10 questions to ask in a gym software demo

Most gym owners choose management software once every few years, so the decision usually happens in a single demo call. Demos always look good. What matters is how the software behaves on an ordinary Tuesday evening with three people queuing at the front desk.

These ten questions are the ones we'd ask in any demo, roughly in order of importance. We build GamGym, so under each point we say what GamGym does today, but the checklist works for any product you're evaluating.

1. What does the member record show on one screen?

When the front desk opens a member, they should see remaining days, remaining visits, balance, overdue installments and last visit at a glance. If those live on three screens, something gets missed at peak hour.

In GamGym the member card holds contact details, memberships (days, visits and PT sessions left), balance and overdue amount, the account statement, signed documents, body measurements and whether the person is inside right now.

2. Can the same person be added twice?

Duplicates are the classic spreadsheet problem: one member entered as "Ahmet Yılmaz" and again as "A. Yılmaz", with the debt split between them. Try adding someone twice during the demo. In GamGym one phone number is one person, and a second record for the same person in the same gym is rejected.

3. Who decides at the door?

Can a member with an expired plan walk in? If the rule lives in a receptionist's head, every shift applies it differently.

GamGym denies entry with a reason when a membership has expired, is frozen, has no visits left or is outside the plan's hours. For members with debt, the gym picks warn, block or allow, and sets its own tolerance in days and amount. We walk through it step by step in how QR entry works.

4. What hardware does access control need, and what does it cost?

Some tools sell door access as a separate monthly add-on, and readers and turnstiles are usually priced on top. Ask for each line item in writing.

QR entry is included in every GamGym gym plan, and the simplest setup is a tablet: it opens /kiosk and pairs with your gym using a one-time code. Tablets don't count toward the plan's access point limit. Turnstile and door connections are set up together with our support team; the hardware isn't part of the subscription.

5. Who controls the class and booking rules?

What happens to a late cancellation, who moves up from the waitlist and when, what a no-show costs: these vary from gym to gym. If you can't set them yourself, you end up following the software's rules.

In GamGym the cancellation window, whether a late cancel uses up the credit and the no-show penalty are all gym settings. Details in classes and bookings.

6. Can members help themselves?

If members have to call the desk to see their QR code, their bookings or what they owe, your receptionist becomes a call centre. Ask what the member side includes and whether it's in the base price; some tools keep the member app for a higher tier.

GamGym's member portal opens in the phone's browser with nothing to install. Members see their QR code, class and PT bookings, payments, documents, programs and measurements there.

7. Do the reports tell you anything?

Every product can tell you how many memberships you sold this month. The more useful question is which active members haven't been in for three weeks. GamGym splits collections by payment method and branch, and the membership report shows renewal rate plus 30, 60 and 90 day retention. On Professional and Chain you also get an hour-by-day heatmap and a list of active members absent for 21+ days, with phone numbers. That list is the most concrete tool you have against member churn.

8. What's ready for data protection and cancellations?

If contracts, privacy notices and health declarations sit in a folder, proving who signed which version and when gets hard. Ask what a digital signature actually stores: the signature image, the text as it was signed, the IP address?

GamGym stores all three. Membership termination requests also run inside the system: the gym has 7 days to decide, and the refund of unused prepayment is tracked against a 15-day deadline.

9. Who moves your existing data?

Migration is the part owners dread. Most local vendors do setup and data migration for free, so treat that as the baseline and get it in writing.

In GamGym you import the member list as a CSV from the panel (up to 5,000 rows), and the same file can carry remaining days, remaining visits and an opening balance. Remote setup and data migration are free. The steps are in our spreadsheet migration guide.

10. What does the price actually cover?

Ask whether the monthly price includes VAT, what the member and staff limits are, and whether extra branches and SMS cost more. You can only compare two products on total cost for the same gym.

Take a single-site gym with 300 members. GamGym's Starter plan is 2,999 TL a month plus VAT and covers 1 branch, 5 staff, 300 members and 1 access point. On yearly billing you pay for 10 months and use 12, and the free trial is 3 months on Starter and 14 days on the other plans. All plans are on the for gyms page, and the topic-by-topic comparison is in Why GamGym?.

To settle which criteria matter before the demo, start with the checklist in how to choose gym software.

Take these ten questions to the demo in writing and note each product's answers on the same row of one table.