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You're not paying for one tool. You're paying for five.
Most working trainers run on Acuity for scheduling, Mailchimp for client email, Thinkific (or a Google Drive folder) for course content, a Notion doc per client, and a Google Sheet they don't quite trust. The math doesn't favor you.
| Tool | What it does | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Acuity | Scheduling, package credits | $27 |
| Stripe | Payments (free, but transaction fees) | — |
| Mailchimp | Client email + lesson recap broadcasts | $45 |
| Thinkific or similar | Course content, lesson library | $99 |
| Notion / Google Sheets | Client notes, attendance, packages | $0–$10 |
| Stack total | …and the gaps between them | ~$170 |
| PupManager | All of the above. One login. | $39 |
Costs reflect typical paid plans for a solo trainer in 2026. Free tiers exist; the time you spend duct-taping them together is the bigger bill.
The math the spreadsheet doesn't show
The duct-tape stack costs more than $170. The real cost is the 8–11 hours a week of admin that doesn't bill — the post-session note-typing in your car, the Sunday-night Stripe reconcile, the four "what was the cue again?" texts you answer between appointments. At $165 a session, that's $1,300–$1,800 of unbilled labor a week.
PupManager doesn't replace your training. It replaces the admin overhead the stack forces on you.
Side by side
Reschedule at 9:47 pm
On the duct-tape stack
Personal-cell text. Open Acuity on your phone, hope the calendar syncs to your partner, remember to tell the client.
With PupManager
Client opens their app, picks a new slot from your real availability, the package credit re-applies. You don't open a tool.
Post-session admin
On the duct-tape stack
Notes app in the car. Maybe transferred to a Google Doc later. Maybe not. Video stuck on your camera roll.
With PupManager
Mark tasks complete in 90 seconds. Drop in the phone-shot rep. The client gets tonight's homework before they're home.
"What was that cue again?"
On the duct-tape stack
You covered it two weeks ago. You wrote it down somewhere. You can't find it. You retype it from memory at 10 pm.
With PupManager
Client opens their home screen, sees the homework with the cue and the demo video you attached at the time. No text needed.
No-shows
On the duct-tape stack
A $165 hour you can't get back. The "I thought it was 2 pm??" text after the fact.
With PupManager
Card on file at booking. Reminder at -24h and -2h. The no-show fee charges per your policy and the slot frees up.
Group classes
On the duct-tape stack
Printed roll-call sheet. Two paid Venmo, one paid Stripe, three are on a 6-week package — nobody quite remembers who's owed a make-up.
With PupManager
Cohort enrollment. Attendance ticks in two taps per team. Make-ups auto-tracked.
Sunday afternoon
On the duct-tape stack
Three hours reconciling Stripe + Venmo + Square against the sheet that hasn't been updated since November.
With PupManager
Twenty minutes. Glance at the dashboard. Reply to two messages. Done.
"Switching is the painful part."
We know. Sixty active clients on Acuity, three years of session notes scattered across Notion docs, a Stripe account that has to keep working through the move. For the first 50 customers we do the migration for you — bring us your exports, we'll bring the clients, packages, and history into PupManager and hand you back a working day-1 setup.