Head to head
NextKick vs WellnessLiving
A deep feature set across every kind of studio. The question is how well it maps onto belts and families.
Last reviewed · written for school owners actively comparing the two
The short version
- Move to NextKick if
- The capability you need keeps sitting one tier above the plan you are on.
- Stay with WellnessLiving if
- You use the packages, rewards and purchase options a broad platform gives you.
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 We do not publish what WellnessLiving would charge you — their plans change and your processing rate is your own — so the checklist further down is how you work it out on your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 WellnessLiving, 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. | Fitness and wellness studios of every kind. |
| Belt rank and testing | Your exact rank order, attendance-based eligibility, scored testings, customisable certificates. | Described as basic on the plans owners had. |
| 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. | Ask: what do parents see in the app, and on which plan? |
| 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. | Ask: is the website included, or a separate subscription? |
| 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. | Tiered by capability, with the app and automated marketing above entry. |
| Card processing | 2.0%–2.8%, by card type and volume. | Ask: what was your effective rate last month, after every fee? |
Last reviewed . WellnessLiving entries are reported experience on specific plans, not an audit of their current product.
Which one fits your school
WellnessLiving is the better answer for some schools. It is worth knowing which kind before you move anything.
Where WellnessLiving wins
- You run several studio types, or a wellness business alongside the school.
- Rewards programs, packages, and purchase options are things you actively use rather than things you work around.
Where NextKick wins
- Belt tracking is basic on your plan and the most important record in your school is the one the software handles least well.
- The capability you need keeps sitting a tier above the one you are on.
- Most of the data in your account is for a business you are not running.
What owners told us moved them
WellnessLiving is a broad fitness and wellness platform with a deep feature set — booking, memberships, marketing, reporting — used across studios of every kind. For a martial arts school the question is not whether it can do a lot. It is whether the things it does map onto belts, testing cycles, and family accounts, or whether you spend your time translating.
Martial arts is the product, not a vertical
Rank structures, attendance-based testing eligibility, scored gradings, and digital certificates are built into NextKick. Owners on WellnessLiving described belt tracking as basic on their plan, which pushes the most important record in a martial arts school back onto paper or a spreadsheet.
Capability included rather than laddered
WellnessLiving tiers its plans by capability. NextKick is $179/mo with the app, marketing tools, website, AI features, and eStore included rather than gated behind a higher tier.
A system shaped like a martial arts school
A broad platform carries purchase options, packages, rewards, and staff scheduling for businesses that need them. For a school, most of that is overhead to configure and ignore. NextKick models students, families, ranks, testings, and programs — and nothing else.
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 WellnessLiving 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.
Moving from WellnessLiving: Belt tracking was described as basic on the plans owners had, with the real record kept elsewhere.
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 WellnessLiving: The app and automated marketing were reported as sitting above the tier these schools were on.
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.
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 WellnessLiving · 1 of 8
Compare the tier you would actually be on
Entry pricing on a tiered platform is rarely the tier a working school ends up on. Price the plan that includes the app, automated marketing, and the reporting you need, then compare that number. Processing matters too: check your effective rate against NextKick's 2.0%–2.8%, since a fraction of a percentage point is charged against every tuition run you collect.
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.
WellnessLiving vs NextKick — common questions
Why do martial arts schools switch from WellnessLiving to NextKick?
Most commonly because rank progression and testing are the centre of how a school operates, and a general wellness platform models them shallowly. Owners also cited plan tiering and support responsiveness.
Is NextKick cheaper than WellnessLiving?
NextKick is $179/mo with processing at 2.0%–2.8%. WellnessLiving is tiered by capability, so compare against the tier you would actually need rather than the advertised starting price, and confirm current pricing and processing terms with WellnessLiving directly.
Does NextKick handle class booking and waitlists?
Yes — class capacity, booking, waitlists, and check-in, including kiosk and face recognition check-in for the evening rush.
Does NextKick support multiple locations?
Yes. Shared student profiles, per-location reporting, and one owner account rather than a second login per site.
What support do I get?
Priority support with people who know martial arts operations, reachable by phone rather than a ticket queue only.
What reporting does NextKick give me?
A daily report lands in your inbox every morning, and you can export an insight report for any date range whenever you want one.
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 WellnessLivingrepresent 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 [email protected] and we will review and correct it promptly.