Elara vs Mindbody
By Elara team · Published
Priced per location, with every feature included.
Mindbody is a broad platform for fitness, wellness and beauty businesses, with a listing on its consumer app on every plan, and text messages and room scheduling on its higher plans (M1). Elara is narrower. It runs scheduled classes and sessions for Pilates studios, gyms that run classes, and sauna, contrast therapy and bathhouse studios: sessions that sell shared places or a private booking of the whole session, memberships and credit packs, versioned waivers the booker signs before booking online, and payments through the studio's own Stripe or Square account. A business that sells appointments or wants Mindbody's reach will find more there; a studio whose week is a timetable of classes and sessions may find Elara simpler, and can bring its Mindbody data across.
Features below were checked on October 21, 2026, from each company's public pages. Mindbody is a trademark of its owner. Elara is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Mindbody. Mindbody puts some features on higher plans only and notes that not every feature is available in every region (M1), so ask Mindbody which plan carries the ones you need.
How we compared
We compared the things a studio running scheduled classes decides on: whether a class or session can sell shared places and a private booking without overselling, when clients sign the waiver, how members pay, what happens at the front desk, how clients hear from you, how a second location works, which payment processors connect, and how you move in and out. A fact counts only if the company publishes it; where the pages we read are silent, we say so rather than guess. We are Elara, so read our claims with that in mind and check them in the linked help pages.
Side by side
Each cell ends with a source code: M for Mindbody's public pages, E for Elara's help center. The sources are listed under the table with the date they were read.
| Elara | Mindbody | |
|---|---|---|
| Payment processing | Your own Stripe or Square account. (E1) | Mindbody Payments, "powered by Stripe", or a third-party processor of your choice. (M1, M3) |
| Classes and private use | Each class or session has a capacity and a credit cost. With private booking turned on for the studio and the session, and a private price or credit cost set, a customer can book a whole session privately while it has no other bookings, and once it is booked privately nobody else can book a place. (E2, E3) | Classes and appointments. The pages we read do not describe a private booking of a class that is already selling places: ask Mindbody. (M1) |
| Rooms, spots and resources | No room record and no choice of spot: capacity is set on each session. (E2) | Room and resource management and Pick-a-Spot on Accelerate and above. (M1) |
| Waivers | Versioned, and you can run more than one at once. Online booking asks the booker for any active waiver they have not signed. Friends booked into shared places sign before they can be checked in, and guests on a private booking do not sign: the booker enters their names, and the staff roster shows only how many are coming. A staff booking still goes through when the customer owes a signature: the roster flags it and check-in waits for the signature. (E4, E15, E16) | One liability waiver per business, applied to every client, with a setting that asks clients to acknowledge it during booking and an optional expiry (12 months by default when turned on). Client forms are separate. (M4) |
| Memberships, packs and gift cards | Monthly, yearly and fixed-term plans; credit packs with optional expiry, which can be limited to the session categories you choose; each class sets its own credit cost; gift cards. (E2, E5) | Recurring membership charges through Mindbody Payments; prepaid and assignable gift cards, assignable not on every site. The pages we read do not explain how class packs or per-class credit costs work: ask Mindbody. (M1, M5) |
| Front desk card payments | A connected Stripe or Square reader takes product, membership and pack sales; a membership is added once the reader payment is approved. A saved card, cash, a gift card, and card payments taken on another terminal also work. (E6) | Stripe Reader S710, Stripe Reader M2 and WisePad readers, by market. (M6) |
| Customer messages | Email automations and email campaigns. No text messages. (E7) | Email confirmations and reminders on every plan; text confirmations and reminders on Accelerate and above; automated email and text campaigns on Ultimate. (M1) |
| Customer booking | Customers book through a widget on the studio's own website. Elara has no customer app in the app stores. (E13) | Branded booking widgets, a website for the business and a listing on the Mindbody app on every plan; a branded app as an add-on on Accelerate and above. (M1) |
| Marketplaces | No marketplace of its own, and no connection to one. (E8) | Listing on the Mindbody app on every plan. (M1) |
| Third-party connections | No third-party marketing sync or marketplace connection; email campaigns and automations are built in. (E7, E8) | 100+ third-party integrations. (M1) |
| Several locations | Each session belongs to one location and runs in that location's own time zone. Plans, waivers, customers and the payment account are shared across the studio; reports filter by location, and staff roles can be limited to their locations for sessions, reservations, reports and shifts, while customers, sales and the POS stay studio-wide. (E10, E11, E12) | Advanced multi-location reporting, and an Enterprise plan for multi-location businesses. Closing one location keeps its visit and sales data, but its reports can no longer be pulled. Ask Mindbody to show plans, staff and reports across two locations. (M1, M2) |
| Moving in | A Migration Center with a review step before anything is written: a Mindbody API capture arranged with Elara support, or Kenko exports uploaded self-serve. Elara's Mindbody capture does not read gift cards, waivers, inactive memberships, appointments or waitlist entries. (E9) | Mindbody lists data migration support among what comes with Mindbody. Ask Mindbody for a written inventory of what it converts from your current system. (M1) |
| Leaving | Staff can export selected customers (name, contact details, membership and remaining credits) and reports to CSV. Payments, and the customers and saved cards behind them, stay in your own Stripe or Square account. A read-only API key reads customers, locations, plans, memberships, classes, reservations and payments. (E1, E10, E14) | Mindbody recommends saving a copy of your data before requesting cancellation. Once the site is deactivated its data is no longer accessible; Mindbody offers a data export for up to 30 days after cancellation. (M2) |
| In Canada | A studio charges in one currency, set to match its payment account, so a studio whose account settles in CAD charges in CAD. (E11) | Mindbody Payments lists Canada as a region, with pre-authorized debit, Klarna and the Stripe Reader S710; Interac is accepted in Canada, so ask which current reader takes it. (M3) |
Sources for Mindbody, all read on October 21, 2026:
- M1: Mindbody plans
- M2: Mindbody support: cancelling a subscription
- M3: Mindbody Payments FAQ (All Regions)
- M4: Mindbody support: liability waivers
- M5: Mindbody support: selling gift cards online
- M6: Mindbody payments
Sources for Elara, checked against the product code on October 21, 2026:
- E1: Payments
- E2: Sessions
- E3: Booking settings
- E4: Waiver settings
- E5: Memberships
- E6: Point of Sale
- E7: Notifications and Notification delivery
- E8: Settings, which lists every Settings destination
- E9: Migration Center
- E10: Customers and Reports
- E11: Business settings, including location time zones
- E12: Admins and roles
- E13: Online booking
- E14: API keys
- E15: Bring-a-friend
- E16: Attendance
What a Pilates studio or gym needs from either
A reformer class has a fixed number of machines and often counts for more than a mat class. In Elara, each class sets its own capacity and credit cost, so an eight-reformer class can cost two credits and a mat class one, and a credit pack can be limited to the class categories you choose. A client books a place, not a particular reformer: Elara has no numbered spots. Mindbody's Pick-a-Spot, on Accelerate and above, lets a client choose one (M1).
A gym that runs classes uses the same model: each class has a capacity, and members book with a plan or a pack. Elara runs the classes, not the door, so keep your access system for entry.
What a sauna studio needs from either
A sauna hour is usually sold two ways: individual places in a shared session, and the whole room for a private group. The question for either product is whether both can be sold from the same timetable without overselling. In Elara, a session has a capacity for shared places and, when the studio turns it on for the session, a private booking, and a private booking is offered only while the session has no other bookings. Once it is booked privately, nobody else can book a place. In Mindbody, room and resource management for scheduling spaces and rentals comes on Accelerate and above (M1). The Mindbody pages we read do not describe how a private hire of a room interacts with a class already selling places in it, so ask Mindbody to show you.
Waivers are the second test. Every guest in a shared sauna usually signs, and both products can ask for the waiver as part of booking; in Mindbody it is a setting (M4). The difference is how many. Elara lets you run more than one active waiver and keeps every version a customer signs, and changing a waiver's text or file asks everyone who signed to accept the new version before their next booking or check-in. In Elara, each friend booked into shared places signs their own waiver before they can be checked in, but guests on a private booking do not sign and staff do not see their names in Elara, so collect their names and waivers another way. Mindbody uses one liability waiver for the whole business, which is simpler to run (M4); ask Mindbody whether its client forms can carry a separate cold plunge or contrast waiver.
Where Mindbody is the stronger fit
- Reach. Listing on the Mindbody app puts the studio in front of people searching for fitness and wellness services (M1).
- Text messages and marketing. Mindbody sends confirmations and reminders by text on Accelerate and above, and runs email and text campaigns on Ultimate (M1). Elara sends email only.
- A branded app. Mindbody offers a branded customer app as an add-on on Accelerate and above (M1). Elara has no customer app in the app stores; customers book through a widget on the studio's website.
- Rooms, resources and spots. Mindbody schedules rooms and resources and offers Pick-a-Spot on Accelerate and above (M1). Elara has no separate room record and no spot choice.
- Breadth. Mindbody serves appointments as well as classes, and lists 100+ integrations (M1). Elara has no menu of services with open appointment slots.
Where Elara is the stronger fit
- Your own payment account. Elara connects the Stripe or Square account your studio owns, so the account, and the customers and saved cards in it, stay with the studio if it leaves Elara. Mindbody also works with a third-party processor of your choice (M1); if you use Mindbody Payments, ask Mindbody what happens to saved cards when you leave.
- More than one waiver. Elara can run several active waivers, such as a general liability waiver and a separate cold plunge waiver, and keeps every version a customer signs. Every booker is asked for each active waiver before an online booking: a waiver cannot be limited to the sessions it covers. Mindbody uses one liability waiver per business (M4).
- Shared and private on one session. Once private booking is on, a class can offer the whole session to one group, but only while it has no other bookings. The Mindbody pages we read do not say how a private hire meets a class already selling places; ask Mindbody to show you.
- A migration you can check. The Migration Center shows what the import will write for review before anything is written, and its help page names what Elara's Mindbody capture does not read (E9).
Who should pick which
Pick Mindbody if you want marketplace exposure, text marketing, a branded app, room scheduling or spot choice, or you also sell appointments and services that need Mindbody's breadth.
Pick Elara if your week is a timetable of classes and sessions, you want shared places and a private booking of the same session to work without overselling (ask Mindbody to show the same booking), you need more than one waiver, each signed before booking online, and you want Elara to connect the Stripe or Square account you already own.
Questions owners ask
Can I bring my Mindbody data to Elara? Yes: clients, active memberships, instructors, classes, visits and sales, through an API capture you arrange with Elara support. It does not bring gift cards, waivers, inactive memberships, appointments or waitlist entries, and no import moves saved cards or recurring charges (E9).
Can I keep selling through a booking marketplace? Elara has no marketplace of its own and no connection to one: a marketplace listing cannot see your Elara availability, and staff enter each place sold there on the session's roster by hand (E16). Elara's import does not record which channel a Mindbody booking came through, so stop any marketplace that sells your sessions through Mindbody before the final capture (E9).
Does Elara have a customer app? Not in the app stores. Customers book, buy plans and sign waivers through widgets on the studio's own website (E13).
Does Elara handle gym door access? No. Elara runs the classes your members book. For door access and card scanning, keep the access system you use today.
Ask about your own timetable
Elara is sold by quote. Ask for a quote and tell us how your week runs: the classes or sessions you sell, your plans and packs, your waiver and how many locations you have. The Pilates studios, gyms and sauna studios pages explain how Elara runs each, and Elara vs Vagaro compares Vagaro, another platform class and session studios weigh.