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Get your gym's payments up and running with our step-by-step walkthrough, from choosing a plan to setting up memberships and joining fees.

Quick summary

Whether you run a busy boutique studio, manage a gym with classes across a few sites, or run your own personal training business, making sure your payments run smoothly and reliably is essential.

Setting up GoCardless for membership payments is a straightforward process that lets you collect memberships securely through Direct Debit, take joining fees, and collect one-off payments alongside them. That gives your team more time with members and less time on payment admin.

In this guide, we'll walk you through the full setup, from getting your account ready to connecting your software and moving your existing members across. There are five steps in total:

Choose a plan

Choose a plan

Tell us about your gym

Tell us about your gym

Add your branding

Add your branding

Connect your bank account

Connect your bank account

Complete verification

Complete verification

How do you set GoCardless up for your gym?

Connect your membership software

Connect your membership software

Set up memberships and joining fees

Set up memberships and joining fees

How do you set up your GoCardless account?

1. Choose a plan

Start by choosing the plan that suits your gym. Plans differ in the features they include, so compare them on our pricing page and pick the one that fits your membership base and the tools you want.

You can check or change your plan at any time from your dashboard under Settings > Plan and add-ons. If you choose extras such as a fully branded checkout, you'll also set up a Direct Debit so we can collect your GoCardless fees automatically.

2. Tell us about your gym

Next, give us a few details about your business. This helps us meet financial regulations and understand how you operate. You'll choose your organisation type, select your industry, and describe what you do. For example: "We run a membership gym with classes and personal training."

Organisation types include sole trader, limited company, and registered charity. If you're a limited company, you'll need the names and dates of birth of your registered directors. Use home addresses for directors and owners rather than your gym's address.

You'll also add contact details. Your support contact appears on payment forms and notification emails sent to members, so route it to someone who can answer them, such as your studio manager or front desk team. Your billing contact receives payout summaries and fee information, and is usually the owner or finance lead.

Stop running after late payments

Collect memberships and joining fees automatically, so your team can get back to your members. Explore our gyms and fitness hub.

3. Add your branding

Make your payment pages and emails feel like your gym. Upload your logo, choose your brand colours, and preview the payment form and notification emails exactly as your members will see them.

By default, members see "GOCARDLESS" on their bank statement. Add a short reference they'll recognise (up to 16 characters) such as "SUMMIT GYM FEES", so nobody has to wonder who the payment is for. You can also upgrade your plan to show your full business name.

4. Connect your bank account

This is the account your membership fees and joining fees will be paid into. It needs to belong to your business and accept the currency you bill in.

5. Complete verification

The last step in setting up your account is verification, which unlocks full payment collection. Your dashboard will show a checklist. Blue means information is missing, yellow means documents are being reviewed, and green means your security checks are complete. If anything is missing or needs a second look, we'll email your account administrator.

How do you set GoCardless up for your gym?

Once your account is verified, the next three steps connect GoCardless to the way your gym actually runs.

Connect your membership software

If you use membership or class software, connect it to GoCardless so payments and member records stay together. We work with350+ tools, including TeamUp, Glofox and ClubRight, plus accounting software like Xero, Sage and QuickBooks.

Each integration has its own connection steps, so follow the guide for your software. Once it's connected, your team carries on working with the software they already use, so there’s nothing new to learn. If you don't use membership software, you can manage memberships and payments from your GoCardless dashboard.

Set up memberships and joining fees

This is where GoCardless works the way a gym does. From your dashboard, you can set up a membership as a subscription, choosing the amount and the collection date or frequency that suits you. You can then add a one-off payment up front, such as a joining fee, and attach it to the subscription.

It takes a few steps, but it keeps the joining fee and the membership together on one record instead of two separate payments to track and chase.

For day passes, class packs, and PT blocks, you can take a one-off payment on its own. For bigger purchases like annual memberships and courses, instalments let members spread the cost across an agreed schedule, and you can take a deposit up front if you like. Subscriptions, one-off payments and instalments are all included on every plan.

Once members are set up, you can change the amount you collect, edit a subscription, or pause a membership from your dashboard without asking the member to sign up again. Members are notified in advance of any change to the amount, as the Direct Debit rules require.

Ready to set up your gym?

Setting up GoCardless is the start of taking payment admin off your team's plate. With memberships and joining fees set up together and your software connected, your team spends less time on payments and more time with members.

Ready to give your team their time back? Get started in minutes, with no commitments. Get started today.