How to choose gym and academy software in the Arab world
Every tool promises to manage members and payments; the real differences are in the details. This guide lays out the questions that tell tools apart, and under each one it puts real examples from the vendors' own pages, with source and date. It recommends no product. Afterwards you can go on to the Lebanon guide or the price table.
Page last reviewed: · Prepared by the publisher's team with AI assistance. Not yet reviewed by an independent reader.
1. Start with what you actually bill
A gym bills memberships. An academy bills families: siblings on one account, classes, terms, belts or age groups, sometimes matches. Write down how you bill today, then ask the vendor to show it in the system with a real example, not a slide.
And do not assume "made for sports" means your feature: ask for it by name.
Examples cited to the vendors' own pages
- ArabGym (Football and martial-arts features)
Group classes with a calendar, capacity limits, waitlists, QR attendance and coach reports. No football teams or fixtures, and no martial-arts belts, were found.
- Tamarran (Football and martial-arts features)
For martial arts: belt tracking, grading events, a parent portal and family billing. A football-specific page was not found.
- Rekaz (Football and martial-arts features)
Its own help centre says it has no gym-specific feature: academies use general services and packages.
2. Currencies: what do your members pay in?
Where more than one currency is in daily use, ask: can I issue a two-currency invoice, and how is the exchange rate set? A system that supports your country's currency is one thing; one that shows the invoice in both at once is another.
Examples cited to the vendors' own pages
- ArabGym (Dollar and lira billing)
Members can be billed in the currencies of 14 countries, and Lebanon is among those countries; the Lebanese pound is not named by code. The ArabGym subscription itself is billed in dollars. A dollar-and-lira invoice is not described.
- in2 (Dollar and lira billing)
One base currency. Another currency is recorded at an exchange rate typed in by hand.
3. Arabic: inside the product, not only on the website
An Arabic marketing site does not mean the staff screens and the members' invoices are in Arabic. Open the system yourself in Arabic and look at the direction of the tables, the buttons and the printed invoice.
Examples cited to the vendors' own pages
- ArabGym (Arabic (right to left))
A full Arabic interface with right-to-left layout, plus English. Its support team speaks Arabic.
- in2 (Arabic (right to left))
Its release notes say the web app can be switched between English, Arabic, French, Hindi, Tagalog and Urdu. Right-to-left layout is not stated.
- Rekaz (Arabic (right to left))
It says the whole interface, from the admin dashboard to the client booking portal, is available in Arabic.
4. WhatsApp: automatic, or one tap by your staff?
The difference is large: automatic messages need an official connection and may cost money; a ready message that your staff send with one tap is simpler but manual. Ask which one the product does today, not tomorrow, and whether each message is charged.
Examples cited to the vendors' own pages
- ArabGym (WhatsApp)
Automatic WhatsApp and SMS messages: expiry reminders 7 and 3 days ahead, payment receipts, booking confirmations and class reminders. Bulk campaigns are manual. The page does not say which WhatsApp connection or SMS provider it uses.
- in2 (WhatsApp)
Built-in WhatsApp is marked "coming soon" on the pricing page. Automatic messages go through a third-party add-on.
- Rekaz (WhatsApp)
WhatsApp notifications for bookings and renewals are listed on its academy page.
5. The member app: store, browser, or your own brand
An app in the app stores, an app installed from the browser, or an app under your own name and logo. Each has a cost and limits. An app under your own brand is often a paid add-on.
Examples cited to the vendors' own pages
- ArabGym (Parent app)
A member app that is installed from the browser (a PWA), not from the App Store or Google Play, and not under the gym's own brand. It works offline for key features.
- in2 (Parent app)
A parent app in the App Store and Google Play.
- Rekaz (Parent app)
A branded native iOS app is an add-on. A parent app page was not found.
6. Setup and moving your old data
Who moves your existing members from Excel or another system? You may do it yourself, or the vendor does it free or for a fee. Ask for the number in writing.
Examples cited to the vendors' own pages
- ArabGym (Setup and data move)
Self-serve. No setup, training or data-import fees. Existing members are imported by the gym; support by email and WhatsApp chat, Sunday to Thursday. An export to Excel or CSV is available.
- in2 (Setup and data move)
A full data migration costs $1,200 once, and each package includes 3 free training sessions. Our 7 Oct reading also noted free import templates; we did not see that again on 16 Oct.
- Tamarran (Setup and data move)
One-to-one setup, training and data-migration support are listed in all plans.
7. The shape of the price, and what it leaves out
Published prices come in different units: per gym, by client count, yearly in a local currency, or by quote only. Compare the whole first-year cost: the subscription plus the extras (the app, the data move, messages), not the headline price alone. We put the published prices in one table with their sources.
8. Before you sign
- Ask for a demo on your own classes and prices, not the vendor's sample data.
- Ask for the price and every extra in writing, in the currency you will pay in.
- Ask whether you can export all your data in an open format, and for how long it stays available after you stop.
- Ask what happens when the internet or the power drops.
- Ask about support in your language and hours, and how fast it answers.
Read next
Sources
- https://arabgym.pro/en/features/classes
- https://tamarran.co/en/karate-school-management-system/
- https://help.rekaz.io/en/articles/16425451-how-do-i-set-up-and-manage-a-gym-in-rekaz
- https://arabgym.pro/en/features/multi-currency
- https://customer.joinin2.com/knowledge/-setting-up-payment-methods
- https://arabgym.pro/en/help
- https://joinin2.com/release-notes-portal/
- https://rekaz.io/home/en/blog/high-end-salon-revenue-35
- https://arabgym.pro/en/features/notifications
- https://joinin2.com/pricing/
- https://rekaz.io/home/en/academies-and-sports-clubs/
- https://arabgym.pro/en/features/mobile-app
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codefish.in&hl=en&gl=LB
- https://rekaz.io/home/en/pricing
- https://joinin2.com/pricing
- https://tamarran.co/en/pricing/