WellnessLiving vs Arketa: which one fits your studio in 2026?

All pricing verified on each company’s own pricing page in August 2026.

She had the contract open in front of her, ready to sign. Then she read it twice. The price at the top of the page and the price at the bottom of the page were different numbers. That’s Jenn’s actual moment with Arketa, and it’s a fair summary of what choosing between WellnessLiving and Arketa comes down to: on both platforms, the number you’re quoted going in and the number you end up paying are rarely the same thing.

WellnessLiving or Arketa: which is right for your studio?

Pick WellnessLiving if you have front-desk staff, several instructors, and a rewards program you actually run, and budget for the $199 Business tier, because that’s where those features live. Pick Arketa if your on-demand video library earns real revenue rather than sitting there as a bonus, and you’re comfortable being quoted a price rather than shown one. Either way, budget for more than the headline number.

What are the key differences between WellnessLiving and Arketa?

• WellnessLiving publishes four tiers: Starter $69/mo, Business $199/mo, BusinessPro $349/mo, and a call-us Enterprise tier.
• Arketa publishes one price, $49/mo for its Individual plan billed annually. All three Studio tiers are quote-only, with no dollar figure anywhere on the pricing page.
• Arketa adds a 3% transaction fee on top of Stripe’s processing on Individual. Its Studio transaction fee isn’t published anywhere.
• Neither platform includes a real website at the tier a small studio would buy. WellnessLiving’s Presence website is an add-on on all four tiers; Arketa’s branded website is an add-on, included only in Studio Suite.
• WellnessLiving’s rewards program, email and text marketing, and lead management all begin at Business ($199), not Starter ($69).

Transaction fee vs. processing fee: what’s the difference?

This is a big differentiator in our comparison. A processing fee is what Stripe and the card networks charge to move the money itself, the same rate no matter which software sits on top of it. A transaction fee is an extra cut the software company takes for itself, on top of that.

Arketa states its transaction fee plainly: 3% on the Individual plan, on top of whatever Stripe charges. WellnessLiving doesn’t publish a specific processing rate on its pricing or features pages at all.

What are you actually choosing between?

Arketa started as a video paywall built during the pandemic for yoga teachers whose studios had emptied out, back when it was called Sutra. It’s since grown into a platform aimed at modern boutique and hybrid studios, and the on-demand roots still show in how strong that piece is. WellnessLiving is an older, broader platform, built to serve everything from yoga studios to med spas to martial arts schools under one roof.

These are two very different approaches. One is a deep, feature-broad operations platform; the other is leaner and content-forward, still filling out its studio-scale tier.

How much does Arketa cost?

Arketa publishes exactly one price: $49 a month for its Individual plan, billed annually. That covers one team member login, one location, class and event scheduling, a client CRM, an unlimited on-demand library, class packages and memberships, and embeddable booking widgets. On top of the subscription, Arketa takes a 3% transaction fee plus whatever Stripe charges to process the card.

Above that, Arketa’s three Studio tiers, Core, Growth, and Suite, all show “request a demo for pricing” with no number anywhere on the page. If you run anything past a solo practice, ask for both numbers in writing before you get attached.

How much does WellnessLiving cost compared to Arketa?

WellnessLiving publishes four tiers on its own site: Starter at $69 a month, Business at $199, BusinessPro at $349, and a custom Enterprise plan. Starter includes one staff seat, the Achieve client app, the Elevate staff app, and free data migration, but not the rewards program, email or text marketing, or lead management. Those all start at Business, which is the tier a working studio actually needs.

Why is Arketa so expensive if it starts at $49?

Because the $49 plan covers exactly one person at one location, and most of what a studio actually needs sits above that. A branded website, a branded app, and the marketing suite are all add-ons or higher tiers, and the 3% transaction fee grows every month your revenue does. The $49 entry price is real, it just isn’t the studio price.

What’s included and what actually costs extra?

Let’s break down what’s actually bundled versus what you’ll be quoted for separately, across WellnessLiving and Arketa. We threw our offerings in there for a lower floor comparison for non-enterprise studios.

Where is WellnessLiving better than Arketa?

WellnessLiving’s feature breadth is real: it spans far more business types than Arketa does, from spas to salons to martial arts belt tracking, with genuine multi-location and enterprise reporting once you’re there. Free data migration and onboarding on every tier, including the $69 Starter plan, is a strength for sure. And a 99.9% uptime target with a public status page you can check yourself is more transparency on reliability than most platforms in this category offer. It is a common complaint that some platforms have uptime issues, which is something worth asking about in your demo process.

Where is Arketa better than WellnessLiving?

Arketa’s unlimited on-demand library on its cheapest plan is a real, structural advantage if content is central to how you make money, not just a nice-to-have. Its scheduling and booking experience is built for a modern, hybrid studio from the ground up rather than bolted onto an older platform. And its transaction-fee model, while real, is at least stated plainly on the page you’re already looking at, which is more than WellnessLiving does for its own processing rate.

What are you actually signing up for between Arketa and WellnessLiving?

Kristin, a former WellnessLiving customer, described what happened after she signed:  Note that this is one person’s experience, not a claim about how WellnessLiving contracts customers today.

“When we signed on with them, they were very verbally assuring of, ‘Here’s your lifetime price for your platform. Here’s your no contract deal, and by the end… they were like, ‘Well, you’re on this contract. You shouldn’t be able to cancel,’ and they raised our price again several times.”

Note that this is one person’s experience, not a claim about how WellnessLiving contracts customers today.

It’s still the right prompt for a question every reader should ask before signing with either vendor: what’s the actual contract length, in writing? What triggers a price increase, and how much notice do you get? What does cancellation actually require? OfferingTree, for comparison, runs month to month with no long-term contract, and a 14-day free trial.

How do WellnessLiving and Arketa compare side by side?

Here’s every dimension that actually differs between the two, in one place.

Who should choose WellnessLiving vs. Arketa?

If you run a studio with front-desk staff and multiple instructors and you actually use a rewards program to bring people back, WellnessLiving fits, and Business at $199 is the real starting point, not Starter at $69.

If your on-demand video library is a genuine revenue line rather than a bonus feature, and you’re comfortable getting quoted rather than shown a price for anything beyond a solo practice, Arketa is a real contender.

Either way, ask both vendors for one fee-inclusive monthly number at your real transaction volume before you compare a single feature. 

Is OfferingTree a good fit if you’re choosing between WellnessLiving and Arketa?

We’ll concede the real ground first. WellnessLiving’s rewards and loyalty program, with points, leaderboards, and referrals, has no OfferingTree equivalent.

Where we fit: a website included on every tier, not sold separately, which neither competitor offers at a comparable price, plus unlimited on-demand video standard rather than gated.

Perhaps more importantly, OfferingTree is run by a small team that genuinely cares about your success. Your suggestions make it into our products, and we even provide free community and coaching calls for our studios so they can keep fostering their communities.

See our own studio pricing, our payment processing terms, or how we compare specifically against Arketa or against WellnessLiving.

Jenn’s story: what almost happened before she read the contract twice

Jenn runs a virtual-first yoga studio in Minnesota with roughly seven regular instructors, exactly the hybrid, content-forward profile Arketa is usually recommended for. She evaluated Arketa and got far enough to have a contract in front of her.

“It wasn’t really going to save me as much money as I had hoped, but it seemed like it could be a good opportunity for growth,” she said. “But then when it came time to sign the contract… I said, ‘Well, wait a minute. The price was supposed to be this.'”

The contract listed two different prices for the same plan, with a discount that only applied in year one.

She walked away and chose OfferingTree instead, and now she has a thriving virtual-first practice.

So, which should you choose: WellnessLiving or Arketa?

• Pick WellnessLiving if you have staff at a front desk and a rewards program you run on purpose. 
• Pick Arketa if the video library is a genuine revenue line. Get the Studio number in writing before you get attached.
• Ask both for one fee-inclusive monthly figure at your real transaction volume, before you compare a single feature.

If what you really want is a solution that includes an easy-to-edit website, or a community that has your back, give us a look. Start a free trial of OfferingTree or book a time to walk through it.

Frequently asked questions about WellnessLiving vs Arketa