ManageMemberships vs Kicksite

Kicksite works. For a martial arts school that's just getting started — tracking belt ranks, managing class schedules, collecting tuition — it covers the basics without overwhelming you. But Kicksite was built for small schools, and it shows as soon as you start growing. The per-student pricing stacks up fast. There's no door access control at all. Reporting stays thin no matter how long you've been on the platform. And when a payment fails, someone on your staff is chasing that member down manually.

ManageMemberships was built for the gym that's already past the "just getting started" stage. Flat pricing regardless of member count, native door access tied directly to billing, built-in CRM and automated retention, and a full POS if you sell merchandise. This page breaks down where Kicksite is genuinely strong — it has real strengths — and where the gaps are. If two or more of those gaps are hitting you, the switch is probably overdue.

Side by side comparison

Feature-by-feature breakdown based on publicly available information.

Feature	ManageMemberships	Kicksite
Memberships & recurring billing	YesUnlimited membership levels, recurring billing via Stripe, automatic failed payment handling, late fees, and dunning sequences.	YesRecurring billing with tuition management. Stripe integration available.
Belt rank & curriculum tracking	Not a dedicated feature. Custom meta fields on member profiles can track rank and promotion dates, and triggers can automate rank-based communications (e.g. congratulations message when a belt level is updated). Works for most schools — not a replacement for Kicksite's full curriculum management if that's central to your operation.	YesBelt rank tracking, skill progression, promotion records. Core to Kicksite's design for traditional martial arts schools.
Digital waivers	YesCustom waivers with e-signature, stored on member profiles.	YesDigital waivers with electronic signatures.
Check-in kiosk	YesKiosk check-in plus Apple Pay and Google Wallet tap-to-check-in via NFC.	YesCheck-in tracking with attendance records.
Door access control	YesBuilt-in door access tied directly to membership status. Auto-locks when payments fail. Camera integration for visual verification. Supports 24-hour unmanned facilities.	NoNo door access control. No native integration. You'd need a fully separate system — different vendor, different hardware, no billing sync.
Automated payment recovery	YesAutomatic retry logic, configurable dunning sequences, late fees, and automated member notifications on failed payments.	ManualNo automated dunning. When a card fails, your staff is responsible for following up.
CRM built-in	YesCustomizable pipelines for leads, trials, and cancellations. Email drip campaigns. No third-party CRM needed.	NoNo built-in CRM. Lead management requires a separate tool.
Automated retention triggers	YesAutomatic text or email when a member hasn't checked in for 14 days, when a payment fails, when a membership is about to expire, and more.	NoNo behavior-based automation. Manual outreach or a third-party tool required.
POS / retail	YesFull POS via ManageRegister: inventory, barcode scanning, split payments, card-on-file charging, receipt printing, stock management.	NoNo built-in POS. Merchandise sales require a separate system like Square.
Revenue reporting	YesMRR, ARR, churn tracking, at-risk member alerts, processing volume dashboards.	BasicBasic financial reporting. No MRR tracking, no churn signal, no predictive metrics.
Custom branded app	YesYour logo, your colors, your name in the App Store and Google Play. Deployed within ~4 business days.	NoNo custom branded app. Members use Kicksite's app under Kicksite's branding.
Pricing model	Flat rate. $99/mo for unlimited members. Free tier up to 50 members. Price doesn't change as you grow.	Per-student pricing. Cost scales with your member count — gets expensive once you're past 150–200 students.
Stripe token portability	YesYour Stripe payment tokens are yours. If you ever leave, you take members' card data with you. Free migration from Kicksite if both use Stripe.	Depends on Stripe setup. If billing runs through Kicksite's Stripe account rather than your own, token portability may be limited.

Where Kicksite wins

Belt rank and curriculum tracking is Kicksite's strongest card. If you run a traditional martial arts school where promotions, skill progressions, and rank ceremonies are central to how you operate, Kicksite built those features with that use case in mind. You can track exactly where each student is in their curriculum, log promotions, and generate promotion reports. ManageMemberships handles rank tracking through custom meta fields and can trigger automated messages when a rank is updated — but it's not a structured curriculum module. For schools where the ranking system is deeply operational, Kicksite's dedicated approach is more complete.

For a small, owner-operated school with under 100 students that mostly runs during staffed hours and doesn't need door access, a POS, or a CRM, Kicksite is a reasonable fit. The interface is familiar to martial arts school owners specifically, and the onboarding is oriented around the terminology and workflows they already use: belts, attendance, tuition, promotions. That familiarity has real value, especially for owners who aren't particularly tech-forward.

If your school's core identity is curriculum — if belt promotions and skill tracking are as important to you as billing — Kicksite's purpose-built focus on that use case is a genuine advantage over a broader platform that doesn't prioritize it.

Where ManageMemberships wins

The pricing model alone is worth looking at. Kicksite charges per student, which means your software bill grows with your member count. That's fine when you're small. Once you're past 150 students, you're paying meaningfully more every month just because you're successful. ManageMemberships is flat-rate: $99/mo for unlimited members, full stop. At 200 members, you're ahead. At 300, the gap is substantial. The money you're not spending on per-student fees goes back into your gym.

Door access is the other major gap. Kicksite has no answer for this. If you want to run 24-hour access, reduce front-desk staffing hours, or simply make sure members whose payments fail can't walk in, you need a separate system — different hardware, different vendor, no sync with billing. ManageMemberships has access control built in. When a payment fails, the door stops opening automatically. When they renew, access comes back. No manual step, no overnight sync window, no second vendor to manage. Camera integration adds visual verification of every access event. This is the most common reason growing gyms leave Kicksite.

Then there's everything that handles itself once you set it up: automated payment recovery so failed cards get retried without your staff chasing anyone, retention triggers that fire a text message when a member goes two weeks without checking in, and a built-in CRM so you're tracking leads and trial conversions without a separate HighLevel or HubSpot subscription. ManageRegister adds a full POS if you sell merchandise — inventory, barcode scanning, card-on-file charging, all tied to the same member profiles. Kicksite doesn't have any of these. You're either doing them manually or paying for separate tools to cover each gap.

Pricing comparison

	ManageMemberships	Kicksite
Free tier	Yes — up to 50 membersFull platform access. No credit card required.	No free tierPaid plans only. Trial available.
Small school (~100 students)	$29–$99/moStarter or Core depending on features needed. Price doesn't change with member count.	~$99–$149/moPer-student pricing. Cost depends on exact plan and student count — confirm current rates with Kicksite.
Growing school (150–200 students)	$99/mo — same as aboveFlat rate. No per-student penalty for growing.	~$149–$200+/moPer-student pricing means your bill grows as your school does. At 200 students the cost gap versus flat-rate becomes meaningful.
Processing fees	5% all-in on Core. One number. No separate Stripe invoice.	Varies by plan and payment processor. Stripe passthrough fees apply on top of subscription cost.
Door access add-on	$89/mo (hardware included in offer)Native access control — not a third-party integration. Billing sync is automatic.	Not availableNo door access. Third-party hardware + software required at additional cost with no billing sync.

The per-student pricing model isn't a problem when you're at 50 students. It becomes a real problem at 150+. A school doing $15,000/month in tuition with 175 students is paying Kicksite more each month just because they grew — without getting any new features. ManageMemberships charges the same $99/mo whether you have 100 members or 500. That's the model that makes sense for a growing school.

Migration from Kicksite

The biggest concern for most gym owners switching platforms is their members' payment information. If your Kicksite billing is running through Stripe and the tokens are on your own Stripe account, they transfer directly to ManageMemberships. Members don't re-enter their cards. Billing continues uninterrupted. This is the most common setup, and it makes the migration seamless from the member's perspective.

If your billing has been running through Kicksite's Stripe account rather than your own, you'll need to collect updated payment info from members. The cleanest approach in that case: let existing renewals process normally for the first billing cycle while you collect card information through the new platform. Most gyms that go this route see 80–90% of members update their info within the first 30 days without any direct outreach.

Member records, membership levels, class schedules, and waiver history can be exported from Kicksite and imported into ManageMemberships. We handle the migration directly. There's no onboarding fee and no setup charge. Most schools are fully operational within a few days of starting the migration. The one thing that doesn't transfer is Kicksite's belt rank and curriculum data — if that's important to your operation, plan for how you'll maintain that separately or whether a simple rank field on member profiles is sufficient.

FAQ

Does ManageMemberships have belt rank tracking?

Not as a dedicated curriculum module. You can track rank and promotion dates using custom meta fields on member profiles, and use triggers to automate rank-based communications — for example, sending a congratulations message when a belt level is updated. Most schools find this covers their needs. If your operation runs deep curriculum tracking with structured progression trees and promotion records, Kicksite's purpose-built system is more complete for that specific use case.

How does the pricing compare once I have 150+ students?

At 150+ students, Kicksite's per-student pricing typically runs $150–$200+/mo depending on your plan. ManageMemberships Core is $99/mo flat, regardless of member count. The more your school grows, the wider that gap gets — and you never pay more just because you're successful.

Will my members have to re-enter their credit cards?

Not if your Kicksite billing runs through your own Stripe account. In that case, payment tokens transfer directly and members won't notice the switch. If billing has been on Kicksite's Stripe account, you'll need to collect updated payment info — we'll walk you through the process.

Can I run a 24-hour gym on ManageMemberships?

Yes. Built-in door access control ties directly to membership and payment status. Members access via key fob, app, or Apple/Google Wallet pass. When a payment fails, access is automatically revoked. When they renew, it comes back. No separate system, no sync delays.

Do I need a separate CRM after switching?

No. ManageMemberships includes customizable CRM pipelines for leads, trials, and cancellations, plus email drip campaigns and automated behavior-based triggers. You won't need HubSpot, HighLevel, or any separate tool for lead management.

How long does migration take?

Most schools are fully operational within a few days. We handle the data migration directly with no onboarding fee or setup charge. The main variable is payment token portability — if tokens transfer cleanly via Stripe, there's no disruption at all for your members.

Is there a contract?

No. ManageMemberships is month-to-month on all plans. Cancel anytime. The free tier (up to 50 members) has no credit card requirement.

See for yourself

Start with our free tier (up to 50 members, no credit card required) or book a walkthrough and we'll show you exactly how it maps to your current Kicksite setup.