segment. It is also priced for that segment, sold through that segment's sales process, and built on technology that reflects when that segment first went digital. Whether it is the right choice for a European martial arts studio in 2026 depends on which kind of martial arts studio you actually are.
This is a direct comparison from a vendor that competes with Zen Planner in some markets and does not compete in others. We have tried to be honest about both — the parts of the comparison where Zen Planner wins, and the parts where it does not.
What Zen Planner is, and is not
Zen Planner was founded in 2006 in Colorado and acquired by Daxko (ABC Fitness Solutions) in 2018. It serves around 8,000 schools globally, most of them in the US, and dominates the traditional martial arts segment. Its product is built around the workflows that segment cares about: belt and rank tracking, promotion eligibility, attendance-based progression, family memberships, and contract-based billing.
What Zen Planner is not, in 2026, is a particularly modern booking platform. The check-in flow is functional but feels dated. The mobile apps lag behind newer competitors. Pricing is US-centric, quoted in dollars on a sales call rather than published online. Payment processing runs through ABC Financial, which is competitive in the US but limited in Europe. Customisation is constrained — the product is opinionated about how a martial arts school should operate, which is a strength if your school matches the opinion and a friction if it does not.
Where Zen Planner wins
Belt and rank progression
This is the big one. Zen Planner tracks belt rank, stripe rank, time-in-rank, attendance toward promotion, and promotion eligibility flags. Instructors can see at a glance which students are due for review. Families can track a child's progression. Promotion events can be scheduled, invitations sent, and the system updates rank automatically afterwards. For a BJJ academy or a traditional karate school, this is a daily-use feature.
Class Booking does not have native belt tracking. We support custom tags on members and we have an API, so studios have built belt tracking on top — but it is not built-in. If rank progression is core to how your school operates, this is a real difference.
Family memberships and household billing
Zen Planner has strong household-level billing — one parent, multiple children on different programmes, shared payment method, family discounts. This is mature in their product and well-tested. Class Booking supports family memberships, but the implementation is newer.
Contract-based billing
If your business model involves 12 or 24-month contracts with early-termination fees, Zen Planner has explicit support: contract templates, signature capture, automatic billing through the contract term, prorated cancellation. Class Booking handles memberships and subscriptions natively, but does not have a dedicated contracts module. Most European studios do not use contract billing, so this matters less here than in the US.
Where Class Booking wins
Check-in speed
Class Booking runs as a real-time booking system on a modern stack — bookings, waitlist promotions, and check-ins propagate to the instructor's screen within a second. Zen Planner's check-in flow involves more page loads and feels noticeably slower in side-by-side use. For a busy open-mat session with 40 people walking in over 15 minutes, the speed difference is measurable.
EU pricing and Stripe-native payments
Class Booking publishes flat-tier pricing in euros (€15, €55, €110 per month) on the pricing page. No sales calls, no quotes, no annual contract requirement. Payments run through your own Stripe account at Stripe's published rates — 1.4% + €0.25 for European cards, lower for SEPA. Zen Planner quotes in USD on a sales call and routes payments through ABC Financial, which works in Europe but with more friction and higher rates.
Mobile experience
Class Booking's mobile booking flow — from class discovery to confirmed booking — takes three taps and works in any mobile browser. No app download required. Zen Planner has a dedicated app, which is good, but the in-app booking flow has more steps and rate-limits on older devices.
Customisation and integrations
Class Booking exposes a documented REST API, webhooks for every major event, and customisable booking rules per class type. Zen Planner has an API but it is less complete and developer access requires a support ticket. If your school runs a custom check-in kiosk, integrates with a CRM, or syncs to an accounting system other than QuickBooks, Class Booking is usually less work.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Zen Planner | Class Booking |
|---|---|---|
| Belt/rank tracking | Native, mature | Via tags + API |
| Family billing | Mature | Supported, newer |
| Contracts with ETF | Native | Not supported |
| Check-in speed | Functional | Real-time, fast |
| EU pricing in euros | No, USD quote | Published tiers |
| Payment processor | ABC Financial | Your Stripe account |
| Public API | Limited, support-gated | Documented REST + webhooks |
| Contract length | Annual, sales-led | Monthly, self-serve |
Which one should you pick
The decision rule is reasonably clean.
Pick Zen Planner if your school runs traditional rank progression, you operate in the US, you use annual contracts with ETFs, and belt tracking is daily-use rather than nice-to-have. A BJJ academy doing stripe promotions every six weeks, a karate school with kyu/dan grading, a Krav Maga programme with formal level testing — Zen Planner is built for you and the alternatives will feel underbuilt.
Pick Class Booking if you are running martial-arts-adjacent fitness — kickboxing fitness, boxing-for-fitness, BJJ open-mats without formal stripe tracking, MMA conditioning, women's-only self-defence — where the operational pattern is closer to a boutique fitness studio than a traditional dojo. You will appreciate the EU pricing, the modern mobile flow, and the Stripe-native payments. Belt tracking, if you need it, can be layered on with tags.
If you have to ask whether belt tracking matters, you are probably in the second group. Schools that need it know they need it.
The grey zone is mid-sized BJJ academies in Europe that want both modern booking and rank tracking. For that profile, both products work — Zen Planner gives you the rank module out of the box at higher US-flavoured cost; Class Booking gives you modern check-in and EU pricing, with belt tracking built on tags. We will talk to you honestly about which fits better on a 20-minute call.
See our feature list for full detail, pricing for the flat tiers, or our migration guide if you are evaluating a move.