Zen Planner is the established name in this market and has been for years. Here is where the two genuinely differ, including the cases where Zen Planner is the better answer.
Zen Planner is a broad fitness-business platform that covers martial arts among gyms, boxes and studios, with a large add-on catalogue. Axion Dojo is built only for martial arts schools, which makes it narrower and more opinionated — per-style rank ladders and grading logistics are core rather than a module.
| Axion Dojo | Zen Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Martial arts schools only | Gyms, studios and martial arts |
| Rank ladders | One per style, always included | Belt and testing tracking included |
| Where tuition lands | Your own Stripe account, straight to your bank | Processing billed separately; rates not published |
| Website | Website API and embeddable forms into the site you already have | Available as a paid add-on |
| Pricing model | Monthly, by active student count | Tiered by member count, plus per-add-on |
| Published price | Not yet published | $99–$289/mo studio tier; add-ons quoted separately |
Zen Planner figures are its own published rates, checked September 2026, and exclude payment processing. Check zenplanner.com for current pricing.
Axion Dojo connects to your school's own Stripe account, so tuition settles to your bank and we are never a party to it. It is worth asking any vendor the same question directly: whose merchant account does my tuition pass through, and what happens to it if I leave?
If you run more than a martial arts school — a strength gym, a yoga studio, a mixed facility — Zen Planner covers that ground and Axion Dojo deliberately does not. It is also the more established product with the longer track record and a larger third-party ecosystem, which is a real consideration.
And if you want your website, marketing automation and branded app from the same vendor as your management software, Zen Planner sells all of them. Axion Dojo expects you to keep your own website and connects to it instead.
This page is the summary. The guide is the manual — written for people running a school, not for people shopping for software. Read what Axion Dojo actually covers, or start at the contents page.
Axion Dojo's pricing is not published yet, so that comparison cannot be made honestly here. What can be said is the shape: Axion Dojo is a single monthly subscription tiered by active students, with no separate charge for the website connection or the family portal.
Students, families, ranks and balances are the usual import. Talk to us about what you can export from your current system before you commit to anything.
No. Zen Planner is broader, covers non-martial-arts facilities, and sells marketing automation and a branded app that Axion Dojo does not have. It goes deeper on the martial arts specifics instead.
Start a free trial, or talk to us about what you would be moving.