Head to head
NextKick vs Zen Planner
A long-established platform with real martial arts usage. Owners left over the interface and what sat outside it.
Last reviewed · written for school owners actively comparing the two
The short version
- Move to NextKick if
- You are paying for a website builder and an email tool around your school software.
- Stay with Zen Planner if
- Your staff know it well and the skill checklists you built are doing real work.
On price: NextKick is $179/mo per location with card processing at 2.0%–2.8%, and the figure does not change as your roster grows. We do not publish what Zen Planner would charge you — their plans change and your processing rate is your own — so the checklist further down is how you work it out on your own account.
NextKick and Zen Planner, side by side
Our column is what NextKick does. Theirs is what owners who switched reported on the plans they were using — where they told us nothing, the cell says so rather than guesses.
| Capability | NextKick | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is built for | Martial arts schools only. Nothing else runs on it. | Gym and studio software, with real martial arts schools on it. |
| Belt rank and testing | Your exact rank order, attendance-based eligibility, scored testings, customisable certificates. | Belts and skills are tracked; owners rated this one of its strengths. |
| Check-in | Face recognition or barcode, on automatic member cards. Kiosk mode at the door. | Ask: what does the 5pm rush actually look like on it? |
| Tuition and family accounts | One parent's card covers several children, with testing and uniform fees on the same account. | Ask: can one card cover three siblings on one account? |
| Student and parent app | Branded to your school: schedule, rank, upcoming testings, attendance, payments. | Described as limited on the plans owners had. |
| Schedule | One calendar for classes, events, testings and bookings, with a note on any of them. | Ask: do testings and events live on the same calendar as classes? |
| Owner reporting | A daily report by email, plus an insight report you export for any date range. | Ask: what arrives without you logging in to pull it? |
| Selling uniforms and gear | Built-in eStore, including gift cards, against the accounts you already bill. | Ask: can you sell gear against a student's existing account? |
| School website | Built and maintained for you, with trial signup feeding the same system. | Bought separately by the owners we spoke to. |
| Support | Phone, chat, email and Zoom — answered by people who know what a testing cycle is. | Ask: who answers on a Saturday, and how fast? |
| Price as you grow | $179/mo per location. The figure does not move when your roster does. | Ask: what happens to the price at your next student band? |
| Card processing | 2.0%–2.8%, by card type and volume. | Ask: what was your effective rate last month, after every fee? |
Last reviewed . Zen Planner entries are reported experience on specific plans, not an audit of their current product.
Which one fits your school
Zen Planner is the better answer for some schools. It is worth knowing which kind before you move anything.
Where Zen Planner wins
- Your staff know it well, and the skill checklists you have built against rank are doing real work.
- You are not looking to bring marketing, a website, or a storefront into the same system.
Where NextKick wins
- Every new front-desk hire needs training on the software before they are useful.
- You are paying for a website builder, an email tool, and maybe an app product around your school software.
- You want parents answering their own questions in an app instead of at the desk.
What owners told us moved them
Zen Planner is a long-established gym and studio platform with real martial arts usage behind it. The owners who moved to NextKick described a product that still did what it always did, on an interface that had not changed much, while the things they now needed — a modern parent app, marketing that runs itself, a website they can actually update — sat outside it.
An interface your front desk does not have to be trained on
Owners described Zen Planner as capable but dated, with common tasks buried several clicks deep. That cost shows up in staff turnover: every new front-desk hire needs training on the software before they are useful. NextKick is built so that checking a student in, taking a payment, or looking up a rank is obvious.
The student and parent experience
The student app was described as limited on the plans owners had. NextKick's branded app puts the schedule, current rank, upcoming testing dates, attendance, and payments in the parent's hand — which is where most of the front desk's repetitive questions come from in the first place.
Marketing, website, and eStore in the same system
Lead capture, trial-class signup, automated follow-up, a custom school website, and a storefront for uniforms and gear are part of NextKick rather than separate subscriptions bolted on. Schools consolidating three or four tools into one usually find the real saving is in the hours, not the invoices.
What NextKick does, feature by feature
Grouped by when you would use it in a week rather than by product module. Outlined blocks are the areas owners moving from Zen Planner told us they were missing.
Rank and testing
The record your whole retention model runs on.
- Configure your exact rank order — gup and dan, kyu and dan, belts with stripes, sashes, cords.
- Set an attendance minimum per rank and NextKick works out who is eligible for the next testing from attendance, so nobody is hand-counted off a sign-in sheet.
- Create a testing, take registrations for it, and collect the testing fee in the same place.
- Certificates generate on promotion and the design is yours to customise.
- Promotion dates and results attach to the student's permanent record, so a file does not restart when a new instructor takes the class.
Check-in and attendance
The 5pm rush, without a queue at the front desk.
- A member card is generated for every student automatically — nobody issues them one by one.
- Students check in by face recognition or by barcode, whichever the school prefers.
- Kiosk mode runs check-in on a tablet at the door with no staff standing over it.
- Attendance feeds testing eligibility directly, so the two records can never disagree.
Tuition and family accounts
Martial arts revenue is family revenue, not individual memberships.
- Recurring tuition on cards and bank accounts, with family accounts so one parent's card covers several children.
- One-time charges for testing fees, uniforms, and camps sit on the same account as tuition.
- Processing runs 2.0%–2.8% depending on card type and volume.
- An eStore sells uniforms, sparring gear, and gift cards against the student accounts you already bill.
- No annual contract and no setup fee.
Schedule
One calendar instead of a whiteboard and three group chats.
- Every class, event, testing, and booking your school runs sits on one calendar.
- Leave a note on any item on it — a substitute instructor, a closed holiday, what a visiting coach is covering.
- Class capacity, booking, and waitlists are handled on the same schedule.
- Instructor rotations and assignments are set per class rather than tracked separately.
Reporting and parent communication
What you need to know, without logging in to find it.
- A daily report lands in your inbox every morning.
- Export an insight report for any date range whenever you want one.
- Students who miss class get an email automatically — you do not send it.
- A branded student and parent app carries the schedule, current rank, upcoming testing dates, attendance, and payment history.
- AI-assisted tools draft parent communications and flag students whose attendance is slipping.
Moving from Zen Planner: Owners described the student app as limited on their plan, and the front desk fielding what it should have answered.
Locations and programs
A second site and an after-school run are different problems.
- Run every location from one account, with per-site reporting and no second login.
- Shared student profiles across locations, so a student training at two sites is one record.
- After-school is handled as its own program: pickups and drop-offs, daily attendance, and parent notifications.
- A custom school website with trial signup and lead capture wired into the same system that bills the student.
Moving from Zen Planner: A website, an email tool, and sometimes a separate app product were bought around the school software.
How to price the switch for your school
The arithmetic is different for each platform you might be leaving. Page through to the one you are on.
Pricing it against Zen Planner · 1 of 8
Count the tools you are paying for around it
Most schools leaving Zen Planner were not paying for only Zen Planner. There was a website builder, an email tool, sometimes a separate app product, sometimes a booking widget. Add those lines up before comparing monthly prices — that total is the number the switch actually competes with.
What NextKick costs
- Software
- $179/mo per location
- Card processing
- 2.0%–2.8%, by card type and volume
- School website
- From $169/mo, built and maintained
- Contract
- None, and no setup fee
What the other side costs
We are not going to put a number here. Published plans change, what you are quoted may differ from what is advertised, and your processing rate depends on terms you negotiated — so any figure we printed would be wrong for someone.
Check your current provider's pricing with them directly, then work down the checklist below. It takes about ten minutes and gives you a number that is actually yours.
Go to the checklistSeven questions to answer before you switch anything
Work down this list on your own account and you will know what you are really paying, and what you would really be giving up.
- 01
What is your effective processing rate — what you actually paid last month divided by what you actually collected?
Headline percentages leave out per-transaction fees, card-type surcharges, and monthly minimums. The effective rate is the only figure that compares cleanly, and it is the line that scales with your tuition rather than sitting still.
- 02
What does the plan you are on include, and what sits a tier above it?
On a tiered platform the entry price is rarely the tier a working school ends up on. Price the tier that includes the app, the marketing tools, and the reporting you actually use.
- 03
Does the monthly price change when your enrollment does?
Per-student and banded pricing means the cost of every new enrollment is not zero. Ask what happens at the next band, not what you pay today.
- 04
What are you paying for separately around it — website, email or SMS, a student app, a storefront?
Most schools comparing software are really comparing stacks. Add those subscriptions up before you compare one monthly figure against another.
- 05
Where does belt rank actually live today — in the software, or in a spreadsheet beside it?
If testing eligibility is worked out by hand, the software is not doing the job you bought it for. That is unpaid staff time every testing cycle.
- 06
Can you export your own students, ranks, attendance, and billing plans today, without asking?
Your roster is your asset. If getting it out requires a support ticket, you are less free to leave than you think — and that is worth knowing before you need to.
- 07
When a card declines on a Saturday, who do you reach, and how fast?
Billing problems are time-sensitive in a way most software problems are not. A ticket queue and a phone number are very different answers on the first of the month.
Or call and ask us the same seven questions.
Zen Planner vs NextKick — common questions
What is the best Zen Planner alternative for martial arts schools?
NextKick is the closest martial-arts-specific replacement: configurable rank structures, testing cycles with attendance-based eligibility, family billing, a branded student app, marketing tools, and a school website — at $179/mo with the price unchanged by enrollment.
Does NextKick include a website?
Yes. A custom school website is available from $169/mo, built and maintained for you rather than assembled from a template builder you have to learn.
How is belt testing handled compared to Zen Planner?
You define your exact rank order, set an attendance minimum per rank, and NextKick works out who is eligible for the next testing cycle. You create the testing, take registrations, collect the fee, and certificates generate on promotion.
Is there phone support?
Yes. Owners moving from Zen Planner most often cited support responsiveness as the reason they started looking. NextKick answers the phone.
Can I replace my separate email tool?
Lead capture, trial signup, and automated follow-up are included, students who miss class get an email automatically, and AI-assisted tools draft parent communications.
Does NextKick handle my after-school program?
Yes, as its own program — pickups and drop-offs, daily attendance, and parent notifications are handled for the after-school group specifically.
Compare other platforms
See it on your own roster
Half an hour on a call, with your rank structure and your class schedule in front of you. No contract and no setup fee either way.
Comparison information last reviewed . The comparisons on this page reflect the firsthand, self-reported experiences of martial arts school owners who switched to NextKick from the platform named, as reported at the time they switched. Competitor pricing, processing fees, features, and workflows change over time, and the details shown may not reflect the named provider's current offering, plan tiers, or terms. Statements about Zen Plannerrepresent what these owners reported experiencing on the specific plans they used, not a comprehensive or independent audit of the competitor's product, and should be read as reported experience rather than statements of present fact. This page is provided for general informational purposes only, reflects the opinions of NextKick and its customers, and is not intended as, and should not be relied upon as, a complete, objective, or current assessment. We make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any competitor information. Please verify all pricing, fees, and features directly with each provider before making any decision. All product names, logos, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners; their use here is for identification and comparison purposes only and does not imply any affiliation with, endorsement by, or partnership with those owners. If you believe any information on this page is inaccurate or outdated, please contact us at info@nextkick.ai and we will review and correct it promptly.