Should I get a custom gym software?

S etting up your fitness studio is no easy task. It involves putting in a lot of thought and effort to hire the right trainers and staff. Choosing the correct software for managing the members and memberships is equally important.

With the advancement of technology and ongoing digital revolution, there has been a paradigm shift in using a gym management software instead of an Excel sheet. Now, as a gym owner, you might consider getting a custom software built or use the product / service already available in the market. Custom softwares are built from scratch and are tailor-made with requirements given by the business owner and their team. The contract is usually given to an IT company who collect and assess the requirements and estimate the cost of building the software.

The other option is to subscribe to a gym managment software service already available in the market. Here, the product is already built and ready-to-sell. Even though subscription softwares are not tailor-made, they are built in a manner to suit 90% of the fitness business requirements.

Let’s dive in deep and compare the two.

• Cost
  Custom software are charged one-time whereas subscription softwares are charged monthly or yearly. In case of custom software, the entire development cost is borne by one business. Subscription softwares have pay-as-you go model so you never over run your budget.

• Wait time
  Custom software take time to build. The entire process involves assessing, designing, developing and testing. It may take upto 6 months or 1 year to build. On the other hand, subscription softwares have zero wait-time. You can start using it from that very moment.

• Upgrades
  For custom made software, getting hold of your software developer for minor tweaks will always be difficult. Plus, every change request will be charged on hourly basis. In case of subscription software, the company will always be open to feedbacks and tweaks to stay relevant in the market. You'll be charged only if you request a major change that is not a part of the project pipeline.

• Customer support
  One of the biggest pain points of a custom software is getting a reliable customer support. The team engaged in building the sofware may have moved to a different project and no longer be availabe to answer your queries. Whereas in subscription software, there is a always dedicated customer support available to take your questions and help you out.

Clearly, the advantages of a subscription software outweighs those of custom sofware. Before finalizing on the service, allow yourself time to go through all the existing options in the market. Subscription softwares usually have a free trial and provide an online demo. Getting a first hand experiece with the software will surely help you in your decision.