The hidden percentage markup on your member pricing
Look at your studio-software bill and you'll see a monthly subscription. What you *won't* easily see is the money leaving on every single membership payment, a percentage skim that grows automatically as your studio grows. For a lot of independent studios, this hidden markup quietly costs more per year than the subscription itself. This guide shows exactly where it hides, does the math, and explains why a flat, no-markup model is structurally different.
The three ways platforms take a cut of your revenue
There isn't one hidden fee, there are three, and platforms mix and match them:
1. Payment-processing markup. Every card payment carries a processing fee. The baseline is standard: Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 online and 2.7% + $0.05 in person. That part is unavoidable. It goes to the card networks and processor, not your software vendor. The problem is the markup on top: some platforms add their own percentage over the base rate. Arketa, for example, adds a 3% transaction fee on top of Stripe's standard rate. That extra 3% goes to the software company, for moving money that Stripe already moved.
2. Marketplace commission. Some platforms run a consumer marketplace and charge a commission on any booking it sources. Mindbody charges a 20% commission on marketplace-attributed bookings on top of its subscription and processing. That's one in five dollars of a marketplace-sourced booking, and the same marketplace often shows your members competing studios nearby.
3. Tiered per-transaction fees. Some platforms charge a percentage that shrinks as you pay more subscription. Momence's Basic tier charges 5% on the operator plus 4% on the client per transaction; its Pro tier is 2.5% per transaction. In other words, you either pay a bigger monthly fee or bleed a bigger percentage, but you're paying a percentage either way.
Why a percentage is worse than it looks
A flat monthly fee is a fixed cost. It doesn't change when you sign your 60th member. A percentage markup is a variable cost that scales with your success. The better your studio does, the more the platform takes, forever. You do the work of filling classes and retaining members; the percentage skim rides along on all of it.
That's the structural point: a percentage markup is a tax on growth. It's smallest when you're tiny and struggling, and largest exactly when you're winning.
The math on a real studio
Take a single-location studio processing $12,000/month in membership and class revenue, a modest, realistic number for a healthy boutique studio.
| Fee type | Rate | Monthly cost | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard processing (unavoidable) | ~2.9% | ~$348 | ~$4,176 |
| Platform markup (e.g. +3%) | 3% | ~$360 | ~$4,320 |
| Marketplace commission (on ~$2,000 marketplace bookings) | 20% | ~$400 | ~$4,800 |
The standard processing line you'd pay anywhere. But the platform markup and marketplace commission are avoidable, and together they can add roughly $9,000 a year on a studio this size, on top of the subscription. That's not an edge case; it's the arithmetic of a percentage applied to real revenue. And it grows every time you add a member.
For a fully worked, sourced version of this on one specific platform, see our Mindbody fees explained breakdown, a single-location studio there can pay roughly $11,600/year all-in once subscription, processing, and marketplace commission stack up.
What "no markup" actually means
A no-markup platform charges you a flat subscription and passes payment processing through at cost: you pay Stripe's standard rate directly, and the software company adds nothing on top. No marketplace commission, no per-transaction skim, no data-export fee. As of 2026, only a handful of studio platforms charge nothing over the subscription; the rest take a percentage somewhere.
The difference over a few years is large, and it compounds in your favor: as you grow, your software cost stays flat instead of scaling with your revenue.
How to audit what you're actually paying
You can find your real number in about fifteen minutes:
- Pull your last three months of processing statements. Note the effective rate, total fees divided by total volume. If it's meaningfully above ~2.9%, someone's marking it up.
- Check for a marketplace commission line on your platform invoice. Any booking sourced through the platform's consumer app may carry one.
- Add up per-seat or per-staff fees , some platforms charge per instructor login, which penalizes you for hiring.
- Compare to your subscription. For many studios, the percentage-based fees exceed the monthly subscription. That's the number that should drive your decision.
Then compare against a flat, no-markup alternative using your volume, not the sticker price. Our buyer's guide to studio software walks through the full evaluation.
Why this matters for your pricing
This connects directly to how you set your prices. If you're losing an extra 3% (or a 20% marketplace cut) on every payment, your listed membership price and your net revenue diverge. Studios that don't account for the markup effectively give themselves a silent price cut on every member. Knowing your true net rate lets you price with clear eyes.
A note on StudioDeck
A note from StudioDeck: This is the fee we built StudioDeck to eliminate. We charge a flat monthly subscription, pass payment processing through at standard rates with no added markup, and run no marketplace, so there's no commission, because there's nothing to be sourced from. The price you set for members is the revenue you keep. See how StudioDeck is priced, or compare it directly against Mindbody.