Mindbody is the best-known management software for gyms, yoga and pilates studios, salons and wellness centres, and its consumer app puts a studio in front of millions of people. That reach is also the reason many studios look elsewhere. The entry plan costs $79 a month per location, and the two higher plans are sold by quote. A new client who finds you through the app costs 20% of their first purchase, capped at $30. If your studio runs on WordPress, a booking plugin puts the schedule, the class list and the payments on your own site for a flat yearly licence.
This guide compares seven alternatives: four WordPress plugins we installed and booked on a clean site in October 2026, and three hosted tools for studios that want to stay off WordPress. Mindbody's prices and fees were read on its pricing page and FAQ on 26 October 2026. Plugin prices come from each vendor's own pricing page, read on 25 and 26 October 2026. Several vendors had autumn sales running, so the regular price is given next to the sale price wherever the page showed both.
Short answer. Booknetic is the most complete Mindbody alternative for a WordPress site. It covers appointments, group classes, packages, gift cards, deposits, reminders and ten payment gateways on one flat licence per site, with no per-location pricing and no marketplace fee. Amelia suits studios that sell event and workshop tickets. LatePoint is the best value if you want every feature on the cheapest plan, and Bookly has the largest free install base. Vagaro, Gymdesk and Acuity Scheduling are the hosted picks for studios that do not run WordPress.
Why people leave Mindbody
These are the terms as shown on Mindbody's pricing page and its FAQ on 26 October 2026. Mindbody is a strong product for a multi-location studio that lives on its consumer app. The reasons to leave are the pricing model and the fees rather than the feature set.
Quote-based plans. Starter is listed at $79 a month in North America and Asia. Accelerate and Ultimate have no published price; every card on the pricing page says "Let's talk". Promo codes, room and resource management and analytics sit on Accelerate, and automated email and text campaigns on Ultimate.Per-location pricing. Users are unlimited, but the FAQ says subscription prices increase with each new location. A studio with three sites pays three subscriptions.A fee on new clients from the app. Listing on the Mindbody app is free, but when the app delivers a client you would not have had otherwise, Mindbody charges 20% of that client's first purchase, capped at $30.Payment processing fees. Mindbody Payments adds a processing rate plus a fixed fee of $0.10 to $0.30 per transaction. A third-party processor is allowed, but some promotional offers bundle Mindbody Payments into the deal.Contract terms depend on the deal. The FAQ says the contract depends on the plan, the billing terms and any promotion applied, and that cancellation may need advance notice. The data transfer service into Mindbody may carry a fee.The schedule lives on Mindbody. You get a branded booking widget and a Mindbody-built website, but the booking flow, the client records and the member app are Mindbody's. On WordPress you embed a widget rather than own the booking page.
The alternatives at a glance
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1. Booknetic: the studio schedule on your own WordPress site
Booknetic is built for the same businesses Mindbody targets: gyms, yoga and pilates studios, salons, spas, clinics and multi-location chains. The booking page runs inside your WordPress site on your own domain and theme. Clients walk through location, staff, service, extras, date and time, their details, a cart with the price and a coupon field, and a confirmation. Group classes are services with a capacity in this fitness class booking plugin , so a yoga class with twenty mats and a one-to-one session sit in the same calendar. Staff and locations are unlimited on every plan, and the licence is per site.
The feature list covers what Mindbody spreads across Accelerate and Ultimate. Deposits, no-show protection through card on file, a waiting list, resources such as rooms and reformers, packages, gift cards, coupons, loyalty, recurring appointments and custom appointment statuses are in the plan list. Reminders and follow-ups run through a workflow engine by email, SMS, WhatsApp and Telegram. Ten payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal and Square, two-way Google and Outlook calendar sync, Zoom and Google Meet links for online classes, invoices and taxes, a customer panel, reports and user roles are there too.
Type WordPress plugin; clients book on your own domain
Free version Yes, from booknetic.com, with limits and a branding bar
Yearly plans Basic $45 ($89 regular), Standard $99 ($199), Premium $149 ($399), Elite $299 ($599)
Lifetime plans Basic $99 ($199 regular), Standard $239 ($399), Premium $599 ($799), Elite $699 ($1,599)
Staff and locations Unlimited on every plan; licensed per site
Payments Local payment on Basic; Stripe, PayPal and WooCommerce from Standard; all 10 gateways, Square included, on Elite
Marketplace fee None; there is no marketplace, so no commission on new clients
Guarantee 14-day money-back guarantee
Booknetic, Amelia, LatePoint and Bookly were installed on a clean WordPress site and booked end to end in October 2026. Their pros and cons come from that real install. The three hosted tools come from vendor pages and public reviews.
One flat price per site. A three-location studio pays $99 a year on Standard ($199 regular), where Mindbody Starter costs $948 a year for one location.
No marketplace commission and no processor lock-in: keep Stripe, Square or a local gateway, and keep every new client's first payment.
Group classes, packages, gift cards, deposits, a booking waiting list for full slots and resources are in the plan list rather than on quote-only tiers.
Reminders by email, SMS, WhatsApp and Telegram through a workflow engine, with your own SMS provider account.
No consumer marketplace and no branded member app; the mobile app is for the business side.
No recurring membership billing; Booknetic sells packages and recurring appointments instead of monthly memberships.
Basic covers local payment and one domain; Stripe, PayPal, calendar sync and the mobile app start on Standard.
Best for: studios, salons and wellness centres on WordPress that sell classes, sessions and packages and want to stop paying per location and per new client. See the Booknetic pricing page for the full plan matrix and the free version.
2. Amelia: classes, workshops and retreats with tickets
Amelia is the closest plugin to Booknetic in scope and adds event booking with tickets, which suits workshops, retreats and teacher trainings. The free Lite version on WordPress.org covers appointments with Square payments. Starter at $49 a year covers one domain with coupons, service extras, group appointments and the mobile app. Standard at $99 adds other payment methods, unlimited locations, recurring appointments, deposits, calendar sync and invoices. Pro and Elite add packages, resources, a cart, a waiting list, event tickets and the REST API.
Free version Amelia Lite on wp.org: 90,000 active installs, 4.6/5 from 791 ratings; Square payments included
Starter $49 a year, one domain; group appointments, Square payments only, no calendar sync or deposits
Standard $99 a year, one domain; multiple payment methods, unlimited locations, recurring, deposits, calendar sync
Pro and Elite Pro $199 a year ($329 regular) for five domains; Elite $399 ($599) for unlimited domains; packages, resources, cart, waiting list, event tickets, REST API
Guarantee 15-day money-back guarantee; lifetime licences available
Updated Version 2.4.13 on 22 October 2026, tested up to WordPress 7.1
Events with tickets and a waiting list next to class bookings, the closest plugin match to a studio's workshop calendar.
Polished admin and a mobile app on every paid plan.
Group appointments with a capacity on every plan, Lite included.
Packages, resources and event tickets need Pro at $199 a year ($329 regular).
In our test the booking page loaded about 5 MB of assets, the heaviest of the four plugins.
Service durations are tied to the global slot step, so a 45-minute class needs a 15-minute step across the site.
Best for: a yoga or pilates studio that sells classes, workshops and retreats from the same WordPress site.
3. LatePoint: every feature on the cheapest plan
LatePoint sells one feature set and prices it by the number of sites. Starter covers one site, Scale five and Agency a hundred. The free plugin on WordPress.org already takes Stripe, PayPal and Razorpay payments with unlimited appointments and agents. Every paid plan adds Square, Mollie and other gateways, group bookings, event registration and SMS, email and WhatsApp reminders. It also adds workflows, multi-staff and multi-location management, two-way Google, Outlook and Apple calendar sync, Zoom and Google Meet links, coupons and packages.
Free version On wp.org: 100,000 active installs, 4.9/5 from 105 ratings; Stripe, PayPal and Razorpay payments
Starter $69 a year on the sale shown, $99 regular; one site, all features
Scale and Agency Scale $125 a year ($249 regular) for five sites; Agency $250 ($499) for a hundred
Payments on paid plans Square, Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Mollie, Mercado Pago, Braintree, Paystack and WooCommerce Payments
Guarantee 14-day money-back guarantee; lifetime licences available; renewals at full price
Updated Version 5.7.5 on 16 October 2026, tested up to WordPress 7.1
No feature gating: the $69 Starter plan has the same features as Agency, group bookings and packages included.
The most generous free plugin here, with payments on the free plan.
Two-way sync with Google, Outlook and Apple calendars on every paid plan.
In our test a priced service could not be booked until a gateway or "allow paying locally" was switched on, which is off by default.
The sale price and the regular price appear on the same pricing page with different figures, so check the checkout total.
A smaller company than Mindbody or Amelia, with support through tickets and a Discord community.
Best for: a small studio or personal training business that wants group bookings, packages and reminders on the cheapest paid plan.
4. Bookly: the largest free install base and WhatsApp notifications
Bookly has been on WordPress.org since 2014 and sits on 60,000 active installs. The free version covers the booking form, the calendar and email notifications, but online payments, unlimited staff and services and calendar sync need a paid plan. Bookly moved from separate add-ons to bundled yearly plans. Pro covers one site with unlimited staff, Google Calendar sync and local payments. Business adds Stripe and PayPal, deposits, group and recurring booking and Outlook sync. Ultimate adds multi-location, packages, a waiting list and events. Notifications go out by email, SMS and WhatsApp, and SMS credits are bought on top.
Free version On wp.org: 60,000 active installs, 4.4/5 from 586 ratings; no online payments, limited staff and services
Pro $39 a year on the sale shown, $99 regular; one site, unlimited staff and services, Google Calendar sync, Zoom and Meet; local payments only
Business $69 a year ($129 regular); Stripe and PayPal, deposits, group and recurring booking, Outlook sync, custom fields, coupons
Ultimate $159 a year ($199 regular); multi-location, packages, waiting list, events, custom statuses
Ultimate $159 a year ($199 regular); every paid feature
Payments Local payment on Pro; Stripe and PayPal from Business; Authorize.Net, 2Checkout and PayU on Ultimate; no Square
Updated Version 28.6 on 13 October 2026, tested up to WordPress 7.1
Unlimited staff on the $39 Pro plan, the cheapest paid plan in this list; group booking from Business at $69.
WhatsApp and SMS notifications built in.
Chain, collaborative and compound services for multi-step treatments in a spa or clinic.
No Square gateway, so a studio on Square changes processors when moving to Bookly.
In our test the plugin loaded about 1.2 MB on every page of the site, not only the booking page, and called a geolocation service from the visitor's browser.
Renewals are at the regular price, so the yearly cost rises after the first year.
Best for: a salon, spa or small studio that wants a well-known plugin with WhatsApp reminders and a low first-year price.
5. Vagaro: a marketplace and point of sale without the quote
Vagaro is the hosted tool most often compared with Mindbody by salons, spas and fitness studios, and it publishes its prices. Booking, point of sale, memberships, packages, gift certificates and a waitlist are included. So are inventory, invoices, loyalty, email marketing and a listing on the Vagaro Marketplace where customers find you. Pricing is per bookable calendar at one location: $30 a month for one calendar and $10 for each extra calendar up to $90 for seven or more. The pricing page shows a lower rate for the first six months.
One calendar $30 a month, one location; intro rate for the first six months
Extra calendars $10 a month each; $70 for five, $90 for seven or more
Included Memberships, packages, gift certificates, waitlist, reminders, marketplace listing, 1,000 emails a month
Payments Vagaro merchant services with a free card reader on sign-up
Billing Monthly, cancel anytime; free trial
Ratings 3.5/5 on Trustpilot from 716 reviews
Published prices and monthly billing, where Mindbody's two upper plans are sold by quote.
Memberships, packages, gift certificates and a marketplace listing from the first calendar.
Point of sale, inventory and payroll add-ons cover the whole front desk.
Per-calendar pricing: a six-instructor studio pays $80 a month, close to Mindbody Starter.
The intro rate ends after six months, and the Trustpilot score is the lowest of the hosted tools here.
Still a hosted page with its own processor. Our Vagaro alternatives for WordPress guide covers the plugin route.
Best for: a salon, spa or studio that wants a marketplace listing and point of sale at a published monthly price.
6. Gymdesk: membership billing priced by active members
Gymdesk is built for gyms, martial arts schools and fitness studios that bill memberships, and its pricing page is the opposite of Mindbody's. Every plan has the full platform with unlimited staff accounts and a gym website. The price depends on active members: $75 a month up to 50 members, $100 up to 100, $150 up to 150 and $200 up to 250 when you process payments with Gymdesk Payments. Without it the tiers cost $100, $125, $175 and $240. Larger gyms get a quote. Billing is month to month with no setup fee, and the trial runs 30 days without a card.
Micro and Small Gym $75 a month up to 50 active members, $100 up to 100, with Gymdesk Payments
Medium and Large Gym $150 a month up to 150 members, $200 up to 250; Enterprise by quote above 250
Without Gymdesk Payments $100, $125, $175 and $240 a month for the same tiers
Branded member app $100 a month, first month free
Terms Month to month, no setup fee, no minimum term; 30-day trial without a card
Payments Gymdesk Payments in the US and Canada; approved partners elsewhere
Published prices with every feature on every tier, where Mindbody gates features by plan and sells two of three plans by quote.
Membership billing, attendance and a member app built for gyms rather than adapted from salons.
No contract, no setup fee and a 30-day trial.
Priced by active members, so a growing gym moves up a tier; a 120-member gym pays $150 a month, more than Mindbody Starter.
The branded app is $100 a month on top.
Gym-shaped: a salon or a clinic will miss service menus and retail that Vagaro and Mindbody have. Pros and cons here come from the pricing page and public reviews, not from a paid account.
Best for: a gym or martial arts school with under 250 members that wants membership billing at a published price.
7. Acuity Scheduling: appointments, packages and memberships for solo pros
Acuity Scheduling belongs to Squarespace and targets people who sell their time: trainers, therapists, coaches, tutors and small studios. Every plan includes client self-scheduling, payments through Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo, email reminders, custom intake forms, automatic time zone conversion and Google Meet, Zoom and GoToMeeting links. Standard adds six calendars, text reminders, a waitlist, memberships, packages and gift certificates. Premium adds 36 calendars, a signed BAA for HIPAA, a hidden Acuity logo and custom CSS and API access.
Starter $16 per month billed yearly, $20 monthly; one calendar
Standard $27 per month billed yearly, $34 monthly; six calendars, text reminders, packages and memberships
Premium $55 per month billed yearly, $69 monthly; 36 calendars, HIPAA BAA, hidden logo, API
Free plan None; 7-day trial without a card, yearly billing saves 20%
Classes Group classes and workshops with a capacity on every plan
Ratings 3.6/5 on Trustpilot from 687 reviews
Packages, memberships and gift certificates on Standard at $27 a month, with no marketplace fee.
One price covers up to 6 or 36 calendars, so a small team does not pay per person or per location.
Intake forms and a HIPAA BAA on Premium suit therapists and wellness practices.
No free plan, and the cheapest plan covers one calendar without text reminders.
No consumer marketplace, no retail or inventory and no branded member app.
It hosts the booking page on Acuity's domain; you embed it rather than own it. Our Acuity Scheduling alternatives guide compares the options.
Best for: a solo trainer, therapist or wellness practitioner who sells sessions, packages and a membership and does not need a marketplace.
Mindbody vs Vagaro
Vagaro is the name that comes up most often next to Mindbody, because both serve salons, spas and studios and both run a consumer marketplace. The difference is how they charge.
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For a solo stylist or a two-chair studio, Vagaro is cheaper and has no quote to negotiate. For a studio with many instructors at one site, Mindbody's unlimited users can work out cheaper than Vagaro's per-calendar bill, before the app fee. Neither puts the schedule on your own site. For a WordPress studio, the plugins above remove both the per-location bill and the marketplace fee.
What a six-instructor studio pays per year
The table assumes one location, six instructors with their own calendars, group classes, reminders and online payment. Prices are yearly totals from the vendor pages read on 25 and 26 October 2026, with the regular price in brackets where a sale was shown.
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Moving from Mindbody to a WordPress plugin
Mindbody holds the client list, the class schedule and the membership agreements, so plan the move around the billing cycle.
Export clients and sales. Pull the client list, purchase history and active packages from Mindbody's reports, and import the client CSV into the plugin.Rebuild the schedule. Create services and classes with capacity, prices and lengths, add instructors, rooms and locations, and set the weekly timetable.Replace memberships with packages. Let active memberships run to their renewal date, then sell class packs, packages and recurring appointments through the plugin.Connect a gateway. Add Stripe, Square or a local gateway, and set deposits or prepayment per class.Put the booking page on your site. Replace the Mindbody widget with the plugin's page and point the links in your Google Business Profile, Instagram bio and email signature at it.Switch reminders on and cancel. Set email, SMS or WhatsApp reminders, then cancel Mindbody with the notice your agreement requires.
Which Mindbody alternative should you pick?
A studio, salon or wellness centre on WordPress : Booknetic. Classes, packages, gift cards, deposits, reminders and ten gateways on one flat licence, with no per-location bill or marketplace fee.Classes plus workshops and retreats with tickets : Amelia, with Pro for packages and event tickets.Every feature on the cheapest paid plan : LatePoint Starter at $69 ($99 regular).The lowest first-year price with group booking : LatePoint Starter and Bookly Business, both at $69.A hosted tool with a marketplace and point of sale : Vagaro, at $30 a month for one calendar.A gym that bills memberships : Gymdesk, from $75 a month with Gymdesk Payments.A solo trainer or therapist : Acuity Scheduling Standard, at $27 a month billed yearly.
Other names you will meet in this search are WellnessLiving, Glofox, Walla, Momence and Zen Planner. Glofox and Momence sell by quote, Walla lists $299 a month per location, and WellnessLiving's pricing page did not load for us on 26 October 2026, so none of them are in the table. Our round-ups of the best WordPress gym and fitness booking plugins and the best salon and spa booking plugins go deeper on the plugin side, and our wellness booking software guide covers the hosted tools.
How these tools were checked Mindbody's plans, the $79 Starter price, the app fee, the payment fee and the contract wording were read on mindbodyonline.com/business/pricing and its FAQ on 26 October 2026. Booknetic, Amelia, LatePoint and Bookly were installed on a clean WordPress site and booked end to end in October 2026. Their install counts, ratings and version dates come from the WordPress.org plugin API. Plugin prices were read on each vendor's own pricing page on 25 and 26 October 2026, with the regular price given next to any sale price shown. Vagaro and Acuity Scheduling facts come from their pricing pages and Trustpilot, read on 25 October 2026, and Gymdesk's from gymdesk.com/pricing on 26 October 2026. We did not run paid accounts for the three hosted tools.
FAQ
What is the best Mindbody alternative for WordPress? Booknetic. It runs classes, appointments, packages, gift cards, deposits and reminders on your own WordPress site for a flat licence from $45 a year ($89 regular) or $99 lifetime. Staff and locations are unlimited, and there is no marketplace fee. Amelia, LatePoint and Bookly are the other plugins worth a look, depending on budget and features.
How much does Mindbody cost? Starter is listed at $79 a month per location in North America and Asia. Accelerate and Ultimate are sold by quote. Mindbody Payments adds a processing rate plus $0.10 to $0.30 per transaction. A new client who finds you through the Mindbody app costs 20% of their first purchase, capped at $30. All of this is as shown on the pricing page on 26 October 2026.
Does Mindbody charge for new clients from its app? Yes, when the app delivers a client you would not have had otherwise. The fee is 20% of that client's first purchase, capped at $30. Existing clients, tracked referral links and clients who say they already knew you carry no fee, and every booking after the first is commission-free.
Does Mindbody work with WordPress? Only as an embedded booking widget. The schedule, the client records and the member app stay on Mindbody. A plugin such as Booknetic runs the whole booking flow inside WordPress with its own client database.
Mindbody or Vagaro? Vagaro for a solo stylist or a small studio: $30 a month for one calendar, monthly billing and published prices. Mindbody for a studio with many instructors at one site, where unlimited users on a $79 Starter plan can beat Vagaro's per-calendar bill, if you accept the app fee. On WordPress, a plugin avoids both pricing models.
Is there a free Mindbody alternative? On WordPress, yes. LatePoint's free plugin takes payments, Amelia Lite has group appointments with Square payments, and Bookly's free version covers basic booking. None of the hosted tools in this list has a free plan; Gymdesk and Acuity offer trials and Vagaro a free trial.
Can Booknetic replace Mindbody completely? For classes, appointments, packages, gift cards, deposits, reminders and payments, yes. Booknetic does not have a consumer marketplace, a branded member app or monthly membership billing, so a studio that depends on app-sourced clients or auto-renewing memberships should weigh that before moving.
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