Four charging models, what each one costs a working coach across a year, and the questions worth asking before you hand over your diary.
It is a surprisingly hard thing to find out. Search for it and you get salary guides telling you what personal trainers earn, which answers a different question entirely. The platforms themselves publish a headline number and leave the rest in the terms.
200 sessions at £50, so £10,000 of coaching across a year.
The point is not that one model always wins. At 200 sessions a subscription beats commission comfortably. At 40 sessions it does not. Run it on your own numbers.
The models above are the shapes. These are the numbers, read off each platform's own pricing page.
| Platform | Published price | Charged per | Commission | Card processing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresha | £14.95 a month solo, £9.95 per team member | Per bookable team member | 20% of a marketplace client's first booking, minimum £4 | 1.40% and 25p online, 1.19% and 20p in person |
| Booksy | £40 a month, plus £5 per extra team member, all plus VAT | Per business, then per staff member | 30% of a Boost client's first visit, minimum £5 | Not published on the pricing page |
| My PT Hub | £20 a month for 3 clients, £59 a month unlimited | Per trainer | None published | Stripe charged separately |
| ABC Trainerize | Free for 1 client, $9 a month for 2, $23 a month from 5 | Per trainer, banded by client count | None published | Stripe payments is a $10 a month add on |
| Gymcatch | £10 a month, plus £2 and VAT per bolt on | Per business | None published | Explicitly excluded from the headline price |
| TeamUp | $189 a month at 101 to 200 active customers | Per active customer band | None published | Not published on the pricing page |
| Upper Hand | $79 a month Start, paid annually | Per business | None published | Not published on the pricing page |
| ProAgenda | $15 a month Base, $44 Plus, $87 Premium | Per agenda, so per coach diary | None published | Not published on the pricing page |
| Foremost Golf | Free on EMP Premium, £7.42 a month on EMP Lite | Per pro, on top of Foremost membership | None. Foremost states the booking system is commission free | Not published on the booking system page |
| ClubSpark | Free to LTA registered venues and accredited coaches | Per venue | None, but ClubSpark adds 1.4% and 5p on top of Stripe | Stripe 1.5% and 20p, so 2.9% and 25p in total |
| GoalMate | £0 | No charges to coaches | None. You keep 100% of your session price | Included. The client pays £1 up to £25, then 4% |
Every figure above was read from the platform's own public pricing page in September 2026, and is quoted in the currency it is published in rather than converted. Published rates change, so treat this as the starting point for your own check. Where a column says none published, the platform does not state a figure on a public page.
Two things come out of it. Nearly everybody charges for the account rather than the booking, so the bill arrives in a quiet month exactly as it does in a busy one, and what the charge is counted against moves around a lot: per trainer, per team member, per active customer, per coach diary, per venue. Read that column before the price one.
The commission figures belong to the marketplaces. Fresha takes 20% of a first booking from someone who found you through their listings, minimum £4. Booksy takes 30% of a Boost client's first visit, minimum £5. Both are charged once per client rather than on every booking, and both sit on top of a subscription you are paying regardless. Everyone else leaves the column blank, and a blank is not the same as a no.
GoalMate uses the third model. No commission and no subscription, so nothing is deducted from your price. The client pays a service fee at checkout: a flat £1 on sessions up to £25, and 4% above that. On a £50 session the client pays £52.99 and you receive £50. Card processing is covered within that fee.
The honest caveat: GoalMate is live across the North West and the Midlands only. If you coach elsewhere, the client discovery side is not much use to you yet.
Where a platform charges commission at all, 10% to 25% of the session price is the usual range, deducted before you are paid. Some charge a monthly subscription instead, typically 10 to 50 pounds. A smaller number take nothing from the coach and charge the client a fee at checkout instead.
It depends entirely on volume. A subscription is a fixed cost, so it gets cheaper per session the more you work, and expensive in a quiet month. Commission is the reverse: nothing when you are quiet, and an uncapped cost when you are busy.
Often, yes, and it is the most commonly missed cost. Card processing in the UK is roughly 1.5% plus 20p per transaction. Ask whether that sits inside the headline fee or on top of it.
No commission and no subscription. You keep 100% of the session price you set. The client pays a service fee at checkout: a flat 1 pound on sessions up to 25 pounds, and 4% above that. On a 50 pound session the client pays 52.99 and you receive 50.
See GoalMate's pricing in full, read about booking software with no commission, or see what the free options actually give you.