Best Studio Director Alternative: Exercise.com vs. Studio Director

Exercise.com: Your Studio Director Alternative

Why Choose Exercise.com?

Here are five reasons why fitness professionals use Exercise.com vs. Studio Director.

If you’re ready to get started with an easy-to-navigate, all-in-one fitness software, designed to fuel your business, request a demo with Exercise.com today.

And, if you want to see how Studio Director’s additional features stack up to Exercise.com software features, check out our in-depth guide below.

What is Studio Director?

Founded in 2003, Studio Director is a studio management software for dance, cheerleading, gymnastics, martial arts, and music. Studio Director has a number of helpful features, such as virtual classrooms, a custom mobile app, marketing automation, automatic payments, and more that assist in managing a studio.

Studio Director isn’t intended to run a fitness business, and as such, it is missing fitness-related functions, such as workout software, health and fitness assessment software, fitness-related ecommerce options, and nutrition tracking. Additionally, Studio Director doesn’t have detailed and customizable reports.

Exercise.com is proud to offer all these features, which help your fitness business succeed! Let’s jump into the review to see how Exercise.com’s comprehensive gym management software can help grow and manage your fitness business.

Unless otherwise stated, all images and reviews below are of/about the Exercise.com All-In-One Fitness Business Management software platform.

Fitness Business Management Software

In order to run a business, you have to have the right business management tools! But not all business management software is created equally; what is essential for one industry is unnecessary in another.

It’s obvious that the functions needed to run a dance or music studio are vastly different. Why constrain your business to the features of software that doesn’t meet the needs of your fitness business?

Exercise.com Fitness Business Management (FBM), on the other hand, has every feature to create and sustain a thriving business, plus personalized assistance to help every step of the way. Let’s examine the benefits of Exercise.com’s FBM below.

Client/Class Scheduling

Studio Director has a scheduling feature but doesn’t give specific details. It’s impossible to know if the layout is conducive to a fitness business or if necessary features are missing.

Exercise.com offers a user-friendly scheduling system that is straightforward for staff and customers to use, which increases your booking rates. The simple schedule layout makes it easy to see your whole schedule at once. Our schedule is easily accessed on your custom-branded app and syncs with Apple and Google Calendars.

Gym/Facility Management

Studio Director’s facility management applications are specific for dance, martial arts, gymnastics, and associated sports. Studio Director has skills charts, student report cards, and instructor timesheets, as well as data importing and storage, a customer portal, and more. These are beneficial, but it’s likely that because the software is geared towards small studios, there will be fitness features missing.

The Exercise.com FBM software has all the tools and integrations you need to manage your facility. You never have to worry about sales, staff, clients, or data logged falling between the cracks. Our comprehensive reporting is easily accessible in your custom web and mobile apps. Our FBM also helps manage a staff of any size with assignable staff roles so you can put staff management on autopilot.

Business Dashboard Reports

Studio Director has a business report dashboard using visual data. There are very few details of what types of reports can be run and/or seen on the dashboard. The Studio Director doesn’t mention any customizable reports.

Exercise.com offers you a client and a business dashboard to easily access and monitor everything for facility management. With Exercise.com, you get reports for transactions, taxes, subscriptions, ecommerce commissions, inventory, and so much more! We can even customize reports specifically for your business.

Client Automation

Studio Director has automation for billing and invoicing, waitlist management, and email delivery.

Exercise.com has all the automation features of Studio Director, but we also have fitness-specific client automation, such as:

• Automate Emails and Texts/Other Automatic Features
• Automate Workout Delivery
• Automate Resource Delivery
• Automate Assessment Delivery
• Automate Reminders/Alerts via app, text, and email

Dedicated Zapier Support

Exercise.com is partnered with Zapier. Zapier improves the efficiency of your business and helps your unique business stand out. Zapier has over 2,000 apps, so you can enjoy personalizing your business!

Dedicated Account Manager

Studio Director has standard email and phone customer service support, but Exercise.com takes customer service very seriously. This is why you receive a dedicated account manager with Exercise.com to handle all aspects of your account! Your account manager handles all the behind-the-scenes tasks such as initial set-up and training, website creation and management, updating your custom app, and more, so you can stay focused on your customers.

Customized Software

With software customized to fit your specific brands and needs, you can reach your target customer base more effectively, resulting in greater memberships and sales. Studio Director doesn’t have customization features, which reduces your opportunities to engage your customer base.

Exercise.com excels at customizing software, so let’s take a closer look at our customization features below.

Custom-Branded

The only custom branding that Studio Director offers is for your app. Otherwise, the software your staff use and the schedule and website customers interact with are under Studio Director branding. This reduces your opportunities to engage customers with your brand.

But with Exercise.com, your entire platform is custom branded! Your software, app, website, schedule and booking, notifications, and more, are personalized with your business name, logo, colors, wording, and vibe.

iOS & Android Apps

Studio Director partners with Mobile Inventor to create a custom-branded app. However, there are additional fees associated with using Mobile Inventor. There is a $199 development fee, a $49/month fee, and a $99/year fee to Apple.

Additionally, the app doesn’t provide all the features your business needs. There are no fitness-related features, like workout creation or logging, nutrition tracking, ecommerce, assessments, or other personalized features. This cuts back significantly on the benefit of a custom-branded app, leaving your trainers and customers to use other apps for their fitness needs.

Exercise.com gives you a custom-branded app for personal trainers and gyms included with your software–no extra fees! With our app, trainers can perform all their client management tasks, like create workouts, view upcoming appointments, and communicate with clients. Clients can easily book appointments and classes, view and complete their workouts, log nutrition intake, and track their progress.

Websites

Studio Director doesn’t offer website creation with its software. This leaves you with the burden of creating and managing your own website or outsourcing to a website creation company.

With Exercise.com, you don’t have to worry about either option. Our top-ranked custom dev team creates customized, custom-branded, SEO-optimized fitness websites that are sure to convert leads to customers. And your account manager will monitor and update your website as needed, so you can stay focused on your business and customers!

Security Features

Studio Director has adequate security measures, but Exercise.com places a high priority on security. Every website and app created by Exercise.com is SSL Secure. We protect your clients’ information with the internationally-secure Privacy Shield Framework, and we utilize Google Cloud for storing and transferring data. Payments are made and processed through Stripe and we are HIPAA certified.

Marketing Integrations

Studio Director allows you to automatically send emails to new customers, new seasons, and birthday greetings.

Exercise.com has these integrations, plus an abundance of popular integrations such as:

• MailChimp
• ConstantContact
• ConvertKit
• Zapier
• Google Analytics
• Facebook Pixel
• And more!

Workout Software

Workout software and personal training software sets Exercise.com apart and above Studio Director software. As a small studio management software, it is understandable that Studio Director doesn’t have designated workout software. But workout software is crucial to the success of your fitness business!

Exercise.com includes both business management and workout software, which gives your customers a seamless, professional, and personalized workout experience. Since Studio Director doesn’t have workout software, let’s take an in-depth look into how Exercise.com’s workout software enhances your business.

Workout Creator/Logger

Exercise.com has a premium workout creator and logger that keeps clients engaged and motivated on their fitness journeys. Trainers can quickly select pre-designed workouts or create personalized workouts. These are then delivered automatically to your client in your app so they can view and log their workout anytime, anywhere! Clients and trainers can easily communicate using your custom-branded app between sessions.

Exercise.com knows that every trainer-client relationship is different. Our workout creator/logger offers endless possibilities for delivering workouts, tips, and encouragement to every client, including:

1-1 Training

This traditional method of personal training is still a staple in most fitness centers. It takes a lot of organization, communication, and creativity to manage multiple clients and deliver a quality training experience. Exercise.com is here to help!

With features like customized workout and nutrition plans, goals and progress reports, performance and fitness assessments, and more, trainers can easily manage their clients while delivering a customized personal training experience. Clients have everything they need to stay on track and motivated towards achieving their goals!

Group Training

Exercise.com’s group training feature allows you to easily create, schedule, and track group classes. Trainers use the same resources and support as in 1-1 training, but group participants provide additional support and positive morale. This boosts social connections and creates a tight-knit gym community that aids in customer retention.

Online Training

Online training is quickly becoming vital to fitness businesses. It not only caters to those with a busy lifestyle, but also to those who prefer to exercise in the comfort of their own homes.

Exercise.com allows you to offer online workouts to any client. These workouts give greater flexibility for clients to perform their workouts whenever and wherever they choose. Our extensive video and exercise library gives clear instructions and clients can stay in communication with trainers via the app!

Exercise Library

Exercise.com offers an extensive exercise library with our workout software. Our videos are professionally made and feature proper form and technique. Trainers use these videos in your workout creator to enhance the personalized workout experience.

Custom Exercises

In addition to our professional exercise library, our software enables you to merge with your YouTube or Vimeo accounts so you can use your own videos in the workout creator! This is an excellent way to promote and add value to your brand.

TV Workouts

Finally, our videos can be viewed on a computer or mobile device and can also be cast onto a TV screen during a group training session. This switches up the presentation style and adds a personal touch to a group workout.

Gym Ecommerce Software

Ecommerce is an excellent way to draw attention to your business and keep customers engaged with your brand. The more options you offer, the more customers your business will appeal to.

Studio Director offers payment processing but otherwise has no ecommerce options. Exercise.com’s gym ecommerce software, however, has dozens of fitness-specific ecommerce options that keep customers engaged with your brand and boost your revenue.

Payment Processing

Studio Director uses PaySimple for payment processing. Exercise.com uses the ease and security of Stripe for all payments, which gives you more money for your business. Invoices are sent automatically, which relieves mundane billing tasks that can eat away at your time.

Sell Products

Exercise.com gives you a custom-branded online store for you to sell personalized merchandise like branded apparel, bumper stickers, water bottles, and exercise gear, as well as products like supplements, energy bars, and more.

Sell Workout Plans

With Exercise.com’s software, you can sell your own pre-built workout plans. This is an excellent way to give customers the experience of a personalized trainer in the comfort of their own home. There’s no limit to how many workout plans you can sell, so the more you offer, the greater your profit!

Offer Online Workout Memberships

Embrace the opportunities for customized workout plans with the Exercise.com platform. Trainers create customized workouts in one sitting and program the workouts to be delivered at automatic intervals. Trainers then monitor and track progress as clients make their way through the workout program. This efficient process improves trainer productivity so they can take on more clients at a premium price while clients have a personalized workout experience!

Sell Workout Challenges

Workout challenges are an excellent way to motivate gym members and come together around the common goal of better fitness. The Exercise.com software makes workout challenges a simple way to boost revenue and encourage a positive gym culture! Our workout challenges are customizable and automated, so they increase your revenue without increasing your workload.

Health and Fitness Assessment Software

Health and fitness assessment software is another feature missing from Studio Director. Trainers using Studio Director will have to find other methods of tracking and organizing assessments, performance measurements, and nutrition.

Exercise.com’s health and fitness assessment software, on the other hand, keeps everything in one place for optimal organization. Since Studio Director doesn’t offer any assessment features, let’s examine Exercise.com’s comprehensive assessment software.

Fitness Assessments

Trainers can use standard and customizable fitness assessments, which increases the personalization of the workout experience. This leads to better fitness results, greater retention, and highly satisfied customers.

Performance & Measurement Reports

Just a few of the measurements and assessments in our software include weight, height, activity level, distance runs, power output, range of motion measurements, and others. These are easily organized and conveniently located in your app.

Additionally, Exercise.com includes personalized interactions to keep your customers engaged and motivated on their fitness journey. Automatically deliver interactions such as:

• Workout reminders
• Goal achievements
• Recurring assessments
• Progress photos
• Measurements
• and more!

Nutrition

Trainers know how important nutrition is for achieving fitness goals. Exercise.com seamlessly merges with the top nutrition tracker MyFitnessPal so clients can easily log and track their daily dietary intake. This accountability keeps clients focused on meeting their fitness goals and ultimately improves customer satisfaction.

Studio Director Pricing

Studio Director charges per student count, as seen in the chart below:

The Studio Director	Price Comparison
0-100	$39/mo
101-250	$79/mo
251-500	$119/mo
501-1000	$149/mo
1000+	Call for pricing

Additionally, there are fees associated with creating a custom branded app: a $199 development fee, a $49/month fee, and a $99/year fee to Apple.

Studio Director Alternatives

Alternatives to Studio Director:

And of course, Exercise.com!

The Bottom Line: Pros and Cons

Choosing the right business software is a big decision! Let’s take a final look at Studio Director and Exercise.com.

Studio Director Cons

Studio Director is a highly-reviewed software for small studios and recreational activities, but it’s not designed to manage a fitness facility. This means that Studio director is missing essential features such as workout software, health and fitness assessment software, and fitness-specific ecommerce options.

Studio Director also doesn’t have customizable or custom-branded software, which reduces your client engagement. Apps created by Mobile Inventor don’t have all the features a fitness business needs, plus there are monthly and yearly fees to maintaining your app.

Exercise.com Pros

Exercise.com, on the other hand, has all the features your business needs to succeed. First and foremost, Exercise.com’s Fitness Business Management software gives you the scheduling, reporting, and facility management tools to stay organized and profitable. Plus, your entire software, app, and website are custom-branded and customized to fit your needs.

But what makes our software better than generic recreational management software is our fitness-specific features. Our workout and assessment software keeps trainers productive and maximizes client fitness results. Finally, our fitness-specific ecommerce software generates revenue by keeping customers engaged with your brand.

If you’re looking for an alternative to Studio Director and are ready to grow and manage your business with fully customizable software, book a demo with Exercise.com.