Comparison

Glofox vs Class Booking — Side-by-Side (2026)

Glofox is a real product, used by thousands of gyms. We are independent, Scandinavian-engineered, and built on a modern stack from day one. This page is a direct side-by-side — what each product does, where the trade-offs sit, and who picks which.

Updated April 2026. Numbers based on publicly reported pricing and customer-shared quotes — Glofox does not publish a price list.

A short history of Glofox

Glofox launched in Dublin in 2014 as a booking and membership platform for gyms and boutique fitness studios. It scaled across the UK, Ireland and continental Europe, and by the early 2020s was used by roughly 3,000+ gyms and studios — strongest in the UK and EU.

In 2022, Glofox was acquired by ABC Fitness, a large US gym-software company backed by private equity. The brand continues, but pricing and packaging have moved in the direction you would expect: more tiers, more upsells, less public information.

That history matters when you choose software. Glofox in 2018 was a different product, and a different company, than Glofox in 2026. Both can be true: a capable platform, and one priced and contracted to fit a US private-equity portfolio more than an independent studio.

Where Glofox is strong

• Native mobile app. Glofox ships a real iOS and Android app for members. It is one of the better gym apps in this market — clean, fast, familiar.
• White-label member apps. On higher tiers, Glofox publishes an app under your brand to the App Store and Google Play. For multi-location chains where "search the App Store, find us, tap to book" matters, that is a real benefit.
• PT and class booking together. Glofox handles both 1:1 personal training and group classes in the same system. Useful for gyms that mix the two.
• UK and EU presence. Local sales and support across the UK and Europe. Currency and tax handling for the region is mature.

Where Glofox falls short

• Opaque pricing. No public price list. Every quote is "request a demo", and the number you get depends on segment, region and negotiation. Customer reports place the entry tier somewhere around £110–£140/month, with custom quotes from there — often with a separate setup fee on top.
• Long contracts. 12 to 24 month commitments are commonly reported. If the product or pricing changes after you sign, you are locked in for the duration.
• Per-transaction markup. Some plans add a fee on top of the standard payment processor rate. Worth reading the contract line by line.
• Private-equity ownership. ABC Fitness is a PE-backed US roll-up. That model has a documented pattern across SaaS of raising prices and cutting support post-acquisition. Not unique to Glofox, but worth pricing in.
• Codebase is old. The product dates to 2014. UI updates ship slower than on modern stacks, and a number of workflows still feel built for a different era.

Where Class Booking is different

Different is the right word. We made different trade-offs.

• Public pricing. €15 / £12 / $19 to €110 / £89 / $119 per month, listed on one page, the same number for everyone, billed in your local currency. No "contact us for a quote".
• Monthly billing, no contracts. Cancel from the dashboard. We earn the next month every month.
• Modern stack. Built in 2024–2025 on current frameworks. Updates ship weekly without breaking older flows.
• Independent. No investors, no quarterly growth targets imposed from outside. Structurally lower pressure to extract more from existing customers.
• EU data residency by design. Hosted in the EU from day one, not retrofitted after a US acquisition. GDPR-grade privacy is the default, not a checkbox.

Side-by-side

Glofox figures based on public reporting and customer-shared quotes. Numbers vary by region and negotiation.

Who picks which