A yoga studio owner in Brooklyn opens at 6 AM for the early-bird class. A new student walks in wanting to sign up. The owner grabs a clipboard with a paper waiver, writes down the student's credit card number on a form, and manually adds them to a spreadsheet. During the 7 AM class, she realizes the 6 AM student's payment didn't process — the card number was written illegibly. She has no way to contact them until they come back.
The US fitness industry has 40,000+ gyms, yoga studios, and boutique fitness centers. Mindbody ($139-549/mo) dominates class scheduling but is expensive and complex — overkill for a yoga studio with 200 members. Zen Planner ($117-248/mo) and Wodify ($99-269/mo) target CrossFit boxes. For the small pilates studio, dance school, or martial arts gym doing under $30K/month, these enterprise tools don't make economic sense.
The gap is a modern member portal at $49-99/mo for small studios: online class booking, membership management with auto-billing, digital waivers, QR check-in, and basic workout logging. Not enterprise features like payroll, retail POS, or multi-location — just member management done right. PushPress ($159-329/mo) is close but still priced for larger gyms. A focused tool for studios with 50-300 members would serve thousands of businesses that Mindbody has priced out.
💰 Revenue Blueprint
Three-tier value ladder to monetize from day one
Up to 100 members, class booking, QR check-in, payment processing, digital waivers
Up to 300 members, member app, automated billing, waitlists, basic reporting
Unlimited members, staff scheduling, workout tracking, advanced analytics, API access
📊 Market Evidence
The Market Gap
Mindbody is enterprise-priced ($139+/mo). PushPress is still $159+/mo. No modern member portal at $49-99/mo for small studios with 50-300 members.
🏆 Competitor Landscape
How existing players stack up in this market
| Competitor | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mindbody | $139-549/mo | Fitness + wellness scheduling |
| Zen Planner | $117-248/mo | Gym management software |
| Wodify | $99-269/mo | CrossFit + gym software |
| PushPress | $159-329/mo | Modern gym management |
| GloFox | Contact sales | Boutique fitness software |
Fitness + wellness scheduling
Gym management software
CrossFit + gym software
Modern gym management
Boutique fitness software
🛠️ Recommended Tech Stack
Suggested tools and technologies to build this idea
Why this stack: Simple, modern stack. Focus on ease of use for non-technical studio owners. Mobile app for member check-in and class booking.
Strengths
- ✓40,000+ gyms in US
- ✓Post-COVID fitness boom
- ✓Boutique studios growing 8% YoY
Score Breakdown
Good market signals with room for growth
Market (20%) + Revenue (20%) + Trend (15%) + Competition (15%) + Build (15%) + Pricing (15%)
🚀 Start Building
Copy a prompt into your favorite AI coding tool and start building this idea right now.
Build a SaaS product called "Gym Member Portal". ## Product Overview Self-service member portal for gyms: bookings, payments, check-ins, and workout logs. ## Problem Small gyms and studios use expensive legacy software or messy spreadsheet systems for member management ## Solution Modern member portal with class booking, payment processing, QR check-in, and basic workout tracking ## Target Audience indie hackers, small businesses, and solopreneurs ## Tech Stack - Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript - Tailwind CSS v4 for styling - Supabase for auth, database, and storage - Vercel for deployment - shadcn/ui for UI components - Framer Motion for animations ## MVP Features to Build 1. Landing page with clear value proposition 2. User authentication (sign up, sign in, forgot password) 3. Core product functionality based on the solution above 4. Dashboard for users to manage their data 5. Pricing page with at least 2 tiers (free + paid) 6. Basic settings/profile page ## Known Competitors Mindbody, Zen Planner, Wodify, PushPress, GloFox ## Key Risks to Address Standard market entry risks ## Deployment 1. Set up Supabase project and configure environment variables 2. Deploy to Vercel with `npx vercel --prod` 3. Set up custom domain 4. Configure Supabase RLS policies for security ## Instructions Start by creating the project structure, then build the landing page first. Use server components where possible. Make it mobile-responsive from the start. Focus on getting the core value loop working before adding polish.