PATO vs PushPress
Their entry plan is free because a percentage of every member payment funds it. That never appears on an invoice — it appears in what lands in your account. Here’s the arithmetic, and what a subscription costs instead.
Figures last checked Their prices in USD · ours in NZD · rates are percentages either wayRe-verified quarterly (14d)
This one is arithmetic
PushPress Core is genuinely free with no member cap, and it includes scheduling, a member app, kiosk check-in and payments. That’s more than most free tiers.
The money comes from payment processing: 4.99% + $0.30 on cards (Free plan)pushpress.com(opens their pricing page in a new tab). On a gym turning over $20,000 a month, that’s about $1,058 — every month.
PATO charges a subscription and takes nothing from your member payments. For that same gym the all-in cost is around $529.
And one structural difference: PushPress built AI for the front desk. Nobody in this market except us has built it for the members.
Where PATO is stronger
| Capability |  PushPress |  PATO |
|---|---|---|
| What your members get | ||
| AI for staff | Yes | Yes |
| AI for members | No | Yes |
| Nutrition tracking | No | Yes |
| Exercise library with coaching data | No | Yes |
| Meal planning | No | Yes |
| Performance benchmarking | No | Yes |
| Gamification and rewards | No | Yes |
| Automated re-engagement | Limited | Yes |
| What it costs you | ||
| Branded member app | +$81–97/mo | Included |
| Cut of member payments | 4.99% + $0.30 on cards | None |
| Where they win | ||
| Lead management / CRM | Yes | No |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
What “free” costs
| Platform | Subscription | Their cut | Your own processing | Total / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PushPress Core (“free”) | $0 | $1,058 | Included above | $1,058 |
| PATO Runner | $249 | $0 | ~$280 paid to your own provider | $529 |
A free subscription that takes 4.99% of your revenue costs about $6,348 a year more than ours at this volume — and the gap widens as you grow, because their share scales with your takings and our subscription doesn’t.
The fair version: on bank transfer their free-plan rate is 2.89% + $0.30, which brings their cut to about $638 — still above our all-in total, and only available where their bank rail reaches. Our own line assumes direct debit at about 1% + $0.40 paid to your provider, not to us. Run your own numbers rather than ours.
Worth checking before you commit
PushPress’s card processing is limited to the countries their payment partners cover, and their pricing page tells international customers to contact sales. Their own documentation says gyms outside those countries “run payments manually.”
For a gym with 200 members, collecting manually isn’t a workaround — it’s the thing gym software exists to remove.
Check whether they can direct-debit your members here before you commit. PATO includes GoCardless direct debit — the bank-to-bank rail New Zealand gyms actually run on — on every plan.
The difference is who else gets one
Both of us have an AI assistant for the person running the gym. Theirs answers questions about the business and takes actions on it. So does ours.
PATO gives every member their own — the same character, doing a different job. They photograph lunch and it logs the macros from a verified catalogue. They ask for a plan and get one built from nearly 3,000 exercises. There’s a duck whose health tracks their consistency.
No competitor in this market has a member-facing AI companion. And PushPress’s assistant sits on their Pro and Max plans — the free tier, the reason most gyms look at them, doesn’t include it.
Who should choose which
Choose PushPress if
Choose PATO if
Switching from PushPress
Your members come across
Export your list and we handle the import — column mapping, duplicate detection, and a preview before anything commits. Most gyms are running within the week.
Your payments need re-authorising
Mandates don’t transfer between providers, so members have to authorise the new arrangement. Most gyms run both for a billing cycle and move people across as they re-authorise. Plan for it; it’s the only part that takes real time.
Your history stays there
Export payment records for your accountant before closing the account.
The switch pays for itself immediately
You stop paying a percentage of every member payment from the first cycle on the new system — which for most gyms is more than our subscription costs.
Where PushPress is stronger
Four things, and the last one is a gap of ours.
The free plan is real
No member cap, and it includes payments. For a gym opening with no cash, that is a genuinely good offer and we won’t pretend otherwise.
Their AI assistant is real too
Since late 2025 it reads and writes — charging no-shows, updating memberships, booking members into classes. Credit where it’s due; most “AI” in this category is a chatbot.
Deep CrossFit credibility
If you’re in that community, they’re established in a way we aren’t.
Grow, their CRM
Lead capture and nurture that we don’t have yet.
Questions gym owners ask
The subscription is. Payment processing on the free plan is 4.99% + $0.30 on cards, or 2.89% + $0.30 on bank transfer. For a gym processing $20,000 a month on cards that's roughly $1,058 monthly, so the all-in cost is higher than a paid subscription with no commission.
Yes, and it's real. They announced an AI-first approach in October 2025 and their assistant can query and act on gym data — charging no-shows, updating memberships, booking members into classes. It's on their Pro and Max plans, not the free tier. It's built for staff; they don't have a member-facing AI.
For a 200-member gym processing $20,000/month on cards: PATO around $529/month all-in, PushPress around $1,058. The gap grows as your revenue grows, because their share scales with your takings and our subscription doesn't.
No. We have a 14-day free trial with everything switched on, and plans from $99/month. We'd rather charge a clear subscription than take a percentage of your members' payments.
A genuinely free entry point, strong CrossFit community presence, and a lead-management product (Grow) that we don’t have yet.
Fourteen days, no percentage
Everything switched on, no card. Then a subscription that doesn't grow just because you did.
14 days · No card · Cancel any time
PATOPass