Alternatives
PayPal alternatives for boutique fitness & studios
Boutique fitness & studios usually move off PayPal for one of three reasons: they want payments in an account in their own name, they need deposits, packages and memberships without paying per feature, or they need per-location and per-staff visibility. Enterprise Pay Gateway is software on top of Stripe that covers all three — a monthly subscription plus a platform fee of 0.20%–0.75%, with Stripe's processing fees billed separately by Stripe.
Last updated 9 September 2026
Why boutique fitness & studios look past PayPal
- Checkout is branded as PayPal, so the customer relationship and the statement descriptor are not fully yours.
- Account limitations and holds are a recurring complaint for service businesses with large tickets.
- Recurring plans, storefronts and staff access need extra products or third-party tools.
You can keep offering PayPal as a payment option to customers who ask for it.
What boutique fitness & studios actually need from payments
Involuntary churn from failed cards
Members rarely quit at the moment their card fails; they quit because nobody recovered the payment. Retries and a billing portal recover most of it automatically.
Class packs expire uncollected
Packs sold at the desk in cash or by transfer are hard to track. Selling them as products records the purchase and the revenue in one place.
Late-cancel policies are not enforced
Without a card on file, the policy is a suggestion. With one, it is automatic and applies equally to everyone.
Freezes and pauses handled by hand
Pausing and resuming memberships manually causes billing mistakes that cost trust. Scheduled billing with a portal removes most of them.
How the switch works
- 1
Membership
Bill monthly with automatic retries on decline and a self-serve portal for card updates and cancellations.
- 2
Class pack
Sell packs as one-off products through hosted checkout, collected up front.
- 3
Late-cancel fee
Charge the published fee against the card on file when a member cancels inside the window.
- 4
Retail and workshops
Sell apparel, supplements and one-off workshops from the same storefront page.
What would you pay here?
Move the slider to your monthly card volume. Stripe keeps billing you its own processing rates directly — this is only what Enterprise Pay Gateway adds on top.
$15,000
Recommended plan
Starter
- Subscription
- $49 / mo
- Platform fee (0.75%)
- $113 / mo
- Total added by us
- $162 / mo
- Effective rate on volume
- 1.08%
Stripe's processing fees are separate and billed to you by Stripe under your own account.
Common questions
- Can a studio bill memberships automatically?
- Yes. Memberships are recurring products billed on a schedule, with automatic retries on a declined card and a billing portal where members update details or cancel.
- Can we charge a late-cancellation fee?
- Yes, when the member agreed to the policy at signup. Charge the published amount against the card on file and keep the fee proportionate to the class price to avoid disputes.
- How do class packs work?
- Sell the pack as a one-off product through hosted checkout. The full amount is collected up front and the member redeems classes over time.
- What does it cost?
- Stripe's processing fee plus a platform fee. Enterprise Pay Gateway charges $49 to $199 a month plus 0.75% down to 0.40%, with negotiated pricing for multi-site operators.
Stripe-powered payments
Card processing runs on Stripe under your own Stripe agreement.
PCI handled by Stripe
Checkout pages are hosted by Stripe, so card numbers never reach our servers.
We never hold your money
Stripe pays out straight to your bank on its standard schedule.
Per-merchant data isolation
Every record is scoped to your business and enforced at the database level.
Other options for boutique fitness & studios
Third-party features and pricing are typical published figures and change often — verify with each provider before deciding.