Mariana Tek vs Mindbody for Pilates Studios
Choose Mariana Tek if
- Your brand and client experience are how you compete locally
- You want your own branded app without a separate charge
- You want software built for boutique studios, not every wellness business
Choose Mindbody if
- Privates and duets are a large part of your schedule today
- You need deep reporting and marketing automation in one system
- You run services beyond pilates, such as massage or beauty
| What matters | Mariana Tek | Mindbody |
|---|---|---|
| Entry cost | $300 reported | From $79 advertised |
| Custom branded app | Included on any plan | Add-on, or top tier only |
| Group classes and appointments | Yes, appointments launched May 2026 | Yes, years of use |
| Reporting and automation | Marketing sold as a separate product | Deepest in the category, on higher tiers |
| Built for | Boutique fitness studios | Gyms, spas, salons, beauty, wellness |
| Ease of use | Consistently praised | Powerful but complex |
| Owner | Xplor Technologies | Vista Equity Partners |
| Our pilates rating | 4.0 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
The Short Answer
Mariana Tek is the better choice for most pilates studios, because it was built for boutique fitness and includes your own branded app on any plan. Mindbody looks four times cheaper at $79 a month, but everything it genuinely wins on sits on tiers costing $259 to $699, so the price gap closes the moment you want what Mindbody is good at.
Mindbody is the bigger, deeper platform. Mariana Tek is the better fitting one. For a pilates studio charging premium prices, the client experience is usually what justifies those prices, and that is where Mariana Tek is stronger.
Read our full Mariana Tek review and Mindbody review for the detail behind each rating.
Which Costs More, Mariana Tek or Mindbody?
Mindbody is cheaper to start and roughly the same or more once you add what a pilates studio actually needs. Its advertised $79 buys the Starter plan, which excludes resource management, advanced reporting, marketing automation and the branded app.
Mariana Tek publishes nothing at all. Mindbody publishes one number and quotes the rest. The figures below are what studios report paying per location.
| Cost element | Mariana Tek | Mindbody |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | None | From $79 per location |
| Entry tier | $300 reported | Starter, $99 to $159 reported |
| Advanced reporting and room management | Included | Accelerate, $259 to $279 reported |
| Full marketing automation | Separate product, price not published | Ultimate, $499 to $699 reported |
| Custom branded app | Included on any plan | Add-on at $75 to $300, or Ultimate Plus at $699+ |
| Card processing | Negotiated, not published | Around 3.5% |
| Marketplace commission | None | 20% of a new client’s first app booking, capped at $30 |
Work through a realistic pilates studio. You want your own branded app, room management so two reformer rooms do not double book, and automated emails to win back clients who stop coming. On Mindbody that is Ultimate Plus, reported at $699 and up, or Ultimate plus an app add-on. On Mariana Tek the app is included inside a reported $300 to $800.
The $79 headline is real, but it buys a plan most pilates studios outgrow quickly.
When you get a Mindbody quote, ask which tier it is for and write down which features sit above it. The most common surprise is discovering that resource management and marketing automation are one or two tiers up from the plan you were quoted.
Winner: Mindbody on entry price, Mariana Tek on what a pilates studio actually needs
Can Both Handle Group Classes and Private Sessions?
Both handle group classes and private sessions in one calendar. Mindbody has done it for far longer, because it grew out of the spa and salon world where one to one appointments were the original product. Mariana Tek only launched its Appointments feature in May 2026.
This is the question that matters most for a pilates studio, because the model needs both. Group reformer classes fill the timetable and privates carry the margin.
Mindbody’s appointment booking is mature and thoroughly tested. It was built for businesses whose entire revenue is one to one bookings, so the edge cases have been found and fixed over many years.
Mariana Tek spent most of its life as a class-first platform. Appointments began as an early access programme in October 2025 with three studios, grew to more than thirty brands over six months, and launched publicly in May 2026. Around half the studios in that beta were pilates businesses, and it handles one to one sessions, duets, small groups and consultations. Mariana Tek’s own website still carries a “just launched” banner on it.
The design intent is better on Mariana Tek, since duets are a native session type rather than a workaround. The track record is better on Mindbody. If privates are a large share of your revenue today, take the track record.
Winner: Mindbody, on maturity
Which Has the Better Custom App?
Mariana Tek has the better custom app and it is included on any plan. Mindbody charges $75 to $300 a month for a branded app as an add-on, or bundles it only on Ultimate Plus at $699 and above.
This is the clearest gap between the two platforms. Your clients book on a phone, usually weekly, often at the same time each week. The app is the part of your software they actually touch, so it shapes how your studio feels more than anything on the admin side.
Mariana Tek includes a single branded app as standard, carrying your studio’s name and design rather than a shared directory listing. Clients book classes and now appointments through it, and instructors can rebook a client from their phone straight after a session.
On Mindbody the default is the shared Mindbody app, where your studio appears alongside every other business in your area. Getting your own branded app means either an add-on charge or the top tier. For a studio whose brand is how it competes, that is a meaningful cost difference and a meaningful experience difference.
Winner: Mariana Tek
Which Is Easier to Use?
Mariana Tek is easier to use, and the reason is scope. It was built for boutique fitness studios. Mindbody serves gyms, spas, salons, beauty businesses and integrative health centres, and its interface carries the weight of all of them.
Mindbody’s breadth is a genuine strength when you need it. It is also why the platform feels heavy. You navigate fields, settings and workflows built for services you will never offer, and staff take longer to learn it.
Mariana Tek’s interface is consistently described as modern and clean by both staff and clients. Reviewers say it represents their brand the way they want it represented, which is not a small thing when a client’s first impression of your studio is a booking screen.
There is a signal worth noting here. Several of the largest pilates and barre franchise networks, including Club Pilates, Pure Barre and barre3, run on Mariana Tek. Organisations that operate hundreds of studios chose the platform built for this specific format.
If you are joining one of those networks, this decision is probably already made for you.
Winner: Mariana Tek
Which Has Better Marketing and Retention Tools?
Mindbody has better marketing and retention tools. Its automation, reporting and client analytics are the deepest in the category, though full email and SMS automation sits on the Ultimate tier at a reported $499 to $699.
Retention decides whether a pilates studio works. Memberships are expensive, the local audience is small, and one client who stays two years is worth more than three who try you for a month.
Mindbody is the stronger tool here and it is not close on depth. Automated campaigns, lead pipelines, referral programmes, client segmentation and real-time dashboards are all built in. If you want to know which clients are drifting and act on it automatically, Mindbody does that better than anything else we review.
The cost of that depth is the tier. Starter includes only basic email. Accelerate adds promo codes and basic automation. Full email and SMS automation requires Ultimate.
Mariana Tek’s marketing capability is real but it lives in a separate product with its own login and an unpublished price, so you cannot weigh it properly while shortlisting.
Winner: Mindbody
Which Has Better Support?
Mariana Tek has better support, narrowly, and mainly at the start. Its onboarding is consistently praised by studios switching from other platforms. Mindbody serves tens of thousands of businesses and its support quality varies widely.
Neither is a reason to sign on its own. Both attract complaints about ongoing support once you are live.
Mariana Tek’s onboarding is hands on, with a specialist doing much of the migration work. Studios who switched from Mindbody frequently say that phase went better than they feared. After go live, reviews become inconsistent.
Mindbody’s advantage is scale. There is far more documentation, training material and community knowledge available, so answers to common questions are easy to find without contacting anyone. Its weakness is that reaching a person who knows your specific setup is harder at that size.
Onboarding is when a switching studio is most exposed, so Mariana Tek takes this narrowly.
Winner: Mariana Tek, narrowly
Do Mariana Tek and Mindbody Have the Same Owner?
No. Mariana Tek is owned by Xplor Technologies. Mindbody has been owned by Vista Equity Partners since a $1.9 billion buyout in 2019. Both are private equity backed, so neither is a founder-led alternative to the other.
This matters less than it sounds, but it is worth knowing before two sales calls. Whichever you choose, you are buying from a portfolio company with return targets, not from an independent business.
In practice that shows up as pricing that moves at renewal, features that migrate into higher tiers, and roadmaps decided above the level of the person selling to you. Ask both for renewal terms in writing.
If escaping private equity ownership is genuinely a priority for you, neither of these is the answer, and our rankings of the best pilates studio software cover the independent options.
Which Pilates Studios Should Choose Mariana Tek?
Choose Mariana Tek if your studio competes on brand and client experience, and most of your revenue comes from group reformer classes.
Mariana Tek fits your studio if
- Group classes are most of your bookings
- You want your own branded app without a separate charge
- Your brand is how you compete against studios nearby
- You want staff to learn the system quickly
- You run more than one location, or plan to
- You are joining a franchise network that already uses it
The trade offs are price and newness. Mariana Tek costs more to start than Mindbody’s entry plan, takes three to six weeks to implement, and its appointment booking is the youngest part of the platform.
Which Pilates Studios Should Choose Mindbody?
Choose Mindbody if privates and duets are a large part of your schedule today, or if you offer services beyond pilates where its breadth earns its keep.
Mindbody fits your studio if
- Private and duet sessions are a large share of your revenue
- You also offer massage, beauty or other wellness services
- You want deep reporting and automation in one system
- You have someone with time to learn a complex platform
- A shared client app is acceptable to you
- You are budgeting for Accelerate or Ultimate, not Starter
The trade off is that Mindbody was not built for pilates specifically, and the plan that makes it look affordable is not the plan most studios end up on.
Bottom Line
Mariana Tek wins for most pilates studios because it was built for this format and includes the branded app that makes a boutique studio feel like one. Mindbody wins on depth of features, reporting and appointment maturity, but those strengths sit on tiers that erase its price advantage.
Mindbody is the more powerful platform. That is not in question. It has more features, better reporting and a longer track record on appointments than anything Mariana Tek has shipped.
The question for a pilates studio is whether you need that depth or whether you need to feel like a premium boutique studio to the person booking on their phone. Most pilates studios compete on the second, and charge accordingly.
If privates dominate your week, or you offer wellness services beyond pilates, take Mindbody and budget for Accelerate at minimum. Otherwise take Mariana Tek.
Common Questions About Mariana Tek and Mindbody
Is Mindbody cheaper than Mariana Tek?
At entry, yes. Mindbody advertises from $79 a month per location against Mariana Tek’s reported $300. The gap closes quickly. Resource management and advanced reporting require Accelerate at $259 to $279, full marketing automation requires Ultimate at $499 to $699, and a branded app is either an add-on or the Ultimate Plus tier at $699 and up.
Does Mindbody include a branded app?
Not on most plans. Mindbody’s branded app is sold as an add-on, reported at $75 to $300 a month, and is bundled only on Ultimate Plus. Without it your studio appears in the shared Mindbody app alongside other local businesses. Mariana Tek includes a branded app on any plan.
Can Mariana Tek handle private pilates sessions and duets?
Yes. Mariana Tek launched Appointments in May 2026, supporting one to one sessions, duets, small groups and consultations alongside the class schedule. It was built during a six month programme in which around half the participating studios were pilates businesses. It is new, so it has less real world use behind it than Mindbody’s equivalent.
Do both platforms work with ClassPass?
Yes. This surprises people, because Mindbody owns ClassPass. Mariana Tek has a full ClassPass integration that can be switched on per location, and ClassPass connects to more than a hundred booking systems. Choosing Mariana Tek does not cut you off from ClassPass.
Who owns Mariana Tek and Mindbody?
Mariana Tek is owned by Xplor Technologies. Mindbody has been owned by Vista Equity Partners since 2019, when it was taken private in a $1.9 billion buyout. They are separate companies with separate private equity owners.
Which is better for a new pilates studio?
Mariana Tek, if you can afford the entry price, because the branded app and the boutique client experience help a new studio look established from day one. Mindbody Starter is cheaper but excludes room management, marketing automation and the branded app, so most studios upgrade within the first year anyway.
Two of Eight Platforms We Tested
Mariana Tek and Mindbody are the two biggest names in this category, and neither was built specifically for pilates. Our rankings show which platforms were, what each really costs once tiers and fees are counted, and where each one falls down.
See the Best Pilates Studio Software